Big mortgage and extension saving goals!

kaycastle

Well done on all the over payments. Preparing for Christmas and spreading the costs is a good idea.

I can't think of any suggestions after reading all your info. Look forward to watching your journey though

I'm having my first child in the new year and the thought of nursery costs scares me!!!

Sunday88

Ah don't let it scare you @kaycastle just enjoy your upcoming maternity leave! My eldest has been in nursery since 11months old so over 3 years now and it is so expensive but a relatively short time really. I have no idea what we used to spend the money on but we definitely don't go out as much now which helps, and now when we have a family member to babysit we really think about what to do and look forward to it rather than spending lots of money on a few drinks out 'just because'. 
If you can work more flexibly to save on even one day of childcare that makes a big difference cost wise too, we work full time but only need 4 days of nursery.

Babies are pretty cheap apart from the childcare really, we got a lot of stuff second hand and then sold everything when we were finished with it for DC2, sometimes not losing much money compared to the price we paid for it! When they're little they are entertained by cheap days out and the park which helps, I've booked the Christmas days out but that's not the normal weekend activity for us!

Sunday88

Also I am cheeky and negotiated a 5% NHS staff discount for one child and a 5% sibling discount for child 2. If you don't ask you don't get 😬

kaycastle

Thank you @Sunday88
I'm so excited, I'm definitely going to go part time after maternity. 

I've been given so much stuff, it's been great. I've almost finishing sorting everything now. Just done boots order for all the essential after birth stuff and things.

Sunday88

Well the last 6 weeks haven't been very MSE but have managed to achieve the goal of mortgage under £375K before Christmas.
Currently sitting at £374,840 and should manage another couple of OP before the end of the year.
We are nearly ready for Christmas just a few more small gifts to buy. We have had to take some money out of savings this month but that's what savings are for! My DH should be getting a bonus of around £3K after tax so we will top the savings pot back up. I have been getting quite a few prolific surveys through which is good 'free' money that I put straight through the mortgage, as well as any cashback from quidco and the save the change account that lloyds bank automatically does for me.
Next milestone is £370K which I would like to get to by May 😬

Sunday88

Well I'm back, still in the same house with the same original mortgage but this year decided if we were going to stay in this house we really needed to complete some building work to get it just how we wanted it.
This is something we've been talking about since moving in 4 years ago and had really got to the point where we needed to make a decision or get ourselves on Love It or List It to make the decision for us!
I was definitely team love it - the location of the house is perfect for us as a one car household - close to shops, public transport, schools and activities for the kids and lots of scope for potential. The only thing that my DH holds against it is that we are semi-detached but we have lovely neighbours for now who luckily are hard of hearing as my 2 DC are definitely the noise makers.
So in spring of this year we took out another whopper of a mortgage - £118K of it! This wasn't enough for the building work we needed so we took out an additional £61K of loans from bank of mum and dad and our bank which we are also paying off monthly. We have really really stretched the finances to do this but now have the kitchen of our dreams, a utility and shower room, a lovely big extension and new windows throughout. We also adapted the loft to make it a usable office space and I can see us living here very comfortably at least until the DC are in secondary school.
We have also both had new jobs/pay rises and reduced childcare fees in the last few years so although we aren't feeling the benefit of these yet I know in a few years when we have paid off the additional loans we will have breathing space again. We also have a share scheme that will pay out in 2026 and is currently on track to completely clear the additional £61K of borrowing.
New SOA needed I think! 

Sunday88

[font=courier new][b]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b][b]

Household Information[/b]

Number of adults in household........... 2

Number of children in household......... 2

Number of cars owned.................... [b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 3431

Partners monthly income after tax....... 4533

Benefits................................ 0

Other income............................ 0[b]

Total monthly income.................... 7964[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 1400

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 672.1999999999998

Rent.................................... 0

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 217

Electricity............................. 244

Gas..................................... 0

Oil..................................... 0

Water rates............................. 45

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 30

TV Licence.............................. 13

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 111

Internet Services....................... 0

Groceries etc. ......................... 650

Clothing................................ 100

Petrol/diesel........................... 160

Road tax................................ 0

Car Insurance........................... 0

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0

Car parking............................. 0

Other travel............................ 55

Childcare/nursery....................... 300

Other child related expenses............ 150

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 25

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0

Buildings insurance..................... 25

Contents insurance...................... 0

Life assurance ......................... 40

Other insurance......................... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 80

Haircuts................................ 50

Entertainment........................... 150

Holiday................................. 150

Emergency fund.......................... 0[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 4667.2[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 18000

House value (Gross)..................... 580000

Shares and bonds........................ 0

Car(s).................................. 0

Other assets............................ 0[b]

Total Assets............................ 598000[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Mortgage...................... 343775...(1400).....1.99

Secured Debt.................. 117587...(672.2)....5.14[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 461362....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Parents loan...................25000.....250.......0

bank loan......................36000.....564.4.....8.1

samsung........................1600......108.2.....0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........62600.....922.6.....-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 7,964

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 4,667.2

Available for debt repayments........... 3,296.8

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 922.6[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 2,374.2[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 598,000

Total HP & Secured debt................. -461,362

Total Unsecured debt.................... -62,600[b]

Net Assets.............................. 74,038[/b]

[i]Created using the SOA calculator at www.LemonFool.co.uk.

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.[/i][/font]

Sunday88

Mortgage 1 is at 1.99% so we have stopped overpaying this one for now and any spare cash from vinted selling etc (so far around £80 per month) I've been putting on mortgage 2 as this is at a higher rate for 3 years fixed. 
Mortgage 1 is due for renewal in a year so I would love to see the interest rates come down a little before then, although I accept we will probably be looking at an extra £300 per month! 
This year has been the least MSE year ever but weirdly looking forward to the challenge of clearing each part of the loans and mortgages before focusing on saving for kids university and our futures!