Aiming to be mortgage free before I am 62!

Tiredbutdetermined

Updated my signature and chuffed my mortgage is now under £160,000. Next big goal sounds very morbid but as a single mum of 3 I panic about what would happen to the kids if something happened to me so I would get huge satisfaction from getting my mortgage under the value of my death in service benefit.  Annoyingly, I can’t get into my pension account to get the death in service benefit current value but I know I am still about £10,000 away so no rush!

My first batch of exam marking did not go well and was a pain from start to finish. I didn’t really care about the pay as it was just such a negative experience but I think it will be a pain for a while to come as they seem to have used my tax allowance and I have paid no tax on what they paid me. I am a little worried what this will mean for my teacher salary and pension contributions but I am not sure if there is anything I can do about it now.

The exam marking money has been halved between holiday savings for spending money and the emergency fund. My current bank account is looking scarily empty with a decent chunk of month left before pay day but the emergency fund is just over £1000 so I can make another cheeky £500 overpayment to the mortgage when the bank is open.

I have built a little more in my premium bonds and digital saver but still a very long way away from the car balloon payment
I think I need to re strategise after the holiday but that is still 2 months away.

My weight is horrific and I don’t feel at all comfortable in my body so I have blown £105 on Exante and am trying to blast the dust diet before holiday. I hate having to do something extreme but I need to improve my self-image before holiday. I started on Friday and had 2 months and a day until holiday so I don’t need to be perfect with it but the timeframe should be enough to have an impact physically and mentally.

Tiredbutdetermined

Urgh!
long time no update!

I have updated my signature again but still waiting for August’s mortgage payment to go out. I do love my mortgage company but they are never in a rush to take payment, which is mildly irritating as I am always in a rush to see that balance go down.

We are due to go on holiday on 17th but the ex is being an utter fudgestick about granting permission so that is turning into yet another battle. It is sad that he wants to try to make this difficult for the kids and I but, as some of you know from my old debt busting diary, he is a total narcissist and loves trying to control however he can. It is what it is though!
It mildly amuses me that I worried about posting anything on a public forum but he deludedly believes I am worse with money than him so he wouldn’t realise this is me on a mortgage free wannabes board! 

After (hopefully!) holiday I need to restrategise. My mortgage company have offered me a savings account with 7.5% interest locked in for a year up to £250 a month so it makes sense for me to redivert my saving tactics into their to make the best use of it I can. It means that that money couldn’t be used to overpay the mortgage or reduce the sun when I need to remortgage next February but I think I can make more of my money by saving rather than overpaying at the moment.
I still have the scary car finance so I think that makes a bigger priority medium term

LeighofMar

7.5% interest is amazing! I hope you're able to go on your vacation. 

beanielou

You are aesome.

Tahlullah.H

7.5% is a great saving rate.  I would jump if I had any money to save.  Perhaps next year, banks will still be offering good rates like that.  Let us know what you choose to do, save or overpay.   And enjoy the holiday, hopefully the ex won't make it an impossible dream!

Honeysucklelou2

Hope you are having a fabulous holiday and chance to recharge your batteries before the new academic year.

Tiredbutdetermined

The holiday happened and was absolutely amazing. The ex was not and I had to spend £232 on taking him to court to get a specific order allowing us to go on holiday. The money wasn’t as annoying as the stress of only getting the order 3 days before we left. The holiday was very much not money saving - eek! I am so proud I could totally spoil the kids though and I brought back a couple of hundred in cash that I would previously felt the need to splurge in the airport.
I also opened a chase account that I put money into so I could use my card abroad without extra fees and I can home with about £750 still in there. I am really loving the chase account cashback on every purchase (I think) and I have it set to do round ups so I have 2 diddy savings accounts with them for cashback and round ups that I am not actively saving into but they feel like I just have a little bit of something for nothing!

I still don’t really have a savings strategy! I am going to maximise the 7.5% account and ensure the maximum of £250 goes in each month. I am using my ISA as a holding area until I save the £250 each month now that the ISA has been emptied of my holiday savings. 

My car insurance was due this week and that has gone through the roof again. I have used the EF to pay that upfront and I took the RAC cover with it too.  That has left the EF a little low but I still use my strategy of keeping the old direct debit payment on my list then transferring the ‘payments’ to savings each month.

I don’t really know if I am better saving or overpaying the mortgage so I will just keep building until my mortgage fixed term ends in February 2024. I think I just need to try to be flexible until then. 

Tiredbutdetermined

Urgh!

I am not in a great headspace at the moment

I have had a nightmare week and a half with slipping at work and having a head injury, a bloke I had been seeing has just gone utterly off and I feel like work has me in a place where I can’t get anything right!

I have been so busy with work, tutoring and dating that I know the purse strings have been loose. That isn’t a massive deal but it makes me realise I am losing my focus and goal orientation. I have been sat in bed for hours just feeling unable/unwilling to get up and in the shower so I need to take some big breaths and try to get up and lift the dark clouds. 

I am meeting a friend for a couple of drinks later on so I want to get myself looking and feeling good for then but I think I need to have a sit down with my money books and get myself a new shiny focus for savings. Strategy makes me happy!

northwalesd

Oh @Tiredbutdetermined, hope things feel brighter soon.

mark55man

subscribed

I too have the same age target, but I'm a bit nearer to reaching it - good luck with the rest of the year and christmas.

Narcissism is just terrible - we've had a lot of it recently.  Be careful when it goes wrong for your ex (as it will) as he will be back looking for self gratification whatever the cost to you in time and emotion