Big mortgage and extension saving goals!

becky170

Good luck with your mortgage free journey Sunday. Sounds like you are off to a great start

Sunday88

£12 quidco cashback available so sent it straight over as an OP. 
Coming to the last week of the month before payday now with around £90 left in the joint account after remaining bills, £60 cash which I'll use on a day out with friends and the DC next Monday, £130 left on asda gift card to easily cover the weekly shop and £20 on a sainsburys gift card for any top up shops needed. Should be fine! 

Have been thinking about what to do with savings next month as I currently put £300 into my club lloyds savings account which had a 12 month rate of 1.5% which ends next month. With the £3600 (plus interest) from that my plan is:
£600 into DC2s junior ISA to match his older sibling
£1500 into our easy access savings account to top up some of the money we've taken out recently for furniture/carpets
£1000 into setting up a new Vanguard account.
£500 towards hallway and lounge carpets (last rooms left to replace carpets in since we moved in).

The junior ISAs will then have the same amount in and I'm not planning on topping those up regularly. May be unusual as lots of people seem to save monthly for their DC but I don't like the idea of having large savings amounts accessible to 18 year olds. I hope they will be sensible with money and I'll certainly be teaching them all I can but I would rather save ourselves and then contribute to e.g. uni funds, house deposits or weddings as needed.
We have finally come to the end of all the redecorating with every room now painted and woodwork glossed which is a relief! Hopefully no more money to spend on paint and we can get a few gardening weekends under our belts if the weather gets a bit warmer.

becky170

Congratulations on completing the redecorating! I'm with you with not wanting to put lots in our kids ISA's. Currently just putting a little pocket money in monthly for them and any birthday/Christmas money they get. Hoping to save up for uni/wedding fund in an account we control 

Sunday88

@becky170 yep not giving over that kind of control to 18 year olds when I could be looking after it myself   
Another £14 OP from some Lloyd's everyday cashback. Total OP this month is about £198 which I'm pleased with! 
Will wait for usual mortgage payment to be taken on the 1st then see how we can start chipping away next month.
Payday yesterday but not sure many OP will be possible this month as we seem to have a busy one planned with things on most weekends, including wedding anniversary and center parcs. Craving some quiet time now and our poor garden is looking very neglected but maybe will get some time outside this bank holiday 

Sunday88

Just waiting for mortgage payment to be taken tomorrow so I can do a rounding down payment, and hopefully see the monthly interest start to inch its way down!
I joined prolific this weekend and so impressed by it,  must have over £12 waiting to be approved already! Is it always this lucrative? All payments will go straight on the mortgage...

Sunday88

1st of the month so £1500 mortgage payment taken, and £640.71 interest swiftly added back on.
I made a tidying up OP of £44.71 so total remaining mortgage is now £378,120.00.
Challenge is on to see if I can find another £120 of overpayment, maybe from my new found love for Prolific!

Sunday88

Happy with our efforts this month, been chipping away at the OP and made it to a balance of exactly £378,000 so in total £259.71 of overpayment.

Earned a grand total of £26 interest when my £3600 club lloyds saver finished so moved the money around yesterday.
£1500 back into Marcus account as this is the one we dip into for big house spends
£600 into 1 year olds junior ISA to match his big brother (not intending to top this up now).
£1000 on a new vanguard S&S isa, and will top this up with £100 on the 1st of every month.
Left the rest of the money in our current account as have been spending lots on the garden and we are going away next weekend. Any leftover will get tidied away at the end of the month pre-payday 😊

Sunday88

One more OP of £250 made before the mortgage payment is taken on the 1st. Balance now £377,750. Looking forward to getting below £375K, hopefully before Christmas. 
 Beginners luck on prolific seems to have slowed right down now and not getting anywhere near as many studies,  but thats ok I can leave the browser open while wfh and pounce if I do spot anything! 

DS has his birthday in the next few weeks but apart from paying the balance on his party and cake I think we are all sorted on that. He's having a shared party with a friend so that keeps costs down. I feel bad that for the first time ever I have to work on his actual birthday and can't take the day off 😪 but hopefully his party will make up for that and he has a special badge to wear to pre-school. 

Still resisting putting the heating on but as we head into October it's definitely getting more chilly, glad I fixed a contract for a year in August, here's hoping the company doesn't close down.

Every_penny

Great work on all your overpayments @Sunday88 . I nearly managed to get to October before putting the heating on but it was the little ones 2nd Birthday on the 29th Sept so I gave in. Fortunately haven't needed to use it everyday and only for about an hour at most in the mornings.

Sunday88

Thanks @Every_penny it has been pretty mild still so we're getting away with a couple of hours in the evening, but I know that won't do it in a few weeks, especially with working from home more 🥶

Just made a £70 overpayment so have managed around £200 this month through mixture of prolific, vinted selling and a bit of money leftover before payday next week. 

Started the process of looking at schools for eldest DC to start next September - feels like such a big decision!! Loved one we saw yesterday which is about 0.6miles away and also has a nursery next door we could transfer youngest DS to. Hoping we will get in if we put it as 1st choice and then the safer undersubscribed but closer option as 2nd *fingers crossed*
If this goes to plan it could really help our finances with savings on one set of nursery fees dropping to wraparound care only, and also wouldn't need my car! Only really have 2 for the rare occasion DH works away and I might need to collect the DC on short notice but if nursery and school are in walking distance that solves that problem, and if we both need to work out of home on the same day one of us can get a cab which will still be much cheaper than the £340/month on my car lease 😁

Started booking a few bits for Christmas to spread the cost. Feels exciting to be able to do the things we couldn't last year like theatre and seeing Father Christmas! Next month will start figuring out presents I think.