Pay off mortgage and start having even more fun 😁

themadvix

Getting on the housing ladder today is very hard - we were so lucky to buy when we did and that's been a huge factor in our ability to OP (and to some extent an influence on what we were prepared to spend on another house). (Btw, I reckon your house must be worth more than that!)

Brilliant about DD and SIL! They are really setting themselves up to succeed if they can OP by that much already. You must be so proud!

It's good to know you're still where you only planned to be for a couple of years too - you know how our house was meant to be for two years, then five, then we were moving... and now there's even whispers or consideration that we might stay put as it would give us so many other options (which may also involve property, but who knows!).

killerpeaty

I think there was a sweet spot for buying houses, but I do think that especially cities are so tough to buy in. I'm lucky to be in a commuter belt with fantastic public transport.

newgirly

Hi Vix, I guess I didn’t know it would get harder to keep moving as we had been so lucky with massive price rises for the first few years when we were really young and expected that to last forever 😂 

Now you are mf, surely you should be making the most of it after such a long journey, has it lessened the urge to move now would you say? I look forward to seeing what the new plans are! 

Hi KP, hope you are well 😊 we are in the London suburbs so also spoilt with transport links, it makes it harder to move area when it’s so easy to do so much and the kids work and socialise a lot there, houses are cheaper further out that’s for sure! 

Very lazy day today, the last few days of been feeling a bit sick again, thinking it may be reflux or heartburn, hot weather doesn’t help. Early start as I got up at 5am to see off ds1 and partner, my brother and his best friend who are loaded up and heading to Glastonbury, hopefully setup by now! Ds1 is still moaning about the fact dd had her wedding on Glasto weekend last year, even thought they didn’t have tickets 😆 took them to Lidl to buy up all the long life croissants and weird cans of cocktails and wine boxes last night, it will be two trips from the car for them I think, no fun in the heat.

Tonight dd and ds2 and partners and I are going to see the 50th anniversary showing of the wicker man, I LOVE that film and I’ve new seen it at a cinema 😁

newgirly

Oh blimey just lost a big post 😩

To sum up, I’ve just fixed with so energy for a year (after checking uswtitch which had no other options!) and my direct debt has gone up by £60 😩 we have probably been underpaying a bit as credit is only £165 currently. 

This now makes it even harder oping the mortgage at the same rate. So we are trying to clear the mortgage in 33 months : oct 2022- June 2025 , I then had the urge to push this to March 2025 when I turn 50 by trimming the budget much further, we are now at the point where the living budget (after the gas / electric rise) would be down to £388 pm for on average 5 adults sometimes more, plus petrol and household costs/cleaning/pets. 

I’m not sure that’s achievable 😆 I’ll see if dh will agree to a slight drop of £6 as well as myself in personal spending money to take it to £400. He is very adamant that £100 is the minimum though and I struggle with that too if I’m honest, especially at the moment. Petrol is super cheap for my little old car and my mum sometimes insists on putting some in as I drive her around a lot. I think I’ll see how I go for the next month before making any changes to the plan, this month I’ve struggled coming down from £500 to £450 and had extra money from dh, I’ve also runout for food money now but have two items selling on eBay to pay for a shop throw weekend, so hanging in there 😬

skint_spice

It’s a fine balance NG but you want to live and not just struggle through to 50. 

newgirly

Thanks skint spice, I am definitely an all or nothing person, last year it was spend spend spend 😆

South_coast

I thought energy costs were about to go down? What was the prompt for going onto a fix? Did you get anywhere with using ZipZero to offset some of the costs?

South_coast

P.S. Sorry, I've gone into "nag" mode again 🤦‍♀️🤣!

newgirly

Hi SC nag away! 😂 I remember looking at zipzero meaning to do it and then forgetting totally, I shall look tonight thanks 😬

Yes prices are supposed to be going down, they sent me an email with how much I pay and how much the fix would be (can’t find it but a fair bit less) so I signed up, with no comparison against anyone else available, it felt wrong to not just do it but I’ve no idea if it’s the best bet 🙄 I shall keep a close eye on the direct debit as I don’t think it should be that much higher….

Felt a bit icky again today, maybe the heat is to blame!  Went to my parents for a Bbq and other than that have been watching loads of glasto over the last few days, very envious while I’m watching people I’d love to see, but it’s most certainly not for me! Ds1 and co have been having a great time though, not that he’s messaged me, I get updates from his girlfriend 😁 

Sold two things on EBay and have a bit of extra money woohoo! Unsure how much exactly yet but enough to hopefully scrape through until 1st when I can use the cc. I made £27 profit on a dress I bought for £30 a couple of months ago on vinted, quite pleased with that, now feeling like I should be an online wheeler dealer as a career 😬

newgirly

Yesterday I posted the parcels off, £27.61 has gone to my personal spending pot which I will be dipping into for food this week anyway (current total ££114.22 until 22 July)  after selling eBay bits I needed to order more cat bug tests 😩 one has an upset tummy again , hopefully just the weather fingers crossed! Plus postage costs and I bought a couple of boxes of m@gnums while in the post office 😬 

We need to pay the balance on our November cruise in the next couple of months, I’ve had an email saying they now do new drinks packages (we never get those on p&o if we go with them) obviously dh drinks alcohol on holiday and I have soft drinks and coffee, both people on the same cabin need the same package so awkward for us, anyway after a 10% discount they do a Pepsi/lemonade/fruit juice and squash package for £9.85 pppn whch I think we will get and pay as we go for any hot drinks or alcohol for him. A large coke is £3.05 so worth it I’m sure. I can get free normal tea and coffee in the buffet, but you don’t want to sit around the buffet all the time you want to be in the bars reading or watching a film 😊
 The lower level alcohol package was just under £1000 for 12 nights, normally we may spend around £70 per night while away on extras and drinks onboard. This way it takes the pressure off with spending money, dh will no doubt bring extra for himself but hopefully we can keep to a low spending budget onboard as we have spent tons on trips and there’s no extra money floating around at the moment.

Due to the higher DD for the gas/electric company, this month (from 1st) the food/grocery budget will be £390 - it’s actually £388 available but that’s a pain so I’ve rounding it up even though the £2 isn’t there 😆 no idea how that will go, probably very badly but I shall give it a try! I need to have a dig around to see what birthday bits we have here I can reuse for the kids birthdays, I doubt we will “entertain” as we have FIL’s 80th in the week between dd’s and the twins’ birthdays, but maybe some cake 🙂