Twinklies mortgage journey 2.0

teapot2

Good luck with the brown envelope and hopefully your friend's statement will help

twinklie

Wow has it really been that long since I posted?!

Well the brown envelope renewal went well, even managing to get mobility added on this time. Which we probably should have applied for sooner, but I was too afraid tbh.

Then DS2 got his EHCP, so he's getting lots of support in school (well be was anyway but school are getting the appropriate funding which is good). 

We are all well, I say that but there's a bug in the house currently. Nothing major though thank goodness. DS1 has started high school and absolutely loves it. The school have put in so much support for him, without me needing to push for anything, I really can't fault them. It's gone better than I ever could have dreamed.

There's been a few dramas along the way, but all in all life has mostly been treating us well.

Nothing much exciting on the mortgage front. The summer holiday, buying everything needed for high school etc has meant we've paused OPing for a bit just to be safe. But we plan to start again soon.

twinklie

Oh wow, I thought I had posted but clearly not. 

I just won £100 on PBs so that’s a nice little update after a very spendy October. 

Home insurance, new mattress, new clothes and a few other bits and pieces. All necessary though.  

Everything is ticking along ok, starting to try and get on top of the house a bit and need to get back on with Vinted again. 

Hoping a bit of cleaning and tidying over the next few weeks will have us ready to decorate for Christmas too. We have very few plans for November and kinda hope it stays that way if I am honest. 

twinklie

One more day of Christmas to get through (meant in a happier way than that), then it’s get on and get sorted. 

I shall return tomorrow with a renewed sense of let’s get on and do!

twinklie

So about this time every year I start thinking about next steps and what to do, so I’m going to make myself a to do list type accountability post. 

Things to achieve:
1. Sort mobile (I don’t need a new phone but I’m just coming out of contract). Ordered a new SIM - due to go live on 30th. Going on a family plan with DS2 - should save me approximately £14.49 per month. ✅

2. Sort saving account. Sorted regular saver, but need to look at an account to ‘store’ the bulk. I’ve done some research - just need to make a decision. ✅

3. Workout and post end of year finances. ✅

4. Sort out holiday payment dates/budgets. ✅

5. List at least 10 things on Vinted. 

6. Do a tip trip. We have to book to take a trailer full to the tip - so I have booked it for Sunday! ✅

7. Sort things for charity shop. Sorted some bits and hoping to take them NYE. ✅

8. Tidy and rearrange the boys bedroom. 

9. Sort through boys clothes and do the resizing. ✅

10. Get kids feet measured and buy new shoes if needed. ✅

11. Sort the playroom so the exercise bike and cross trainer can be used by the end of the year. Bike has been liberated - just the cross trainer to go. 

12. Find homes for all the Christmas gifts. 

13. Iron all school uniform. ✅
14. Wash and pack PE kits. Washed and just need repacking. ✅

15. Help the kids sort their Pokémon cards. 

16. Baking with the big one. 

17. Meal plan so no food is wasted. ✅

18. Plan allotment for this year. 

19. Visit the allotment to do some basic tidying. 

20. Meter readings. Electricity done - but will have to do gas tomorrow because it’s too dark outside now. ✅

21. Sort gas/electricity tariff. ✅
22. Unbox the last of the Christmas presents. ✅

23. Sew up the damaged teddies/plushies. ✅
24. Fix mortgage spreadsheet. ✅
25. Change all the beds.  ✅

This should keep me busy. 

twinklie

Annual update

Additional Income
Vinted - £57.25
Cashback - £73.97
Miscellaneous (lottery, surveys etc.) - £?
Premium bonds - £275
Total - £406.22
*I also got some back pay but I haven’t included that. 

 

MORTGAGE 

Reduction in daily interest since start of new mortgage - £1.42

We now own 35.85% of the house (based on original sale valuation) - current rough valuation actually puts us as 46.54% 

6 rooms owned (8 if I go with the higher valuation).

Paid off 28.34% of the original mortgage amount. 6.56% off the new mortgage. 

Current MF date - Oct  MAY 2037.

twinklie

Additional MSE job done - just sorted renewal for gas and electricity. The fixed rate is due to end soon, so opted for another fixed rate. 

Trying to work out my end of year OP but my spreadsheet has had a funny, so need to fix that today too. I can’t cope with it being broken, it means I’m now doubting all my figures. 

twinklie

Ok so I just made an OP of £250, so that will have thrown my end of year figures out. I'll not mess with them though and leave them as is. Although I can say it's knocked another month off the mortgage and it now looks like this:

Current MF date - Oct  April 2037

So that's 6 months off now. I know it seems like nothing in the grand scheme of things. But we also only took the original mortgage over 19 years so we pay a high monthly amount. If you presume the standard mortgage is over 25 years, we've actually knocked off 6 years and 6 months. That sounds like a much more impressive figure. 

Total OP's (not the built in ones because I don't count those) for the year is £767.04. 

My emergency fund is also looking pretty healthy - it's at approximately 4 months of both of our salaries or 8 months for just 1. I think that's pretty good...isn't it?

I feel like I fell off the MSE wagon a bit this year - nothing major, but not keeping on top of things. Life just got in my way a bit. I'm hoping to be on it more in 2025.

twinklie

8/24 tasks completed - 33% done. 

twinklie

10/25 tasks completed - 40%.

The list started at 20 and keeps growing as I find more jobs. I’m finding that I’m quite unmotivated of late so I’m trying to recapture my lust for life and being productive by ticking things off on my list. Sometimes this means retrospectively adding things to the list. 

What do you do when you feel like that?