Mortgage free in Forever Home :-)

KajiKita

Thanks @MissRikkiC, really appreciate that feedback. Less sugar / refined carbs and the TRE practice is making a massive difference for me. Though I am sure that the longer daylight hours and sunshine we are enjoying atm are helping too. The acid test will be how I feel and if I am sustaining these habits in January / February next year! 😉

KK

KajiKita

I am shattered. Just going into a week off and wandered round the house and garden last night making a list of things that I want to get done. I keep thinking of more things! 😂 I think I will prioritise some of the things I really want to / must get done and categorise some as ‘not fun’ jobs - the latter I will try and knock at least one or two over every morning and then do nicer ones in the afternoons 😊

In this mix is paying my credit card off at the end of the month, topping up all the YNAB pots and seeing what I can do as an OP. It’s felt like a really spendy month so I am hoping I have some slack ….

Back end of this coming week (Thursday) I will place an order with Dovebr00k Kitchen so I can eat good quality vegan food ‘someone else has cooked’ when Mr KK is away in France 😉 I am hoping this will get me trying new ingredients and flavours. 

The main mission for today though is washing and buying cucumber plants as I just haven’t got round to organising those for myself this year …. 🙄

KK

KajiKita

Ended up being quite a quiet day as my stiff / sore lower back keeps waking me at early am and the sun was so strong today. 

However, I did have some small wins:
- 1 hour on the veggie patch weeding / clearing space for the runner beans to go in
- groceries is at 25% of budget before next pay day - exactly on track in spite of going into Gr@peTr33 and Sainsbugs for some missing bits today.
- got my £15 off the M0rrisons delivery today
- picked up a voucher for £20 off a Sainsbugs home delivery order before 10th June when spending more than £150 - I will need to plan this carefully and potentially offset the saving v. bulk buying of stocks (is it just me or are there quite a few substantial ‘money off if you spend £x’ vouchers around all of a sudden ….?)
- Gr@petree was interesting …. Picked up Garam flour as mine had gone ood, goji berries, cacao nibs and a loyalty card. The goji berries are about £1 cheaper per kilo than Sanainbugs and Mr T but the cacao nibs …. Yee Gods! In Mr T and Sainsbugs they are charging £32/Kg - Tree of Grape £8.99 for a kilo!! 😳 I couldn’t believe when I checked this evening, but it’s all there on the websites and my receipt so it must be true …..
- paid off credit card bill, topped up YNAB pots and started a new one for slabs around the house and on our patio next year and could still …
- … make an OP of £270 😊 With our standard monthly OP it means we have paid £277.73 this month 👍😊💪 Not unhappy with that in such a hectic month 😊
- two loads of washing done, dried outside and put away - boosh-da! 🎉
- Mr KK did his riding awareness course and both enjoyed it and learned quite a bit - instructor was complimentary about both the bike (Mr KK has restored a 1992 bike as he couldn’t afford a brand new one) and Mr KK’s riding so a good day all round 😊
- finished reading a novel
- renewed my library books
- updated my signature! 😊

I plan to explore Tree of Grape’s website to see if I can get genned in on when they have offers, how to get more loyalty points etc.
The other looming minor challenge is that More and Milk have written to us to say they are not delivering locally any more. Mr KK is saying it will have to go on the supermarket delivery, but I don’t think we would have space for a week’s worth of milk with the amount he gets through …. We’ll see. 

KK

KajiKita

Forgot a couple: 

Mr KK needs euros for his WW2 trip - I remembered that I had a few bits tucked away in our little safe - Mr KK is happy as as he has some small denominations now and I am happy as I got £20 in cash back from him 😊

Also, aiming to not take out any cash pocket-money this month as my purse has £100 in it - Mr KK has been paying me back for various things (sticky-neck for the cat etc.) in cash through last month. 😊

Kk

KajiKita

Been a bit limp these past two days. Not slept too well due to hip / lower back pain waking me in the nights in the last week. Did a lot of stretching and took painkillers last night which helped - I did actually sleep through, but was sooo sore this morning. 😕 

As a result of the above, haven’t done too much gardening so far, but all the washing is done, dried (thank you weather Gods!) and put away, bathroom and toilet are cleaned, wrote the card (dedicated to my Grandpa and his mates) on the wreath Mr KK is taking to Hill 112 in Normandy for me next week (they are having a formal ceremony there this year so Mr KK will attend and place the wreath on that day - my Grandpa got invalided out after trying to take out a German machine gun nest, on his own with just a rifle as they were harassing his men - he got hit by the machine gun), potted up some supermarket parsley and given everything a good watering. 

Did a TRE session whilst Mr KK cooked dinner tonight and will do more stretching when I go up to bed again, so I am hoping to be feeling a bit better tomorrow, get going a bit earlier and get a bit more done, actually in the garden.

KK

KajiKita

I have updated my YNAB ratios this evening and since December 2022, my ‘Must Haves’ percentage has dropped from 61% (target should be max 50%) to a much healthier 53%. In that time my savings score has increased from 15% to 25% (target is 20%) - pretty pleased with this.

The next step in improving my ratios will be reducing my mobile bill from the £28+ I am paying per month as I will be out of contract from 16th June and I will then move to a SIM only deal. 

Ran some numbers on current mortgage interest rates to see what our remortgage might look like in October 2024 - not pretty. But you do see a marked effect from house value increases / outstanding mortgage balance drops …. I will continue pushing on. 

KK

SandyShores

I just noticed your end date reduced by 1 month in your signature.  Not sure how I missed that, but that's great.  Similar position re. the mortgage and thinking about the much higher rates now.  It certainly isn't pretty, but we are moving in the right direction with overpayments.  Here's hoping for the best.

KajiKita

Thanks @SandyShores, I don’t think you missed it per se as I have only just updated it! It’s a good feeling though as I have finally overtaken where we should have been if we hadn’t had the 3 months reduced payments due to my furlough. So VERY glad that I politely declined the second offer of that arrangement!! 

Perhaps we should hold hands as we walk towards the big, scary, looming remortgage monster …. 😉

KK

SandyShores

We'll get there, and will be good to have someone to head there alongside

KajiKita

SandyShores said:

We'll get there, and will be good to have someone to head there alongside

Thank you Sandy, good to feel I have a friend here 😊❤️

KK