MF by Christmas 2024 - let's do this!

Suffolk_lass

LadyWithAPlan said:

Some people do 2 jars of marbles - what you owe and what you own .. £500 a marble Its just fun as you physically get to do something to mark the wins. Though if spreadsheets work for you ...

I like a nice spreadsheet (you know this  @LadyWithAPlan!) - I used to project out my monthly interest x the number of remaining months and then track the reductions each time I made an OP of over £1000 and they sent me an updated interest letter. I asked them to keep the repayments at the same level so that the term became shorter rather than the amount lower (easy as I was technically on an IO mortgage that I had a fixed £500 repayment on so it trickled down while I saved up little lumps. It was £230k IO when I started.

I found the savings I was making were a massive incentive

Coxy11

Hi all,

Many thanks for the comments on gardening and visual representation of our mortgage. All greatly appreciated.

Would it amuse you to know that I did a C&G and a 2-year RHS horticultural course in the mid 2000’s and then worked as a soft landscape gardener for 7 years? However I’ve never really had success/time/confidence to grow much veg. I did do some cut and come again lettuce in a trough on the patio last year, along with a couple of cherry tomato plants in pots. Did them on the patio to enable ease of watering and harvesting. I would like to use space in the beds more this year so was thinking maybe squash and courgettes which need more room and can romp away. We eat very few potatoes. I have a greenhouse I just lack the time and headspace to plan. Might dig out some gardening books over the weekend and have a read as don’t want to miss the boat!

In other news, I emailed our tenants yesterday to see what days would be best for a couple of agents to go round. They have responded, so with luck I will book a couple in for Monday 22 January.

Food budget is blown – need to work on this.

I walked to my social group on Saturday, ran some errands in town, then walked to my nail appointment. Car used for trip to next town for work shoes for DH and SIL’s birthday gift which came in £8 under budget - yay!

Today is our usual mortgage payment day. Another £2.5k going to the NatWest – virtually my entire monthly wage which is just crazy. I get paid on 24th monthly, so the overpayment will go out then. I’ve only been in my current job since end of November and received slightly more than a months’ wages in December, so don’t actually know what my take home will be for sure. Once we know we can update the spreadsheet (!) and confirm the overpayment amount for this month. Hoping for £1k.

Did my self-assessment last night. Is it just me that hates anything to do with tax as I’m so nervous of getting things mixed up?  I have CGT to pay for 2022/2023 as DH wound up his business and as co-shareholder I needed to declare my assets drawn down. This coupled with rental income on top of my wages made for a payment of £2900 – we had £3k in the budget so that’s a relief.

Will update with new mortgage total tomorrow once the calculation has taken place.

Coxy11

Okay DH has been onto the 'manage my mortgage' portal. New total owed is £264,919.55.

Spendless

Good luck with your journey.  I use this site to work out net salary but you'd need to know  deductions such as pensions to be completely accurate  but might give you a rough idea.  https://www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/salary.php

Love the marble idea. I'm a visual learner. We paid off our mortgage last year but still have debt. Might adopt that idea for our final slog. Will look for beads around the house to use.  

Coxy11

Hello,

Thank you all for your comments and nice to see you @Spendless! How about a button jar? I’m not sure I could find 265 buttons though to represent my mortgage debt!!

Things we’ve done to aid the budget since my last post:

·         Have taken breakfast and lunch to work everyday

·         No of croissants bought from canteen – 0

·         No of coffees bought from onsite Co$ta -2 – met a colleague who is an ex-school mum to have a catch up/chat about the workplace

·         Other spends during the weekday have been a couple of items from Sainsbobs that I couldn’t get in the weekly food shop at A!di. Bare minimum spent.

·         No of items in Sainsbobs I’ve put back on the shelf – at least 3

·         No of items bought from the 2 x charity shops by work – 0

·         Visits to Odeon – 1

·         Bought some new underwear using vouchers for Christmas so £0 spent

Things that haven’t helped the budget since last posting:

·         Going out for ‘just drinks’ with friends and spending £98 – yes you read that right – DH doesn’t know his tipping point and has been told!

·         Unplanned brunch expense of £31 – took Mum out following her cataract op.

In terms of veg growing we cleared out and cleaned down the greenhouse on Sunday. I sorted a lot of old plastic pots for the recycling and some broken terracotta pots for the tip. Still have loads left and kept some for crocks too. I also sharpened all my tools. We did a couple of quick repairs where a couple of panes had slipped. It now looks good for the season ahead. I will need to buy seeds and compost. Our local GC has an offer at the moment for 4 x 40L peat free compost for £12 which I think is fairly good. I think I’m going to get courgette, squash (x 2 varieties), lettuce and tomato seeds as I know we will eat them.

Two estate agents are booked for Monday 22 Jan to visit the BTL property and value it. Then the negotiations with current tenants will start. Had a dream last night that they trashed the place and told the EA it had mould/damp!

Apart from that we are just plodding. Next overpayment will be on 24 January when I get paid. Trying very hard not to wish my life away but it’s tough! DH slightly more obsessed than me.

Coxy

beanielou

Plodding on is always good. 😊 
So a button for each thousand of debt? 

I could do that. 🤔 

Coxy11

Hi everyone,

Payday for me today so DH has made another £1k mortgage overpayment. Will update figures later.

We had two estate agents visit the BTL on Monday and both have put in writing what they think. We have emailed the tenants to give them the details and have asked them to make us an offer if they would like to. EA fees are either minimum £2500+VAT or £3500+VAT which we would take into account.

I did a quick calculation of what it cost to buy including all fees, and what we have paid out in IO mortgage, service charge, management fees (first 3 years only), maintenance, improvements, my tax bill etc. Worked out we’ve made £16k over the 5.5 years. Not entirely sure it was worth the effort or stress (first tenants were an absolute nightmare).

So now it’s a waiting game until the tenants respond. DH on hot coals and just wants it gone, but it will take a few months even if they do buy it. Need to manage his expectations.

No canteen purchases since my last posting – all breakfasts and lunches bought in from home. I have a 60th birthday collection to contribute to. I have known the person precisely 8 weeks, 3 days and also purchased the card for the office to sign, so will only put in £5.

DD’s graduation tomorrow so parking in Brighton and a meal out is planned. All on the budget spreadsheet so hopefully no surprises there. I have Friday off and will meet DSis for a trawl around some charity shops. Also meeting BFF for shopping at a mall in the afternoon. Have mall vouchers which I can use if I see anything I need.

beanielou

Positive vibes for the house.
Happy graduation.
My DS did not go to the ceremony for his PGDE which was a bit of a relief!

Coxy11

Thanks @beanielou x

New mortgage balance is £263,919.55. Next regular payment goes out on 10 February.

Tenants have come back with an offer of £225k. EA's had said try it at £235k to expect offers around £230k. However EA fees were £3500 + VAT, so think we are going to go for it. Just waiting for DH to get back from an appointment and I'll email the tenants to confirm.

Coxy11

Since my last posting we have:

• Agreed to sell BTL property to tenants for £225k
• They have an AIP and are forging ahead with the lender
• We have found a solicitor to act for us (from a family recommendation)
• We have stuck to getting food deliveries on a weekend, meaning the food budget is looking healthy and should come in under budget for the first time in months
• I have taken breakfast and lunch to work everyday and my only extra expense was buying a tea and hot choc when meeting a friend last week

Next regular mortgage payment due out on 10 February but will go out on Monday 12 February I expect.