Z's MFW journey

Zerforax

My mortgage broker was very organised and had a call with me yesterday. I was going to call him in a few weeks.

We're looking at a 2 year fixed at 4.68% with Natwest. Need to wait till end of April to apply due to needing a payslip from the employer to apply with. Hopefully rates will come down between now and 30 September when my deal expires.

Managed to do my Lloyds banking switch (with some help from others on the MSE forum) and I've been credited £175 for the switch into my account already. Also we're going to get the free Disney+ for a year from Lloyds. We were due to renew Disney+ for £79.90 at the end of March so that's another saving.

The holiday year runs different for the old job and the new job and it turns out I had accrued too much. I had been planning to use over Easter but old and new employers wanted the switch to happen end of the month so I'm not going to be able to take the time off. The old employee will however be paying out 8 days of holiday so I should get close to 1/2 a month paycheck extra very soon.

As this is an unexpected amount, I might try and do something fun with it rather than just trying to pay down the mortgage..

Aimingforthegoodlife

Some amazing work! A 60% payrise and now full time is huge, congratulations! Those savings are amazingly impressive and I agree that doing something fun with that money is on the cards! Look forward to checking in!

Zerforax

I have received the holiday day pay-out and the old employer was able to make sure it was paid in this tax year, which is really helpful for me. I do need to see the revised payslip as it feels like I've been taxed more on it? Looks to be like 50% rather than the expected 42%. But mostly sorted which is great.

I've been having a battle with the water company for months now.. When we moved in, we were unable to take a meter reading as the meter is like over 1 meter deep and not very visible. When I called up to ask how to sort this issue, they reassured me that they get electronic readings so it should be fine. About 9 months later when I got my water bill (annual), I realised they were basing everything on estimate. So when I called again, they looked into it and turned out that the electronic/radio transmitter was broken and the last time they had an accurate reading was 10 months before we moved in! They were still working on estimates but kept increasing how much they thought a family of 4 would be using so I was paying £64 a month (based on estimates). Finally managed to get 2 readings 6 months apart, after the water company came and dug out the garden to replace the old meter. Turns out I was right and we were using 2/3 of the water usage they estimated. Managed to reduce my monthly payment to £43 going forward and they will credit me £260 for the overpayments over the last 18 months.

We decided to have the car serviced at the local garage instead of dealership (so expensive at the dealer and our car is ~10 years old now). Was only £140 (which is like half the price the dealership quoted) and they found no issues. Last year we had to fork out £500 for repairs so I was quite concerned this year.

Feels like it has been a good month financially. Will do my monthly spreadsheet on the 31st to get a proper picture but it looks like we're ahead of schedule.

Next month I need to sort out my pension with the new employer. My new salary from 1 April takes me into the 60% tax trap so I want to put a big % into my pension to keep me below the threshold.

Zerforax

It's a shame the current job isn't brilliant on the extra benefits/perks. The pension contribution the employer provides is 3% (a previous job would match up to 10%). 

I have however increased my contribution to 18% to keep me below the tax thresholds so should finally be able to grow my pension a bit faster.

Malale

Your story is impressive and full of change. Glad you have clear financial goals for the future, such as paying off your mortgage. It's important to consider all your options and choose the strategy that best suits your family. Considering your experience and situation, you will surely make a wise decision. I wish you success in achieving your goals and good luck with budgeting!

Zerforax

Need to sort out all the paperwork for the mortgage broker for the renewal but we're looking at a 5.17% 2 year fixed with NatWest (with no product fee). The plan is still to make like a £30k+ overpayment between mortgage products at the end of September. That should bring the mortgage down from ~£112k to around £80k. Annoyingly with the interest rate jump from 2.64% to 5.17%, even with the large overpayment, our monthly payment amount will stay around the same. Ah well.. hopefully the rates come down a bit before September and we'll apply for a different product.

Zerforax

I've still been putting off completing the remortgage paperwork but I know I should sort it out soon.

We have done really well over the last 6-7 months in terms of amount saved. If we could carry on at this rate, the mortgage could be paid off before the end of 2027. However I don't know if it realistic to carry on for so long. My wife thinks we should be enjoying life a bit more and doing holidays/activities with the kids.

Zerforax

Submitted all the remortgage paperwork eventually and all seems fine. I saw NatWest had recently cut their rates so I contacted the mortgage broker, only to be told that now most of the banks will only let you amend the product rate once - how frustrating! Otherwise you have to go back to full application.

We have also booked our first overseas holiday in like a decade for October so that will be exciting! Bit expensive on the flights for the 4 of us but we're visiting family so at least we're not paying for accomodation out there.

Zerforax

Just did my usual month end summary. First month we've been in the red for quite a long time (because we booked our flights and related costs for October trip and also a summer trip in August). Feels weird to be spending so much but we'll get back on track after the summer I think!

At work, my manager has been let go so now I've got their workload too. Going to be a stressful few months

Zerforax

The months seem to fly by. I've been working a lot through the August month but managed to have last week off. We did a week long trip to Cornwall and London. Everything super expensive but the kids had a lot of fun. Now that we're into September we'll have to go back to trying to save more!

Hoping the mortgage rates drop a little bit over the next week or two. Our current deal ends 30 September and we're making a big overpayment (will reduce mortgage from £111k down to £80k) so that will be exciting.