Never a good time but here goes.. 29 March 2021 at 10:39AM in Mortgage-free wannabe 35 replies 2.5K views

ladysummerisle

Having lurked on and off for a while, it was about time to commit. I’m 38 and about 7 months pregnant so instead of traditional nesting in the form of cleaning, I seem to have resorted to financial nesting instead. 

My mortgage was originally for 25 years - fixed for 4 then reduced by 3 years when I switched to a new deal. I realised at the beginning of the year that my 5 year fixed rate was up so have switched again to another 10 year fix (2.44%). This time I upped payments roughly by £50, paid off £2500 and cut the term to finish in March 2031. 

ERC is only for the first 5 years so I’m hoping with a bit of effort to pay it all over before the 10 years are up..

Aside from that, I’ve already switched my utilities so reducing from £88 to £76 (before rate rises) and have signed up for Prolific and Populus.

ladysummerisle

Mortgage musings. I’m awaiting confirmation of the exact amount I can pay but I plan to overpay my permitted 10% ASAP. I’ve had my spreadsheet out and whilst so far it seems like my projected finances during maternity leave should remain stable, the mortgage advisor confirmed I could take a payment holiday if needed later on in the year. I know though that once the overpayment is in, I’ll be loathe to go backwards. That’s the theory at least. 

So far I’ve done very little baby related spending and Easter was meant to be a time for me to have a sort through. I’m a bit of a hoarder so kept 99% from my son (now 4). Once used I’ll finally feel free to start getting rid of things, which should make my husband happier with reduced clutter.

Today will be a spending day - books for my son “from the baby” (do kids fall for these tricks?!) Naturally it’ll be via cashback site. Paying full price? Perish the thought! 

longway2go

Welcome and good luck to you. I think a gift from the baby did help smooth the transition for our older son. As you say never a good time but maternity and having growing family responsibilities brings these thins more to the mind. 

ladysummerisle

Thanks. It’s one of those things that just needs to be done. My sister died at 32 so I’m all too aware that life doesn’t work out as planned so I’d rather get financially secure earlier rather than later. It won’t be the most exciting of diaries but I’m hoping it’ll keep me on track. It’s not like the average person can talk to their friends of their glee at managing overpayments 😀

Sapindus

Four years is a great age gap.  There's nearly seven between my two.  There was no need to worry about "presents from baby" - he had eyes for no-one else when he came into hospital to meet the new arrival, I felt quite left out!  Books will be a good idea though - he can read them to baby.
Selling baby stuff will help, too. 

powerspowers

Sounds like an excellent timing to me. Good luck with the mortgage and congrats on baby xx

South_coast

ladysummerisle said:

It’s not like the average person can talk to their friends of their glee at managing overpayments 😀

Yeah, but who wants to be average anyway - booooring 🤣!

Good luck with your plans x

FiveMoreYears

ladysummerisle said:

It won’t be the most exciting of diaries but I’m hoping it’ll keep me on track. It’s not like the average person can talk to their friends of their glee at managing overpayments 😀

I reckon overpayment diaries are always exciting! 

Good luck with your journey to becoming Mortgage Free, @ladysummerisle

ladysummerisle

Thanks all. I called up TSB yesterday and paid off the 10% permitted - £5507. That added to the £2500 I paid off before I switched to a new fixed rate is £8807 extra this year. Hopefully I won’t need to take any payment holidays and can add to it next year. There was a slight thrill to see it approaching £46000 😀

Since my last maternity we seem to have qualified for a small amount of tax credits but I always assume I’ll have to pay them back. If not, that should be another £900 to bolster the savings a bit. I’ve also been nagging payroll for a year to sort out an earlier year adjustment for me (their error, two years running) so that’s hopefully £313 tax rebate pending. 

I spotted the Help to Save deal too and government gateway said yes so I’ve opened an account. Saving up to £50 a month for the next two years means a nice bonus of £600. I’ll take that! Now to get my husband to open one too.. 

ladysummerisle

Regular mortgage payment went through so I’m now down to £45,689. Not bad when I started the year at £55078! I can’t make any more overpayments this year but I did up my payment by about £50 a month when I changed the deal. 

In anticipation of a child-free evening I reserved a couple of magic bags from Too Good To Go. This is about as rock and roll as it gets these days! It may just be things I don’t want but curiosity has got the better of me. If it’s things I don’t want I’ll either give it to my mum or pop it on Olio. I’ve had one before from Morrison’s, which was definitely worth it. Now to see if Spar and M&S compare. 

I’d told myself I’ll do some work too, to take the pressure off when I go back. Pregnancy related migraines have left me behind and I’m due to finish work on 21st May so not long now to get what I want done. That said, I also promised my husband I’d go through baby stuff that we’d stored. If it’s suitable for a girl great, if not my colleague has a boy and we’re readying to do a swap for his Perfect Prep machine (over £100 new). 

ladysummerisle

First day of the financial year and I’ve logged in to apply for the working from home tax relief already. Every little helps and just a quick click of a few buttons.

It’s perhaps been a slightly more expensive week. Last time round, we were very limited to what baby car seat would fit in my car but now with a marginally newer car, I have more options. Safer options but more expensive options. I ended up spending £337.50 on a new car seat that’ll take the baby up to about 4. Expensive but the safety rating is very high and that’s the priority. That and one that spins round so I can quickly put a baby in before the 4 year old tries to escape. 

I got a text recently about the £500 for those who are eligible for working tax credits so I’m hopeful that will bolster funds. I also need to check again my projected income for this new year and amend it on HMRC. It’ll be quite a drop so any additional tax credits this year would be most welcome.

I sorted through a mountain of baby clothes at the weekend so now I have a charity / sell pile to sort through. The rest are in the drawers ready. Baby girl will be wearing a lot of white and blue 😀 I’ve got to make a decision about bottles etc. Lack of time and procrastination isn’t helping. 

Also planning a Costco trip this week - practically an event for the 4 year old. We need a new rotary dryer for the garden and they’ve got a decent one on offer. Just hoping it’ll fit in the car. I might need to stock up on some things but that’ll be offset with the baby hibernation in a couple of months.