NOW OPEN: the MSE Forum 'Ask An Expert' event. This time we'd like your questions on TRAVEL & HOLIDAY DEALS. Post by Wed and deals expert MSE Oli will answer as many as he can.
A roof over the Floof's head
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Thanks for the suggestion - I never considered travelling by coach, I just had a quick look and it is soo cheap! But, I think I would find the travel time (8 hours in total) too gruelling - I don't travel well at all (a colleague and I once took an Uber home to the Midlands from Heathrow after an overnight flight from Florida because we couldn't face the tube and train!). It would really diminish my enjoyment of the day, plus it would mean being away from the pup too long. I'm looking into split tickets for the train to bring down the price a bit.
You've made me think that I could aim to pay the whole thing off in 2027...meaning I'd have to save 35K between now and then, at £500 per month. Possible but some sacrifices would need to be made...
Out of this month's salary, I've saved £250 into my premium bonds, £50 into the Nationwide Start to Save, £25 into a S&S ISA, and £200 into my sinking funds. I've also put £60 into a pot for train travel to London (October) and £75 into a pot for our Sept week away. This pot now stands at £251.40 as I've added money I made on eBay last month. I'll add another £150 from the end of Aug's pay, the £400 total will be plenty to cover diesel, parking, activities and food.
I found out today that I have won a 'best poster' competition at a conference for my PhD research, the prize being some Amazon vouchers, not sure how much they will be worth, but whatever the amount, I'm chuffed and grateful!
Finally managed to log on to my mortgage account and the balance is now £80,115.29, LTV 65%. I will break into the 70,000s next month, which will be really exciting!
Sinking funds (bills): £576.30
Holiday (Sept): £251.40
Train travel: £60
Emergency fund: £1015/£4000 (25%)
Long term savings: £1013/£35,000 (3%)
Still debt free...feels good
Sinking funds for annual bills: £674.32
Random savings in Nationwide (start to save): £150
Long term savings (S&S ISA) current value £1208.69 (total gain +7.96%)/£35.000 (3.45%)
Emergency fund (held in PBs): 1410/£4000 (35.25%)
LT pension savings (LISA): 172.90 (no target, just opened it so I had it as an option).
All in all, I have saved £795 this month.
All bills are paid for or the money has been set aside, have enough diesel, dog has enough food.
I have £225 as personal spends this month, will see how far I can stretch this. I have about £10 in change kicking about at home, am returning a £8.99 item to Amaz*n, will try to pick up some Prolific surveys. Planning a quiet month apart from taking OH to a 10K race (£8 parking!!! plus coffee and cake for me
In terms of bigger personal spends, I really need a waterproof running jacket and a new raincoat, but it is my birthday month so OH might get me a running jacket, and ILs will give me money which might pay for the majority of the cost of the coat, I've seen one that I like for £90. I'd also like some waterproof knee high boots, but this might be because I've got drenched walking home from work this week! Hoping for some drier weather so I can push back buying the boots. I've got some great waterproof winter boots but they're a bit much for autumn.
In house news, my mortgage balance is now under 80K, and the house value has increased, meaning I have a LTV of 62%. I'll definitely be under LTV 60 when I remortgage next year, which is really good news. Can't wait to reduce the interest rate, 3.09% feels quite obscene!