Mortgage free in Forever Home :-)

greenbee

KajiKita said:

greenbee said:

Maybe you should put the extra into your pension or savings and only OP if Mr KK agrees to match it? After all, the house is a shared asset/liability - maybe you should wait to do any further OPs yourself until he’s caught up?

I’m sure work will be fine - but a new job is always a bit daunting until you’ve got the hang of the people/processes/culture/jargon. Best of luck!

Hmmm … That’s a bit ultimatumy for us … Also, I should say for balance, Mr KK ‘donates’ his skill and time to the work on the house which we would have to pay a lot for if we were to pay tradespeople. 

His mind just doesn’t work for things like OPs in the same way mine does. He’s catching up, slowly. He actually has a savings account now - for the first two decades together he didn’t. In all honesty, I wonder if it just feels too intimidating for him? 🤔

Also, to be fair, he talks about what he would do with his half of the proceeds from his mum’s house when she dies. First on the list is always the mortgage. He did offer to increase his contribution to the joint account by enough so that £20 pcm could be an OP when we first started looking at possible new deals this spring, but that got kiboshed by me needing a smaller job and him having to contribute more anyway. I think he likes easy, passive, don’t have to use mental effort on a regular basis, ways of paying down the mortgage more, iyswim …

Thank you for the job start good wishes. A friend I was text chatting to last night told me not to expect to be amazing immediately and that I put myself under a lot of pressure! 😉😂

KK

It sounds as if you just have different ways of looking at things. But worth keeping what you've just written in mind to avoid it becoming a bone of contention at any point.

As for the job - there's a reason for a 3-month probation period, but also for the number of 'first 90/100 day' toolkits etc out there. You want to make an impact in the first 3 months - not the first 3 days! I found it very intimidating the first time an employer issues a press release about me joining and felt I should make an immediate impact - but quickly realised that I needed to spend the time working out what that impact needed to be! 

f0xh0les

Good luck with tomorrow, hopefully you will learn loads from this new role, and be able to improve what they already do well.  You are not expected to be the expert on day 1.

On the o/p front, with us, DH covered the monthly payment, and my department was overpaying.  Some months I overpaid more than he paid, some months I just covered the interest, so that every penny he paid in went to reducing the balance.  Our mortgage was half of yours at the beginning, but I tidied up my bank balances at the end  of each week  His face was priceless when we got our annual statement, and it ran to 6 sides of  A4 with £2.14/ £0.04/ £800 /£0.19 etc,  because I tidied up the mortgage balance as well. £120,00.07 was not acceptable, £119,99.99 was acceptable (and under £120k !! ) Just put in your 'milestones' and celebrate each one.  Not sure 'normal people' find it fun, but seeing that 'total balance' fall was brilliant.

The thing to remember is, that each pound you pay off is a pound you never have to pay interest on, ever, ever again. You are spending £1 to save £2. There is no such thing as an irrelevant o/p. 

teapot2

All the best for the new job start tomorrow, remember to breathe and be kind to yourself.

KajiKita

Thanks @greenbee, @f0xh0les, @teapot2. Feeling a bit better now I am prepped for tomorrow as far as I can …

Had a more productive day than I expected to. 

- Got a WFit workout done before Mr KK got up 😊👏💪

- Spent an hour in the garden weeding the last section of one of the veg beds, including the awkward edges and the bit under the hedge 😊 Also helped Mr KK remove the net from the big pond, manipulate the captured leaves into the compost bin (we both got a bit wet during this bit! 😉) and fold it up for storage again. 

- In the midst of this, was assistant to Mr KK as he replaced one of his reversing light bulbs on the van. 

- Fed the birds twice! Ordered more sunflower hearts and a second feeder!! Whilst in the veggie patch there was a male black bird around me behaving like a robin, swooping in to grab worms etc 😊 Now christened Bob 🐦‍⬛ There was also fierce and active chittering come from the feeder! Lost of little birds all battling for a space. They were bouncingly cross but, I enjoyed seeing them 😉

- Decluttered / tidied up some leftover mess from when we did the bathroom in the summer. Two bags of toiletries reviewed and put in a box on the bookcase on the landing so I use them up a la @LadyWithAPlan  😊 That task naturally led to me clearing and removing a random cardboard box left on the window sill of the landing with some cleaning materials in it. Those jobs have been looking at me for aaaages, so I am very pleased to have got them done. 😊

- Prepped and recorded in noootracheck my lunch for tomorrow. I will sort my breakfast later (overnight oats, with yogurt, chia seeds and topped with goji berries and cacao nibs 😊). Also pulled together what I need to take in tomorrow (tea bags, oat milk, certificates, safety shoes, presentation I delivered at the interview etc.).

- Rang my mum. She was full of questions about the new job but overall is very pleased for me (excuse me, who are you and what have you done with my mother?! 😉😂). 

- Had some time on the sofa after lunch with cross stitch and V0yager 😊. Just got to J@neway’s spiritual quest to try and heal Kes. The cross stitch needs to be finished before 25th so I can play with my new tapestry ….! 😉😊

Chloe is curled up in her bed having accepted some fishy dinner from me 😊 She’s pretty much eating normal amounts now but still seems a bit subdued. Not sure how much of it is due to missing George and how much due to the wild and howling wind (she is not impressed by the latter)! 

KK

PennysIntoPounds

Hope it all goes very well tomorrow.
Glad Chloe is eating properly.
Well done on getting those pesky jobs done. Nice to have some toiletries to enjoy using up 😊

KajiKita

PennysIntoPounds said:

Hope it all goes very well tomorrow.
Glad Chloe is eating properly.
Well done on getting those pesky jobs done. Nice to have some toiletries to enjoy using up 😊

I found some really nice toiletries in the heap … I’m working through some bottles in the shower atm so I can have some beautiful scents over Christmas and into the dark cold bit of the year … Another survival tactic 😊

KK

LadyWithAPlan

KajiKita said:

@SandyShores, actually we started at a £316K mortgage! (Gulp …)
I can’t definitely pay off £x amount each month atm (apart from the over paid DD which is so small it doesn’t register! 😂😉) but I will play more with the calculators if I manage to get the £5K salary increase after my six months probation 🤞😊

This sounds a bit hard hearted, but … in a way … the whole job misery / switch thing has had one positive effect in that Mr KK is contributing more. There’s a bit of me that is inclined to not fully reduce the amount that he contributes, if / when I get the salary increase (we normally contribute as a percentage of take home pay) as up to now, all but £40 of the £7.4K OPs have come from me …. If he was shovelling it into his pension I would be more inclined to reduce his contribution, but he doesn’t do that either … sigh … 🙄

KK

This seems very wise and actually benefits you both LongTerm  if Mr KK takes on more responsibility as he cant seem to save and you do the OPS  £7,360 v £40 is a bit pathetic.
Maybe an agreed monthly DD larger OP is the way forward once the household finances settle?

Its about focus and choosing on a daily basis to move your goals forward. The OPs seem such a marathon bit going from over £316k to £164k is a huge achievement in itself... maybe do the marble jars or a pic you can colout in each £250 principal to really slam the message home that the sooner it gets paid off the sooner you both dont need to work as hard..

Or maybe split all  your  additional OPs into 50/50 the  mortgage and your pension ... feel less 'unfair' that way.

KajiKita said:

Thanks @greenbee, @f0xh0les, @teapot2. Feeling a bit better now I am prepped for tomorrow as far as I can …

Had a more productive day than I expected to. 

- Decluttered / tidied up some leftover mess from when we did the bathroom in the summer. Two bags of toiletries reviewed and put in a box on the bookcase on the landing so I use them up a la @LadyWithAPlan  😊 That task naturally led to me clearing and removing a random cardboard box left on the window sill of the landing with some cleaning materials in it. Those jobs have been looking at me for aaaages, so I am very pleased to have got them done. 😊

Chloe is curled up in her bed having accepted some fishy dinner from me 😊 She’s pretty much eating normal amounts now but still seems a bit subdued. Not sure how much of it is due to missing George and how much due to the wild and howling wind (she is not impressed by the latter)! 

KK

Enjoy the using up toiletries game ... its fun and seemingly endless.
 I have been stuck on a No7 serum mixing with  a PSA anti-oxidant serum - I am using them  2 x daily and they will not go down!! I have now started  also using a NO7 retinol every 3rd night - (this is all before the actual night cream!).

You can tell Chloe  I am also not impressed with the wind

Enjoy yourself tomorrow - its in the first 18 months you really get traction (after that being  seen  as a STAR does not get perceived as much), so just focus on what you can bring in the first 3 months.

 I suggest you keep a weekly or daily journal of wins at work, and processes .. so when you hit the 'what/how you have done/helped ' in 6 months  interview you are already prepped

redofromstart

I think you are very similar to us in that we placed real value on the input we each made into repairs - and although I always appreciated it - now that I am paying for that help I can really, really see the worth of what he did for us. 

SandyShores

KajiKita said:

@SandyShores, actually we started at a £316K mortgage! (Gulp …)
I can’t definitely pay off £x amount each month atm (apart from the over paid DD which is so small it doesn’t register! 😂😉) but I will play more with the calculators if I manage to get the £5K salary increase after my six months probation 🤞😊

This sounds a bit hard hearted, but … in a way … the whole job misery / switch thing has had one positive effect in that Mr KK is contributing more. There’s a bit of me that is inclined to not fully reduce the amount that he contributes, if / when I get the salary increase (we normally contribute as a percentage of take home pay) as up to now, all but £40 of the £7.4K OPs have come from me …. If he was shovelling it into his pension I would be more inclined to reduce his contribution, but he doesn’t do that either … sigh … 🙄

KK

We started at £310k @KajiKita (definitely Gulp!) so not too far behind

I was telling Mr Shores about your calculations and also the N/Wide mortgage for older people.  We are hoping not to use that but its good to have in reserve.  

Mr Shores has always been a spender, but he is on board these days.  Had a blip recently but seems to have learned from it.  Its difficult to balance the books between input and money, but he worked when I stayed home for childcare part-time for a few years, although his spending probably negated that!!  Moving forward though and we are working towards being comfortable (fingers crossed).

Watty1

Sending good vibes for tomorrow.