Mortgage Free by 53!!

crunchy_time

Hello everyone!

Again thank you for following and reading my diary - I am very well on Instagram as well which is taking over my time but I found myself on here and thought I should update.  I've been on these forums for 9 years now - hopefully in 9 years time I will be nearing the end of this mortgage overpayment journey as well!!

Here is where we are at after another month.

 - No job but registered for supply which is keeping me out of trouble.  I got a nice little tax rebate last week as well which has helped.  There are a few to apply for.  I had some work to get over some personal issues but I have worked hard to change my mindset and am ready to get back into the swing of 'proper' work now.

 - Mortgage is now down to £248,218!!
 
 - We have overpaid £379 so far this year - all from round ups and round downs, interest and selling some clutter.

- The last payment at the old rate of 1.79% went out this week - so sad!  I got the rate wrong - we are now 4.42% for the new rate but at least I know so I can update our spreadsheet so I can see milestone goals.

- I am thinking of changing the way we think about overpaying from a certain amount every month to making payments.  It's likely that we will use interest on savings and probably savings to help overpay at some point in the future so the payment focus will reflect the ebb and flow of this.

- We are going to round up to the nearest £500 on our mortgage - which is £32.59 - this along will shave off 9 months of the mortgage!!  Such a great start - just need to make the phone call to see it up.

- We are making a concerted effort to stay in our budgets at the moment and set up habits to sustain this.

I think that's about it!!

Crunchy x

crunchy_time

Gosh - it's been 2 months since I last updated!

Lots of news!

First thing is that I have got a permanent job!!!  Its hybrid - 2 days in office which is 10 mins away!  Flexible so I can pick my kids up and change my days at home to suit when we have childcare etc.  I'm back to the bottom again salary wise as its just admin but the team is lovely and the benefits are good, It is a pay rise on the TA salary as well which is awesome!

Secondly, we have managed to pay off £630 of the mortgage so far this year.  

I'm still very much on Insta but thought I would come on to share that news.

Crunchy xx

LadyWithAPlan

Well done on the focus and the new job 

what are you going on insta? Tracking down  your mortgage? 

Sounds cool - perhaps dm so I can follow you 

remote_control

Hi Crunchy, how's it going?

crunchy_time

Well hello there MSE diary land!  

I haven't posted on here in ages although I do weekly have a little read of the diaries I do keep up to date with.

I haven't actually posted on here this year.  A very belated Happy New Year to you all and thank you @remote_control for asking me how things are!

Lots of update you on....

 - Mortgage is now down to £243,100 so edging into the 30's which makes husband and I feel good.

- New job is going well.  I think I earn about £1500 ish a month which is great.  I can switch off at the end of the day and focus on my own life and kids which is strange after years of putting my class first.  To be honest, I am now feeling a bit lost and don't have much direction after years of hustle.

- I've taken the foot off the pedal with the mortgage overpayments over the winter.  My brother in law died suddenly a few weeks ago relatively young which was a shock and has put some things into perspective.  I've focussed on surviving but feel like I am about ready to get back on it.

- Finances aren't too bad but could also be better.  Both of us working full time has meant I'm not as on it with budgeting and I really want that to change.  

- We have some credit card debt.  After all last year stopping myself from spending any money on me, I have made up for lost time - not extravagantly but it has happened and for husband too and it is something we want to change. 

- We have also bought a roweing machine on 0% cc and have our patio furniture we bought in the sale last year on 0% as well.

- Kids are doing well.  Now 11 and 9.  It was 10 years ago this year that I started our first debt-free diary as I was pregnant with my youngest.  She now calls me 'mother' and goes silent on me when I say something she doesn't like.  We are at THAT stage.

I have decided to focus on this diary again to get back into the swing of things after all the events of 2023 and this year so far.  

I hope you are all ready to have me back!!

Crunch xx

crunchy_time

I've just completed a new SOA:

Household Information[/b]

Number of adults in household........... 2

Number of children in household......... 2

Number of cars owned.................... 2[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 1500

Partners monthly income after tax....... 5700

Benefits................................ 0

Other income............................ 0[b]

Total monthly income.................... 7200[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 1464

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0

Rent.................................... 0

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 208

Electricity............................. 176

Gas..................................... 0

Oil..................................... 50

Water rates............................. 27

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 34

TV Licence.............................. 13.25

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0

Internet Services....................... 75

Groceries etc. ......................... 700

Clothing................................ 0

Petrol/diesel........................... 300

Road tax................................ 0

Car Insurance........................... 64.35

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 100

Car parking............................. 0

Other travel............................ 0

Childcare/nursery....................... 122

Other child related expenses............ 150

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 80

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 37

Buildings insurance..................... 0

Contents insurance...................... 26.7

Life assurance ......................... 76.57

Other insurance......................... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 75

Haircuts................................ 0

Entertainment........................... 500

Holiday................................. 600

Emergency fund.......................... 0[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 4878.87[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 30250

House value (Gross)..................... 435000

Shares and bonds........................ 7750

Car(s).................................. 12000

Other assets............................ 0[b]

Total Assets............................ 485000[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Mortgage...................... 244100...(1464).....4.42[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 244100....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

HSBC...........................1077......25........25

Virgin Money...................1111......25........25

Virgin Money (0%)..............1034......50........0

Barclays.......................1322......50........0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........4544......150.......-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 7,200

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 4,878.87

Available for debt repayments........... 2,321.13

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 150[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 2,171.13[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 485,000

Total HP & Secured debt................. -244,100

Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,544[b]

Net Assets.............................. 236,356[/b]

But I don't think this is a fair representation of our budget as sports,some dd's and aren't included in the list.

I also have been paying £200 towards my own private pension.

We have been saving £300 towards S&S ISAs, £50 into kids ISAs and £500 into EF (although this is quickly used for things at the moment and then £300 towards a future pot.

Basically, there is no need for us to be in debt, we just need to get organised with our finances a bit better - the day to day stuff.

The plan for this year is to have no cc debt by the end of the year so that any bonus husband gets is used towards our future rather than paying off debt.

The only house things we have planned are painting inside and a small amount of fencing outside which we will save up for.

We have a holiday to Turkey in May and a holiday in the UK in August.  We want to go to London for the weekend, camping for a weekend and go and climb Snowdon in the Autumn - all to be saved for.  The Turkey holiday is already paid for its just excursions, kennels and parking that need to be paid for.

I'm going to set up pots for all of these on Monzo and devise a plan to get rid of the credit card debts.  

I'm ready for a new chapter now I've got to grips with what life is like post Teaching for us.  Lots of opportunities and adventure awaits!

Crunchy xx

LadyWithAPlan

All your plans look great and well done on all that saving and sipps!

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Hey Crunchy, glad to hear you’re doing well. Well done on the new job 😁

crunchy_time

ohdearhowdidthathappen said:

Hey Crunchy, glad to hear you’re doing well. Well done on the new job 😁

Thanks!  Long time no hear - how are you?

Crunchy xx

crunchy_time

Happy Easter everyone!

it was our paydays on Thursday so money shuffle was completed.

We are determined to stick to our budget in April as we went over massively in March. We had a family member die unexpectedly and it was a real shock so everything fell to the wayside. I’m not beating us up about it. We have cleared it down using money that would have gone into savings and are starting afresh:

Here are the balances

Barclaycard 0% £1273 c£50 a month
Virgin 0% £934 £100 per month

Virgin - £723
HSBC - £1679.26 - more like £1000 but waiting for refunds for some things.

We want to move over to a reward card or similar - yet to be researched 

Husband and I have got into the habit of buying our own stuff using ccs and then paying it back but now we are in debt so it’s out of sync. So our plan is to get out of this habit as soon as possible.

Im going to do a stuff and clothes audit this Easter so I can plan what clothes we need so I can buy off Vinted and save us a small fortune.  I just bought 5 dresses and play suits for my daughter for £17 including postage. 

I haven’t had much luck selling so going to do more of that this weekend too!

We have done a food shop for the week. No food until Friday now!! 

So lots to do but all heading in the right direction so far.

i need some good savings targets though so shall be working on those too.

Happy Easter weekend!

Crunchy xx