Pay off mortgage and start having even more fun 😁

newgirly

Hi Al not at all! Hope you are well by the way 😊 We rented it out last August, a bit below the market rent but it meant we didn’t have to start paying business rates on it as we were running out of time on the rate relief.

Up early this morning to do all energy expending things early before it gets hot 🥵 Thai green chicken curry in sc for dh, it’s the first time in ages I’ve used it. Bit of washing done, all the indoor plants watered - I seem to have a lot now it takes ages. I did contemplate an early morning walk but after feeling funny sitting in a pub garden in the shade Saturday it’s probably not a good idea. Instead I choose a coffee on my new chair with the cat 😁 I’m feeling very lazy.

I did sell a couple of items on vint3d yesterday, now I’ve a pending balance of about £24 in total, I drew out everything I’d built up to pay towards the iPad replacement last month. I did buy a few of the £3 stretchy T-shirts this week from pr1mark as they are good under jumpers and hoodies etc. which will be good for holidays later this year, I’ve got nicer T-shirts but the cheap stretchy ones seem to last ages and don’t get creased. Shouldn’t really need any other clothes this year I have so many 😳 only thing is I’m slowly losing weight now ( very very slowly!) so if that continues I might need some, I do find winter easier though, joggers and fleeces or leggings and long jumpers 😄

Right, time to get up and get on.

daisy_1571

now, now, wagging finger emoji !! If you were gaining weight you'd be allowed new clothes. Losing it slowly just means things will be looser for a while - no new clothes until 2027!! Youve got a mortgage and eleventy-million cruise employees to support 😂🤣😂

Dxx

South_coast

Losing weight for me just means my existing clothes actually fit a bit more comfortably 🤣!

newgirly

😂 That’s probably valid Daisy and SC that’s probably true for me too! I think my exception will be new pair of jeans if I need them as they can be dodgy if they dont fit well, but other than that I can get by.

Had a bit of a “funny turn” yesterday, that makes me sound like an old dear 😩 woke up feeling a bit odd and then went very dizzy and a bit strange while out with best friend. Have taken it very easy since and I did have a busy weekend and it’s been hot so probably not worrying. Luckily due to my plethora of machines and watch I can self check warfarin levels, blood pressure, oxygen level, heart rate and do a mini ecg - all are normal so I’ll wait and see if it happens again before seeing anyone.

Wow it’s hot today 🥵 due to feeling rough yesterday I’ve been taking it very easy in front of the misting fan today, it’s too hot to sit anywhere but the loft room (unbelievably) due to us having all windows shut due to the indoor cats, they are not allowed in the bedroom though thank goodness so that’s where I’m camped out with all the fans going 🤣 I’ve shut the curtains throughout as the girls have a habit of trying to lie in the sun still 🤯 they do have very small brains those two 😂

Not much to report, I checked the finances today and can happily report that I’ve gone over by £7.51 on the grocery etc, budget this month - so far. This is good because I bought a very expensive £130 misting fan out of the budget too so have really come way under. It’s been sparse though food wise if I’m honest 🤔 had it not been as hot this month I’d have cooked lot more as I’ve been living off sarnies and salads…..

Time to set some targets I think! The credit card will be paid off by the end of August all going well and then we are in a situation where we have small savings pots for irregular things but no other savings. It’s all been up in the air as I am trying to work out a budget for travel/saving/repairs etc. and it has been stressing me about a bit. I still don’t know what we should be doing or when so instead of drifting I’m setting a target. That target is to save £1000 a month for sept/oct/ Nov this year as well as £860 a month towards the trips we have booked (we have been saving a while for these but now the cc is getting paid off first). This is what we were oping by so is a reasonable target and we do need an emergency fund.

The mortgage deal ends in sept 2027 so then the plan was to use the offset to clear the balance -they are the same now although we still pay £190 pm as it’s a repayment them pay ourselves back from the offset if that makes sense. Once that’s done we won’t have access to a big amount of cash in a dire emergency. I mean there is the option to let it tick over like that a few more years as it doesn’t cost anything but I’m not sure that feels right, so we need an emergency fund.

So Augusts budget is :

Pay £1860 pff the cc - in actual fact as it’s 0% until May we will keep the cc money (£9200 odd) in premium bonds and just draw out the min payments each month to cover the direct debit, just incase we win 🤣

Do the trip to York and Shilton in August for four nights for under £300 for everything -it’s actually a higher budget for us than usual but it’s dhs birthday and our 30th the weekend before so some meals out needed, plus I want to go to the train museum 😁 this will be borrowed from Septembers budget.

Another target is to get the food budget in at £400 , it’s been higher of late as I’ve not been doing regular bigger shops but this month proves I can cut back, the usual budget is £500 for everything and the cats food.

Thats it so far 😬

themadvix

We’re well under on food this month too NG, despite buying more quiche than anyone should eat… definitely a result of the heat!

I’m pretty sure the railway museum is free entry (just checked and there’s a suggested donation) - so that will help your budget.

daisy_1571

I know it maybe mathematically makes a bit of sense keeping money in pbs and dribbling it in to cc but the chances of winning anything meaningful with that amount are pretty low. Id suggest either just pay it off and start getting used to not having cc debt cos you have been paying off debt a long long time now or put the money into something actually gaining you interest then it makes more mathematical sense???

Plus the more you have saved in 'pots' the less you need a vague 'emergency fund'. Saving a twelfth each month for known annual expenses, vehicle insurance, vehicle tax, vehicle mot, vehicle servicing and maintenance, house insurance, house maintenance, clothing, xmas, birthday and other presents, white goods and electronic replacement, vet bills, holidays etc etc. If you can start funding these each month you will lessen your need for access to a large cash amount, which has naturally been a great comfort for a few years now ???

Just a few thoughts

Dxx

South_coast

I have just withdrawn c£15k from a 4.06% ISA (guaranteed tax-free interest 🥰!) to pay off my 0% cards. No mathematical sense in doing so, but the lure of being debt free rather than debt neutral was too much.

I have longed for NG to do the same with her offset mortgage and just pay the darn ERC, but I know she is determined to resist me 😅

newgirly

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82085191#Comment_82085191

Hi Vix, hope you are well 😊 thanks that’s good news , the York one is free too but I hadn’t checked the other one 👍

Hi sc and Daisy, ooooh no I won’t be paying an ERC on the mortgage, that would be the cost of cruise 😱 the trouble is I won £50 earlier this year when the cruise money was sat in there and I have to say it’s the most exciting thing that’s happened to me in a long time 🤣 it’s possibly made it seem like I’ve a good chance again soon and that’s not likely. I may leave it to the fickle finger of fate and see if I win in a couple of days and then decide…..

Big shop done at @ldi after hospital this morning, I forgot to visit the frozen section mind 🫣but I’ve stocked up on cupboard stuff so I need to get cooking! Used up some on the turn yogurt when I cleaned the fridge and made some flat breads, well that’s a lie - more like lumps of stodgy thick doorstep flatbreads that I will throw later when dh also refuses to eat them 🤣 I usually make good ones, so don’t know what went wrong this time.

newgirly

Yesterday I visited the new huge charity shop that’s opened in the big retail park, there’s a similar one near ds2’s flat which I pop to sometimes and this is the same. It had only been open two days, bought myself four books (2 for £1) and two vintage beaded evening bags at £2 each for my posh cruise in November, I may sell one if I don’t need it but both were nice. It’s a vast shop but sadly no furniture. Then on to the r@nge where I got some Halloween fat quarters for just £3.99, I’m going to attempt to make hammocks for DIL’s rats for her birthday, she loves getting gifts for her pets more than herself. Whether they will be useable is another matter 😆 but it’s got to be worth a try and a lot cheaper than the ones on Etsy.

Last night we had a feta and orzo salad and some homemade potato salad with a green salad, there’s some left for today I think so no effort required later really. I also made a weird chocolate “dessert” as I was desperate for chocolate but too lazy to go and buy it 😁 Greek yoghurt, lots of cocoa powder, peanut butter and vanilla extract with a tiny bit of sugar and a splash of caramel sugar free coffee syrup, it want too bad actually with some blueberries, not exactly healthy but healthier than a bag of peanut m and m’s.

Not sure what we are doing today yet, dh has just gone to the bootsale on his own, I didn’t fancy getting too hot and walking for hours today so am having a lie in 😬

newgirly

Just looking back over the last few posts and realised I didn’t really respond to Daisy’s post about emergency funds. It’s a valid point about having savings pots (finally!) but its more about building an EF if for some reason when dh is retired that we stop getting rent on the factory. I’m hoping there will be a little building up in the business account but we could do with more for the future just incase. Or incase of a bargain long cruise of course 🤣

Saw the new Spider-Man film today, very good 😁 no spending for me due to the pass and I took my water bottle, dh bought a fizzy drink for himself, that’s his lookout but it’s the last thing I’d pay for there but each to their own and he doesn’t go out much.