Snug & Sorted: Our Race to Mortgage Freedom

kaycastle

Oh and laptop broke so that was another few hundred.

Phone broke but luckily I'm sort of person who just wants cheapest phone but still made it a few pounds more expensive each month

debtfreewannabe321

Fingers crossed 🤞 that everything stays working from now on and no more breaks. 

kaycastle

Thank you @debtfreewannabe321

Things definitely need to stop breaking! Other than the amount of spending things are going well in life and work is going well. But it has started to get a bit comical how many things are breaking. 

I'm in a better position than someone, I've always been good at saving money so I don't get into debt when periods like this happen but I start to feel stressed that I haven't actually put much away in savings this year - from house move to all these breakings - its been very spendy and I am thankfully to myself for saving so much over the last 10 years.

I've been thinking about what goals I have in life at the moment that aren't too do with finances - one of the things I've realised is I don't have much energy in the evening and mindlessly watch TV. 

Feel like I want this to stop and I can spend time developing new skills and looking after my garden. Should probably have decided this at the start of summer when there was daylight but better late than never!

I estimate my TV watching amounts to at least 14 hours a week as its pretty much always 2 hours a night, sometimes more and just the odd night where we do board games instead. That's over 1 month every year! Which is crazy and honestly after a while I couldn't tell you what I've watched for the most part. 

I could definitely learn to knit well this winter instead of doing that and read even more books!

South_coast

Sorry to hear about the damage done to your home-grown goodies 😥



That's lovely of your neighbours to donate some of theirs though!

At least sitting and watching TV isn't costing you anything, not to be underestimated after all the breakages! Don't forget to cut yourself some slack too, you do have a job and a toddler, so if you just need to veg out sometimes then that's OK!

Bluegreen143

I often knit while watching TV so at least it’s productive time but the knitting doesn’t detract from following the story for me. I also keep books beside my part of the sofa so I often read if I’m not into whatever Red is watching. Neither are hobbies which require much energy so perfect for working mamas IMO!

kaycastle

Thanks all  - really need to post more regularly here! Its been months of endless illness - I have some time off right now and have a terrible cold. Such a shame to not be at full energy for toddler.

Oh and car has broken again today. Must post more - when its not just car breaking!

My OH and toddler have gone out for a walk to town - my cold is so terrible but I've still wanted to be productive, I've got a few things done this morning:
- Renewed ISA. Earned £1800 of interest this year which feels good
- Contacted BT about a special offer £100 prepaid card that still hasn't arrived, they can't do the card now but they've done it as credit on the account so next 3 months of internet is free 
- Updated the final address so that is finally all the moving admin done

debtfreewannabe321

Great news on the BT money being added to your account. And the isa interest.

I find posting on here helps not only with budgeting ideas from lovely MSE people but also for accountability and focus. When life is busy it's hard to keep your eye on the ball. 

Have you got some vitamins you could take to boost immunity. I remember when my kids were small I was always ill too with whatever they'd be bringing home from nursery and then school! It does get better as they get older ☺️

kaycastle

Thank you @debtfreewannabe321 you're right it definitely helps with focus and I always feel inspired by others on here. I feel BT was a particular win because their hold music was just horrendous, I did consider giving up a few times but persisted!! 

I've been taking vitamins lots and doing everything I can, it turns out I have flu as had high temperature all yesterday afternoon which explains why my body was so achey. Ooh I'm looking forward to us being a bit healthier, my OH is a teacher too so I feel we are at maximum germ haha

We are hoping the car is just a new battery this winter as was fine after jump starting. Fingers crossed.

kaycastle

Having a bit of time for reflection due to time off and this illness.

I think maybe I post less now because I am a bit daunted by the size of our mortgage. And feel a bit stunned  when I see how much of the payment each month is on interest its like £1100 on interest and less than £400 towards the principle. Gosh it enrages me that banks make so much from this!! Thats with a good LTV of 66% too

If I continue like this I'll land up giving them £100k more than what the house is even worth in total. That's just...not right. Must deprive the bank of moneysss!! 

This is my go jetters mission....(been watching too much kids TV while ill)

I definitely don't regret my forever home and move, we love it and its made life much easier, I'm just not sure how best to apply our money to this or how to make a dent. I know I'm in the best place for guidance though and I really need to get my head out the sand and do something.

Current mortgage is £293,930 @ 4.6%
Started at £295,074 

Emergency fund: £2558.40 @ 4.5% I don't feel the need to top this up any further - I just keep it above 2.5 as its about the cost of a new rust bucket for whenever the car inevitably breaks again.

ISA/Freedom Fund: £38,837  . just renewed this yesterday, my head is foggy but its definitely above 4%. This is the start of retiring early/barista style FIRE at some point.

I'm fairly happy with the interest rates - I do balance convenience/security a bit with the highest interest rates - as don't have as much time anymore. 

Its been a bit hard to add to savings since move as there has been some inevitable spending on house and the car breakages etc. and I've made no overpayments. Its also made it difficult to budget and work out what our spending is but really I am a whiz with excel so its just me making excuses. 

I really need to work on the budget. OH has taken toddler out to get new battery for the car so fingers crossed that gives it a new lease of life. 

Need to get motivated....so I need to:


- Do a budget
- Work out a regular overpayment
- Work out a regular ISA savings amount

debtfreewannabe321

I am struggling with OPs at the mo as our new house needs a lot of work. I used the MSE calculator for Ops and put in just one mortgage payment extra for the year split over 12 months which didn't work out to be too much and it took off 2 years from the term  perhaps you could start with something small like that? I intend to pay more off but at the very least I will definitely just make that one extra payment a year as a goal. I hope you're feeling better soon, flu is not nice