Halving our income and still aiming for mortgage free!

smetf

I'm keeping a close eye on the budget this month as it's the first month with half the income going in. My 'miscellaneous' category is already pretty close to the 140 I allowed (this is train journeys, car parking, a sports massage, birthday gift). May need to reconsider that in future months. 

In more positive news, I have cashed in £5 from Curious Cat and £15.54 from Prolific and put that in short term savings as it can be the start of overpayments from the 17th Oct. Also claimed £5 from Swagbucks but that'll take a few days to turn up in my Paypal.

smetf

Heading towards the end of the month and things are fairly tight, not helped by knowing I'm not getting paid this month either! An HR mess up and apparently no way to get an advance. 

On the plus side I have been given another four hours a week for work, and managed to start that this week. One of my 4 hour support roles has started this week too, and will include 4 hours during half term. Hopefully pay for this will come sooner than the end of November.

I've been pondering the budget, having kept a close eye on spends this month. 
137.32/ 150 for diesel 
455.28/ 500 for food, cat food, toiletries etc
Both fine
but 297/140 for miscellaneous is not so good!
Next month I am trialling 50/ travel and 50/ birthdays as they were the biggest items plus 100 misc, and will continue to monitor closely!
Overpayments are going to have to wait till I am getting paid. We can overpay 9441.75 till 17/10/22.

smetf

Forgot to say:
The house improvements fund has grown slightly with continued saving but it looks like flooring costs have gone up since I was quoted. I am leaving it where it is for now and hoping it's not all needed as anything left can be split between a mortgage overpayment and my short term savings buffer.

LadyWithAPlan

Love your focus of paying the added interest off on top of your mortgage payment  so you are actually paying down your principal. When I finally get my mortgage ...that will be my plan whilst saving hard for my SE pension..

smetf

Thanks LadyWithAPlan. It was inspired by discussion on here, and is a 'doable' overpayment on half the income so gave me a real boost to calculate it.

Realistically, I can't see us being able to overpay the maximum 10% this year but knowing we're still hitting the principal is good. 

smetf

Well it might be a tiny start but paid £20.68 in OP, £20 refund for race from CSSC (you can claim two race entries a year) and a tidy up of 68p. Just claimed £5 from SB and £5.25 from prolific so they can be added once they're actually in my account.


More expensively am possibly planning a day trip to Edinburgh with youngest to visit oldest next week, need to check ticket prices for the train!

smetf

Small overpayment of 21.07, survey money came in and sold a fire guard and fire tools for 10.

Am looking forward to getting a pay check this month - it definitely feels like I've been watching the pennies! Wood for downstairs flooring has been paid for and should be delivered today, hopefully fitted next week.

Will update signature accordingly.
Hope everyone has a good day!

smetf

Have managed to keep more on track with  general spending this month and still looking forward to getting a paycheck, 31st August feels a long time ago!
Have chased up my little job and should have been paid for that so hopefully it should be incoming soon!

chicker

Hi  smetf

I've read and bookmarked your diary. We have been living on half our previous income since my last maternity pay almost a year ago. It was a massive decision to not return to work but there were a few reasons why it seemed like the only option. It's been tough but I'm earning a bit working from home now which makes it easier.

Anyway, looking forward to following your journey! I would be interested to know how you calculate the daily mortgage interest?

Chicker 

smetf

Thanks Chicker, good to hear from someone who is making it work!
I can't find how I calculated the daily interest but will keep looking as I want to do it every now and then! Should have saved the post...