Mortgage free in 4 years

Sensiblesaver

Just back form food shopping. We overspent on groceries by £60 this month, but I covered the overspent by taking some money from other areas. I allocate £500 for food budget, I know we spent in average £480 as I have been tracking on Ynab since 2018, but some months we spend more and others less.

Just cooking some black beans for the week and about to make a spinach, sweet potato and lentil dhal. I will keep 2 portions for dinners tomorrow and Tuesday and freeze 2 portions.

Sensiblesaver

It has been a busy week, but I wasn't sleeping well, I kept waking up in the middle of the night and struggling to get back to sleep so felt really tired all week and haven't managed to exercise at all. On Monday I finished a job with a client and got a lovely thank you card from her with a £50 John Lewis voucher and an orchid.

I ended up booking the appointment with the osteopath as I started to get neck pain and didn't want to wait until may. I had to see someone new as my old osteopath moved to Lisbon. She was good but she talked the whole appointment, I kind of prefer to just relax and not chat lol

Payday was yesterday and I sent £700 OP to the mortgage and another month reduced . I will send a bit more once the normal payment goes through on the 1st and the interest gets added as I always like to round it down. I will update the signature once a month after the normal payment goes through.

Mortgage current balance -£209,155
Total OP so far £11,928.29/£22,898

Weather is rubbish, are we having spring this year? 

Sensiblesaver

This weather is getting me down. I managed to go for a run when the rain stopped, did an 8k run, came back and took the dog to the park and had to wash her as it was very muddy. I started to organize my birthday but changed the date to 1 week later to see if the weather improves lol. I hope so otherwise it's quite depressing. We don't have space in the house, but have a very large garden which is great for entertaining if the weather allows it. So far 15 people have confirmed. I have a friend who owns a cafe and does catering for events so I will be ordering food from her to make my life easier. 

Sensiblesaver

It has been a better week for exercise as I have managed 3 out of 4 days so far.
Mortgage payment went out and after interest was added I sent another £45.94 OP to round down the balance

Mortgage current balance -£208,310
Total OP so far £12,112/£22,898

Today I finish work at 2pm and booked myself a massage as a treat and I'm looking forward to it.

LadyWithAPlan

Well done on the OP - your bday celebs sound great

Sensiblesaver

Thank you @LadyWithAPlan. Since we moved to this place I celebrate with a party every year, it has become a tradition. We only didn't throw a party during lockdown. But the weather has to help lol 

The massage I had on Thursday was amazing, I will add that to my budget, definitely worth it.

I am very happy as I had a little personal goal of reaching 100k in cash and investments by 45. I am turning 45 this month and as of today I have £100,409 (cash+ S&S ISA + Freetrade shares). It does count with my holiday money, but I am not spending until  August and by then I will have added more to the pot I will probably sell my shares later in the year and add to the pension.

Just finishing my coffee to go for a run, and the sun is shining

Sensiblesaver

Another lovely morning today. I was planning on going to the gym, but decided to exercise in the garden instead, so I did 30min HIIT session with dumbbells. 

Spent a fair bit on amazon yesterday. I went to see a friend who is a nutritionist and she gave me lots of tips, including seed cycling to balance hormones. She also said not to buy flaxseed already grounded and best to ground at home. I think I will make 2 jars with the days I need to eat so I don't get confused lol Day 1-14 pumpkin seeds and flaxseeds, day 15-28 sunflower seeds and sesame seeds.

I also bought a badminton net and accessories in an attempt to get my 15 year old to spend more time in the garden for a bit longer. At this age it's hard to get him out of his computer. We also have quite a few teenagers coming for my birthday party so the can also play.

Dinner tonight will be Aubergine ragout with cauliflower rice and chicken for DS. Also making a lemon drizzle cake as a treat

Sensiblesaver

I just made another OP of £376.00 I sold one share which wasn't doing much and put that into the mortgage. I have taken another month off and end date is now March 2040. Current balance -£207,934.

I was checking my original mortgage schedule and the balance in August 24 should be -£240,314.65. The current balance now is -£207,934, quite pleased with that progress I should have some interest paid form my ISA tomorrow and it will also make it's way to the mortgage. I love the little overpayments throughout the month, any bit of interest or money saved from budget gets sent to the mortgage, am I sad? lol

I also like the fact I can see the mortgage on my app together with my current account and it is very easy to transfer the money across and see the reduction in balance immediately. My first mortgage was with N@tionwide and I could only overpay in £500 chunks, had to call them, etc, so I never managed it as didn't have as much spare after buying the place, had to build savings back up. It's much easier to start by making smaller overpayments in the beginning.

Waiting for the rain to give a break to go for a run, but if it doesn't stop I will do something indoors.

Sensiblesaver

Interest received from my ISA so another £54 OP sent to the mortgage.

Current balance -£207,880
Total OP so far £12542/£22980

Sensiblesaver

What a lovely week we had, beautiful weather. Thursday we managed to get to the dump and took lots of stuff that have been in the garden for a while (some broken cabinets DH took it out of the garden room and other bits and bobs). I managed to tidy up the dining room which was becoming a dumping ground and it looks much better.

Work has been busy which is nice. Exercise has been ok, have gone for lots of walks and did 2 runs and 1 HIIT workout. Have to improve on my meditation, been a bit slack on that. Ideally I want to do at least 5min everyday.

DS told me yesterday he lost his PE kit. Again. This is the 3rd PE kit in a year, not impressed. I told him I will be deducting the cost from his pocket money.

Me and DH ha a lovely evening yesterday. We sat in the garden and shared a bottle of wine and just chatted about life. It was nice and warm still.

We have some friends coming over for a last minute bbq today so need to get stuff as I was not prepared and my cleaner just cancelled on me, never mind.