Lolu's Mortgage Free odyssey

misslolu

Another week, another update. We've just gotten to the crucial point in a long and arduous process and will get an update in the next few weeks. I'm really hoping it goes well so we can continue with plans to do my test & buy our car. I also have to keep in mind that I need to start paying for lessons out of pocket from November 2021 so will need to add that to the budget. Update on money:

CC1 (Mine) - 1390 1335
CC2 (Ours) - 4007.62
CC3 (His) - 4271
Medical Loan (Mine) - 1948
Student Loan - 8067
Mortgage - 186093

Total Non - Mortgage Debt - 20,354 19,684
Total Debt - 206,446 205,777

S&S LISA - 7423
Premium Bonds - 7450
Joint Savings - 2696.42 2896

Assets - 17769

Just about £55 paid off CC1 this week, most of OH's salary went to bills this week, next week he'll be adding towards our joint savings. The first job for the joint savings will be to buy our car towards the middle/end of November. Then, it will be used for the wedding. I'm going to what I hope are my last few venue viewings today, I've found 2 I really like and I really think i'm going to be able to choose one (pending availability). I think for those we just need a £1000 deposit upfront then payments 6 & 2 months before the wedding, which should give us ample time to save. Once i've got the venue & date booked I think i'm just going to chill & relax for a while. Everything else can wait till next year, though I may start slowly building our honeymoon itinerary. I'm cautiously hopeful about it all.

killerpeaty

great news about the driving test! I've got my fingers crossed for you. I hate car shopping personally. I was super lucky with my last (second car), my sister found it online, then I went for a test drive and then immediately bought it. Whoops. Hopefully you will have a lucky experience too!

Fantastic about the venue! Once you got that sorted, hopefully it'll be a weight off for you.

misslolu

killerpeaty said:

great news about the driving test! I've got my fingers crossed for you. I hate car shopping personally. I was super lucky with my last (second car), my sister found it online, then I went for a test drive and then immediately bought it. Whoops. Hopefully you will have a lucky experience too!

Fantastic about the venue! Once you got that sorted, hopefully it'll be a weight off for you.

My parents bought my last car for me, I had no choice in the matter haha so i'm a bit clueless on how to proceed. I'm very wary about buying a car on it's last legs, we want it to have the potential to last 2-5 years at least though this may not be necessary depending on finances. OH has finally seen the light and has agreed to get a manual due to costs, but we're still not 100% on whether we will go under £2k for a hatchback (not great for future kiddies) or just go straight to our 10 year £6-7k mini SUV. We're focussing on the hatchback for now, but pricing depends on venue costs.

Speaking of venues, I was right, I totally fell in love with one of the venues, but unfortunately haven't been able to get buy-in to go ahead with it. This will be sorted out by the end of the week, but the deposit is looking more like £1500 at the moment. Once we're happy, i'll start contacting caterers and get some quotes.

killerpeaty

Someone else might have a different opinion, but I wouldn't go for a car as big as a mini suv for a car. Mine was a Corsa (new ones are a lot bigger), my sister's was a i10. I think as long as you get a car with back doors, it will be okay for a couple of babies. My friend had to change cars at 3 kids to get the bigger car, prior to that, she had a car roughly the size of my Corsa. 

Excited for your potential venue!

misslolu

Another week another update! This week has been absolutely crazy, so much going on and so much done too. To take it bit by bit, I've finally gotten full buy in for the venue & date next year so that has been booked and deposit sent, I got wedding insurance just before so that's crossed off. Next on the agenda is caterers & other food drink/vendors. That's reduced our joint savings by a bit, but that's exactly what it's there for.

Had another lesson and i'm feeling a bit unconfident about my test. WHen i initially booked it I had over a month to go and it felt like ages away. Now i've got a month and 5 lessons to go there are still a few things i've not yet covered (but i'm not super worried about) but i've not really felt super confident driving like I was the last time I was about to take my test. I've been watching a lot of driving videos though which has definitely helped and i'll eagerly be watching the test route videos so I don't get caught out. My test centre is bottom 5 for pass rates in the country, after going there today I can definitely see how. But i'm going to try my hardest.

We're still awaiting some news for the process we've gone through and got some feedback earlier on in the week, hopefully we should get final feedback next week, ending it for now.

Finances for the week:
 CC1 (Mine) - 1335 1361 (interest was added)
CC2 (Ours) - 4007.62
CC3 (His) - 4271 4295 (interest was added)
Medical Loan (Mine) - 1948
Student Loan - 8067 8,099 (interest was added)
Mortgage - 186093

Total Non - Mortgage Debt - 19,684 19,710
Total Debt - 205,777 205,803

S&S LISA - 7423 7485
Premium Bonds - 7450
Joint Savings - 2896 1496

Assets - 17769 16,431

So all in all a very slight increase in debt due to interest and a decrease in savings due to spending on wedding stuff. We haven't seen any cars we like yet, so that's still in progress and next week OH and I will put more in the joint account to start building that back up.

misslolu

killerpeaty said:

Someone else might have a different opinion, but I wouldn't go for a car as big as a mini suv for a car. Mine was a Corsa (new ones are a lot bigger), my sister's was a i10. I think as long as you get a car with back doors, it will be okay for a couple of babies. My friend had to change cars at 3 kids to get the bigger car, prior to that, she had a car roughly the size of my Corsa. 

Excited for your potential venue!

Yeah a mini SUV is always going to be a more long term plan, it all really depends on what we find. We’re currently asking friends and family if they have cars they want to sell but if there’s nothing going will have to keep looking traditionally. We just really don’t want to buy a newish small car since it’s really just for a few years and we’d be taking a big depreciation hit. Hopefully e we find something cheap soon!

killerpeaty

It sucks when your net worth goes down, it's really disheartening isn't it? But you know exactly what it's on, it's not being wasted into nothing. What is the next thing on the list?

Honestly I've only ever bought from dealers, I like the ability to go back to them. In fact, for my first car, one of the side mirror's mirror started falling out about 30 minutes after I collected it. I went straight back and asked him what he was going to do about it. He fixed it there and then. If you have obliging family or friends, you could look for cars in cheaper areas, my first car was a 2.5 hour drive from me. My second car was about 20 minutes away from me, luck was on my side with that one.

misslolu

killerpeaty said:

It sucks when your net worth goes down, it's really disheartening isn't it? But you know exactly what it's on, it's not being wasted into nothing. What is the next thing on the list?

Honestly I've only ever bought from dealers, I like the ability to go back to them. In fact, for my first car, one of the side mirror's mirror started falling out about 30 minutes after I collected it. I went straight back and asked him what he was going to do about it. He fixed it there and then. If you have obliging family or friends, you could look for cars in cheaper areas, my first car was a 2.5 hour drive from me. My second car was about 20 minutes away from me, luck was on my side with that one.

Haha nice, tapping into your luck for the car. I need to sign the contract for the venue, then it's onto caterers.

*rant incoming*
This is the only place I feel like I can vent, as OH follows me on my other social media. I'm just in a bit of a frustrated place, and i'm too worked up to see if i'm making a mountain out of nothing or if I have a genuine reason to be annoyed/concerned. As a result i've been sulking most of the day on my own, which wasn't really what I planned when I woke up this morning and I feel it's a waste of a weekend day. Doesn't help that i've been emotionally blackmailed into taking in a family member for a short time as well. *sigh* i'm just so annoyed i'm finding it hard to calm down. 

killerpeaty

I'm not sure what is wrong.If something is bothering you then communication is probably a good way forward. 

Family is always tricky. Hopefully it will be sorted soon.

misslolu

Oddly enough, I realised i'd missed my pill twice and once i took it I felt a lot more calm, I'm not 100% sure that's the cause but if it is, it's super worrying. I mentioned earlier that since I switched to this pill my mental health has been amazing. I used to have terrible mood swings before which graduated to suicidal thoughts when i tried my first two pills. This one has been an absolute life saver, but..... i'm planning to go off it after the wedding next year so we can ttc. I hope this isn't what I have to look forward to