Mortgage free in Forever Home :-)

LadyWithAPlan

I am loving the sound of crazy rice 
on the blood sugar levels I have been eating a small organic spinach salad with apple cider vinegar  whilst I prep my brunch /food 
I read it helps the blood sugar rush up eat greens before carbs and proteins .. plus it starts filling you up. I feel much better on it 

I have never been married but my identity is wrapped up in my surname (never really thought about it it’s interesting !) - my sister double barrelled hers on marriage - 

KajiKita

Thanks @LadyWithAPlan, @Brie, @Cheery_Daff, @debtfreewannabe321, @Baileys_Babe, @Watty1 - all interesting perspectives on changing names too  

KK

KajiKita

Inspired by others here I have done a midyear review for myself. It's been an interesting exercise and I have some things to celebrate and some other things to get done!  

1st January – decided to move £10K into high interest, no access for the duration without penalty, account … finally, actually did this last weekend!

Had the veggie patch clear and fully weeded. It isn’t like that now!!

3rd January – starting to get bored in work ..

Set some aspirations for the garden:

- Plan my succession plantings and get them recorded for action in my diary, calendars, work diary - everywhere! 😉 – Didn’t work

- Look out recipes for my typical gluts and have them ready to use – I have done this and it has worked – I have new recipes I will use again and again (e.g baked mushrooms stuffed with leeks, cheese and curly kale ), learned new techniques such as making a compote, found an alternative to chips: wild rice with a shallot vinaigrette with a bit of veggie Parmesan.

- Watch my crops more closely to see the gluts arising and get the recipes in the next week’s meal plan and any supporting ingredients in the weekly shop – Bit patchy but not bad.

- Aim to CONSUME something from my garden every week, certainly between April to end September - even if it’s just a few sprigs of herbs in a meal or a tisane – Yes, I think I have done this, pretty much every week so far 😊

- As previously mentioned, get out with a child’s bucket and a pair of scissors to chop back the bindweed, ideally daily, but minimum of 4 times per week – wasn’t doing too badly on this until work went meh and the weather went hot! All gone to pot again …. ☹

Much doing of tapestry 😊 Suggestion here that it could be made into a wall hanging – a dark velvet might work as a back drop for it ….

Need to finish this actually.

In the January cold spell, Chloe had to have the living room curtain explained to her.

Started planning what to do with my settlement payout:

£9,785

- £500 slimline dishwasher and install – done, cost less 😊

- £500 boiler repair (hoping this will allow us to avoid dipping into the £1K that we have as the household EF to fix the current, known problem) – Done – cost less

- £1K for the paving around the house that we want to do as the one ‘house job’ for 2025 - there will be something gloriously poetic about walking over what my old boss had to pay to get rid of me … 😉 Budget extended to £2K, not yet complete

- £2K OP to mortgage

- £4K into either my ex-employer pension (seems to perform okay) or the SIPP I set up when I combined all my bitty bits of pensions from various jobs – Sent £1K each to 2 private (ex employer) pensions)
Still need to reclaim the HR tax relief for one of these on the link that Redo shared:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-tax-relief-on-your-private-pension-payments

Added a small holiday for me at £220 plus spending money at the end of July and I think the garden works I had one recently could come from this pot ….

Renewed all the bark paths and added an area under the pine tree at the bottom of the garden which I removed all the seedling Goat Willow and plum from beneath. That led me to snapping my garden fork!

Made pizza dough from scratch for the first time. We will never be eating SM pizzas again! 😊

25th January – start of neuralgia in my jaw, went on for 4 weeks until I started using a mushroom supplement which I am still on!

Started using the washing line outside again 😊

Spent £78 on milled green oak slats to renew the garden bench - still looks amazing and feels so much nicer to sit on! 😊

 

February:

During February discussions looked at targeting 1% OPs per annum i.e. £2,400. First big target is to be sub £200K – need to work out when that might happen …

Work horrendous!

End of February, a recruiter contacted me about a possible new role ….

 

March:

Japanese Maple that I wanted crown thinned, was instead lopped down into a lollipop! ☹

Week long birthday celebrations for Mr KK’s 60th 😊

He cashed in the ‘paid week’s holiday’ (being self employed he doesn’t get any paid annual leave) when he went to France last week 😊

Got below £240K on mortgage!! 😊

Cleared and made decisions a whole load of items that had come back home from previous roles with me.

Found a new picnic table set (table and 4 chairs) for £220 😊

26th March - I resigned!

31st March, 1st cuppa together with Mr KK by the pond after work in the sunshine 😊

 

April:

6th - Emptied and relocated contents of cupboard where the dishwasher was due to be installed. At this point it becomes Mr KK’s job …

Decluttered by smashing up with a hammer the very, very ancient bag of ground volcanic rock (it had moved house with us twice!!) that apparently brings mineral fertility to soil and spreading it around the veggie patch in and the greenhouse.

Cracking blossom season due to no rain or frost.

14th – Chloe damaged by contact with a car, surgery needed. TG for pet insurance!

Mr KK started digging out the bank to create a retaining wall for the path on the front of the house.

New microwave needed as old one died.

28th – Started new job! 😊

 

May:

DB Pension provider from many employers ago sent letter about potentially accessing a lump sum and pension from next year (55). I won’t do it yet, but it led me to doing more reading and getting a bit more understanding of pension Options.

Started Mindful Eating coaching sessions

11th – First sweetpea flower of the year

15th – First crop of strawberries

24th – Unpacked the dishwasher and took the drawer and shelf and door off the cupboard where the dishwasher was meant to go as a prompt to Mr KK!

25th – got the cut flower patch planted up

26th Got the greenhouse planted up

27th – started re-teaching myself how to crochet

29th – Dishwasher finally installed!!!! 😊

 

June:

1st - Made a compote from strawberries (first time ever – it boiled over everywhere!!) and started having it in my breakfast oats

4th – Funeral for Niece’s stillborn baby

7th – Bought big chunky blanket crochet kit and booked a felting craft session with a friend during my holiday in late July

Finally managed to arrange to visit my parents for the first time in 3 years, during September …

12th – created new kitchen island from an old unit someone was throwing out and a spare piece of worktop Mr KK had hanging around. Transformational 😊

13th Night out (rare event for us) for a ploughman’s and a blue’s band – we are seriously considering going to see them again in December to see the full band 😊

Mr KK away in France so washed every heavyweight winter shirt and gilet of his that I could get my hands on, to take advantage of the hot weather to dry!

Lifted garlic and started cropping baby cucumbers

Created HM burger relish 😊

Had some heavy garden work done by the landscape contractors who come into work – worth every penny!

Finally moved £10K of EF savings into fixed term, decent interest rate savings account! Should ‘mature’ in December 2026.

And the ultimate point of this thread: OPs so far this year £4,344 v. target of £2,400 (or 1% of starting balance of mortgage this year).
I won’t be able to match that again through the rest of the year as £1K came from my mum and £2K from my previous employer settlement) but I might be able to manage a further £456 to get to 2% of opening balance …
It's actually been quite cheering to tot this up and see how much I have OP'd this year. 

Read 32 books, YTD

Produce value is running at £188 v. target of £300 for the year.

Well done for reading all that (if you have! )

Will do a separate post on actions arising ...

KK

 

KajiKita

Half year review, actions arising:

- Use link in previous post to reclaim HR taxed pension contributions.

- Work out when we should hit sub £200K on the mortgage as the next big milestone ...

- Define conversation topics for trip to parents.

KK

Brie

re topics - I know my relationship with my mom was different to your parents but neutral topics which are of interest to them might be a good place to start.  Art in general and painting specifically was always a good one for mom.  Weather, often boring but it's easy to join in.  Or think of something that is there in their home, a picture on the wall, a piece of furniture that's been around forever, that sofa, whatever and ask about it.  Where did they get it, why?

skint_spice

That’s quite a lot achieved in six months, well done!

dawnybabes

With my toxic in-laws I found talking about the neighbours kept the conversation going ! 

PennysIntoPounds

What a lot of brilliant achievements 👏 
I love the suggestion from @Brie to ask about a painting or bit of furniture, good topic of conversation and you might learn something interesting and they'll have the satisfaction of imparting knowledge at you so even if you're bored you'll have been a good 'guest'!
Since you don't see them that often you can always do 'blimey doesn't time go quick, it'll be Christmas before we know it' and ask them if there's anything they might like that they've been interested in lately, books they've read, music they've enjoyed, plants they've admired etc

beanielou

Amazing achievements.

LadyWithAPlan

Brilliant acheivements ! Love the pathway idea as well - walk on that boss!