Twinklies mortgage journey 2.0

beanielou

Well done you. 

twinklie

The gym app has some beginner workouts preprogrammed in. I couldn’t get there today so did the core stretches one. Turns out I need a pre beginners workout because the one I did nearly killed me. 🤣

twinklie

So it's the start of the summer holidays for the kids. The end of year 7 for the big one and the end of year 4 for the little one. Both have had a phenomenal year. The additional support afforded to DS2 by the EHCP funding has been so beneficial. He's made such great strides and has been much happier in school generally. He's very ready for the break though. 

DS1 has smashed his first year at high school. It's gone sooo much smoother than expected. They have put such great support in place for him. They are continuing to evidence gather for him as they think it's likely he's going to need an EHCP as well I think. There was a big debate about whether to move him down to a lower set to access more support, or whether to keep him in the top set. The EP they brought in said to keep him in top set as he felt his social anxiety and what it might do to his confidence would be too detrimental if they moved him down. He's a top set kid, but his anxiety, focus, processing speed, writing and typing speed are all detrimental to his progress, but he is academically gifted. He's in that cohort there is shoddy provision for - smart but with needs. We just need to fine tune the support we give him and I'm hoping he will excel. 

His end of year report let to an unexpected discussion though. He's thinking his future GCSE options might include; spanish (no surprise), computer science (this is the least surprising), music (very surprising, but his music teacher is really keen for him to learn an instrument as he's showing signs of being very gifted apparently - there are no musical people in the family) and art (again very surprising, no arty people in the family but he's really enjoying it and has made such progress in art this year). 

So with all this in mind, I've signed him up for music lessons (Keyboard) for next school year. And I've also, bought him some pencils, a sketch pad and a couple of how to drawing books for summer. He's already run off with the sketch pad and is upstairs drawing. I'm really pleased, I hope he keeps it up. His target was to sketch more over the holidays to improve his drawing. Apparently his colouring/shading is fantastic and he shows a real skill. We've also invested in a decent gaming laptop for him as he's getting heavily into coding and I want to encourage his exploration of all this kinda stuff as he's always naturally excelled and just loves it. 

He's also signed up for the residential to France next year!!! I'm absolutely over the moon. He's never been abroad before and suffers with such anxiety - I'm so unbelievably proud of him. Honestly, he's so brave and to see him throwing himself into opportunities like this is just phenomenal. 

So I need to sort a few things a passport being one of the things. 

I've been pretty organised today in preparation for the return to school. 

1. Bought next size up school shirts as there is a 'back to school' 20% discount at Marks and Spencer's - instore only). 
2. Typed out a colour coded timetable ready for his planner next year. 
3. Registered for music lessons. 
4. Booked a shoe fitting appointment for August for both kids. 

To do list: - for back to school prep.  

1. Dig out the next size up uniform for DS2 - so I know what I need/don't need.
2. Wash any 'old' uniform to freshen it up ready for next year. 
3. Order next size up uniform bits if needed - DS1 will need new pants but I can't get the plus sized waist pants in store - only online. 
4. Buy next size up school jumpers for DS1. 
5. Buy new PE kit for DS1.
6. Buy new 'football/rubgy' boots (after foot measuring appointment). 
7. Buy new trainers for PE for both. 
8. Check if new bags are needed. 
9. Get a boot bag for DS1. 
10. Replace any stationary needed. 
11. Order plastic wrap for backing books. 
12. Bag up and list uniform swap group any uniform that is too small. 

That seems like quite a list, but realistically shouldn't take too much time really. 

twinklie

July OP £150. Go me. 

twinklie

Oooh just checked - I've knocked another month off. MF date: Feb 2037 now.

I actually am starting to see the reduction now I feel like which makes the OPs feel more worthwhile. I've knocked 8 months off now, and we took the original mortgage out over 19 years not 25 years. So by my reckoning we are on track to pay it off 6 years and 8 months earlier than if we'd have taken it out over 25 years and not OP'd. 

twinklie

Plans for Summer
We have 4 weeks to get through of being at home before we go away. So I want to try and get organised in that time. Get all the back to school stuff done, get the house in some sort of order, tidy up down at the allotment (which has once again got away from us). I've loads of time but at the same time, I feel a little overwhelmed with all the stuff I need to get done. So I'm hoping to chip away at it slowly. 

The general summer plan is thus: 
Saturdays and Sundays - family time and some family activities/allotment. 
Monday and Tuesday - DH is off with the kids and I'm working. So hoping he will do stuff with them. 
Wednesdays - We are both working so the kids need to self entertain. 
Thursdays and Fridays - I'm off (well, 2 Thursdays I need to work for a couple of hours, but that's it), so I'm hoping to get out and do something fun with the kids to keep them entertained. 

We still need to pay off the summer holiday, but the money is sat in the bank ready to do that. We are looking after next doors bearded dragon for a couple of weeks whilst they are away too, so hopefully there is some free entertainment in that. 

My next job is - locating plus sized school pants as the ones I was going to get are all sold out online. Sigh. 

twinklie

Thought I'd probably better do a mortgage related update as that's why we are all here. 

MORTGAGE 

Reduction in daily interest since start of new mortgage - £2.36

We now own 38.82% of the house (based on original sale valuation) - current rough valuation actually puts us as 49.82% 

7 rooms owned 

Paid off 31.66% of the original mortgage amount. 10.89% off the new mortgage. 

Current MF date - Oct  Feb 2037.

It's all baby steps but we are getting there. Our savings are also in a much healthier state. But I think we've come to the realisation that the extension we were dreaming of is probably out of our reach. We may need to just admit defeat, build a 'garden room' and then extend the back slightly (single storey) to create some extra space. 

It's all small stuff in the grand scheme of things, but it's definitely giving food for thought. 

twinklie

Just because I know you are on tenterhooks waiting for an update regarding this. 

To do list: - for back to school prep.  

1. Dig out the next size up uniform for DS2 - so I know what I need/don't need.
2. Wash any 'old' uniform to freshen it up ready for next year. 
3. Order next size up uniform bits if needed - DS1 will need new pants but I can't get the plus sized waist pants in store - only online. 
4. Buy next size up school jumpers for DS1. 
5. Buy new PE kit for DS1.
6. Buy new 'football/rubgy' boots (after foot measuring appointment). 
7. Buy new trainers for PE for both. 
8. Check if new bags are needed. 
9. Get a boot bag for DS1. 
10. Replace any stationary needed. 
11. Order plastic wrap for backing books. 
12. Bag up and list uniform swap group any uniform that is too small. 

Running total for uniform bits so far - £125. 
Still need jumpers, possible new PE kit for DS1, trainers, shoes and rugby boots. It's soooo expensive as they get bigger. That said, I need a million pairs of everything because these two are terrible for getting very dirty. 

earthgirl2

It's great that school went so well, hope you all have a lovely break now. 

twinklie

Absolute belter of a day today. 3 hours down at the allotment, a coffee date just the hubby and I. Then two hours of table tennis and a play on a play park. 

£10 was the only spend (which was our coffee date). Well we did a bit of a food shop as well, but that’s part of the weekly bills, not entertainment purposes. 

Brought home a decent haul from the allotment as well. So feeling kinda please with our little selves.