Snug & Sorted: Our Race to Mortgage Freedom

kaycastle

Term is 30 years, just while I have high childcare costs and more risk to income. I plan to shorten the term at a remortgage though. Do you know when you might pull the trigger?

I've got the maternity fund sorted but just going to add more and more to it then hopefully won't need it and can use for something else  

kaycastle

Hiya all! It's been over a month since my last post, it's felt a lot longer. As ever, fitting in organising or posting about finances is a squeeze, I land up not prioritising it as at the end of the day I don't want to look at screens.

My cat who I loved very much got killed by a car the other week, that's been really difficult to deal with as she was still young and we were super close, and naturally feel guilty about moving. I've been full of grief but thankfully there are a lot of distractions with toddler and work.

It's all been a bit spendy since moving but we've been happy. Need some time to work out budget.

But also weird thing. We have a detached house twice the size but our KWh usage for energy has been way lower than last house at similar time of year. I was always suspicious of some of the usage patterns at last place, I'm now convinced something strange was happening. But good news on less energy usage here, that's with things like an electric shower here too which I thought was going to add up. 

CAR NEWS:

Oh and our car just failed it's MOT and very expensive to repair and difficult to find parts so we're going to sell it for scrap and just buy a very cheap 2nd hand car. We've always brought 2nd hand but tried to get a "decent" one and have had budget of 8k-10k for them but we've had 3 cars in the last 5 years. !!!!!!. Might as well have actually got a new car with warranty. Not that I'd ever buy a new car.

We've said we're just going to buy super cheap as it hasn't been worth it at all to fork out more for less mileage, we've always done the right thing of shopping at reputable places etc but we've had the worse luck. Got a bit of time as borrowing a family members car in mean time. 

beanielou

So sorry to hear about your cat. That’s horrible & hard. 

kaycastle

Thank you @beanielou , its so hard getting use to daily routine without her and she always kept me company and made me feel not alone. She barely ever went out so just got really really unlucky. She was cuddly and fun and I pictured her being around for so much longer.

beanielou

Mustard sends a big purr. 

beanielou

He is waiting for the sun to come out!  

kaycastle

Awww thank you Mustard. Hope the sun comes out soon! 

debtfreewannabe321

Aw I am also sorry to hear about your cat it's always so hard to lose a beloved pet  
Disappointing about the car too. I always buy second hand and the last one I had was the newest I have ever had and I put a good budget to it...about 8k and it still ended up being just as bad as the 1-2k ones for breaking down. I am currently without a car because I was just sick of the expense of it tbh and ended up in CC debt always fixing it. 

Good news on the electric bill though!
@beanielou Mustard is so cute  

kaycastle

@debtfreewannabe321 Thank you! 

I'm keeping very busy to get through it but I've also done some meditation and embraced the sadness a bit sometimes as well. And made a memory box.

Cars are disappointing - we are definitely getting a rust bucket next - we'd have to go through 4 of them for it to add up to what we've spent on 1 that have lasted around a year each. 

It is good news on the electric bill - but I really don't understand how. Also the heating/hot water isn't turning on since last night so will need to sort that out. 

Also I have been terrible at spending - I think I need to get clearer on my goals and maybe its time for a confessional post about spending. I get annoyed at myself a bit because if I got more disciplined I might be able to save enough to change career paths already. I spent over £400 in the shopping category last month and almost the same again on eating out....and still £550 groceries. So thats a small part of confession. I've got spendy and need to get a handle on it

kaycastle

Good morning all! I've been hiding away as I've lost track of all the money that I've had to spend in last few months and how many things have broken, here are some:

The hot water suddenly not turning on turned out to be a serious provlem and cost almost £1000 to fix, as it is like the one thing that's not covered by British Gas.

The rust bucket has been great actually and it's not even that rusty, still cost £2000 but it's been great so far.

Small things have broken which have added up, had to get a pond filter which cost £200, had to put in an external socket to use pond filter which cost £200, plus it just made sense for lawn mowing ease etc.. How in 100 years of this house had no one put in an external socket! 

Most things I tried to grow got destroyed by very hungry caterpillars so not much success on the growing front. My neighbours are very green fingered though and gave me a huge veg box from their garden for watering their greenhouse. Everything is so tasty from it, it's so lovely of them.

It's all been a bit spendy but not in past month. I need to find time to assess finances.