Lolu's Mortgage Free odyssey

misslolu · 21 July at 10:30AM

I've been away a while and lots has happened in the meantime. We ended up buying a new (to us) car because OH has struggled a lot with manual, so we opted to get the automatic that we're hoping to keep us going for the next 10+ years as we build up our family. It's definitely more expensive than I hoped but we're selling the old one soon, so that will help us with the pay off. We've also remortgaged which has cost A LOT more than I expected. Last time it was about £300ish after cashback, this time it cost £1400+ and we had no warning until the week before it was meant to complete. We were definitely unhappy with that, and i'm going to be very wary next time we remortgage, which is now a good 5 years away. A look at finances:

CC1 (Mine) - 0 6299

CC2 (Ours) - 4068 7808

CC3 (His) - 2,360 2483

Mortgage - 181,156 182,732

Total Non - Mortgage Debt - 6,428 16,590

S&S LISA - 11,854 13,016

Premium Bonds - 8,800 8,900

Personal Savings - 500 3500

Joint Savings - 2,200 1500

Total Savings - 22,854 26,000

So yes, debt has increased by £10k, which isn't great but we're putting a good £800 or so a month towards it which has us paying it off in less than 2 years, maybe quicker depending on how our finances go. We'd really love to move house in the next 2 years but it's looking less and less likely unless our finances significantly increase. I've recently finished a masters (part of the reason i've been away so long) and that should help on my side of things. Hopefully OH will follow suit shortly. My personal savings though are looking good as are OH's even though I don't track them here, we've always said that if the joint savings needs topping up above and beyond what we put in already, we'd put some extra money in so i'm not too worried about the low balance there.

misslolu · 5 August at 11:52PM

Not sure why, but it took a good 2 weeks to be able to post that last post, so it did end up slightly out of date for costs. The next major update will be payday, but i'd like to give an interim update before then. We've had a lot of upheaval over the past few weeks and i'm excited to share it with you all but don't want to jinx it. Everything should be complete in the next 6 weeks and I should be able to give a proper update. A look at the finances:

CC1 (Mine) - 6299

CC2 (Ours) - 4068 7808

CC3 (His) - 2,360 2483

Mortgage - 181,156 182,732

Total Non - Mortgage Debt - 6,428 16,590

S&S LISA - 11,854 13,016

Premium Bonds - 8,800 8,900

Personal Savings - 500 3500

Joint Savings - 2,200 1500

Total Savings - 22,854 26,916

Savings are looking really good which is really promising for our house + family plans. We need to keep that going as i've realised we'll need a sizeable amount to keep these goals on track for next year. Debt payoff also now begins in earnest. I've decided that since the debt is joint, I likely won't be paying it off using my own money and will prefer to use the joint accounts only to fund it. Something I have decided to do is get back to doing surveys and using survey money to help speed up the debt payoff. It won't be as effective since we're paying off a relatively fixed amount each month, but every little helps!

Not sure if I ever mentioned I was doing a masters degree, but i've completed it with some really good grades. I'm so proud of myself, it;s been hard dealing with that among everything else. Now onto the next exciting things life has to offer.

powerspowers · 1 September at 9:27AM

Congratulations on your Masters Lolu, that’s a big achievement and definitely tough when you are working as well

beanielou · 4 September at 2:16PM

Well done Lily on the Masters. My DS has a MRes.

misslolu · 2 October at 10:07PM

Thanks @powerspowers & @beanielou, well done to your DS an MRes is a lot of work!

Now for the big reveal of what i've been hiding over these past few months. OH & I expanded our family as we welcomed a baby girl a few months ago. It's been a whirlwind six weeks of bottles, nappies and sleepless nights but we've savoured every minute of it. I can't believe just how much she's grown already, I already miss her as a fresh newborn 😭. Because of the baby and the family staying over to help, finances have gone out of the window over the past few weeks and i'm just now getting back to grips with the whole thing, luckily we've managed not to get deeper into debt which is good. A look at finances:

CC1 (Mine) - 6299 5899

CC2 (Ours) - 7808 7644

CC3 (His) - 2,360 781

Mortgage - 182,732 182,314

Total Non - Mortgage Debt - 16,590 14,324

S&S LISA - 13,016 14,468

Premium Bonds - 8,900 9,100

Personal Savings - 3,500 5,000

Joint Savings - 1,500 1,700

Total Savings - 26,916 30,268

Now i'm a bit more settled as a new mum i'll need to take a good look at our finances as i go down to half pay in 2 months time, SMP & then potentially nothing if I do end up taking the full year. One thing I can do in those last months is make full use of my KIT days where I get a full day's pay. I have 10 days, which would end up being 2 weeks of working, so using them all means I get half pay that month. We also have to consider childcare plans and expenses. At the moment, we're looking at part-time childcare with family helping the rest of the time, but plans may change closer to the time. The only thing that's sure is we need to get a grip on the debt so we have enough spare cash for all these upcoming costs!