Starting afresh in paradise

ManekiNeko

Thanks Merlin, that's a very good point about a product switch. I did know that info somewhere in the back of my brain, but had entirely forgotten 🤦‍♀️ oh dear lol .. I have to laugh to avoid worrying, my memory is really bad now at times. Anyway, that's reassuring to think of and thank you. 💛

Thanks ... I can only agree with you, I completely understand that there needs to be a system to assess people's health but the current one seems designed to upset, confuse, intimidate, humiliate, and put people with disabilities off. At least, that is my personal experience. Ironically, I'd clean forgot about needing to do the forms, so you've reminded me of that too 😉 I'm starting to feel a little better today, so I might well have another go later with a cuppa.

Been a bit quiet for a few days as I've been ill, and my MH is worse, no doubt partly because every problem seems worse when I'm under the weather.

Just discovered this morning from reading on MSE that I can only have up to £5k in my savings account, otherwise the interest rate for anything above that is rubbish, so I need to have a think about what to do with the (probably small amount of) "overflow." I might just use my Chase account for now, given I think it'll be a temporary situation, or maybe I'll get organised and try to find something a bit better, just in case I save back up later on. Anyway, it means any savings above £5k will only get about 3 or maybe 3.5 per cent, instead of about 5 per cent.

ManekiNeko

It's been a rough month for MH so I've been quiet, a mix of PIP forms which always suck and bring up bad memories, difficulty accessing medical care, and feeling really low for a few reasons. As well as dissociative disorder symptoms, which are always more noticeable when I'm not doing well, thou no answers on that yet, we're still waiting for a funding decision.

Not much has happened on a money front, just a few OPs from cashback that's paid out.

I've been struggling to log my spends, and I've got myself all confused about what money I have left to spend because of it, so I've been thinking about rather than having one section (per bank account) in my app, with multiple pots held within it, which I then need to manually deduct spends from, to have one section in my app per pot. If I do that, and type the cost of the expense into it, the app will add up how much is left in that pot for me. The advantage is that I think I'd find it much easier to cope with logging, the drawback is that it's harder to see what's left in total in each account (e.g. to check that the total of all my pots = the account balance), so I'm still trying to work out how to do this within the app's functionality. It might help to ask my support worker, but we've been using all our sessions on PIP lately.

I did try to call the bank to double check the max. I can OP in one go, but the call was too much for me to cope with (turns out I can't deal with call centres on top of existing stresses) so I think I'll either have to pop into the branch or write a letter.

The PIP forms have had good progress, but aren't anywhere near finished (maybe halfway overall?), so I might have to ask for another extension of a week or two. It might be for the best anyway given I'm still waiting on two supporting letters. Like, they both did drafts, but they were pretty weak sauce and I didn't think they'd help me much and might even be damaging as they'd written things that weren't true (not on purpose, just due to lack of precise wording choices). So I've had to go back to them and ask if they'd make changes, and I've also suggested a few examples of things they've witnessed my struggle with but hadn't remembered to include. I always feel uncomfy doing that but fortunately they were just like ohh yeah 🤦‍♀️ ofc, now I remember that, good point.

So yeah, that's about it really. Let's end on something more positive - by the end of next month, it'll be a year since I completed on my home. ☺️ That's quite mad in a good way haha. And, I own a little more of it than I did then - I like to think of buying it brick by brick from the bank. Hope you're making good progress buying extra bricks too. 🌞🏡

PM22

I really like ready your diary 

ManekiNeko

Thanks @PM22, nice of you to stop by as it were. How's your bank holiday weekend?

ManekiNeko

Sorry posting is so sporadic everyone, I haven't been doing very good with my mental health lately. I'm still not well tbf.

This has definitely knocked into my spending so my budget is all over the place, I'm going to need to get some help to get it back on track as I haven't been logging spends for quite a while now, so I've no idea what's left in each pot. I might be able to ask my support worker for help. I do have an idea for how to deal with spends better in future though, to avoid this happening the next time around. It's just frustrating as it makes it harder to see my total amount of savings in my app.

On a mortgage note, I did a few sums this morning and discovered that I could currently expect my rate to be 5.28 per cent on a two-year fix with my current lender, meaning without any overpayments I'd expect to pay £333 a month after my current fix ends. However, with solid overpayments in the meantime, I'd pay more like £291. Knowing this has reduced the amount of eye twitching I experience whenever I hear about a base rate rise in the news. It also makes my overpayments feel doubly worth it, as they're like an insurance policy against high future interest rates.

I know one day I'll buy a bigger home, but for right now I'm deeply grateful for my small mortgage (that's still pretty big to me). I hope when I need the next rung on the property ladder I'll have managed to pay down a lot of this mortgage, so that my next mortgage won't be too much bigger than this one. We shall see.

Oh, I've continued payments to my DS btw.. still on track for Jan 2030, 11 months after my fix ends. (My original DFD was November 2030.) It's nice to be able to pay her back a little more than the original monthly amount, I've been enjoying that feeling. I still want to pull these repayments forward by at least those 11 months though, so I'm done when my fix ends. My aim is to ensure if interest rates are high, I can chuck everything at my mortgage if needed.

Thinking about it though ... that approach is ok for a product transfer, but if I remortgage to another lender then really, I'd need to have finished paying her back by some time before my fix ends, like maybe at least 12 months ahead of time, right? Otherwise I'd have to explain to my broker there were payments but they've only just ended, and the bank doesn't like to see any debt on your statements, do they? (Not that it is debt in the technical sense but still.) Hmm. 🤔 Like.. I'll be looking for a new fix from 6 months out, and I'll need 3-6 months of statements to show the bank. Bleh. Only just realised this. Still, there's nothing I can do yet, it'll just be a case of re-working my budget if/when I have any increase in income.

Hope y'all are staying cool in the sun. 🌅🆒🧊🍨🍦

ManekiNeko

Just a little post to celebrate one year today of home ownership.

I haven't made as much progress as I'd like on my home, but I do have a new boiler, several new radiators and a new toilet, and most importantly of all, a roof and walls and a front door of my own.

When I think back to last year, I remember how desperate I felt and how I couldn't plan my life because of not having a base. I felt desperate and my life often felt pointless. I couldn't see a future for myself, and I felt if the sale fell through, my life was over. I couldn't progress, especially as I couldn't try for a family while living in temporary accommodation.

Today I feel happy, and even when my mental health worsens I have a clear purpose and take meaning from my life again. I'm improving my nutrition and exercise, not from a place of feeling like it's a chore but from a place of truly wanting to move and nourish and power my body. From a place where moving my body feels good. I don't feel ready yet to return to work, but I'm learning important skills in therapy and focusing on returning to health. I'm learning to communicate with others, and my relationships are improving so much because of this. Yes, I have a long journey ahead of me to get to where I'd like in every area of my life, but I'm content and peaceful with where I am at today. I'm tired, but I can rest, and I can carry on.

And that's all I want in life - peace. I've walked through a lot of fire in my time, and survived a lot of trauma. Honestly, I take joy from simple things, like going to the supermarket with nothing harder on my mind than what's for dinner, playing a board game, and taking a walk with close ones. I take joy from having my own home and feeling safe again. From being able to make my own plans and decisions. From having my own private space, and from inviting others into it from time to time. The little things matter more than you know. Ordinary life, the mundane things, truly matter. That's all I want. Peace. It's the best feeling in the world.

So today as I wait for my celebratory takeaway to arrive, and prepare to raise a glass to owning my own home (don't worry, it's only Schloer!), I wish you all find your own deep peace in life. 😌🌟✨

Merlin's_Beard

Congratulations on a year of your safe haven!

ManekiNeko

Thanks Merlin! ☺️ Looking at your sig, looks like you're getting close to a year yourself.

It's the 1st so I've paid my manual bills, once these PIP forms are finished I'll sort out my budget properly but it won't be until next week now.

ManekiNeko

What a lovely way to start my second year of home ownership - just OP'd £658.43. 💷🤓 This will save me an additional £489.80 over the lifetime of the mortgage.

This isn't new money - it's just the sum total of everything I've put into my OPs savings fund over the past so many months - but it's still a nice feeling to actually pay it onto the mortgage.

Less fun is that my OPs fund now contains just £6.92, yikes 🙀 lol. Ah well, it'll go up a nose when I add my savings interest etc, and I hope it'll keep ticking slowly upwards just like before.

The overpayment has happened now as I'm coming up towards the lower savings threshold for benefits (£6k), and it makes no sense to have savings above that when I've got debts to pay, as my monthly benefits would reduce if I held money over that amount. (Don't worry, UC allow you to pay off debts rather than retain savings, I'm not getting into trouble!) It's a mite frustrating as I've had a nice amount of interest coming in (in fact, I earn over 3x more interest in savings compared to what I pay out on my mortgage), and now it'll be lower, but it is what it is eh? And I know I'm very lucky to be able to overpay at all in this climate.

I'll update my sig after I've done my 'proper' budget, e.g. soon when I can.

Merlin's_Beard

My year will be up late August/early September, depending on whether you're counting from completion date or moving in. It's so nice to have the permanency of a home, instead of worrying I'll get a section 21 letter telling me to get out my rented place.

You've done so well with the OPs over the last year, and yes, definitely makes sense to keep those savings under the threshold in any way possible.