I wanna be mortgage freeeee!

Flossymuldoo

So it’s a week til payday. Bank balances were looking healthier than expected until I remembered I have some bits to pay that I’d not factored in: Bbbbooo!

Between joint DD account and joint spends we have £323.

Still left to pay:
OH mobile = £7
groceries = £70 ish
butchers = £10 ish
milkman = £9 ish
kitty booster = £50 ish
sons passport = £53

So should maybe have £125 left. Not a much as I would have liked but better than a stab in the eye!  At least I’ve stuck within my slightly tighter budget. I’ve gone massively over on some categories and massively under on other things but it’s all balance out. Phew!

Flossymuldoo

Oops, forgot OH insurance that went out this morning. That’ll be £75 left!

savingholmes

I think it's more challenging at the beginning as you are getting a better feel for your finances. Over time things should settle and hopefully the universe will send you odd bits of money or you'll go looking for them and find them by selling, surveys, asking for a pay rise etc. You'll get there. Just keep going.

Flossymuldoo

Yeah you’re probably right @savingholmes.  I’ve always managed my bills pretty well but this is the first month I’ve really been paying attention to the spending account so at least I absolutely know where my
money has gone.

Only budget blown (by £130 😩) was clothes and shoes. My son has had a grown spurt so needed all sorts.

I’ve had the odd extra thing at the end of this month that i wasn’t expecting, but then I forgot about child benefit arriving and found £86 in a long forgotten about account. Plus I’ve had £5 in survey money, and just sold some boots on eBay.  

Huge plus is I’ve now been paid for my first full month at my new job so know what I’ll be getting every month. And it’s exactly the same salary as OH so he’ll get the same. So at least I can start planning a bit now!

FlacosFloozie

I found it took me a few months to get used to using a budgeting app and seeing the patterns of where my money went. After a few years it became really easy e.g. I know I will spend more on clothes for autumn winter and very little spring/summer, I have several annual expenses due around august and so on.

I only downloaded the mortgage app after 5 years or so but it is highly addictive. I can do a transfer from my bank and see it instantly reducing the balance. I can also see that the overpayments have reduced the interest a little each month. Really great for helping stay on track.

savingholmes

Glad things are balancing. 

It's all juggling isn't it? I wanted to spend more on the garden but was struggling to free up the money - but then someone cancelled an appointment which freed up £45. It all helps.

Flossymuldoo

It is all about juggling @savingholmes and tbh I quite enjoy it 😂

Yeah you’re probably right @FlacosFloozie that it will take a while to get the budget where it needs to be. Next month I’m probably going start a pot for clothes and shoes as my son always needs everything replacing at once so I can go ages without buying him anything then he needs everything all at once. I’ll just stash his child benefit somewhere then I don’t have to worry about that having to come from monthly spending.

I finished the month with £8 left in my spending account. Obvs would have loved more but I was pretty pleased that i managed to squeeze everything in on the new lower budget. Tells me that it’s pretty realistic. The next couple of months will tell.
 

A few large expenses to come out this month. OHs car needs some work. Mostly wear and tear (tyres, brakes etc) but parts for his car are expensive so that will be coming out of the savings pot.

Mortgage payment was less as I shifted the date but the fixed DD came
out so £133 overpayment this month - yay!  Would love to start paying more but have to be patient.

i Have also been busy tracking down my various pensions and getting logins to access them. I have 1 that’s so old that i don’t have any info that they can use to validate it’s me, so I need to write to them. It was with 16k in 2006 so hopefully it’s a nice wad now! 

One I have no idea (but it’s probably not much) so just waiting for a security pin in the post then I can access.

The rest are worth £95k and I’ve for 16 years until retirement so I need to start thinking about upping my contributions 😩

Been busy doing surveys and am almost ready to cash out £20 in Amazon vouchers.  I’ve earmarked them for boots my son needs so will only have to but £10 towards them.

Flossymuldoo

Oh and I forgot mention, I had planned on starting to increase the overpayments from late this year but o have opened a chip savings account. It has 3.71% interest but I’m only paying 1.89% on my mortgage until the deal runs out at the end of 2024. So any overpayments I will be putting in there until the end of the deal.  I worked out that with what I have in there now it will earn me around and extra £100 in interest between now and the deal finishing. Win!!

savingholmes

I love being paid interest

~FlowerPot~

Well done so far, sounds like your really focused and set to make good inraods into your mortage.

Flowers x