Adventures and Overpayments

chicker

Baileys_Babe said:

chicker said:

-Fill DDs advent calendar. It's not finished but I guess she can do without the numbers this year as she's only 19 months old!

Yes, she can do without numbers this year, dint make more work for yourself at this already busy and stressful time.
You could break the job into steps/stages and diaries them - preferably in the first 3 to 6 months of 2022, that way come Christmas next year the calendar will be made without added stress and DD will never know the difference 😁🎄

Thanks for dropping in BB!
As soon as I took the pressure off to finish it by the first, I felt more motivated to finish it! I've ordered some £2 white wooden numbers which we will spray gold (we're already doing some spraying anyway) and ordered two huge£4.50 packs of Christmassy craft buttons/embellishments which will finish the advent calendar and be used for festive crafts and cards for years to come! Both paid for through TCB so feeling pretty pleased. 

I've filled the advent calendar with L1dl's chocolate bears, Christmas socks (£3 for a new pack of 5 pairs from N£xt via V1nted), two decorations and some wooden animals which we were buying anyway to replace the ones my dog has eaten...

I'm actually looking forward to continuing the tradition next year!

chicker

savingholmes said:

Enjoy your money shuffle tomorrow. 

I agree about not making life harder than it needs to be. Definitely get the jeans too!

Loved the money shuffle! It's great when you've got money to shuffle...

LadyWithAPlan

Looks like you are super organised. I think everyone on here loves that beginning of month reset

Great to see your OPs as well.  I have an extra pot for 'Odds & sods' so unforeseen expenses such as medical (thank goodness we don't live in the USA!), extra costs etc  that somehow creep up every month even though I have monthly budgeted for many years ... I hate moving money out of the EF and savings pots to cover such things to make my budget balance. Its just psychological but )

The DD savings seem quite high, I understand why you want to save for her  and completely your choice of balance but the quicker that mortgage goes down the more you will have anyway as spare cash to use when you all are older for her college etc. Everyone has their own balance  on this but paying off debts first would be my priority especially  overdrafts and that NEXT bill even if I had to dial down that DD savings amt for a couple months.

I realise I should have started a Xmas food/entertainment savings budget last month as my spending has meant my Nov grocery budget money got blown up, ah well this whole diary process is definitely a learning experience. 

Baileys_Babe

chicker said:

Baileys_Babe said:

chicker said:

-Fill DDs advent calendar. It's not finished but I guess she can do without the numbers this year as she's only 19 months old!

Yes, she can do without numbers this year, dint make more work for yourself at this already busy and stressful time.
You could break the job into steps/stages and diaries them - preferably in the first 3 to 6 months of 2022, that way come Christmas next year the calendar will be made without added stress and DD will never know the difference 😁🎄

Thanks for dropping in BB!
As soon as I took the pressure off to finish it by the first, I felt more motivated to finish it! I've ordered some £2 white wooden numbers which we will spray gold (we're already doing some spraying anyway) and ordered two huge£4.50 packs of Christmassy craft buttons/embellishments which will finish the advent calendar and be used for festive crafts and cards for years to come! Both paid for through TCB so feeling pretty pleased. 

I've filled the advent calendar with L1dl's chocolate bears, Christmas socks (£3 for a new pack of 5 pairs from N£xt via V1nted), two decorations and some wooden animals which we were buying anyway to replace the ones my dog has eaten...

I'm actually looking forward to continuing the tradition next year!

Glad you are no longer feeling pressured, wonderful that you are making progress to get it completed. Lucky DD her advent calendar will be unique.

chicker

LadyWithAPlan said:

Looks like you are super organised. I think everyone on here loves that beginning of month reset

Great to see your OPs as well.  I have an extra pot for 'Odds & sods' so unforeseen expenses such as medical (thank goodness we don't live in the USA!), extra costs etc  that somehow creep up every month even though I have monthly budgeted for many years ... I hate moving money out of the EF and savings pots to cover such things to make my budget balance. Its just psychological but )

The DD savings seem quite high, I understand why you want to save for her  and completely your choice of balance but the quicker that mortgage goes down the more you will have anyway as spare cash to use when you all are older for her college etc. Everyone has their own balance  on this but paying off debts first would be my priority especially  overdrafts and that NEXT bill even if I had to dial down that DD savings amt for a couple months.

I realise I should have started a Xmas food/entertainment savings budget last month as my spending has meant my Nov grocery budget money got blown up, ah well this whole diary process is definitely a learning experience. 

Hi Ladywithaplan!

Next and DH's overdraft are all paid off now! DH is so disorganised with money it drives me nuts but he usually goes along with what I want to do with the money 😁

We're in the annoying position of trying to build up a little bit of a buffer in our savings pots/sinking funds at the moment. Our income has taken a massive hit since March 2020 (Covid, Mat leave then not returning to work) and we had to stop paying into all of our regular sinking funds in January as we just had enough to cover the bills. So we've been paying into them again since June ish but they keep getting emptied every month 😂
I stopped putting £50 into DD's sinking fund and now put in the child benefit because clothing a toddler is flipping expensive! I get loads of clothes second hand but just couldn't keep up. Now I'm hoping she should be in this size over winter I might be able to pay for swimming lessons out of it too.
Her savings are £10 every time my DH plays a gig so it won't be £50 every month. Probably about £300 next year. This was just something he's always wanted to do as it does mean he doesn't see her as much as he could do.

chicker

The overpayment is now showing in my mortgage account and the December direct debit has been taken so I've updated my signature. According to the OP calculator, every £540 I overpay takes a month off the term of the mortgage so we're now 1 month closer!

I've been trying to read a few diaries but it's so hard to know where to start, especially when some have several thousand replies! I can't possibly start at the beginning like I used to. Also I feel a bit nostalgic for some of the old diaries I used to read that are no longer updated - yes I am that sad 😂 But I found them really inspirational at the time which is partly why I'm back here again. 

Also it's disheartening when your mortgage is so big and others seem small in comparison. Yes I know you shouldn't compare! But the end seems so far away it's going to be hard to stay motivated. I'm trying to see it as putting ourselves in a better position financially for when we move or just for the future in general.

Anyway, this morning I started a 24 days of pilates challenge. I joined an online studio last month for £19.99 as my back pain really gets me down and I know I need to do more other than waiting for physio to 'fix' it. Was going to cancel after November but I did the free 24 days last year and want to give it a go again this year. Will cancel before Jan and just do free y0utube videos for a couple of months.

Took my Mum to M&S with us to pick up a couple of small presents for my nieces. Annoyingly they were no longer in the sale but they were out of stock online so couldn't be avoided. It was Mum's turn to buy coffee and she helped entertain DD while I picked up dog biscuits from the pet shop near where we used to live.

Also managed to pick up three copies of the latest Julia Donaldson lift the flap books in A5da for £3 each. Great as they are £4.50 on Amaz0n and £6 or £7 elsewhere. One for DD and two for her friends.

Really need to do a bit of cleaning this afternoon and start the Mr T's order but cba   🤣

savingholmes

You sound like you are making lots of progress. Thanks for visiting my diary too. We have similar mortgages although you have more income to tackle yours... I might post an SOA in January - but no point yet as finances still not completely reset following the divorce. 

I agree with you about other's mortgages seeming so small. However - we will get there if we keep plugging away at it.

Well done on your OP. A month off your mortgage is fab. I am a long way away from being able to OP much of anything right now... Hopefully I can develop my side hustle and that will then change.

chicker

savingholmes said:

You sound like you are making lots of progress. Thanks for visiting my diary too. We have similar mortgages although you have more income to tackle yours... I might post an SOA in January - but no point yet as finances still not completely reset following the divorce. 

I agree with you about other's mortgages seeming so small. However - we will get there if we keep plugging away at it.

Well done on your OP. A month off your mortgage is fab. I am a long way away from being able to OP much of anything right now... Hopefully I can develop my side hustle and that will then change.

We've had a good month - it was a good month to start a diary! But I fully expect there to be months where we don't make an overpayment at all. We're plugging quite a bit into our holiday fund at the moment before we make any OPs and this in itself has been a struggle in previous months. 

I got a bit disheartened when I was playing with the calculator  It's easy to think, 'Yay - six years off the mortgage is brilliant!' Until you realise that means you'll still be paying it for 23 more years  

I definitely need to focus on the difference I'm making rather than how far away it seems. We made small regular OPs on our last mortgage and I didn't track the effects but we had loads of equity when we moved and I knew a small part of that was down to my OPs. Most was the rise in the market and the hard work of my DH to renovate it but never mind... 🤣

We'll get there - and at least we can keep everyone company here while we do it 😁

savingholmes

6 years off is still really good news. 

savingholmes

savingholmes said:

6 years off is still really good news. 

Sorry I appreciate you say you were playing with the OP calculator... Still there are people not on the ladder at all. You have equity. You have a lot to celebrate.