I dream of a MF home for my plants

Idreamofplants

I’m starting myself a diary here after spending the last few days reading and lurking on the site. I used to have a diary over on debt free wannabe many years ago that was super helpful in getting my debt paid off. I can’t remember my old log in so am starting afresh.  I have 12.5 years left on the mortgage - it’s split over two products as we remortgaged after covid for some building work - in total approx £187k still left. That sounds horrendous but at its worst it was £275k total so has been much worse.  I have one DS at uni and one about to go this year so lots of effort has been spent saving for them over the past couple of years. I don’t have it al covered but think it would make more sense to pay some off the mortgage given how high the interest rate is versus savings rates. I’m thinking of trying to OP by ant least £500 a month but am a little nervous about making that first overpayment.  also overpay £100 a month into an AVC that I can take in 7 yrs. hoping this diary will keep my saving and plant buying in check. Also have committed to budgeting better for shopping - spending a whopping £950 per month on food for 4 of us (5when DS back) but still that seems crazy high. Anyhow hello to anyone reading this and am looking forward to becoming more accountable again!

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary 
Why are you nervous of making that first OP?

Idreamofplants

Hi - I think it’s because it’s the last few days of the month before pay day so wondering if I should get in a habit at the start or the end of the month with overpayments - and I’m terribly indecisive! 

redofromstart

Happy new diary, love the idea of a MF home for your plants. 

Idreamofplants

Thanks redofromthestart

I made my first OP in about 5 years Got paid yesterday but pretty much the whole day was spent working so didn't get a chance to do anything else.  

Got up nice and early this morning and sent £505 to the small mortgage.  I have two mortgages as a few years ago when we remortgaged to sort out some building work.  That was when the interest rate on the mortgage was 1.89 not 4.99! I have decided to tackle the small mortgage first as it seems more manageable to sort that.  I am hoping to OP by at least £500 a month for the next year.  It will become more tricky to continue to OP that much if middle offspring goes to Uni in Sept.  I have saved enough for the first couple of years but will need to top these savings up depending when they go.  I need to research savings accounts if they stay at home instead so we can tuck the money away for a year or two.  

I have also transferred shopping money into a different account.  I am hoping spending from just one place will help me keep tabs on what we are spending a bit better.  Anything left from the food budget at the end of the month will also go on the mortgage.  I might divide this into at weekly budget amounts so I can make smaller OP throughout the month - 5 weeks until I get paid again feels like a long time to wait.  I looked at a mortgage OP calculator on this site and hopefully the small mortgage will be gone in 12 - 18 months.  

I have this week off work - I am going to spend lots of time with my lovely plants - I have been watching the Chelsea flower show this week and feeling inspired to have a go at taking cuttings from my house plants.  I want to learn more about what plants I actually own. I randomly buy plants and never took much of an interest in their survival until recently and now I love them.  I have the most beautiful indoor climber in the bathroom and it makes me so happy to see new leaves appearing all the time.  Who knew not overwatering and a bit of plant food would make this much of a difference I'm going to give myself some spends this month to buy a couple of orchids for in the living room.  The youngest child is off school for the week so other expenses will be a couple of days out with them.  They generally prefer to be out with friends but has asked to go to the zoo so I think that's today taken care of.  Going to get out for a quick run before they get up and then make a picnic to avoid the extortionate food prices whilst we are there.  Hopefully the biblical rain we had this week will lay off for a few hours.  Eldest child is back from Uni for a few days so they are tagging along too.  Might see if I convince them to buy us an ice cream from the food money that I send them for this week that they now don't need because they are at home   

Idreamofplants

Just tried to add a signature and it says I don't have permission to - not sure what I'm doing wrong! so I'll post total balances here - End May: monster mortgage £178906; small mortgage £7986 - total OP £505 

redofromstart

I think you have to make a certain number of posts before you can do some things on the forum.

Hope you have a lovely week off.

Idreamofplants

A pretty chilled out bank holiday here. Did loads of jobs I'd usually have got onto over the weekend.  Managed to spend no money - yeah.  I've been playing about with the mortgage calculator on MSE some more.  Overpayments on the monster mortgage after the smaller one is repaid will reduce the term between 4-5 years.  SO hopefully that will mean it is gone by 2032 instead of 2036, maybe a little earlier depending on what we are able to save on. I'll take any reduction in the interest at this point.  Our daily interest is currently £25 per day.  Also spent some time looking at cheaper properties online.  The other option (option B )  to Oping the mortgage would be to downsize.  We couldn't afford anything big enough for us all at the moment but depending on where the kids end up this might be an option for the future.  I'd be very sad to live our home though. We have done loads of building work and completely revamped it.  Also I don't think I could cope with the stress of moving again.  So sticking with plan A seems like the best option for now.  

Idreamofplants

I can add a signature now - woo hoo!!! added in my totals - the mortgage at the start was larger than I'd thought initially! ekkkkkkkkkk can't believe I borrowed that much money.  At least it's a third less than that now. 

HotDog2020

I like your name and thread name - also I wanted to check with you to see if you know if you have over payment limits on your mortgage, if you are on a variable rate you should be fine (However the cost of the mortgage is higher) however if you take the cheaper option and fix, you may not be able to Over pay as much as you want, I was just thinking that if you overpay the small mortage wiping it before the fixed period ends it may cost you if there are charges, Just a friendly note to make sure you are not wasting your time?

Idreamofplants

HotDog2020 said:

I like your name and thread name - also I wanted to check with you to see if you know if you have over payment limits on your mortgage, if you are on a variable rate you should be fine (However the cost of the mortgage is higher) however if you take the cheaper option and fix, you may not be able to Over pay as much as you want, I was just thinking that if you overpay the small mortage wiping it before the fixed period ends it may cost you if there are charges, Just a friendly note to make sure you are not wasting your time?

Thanks for this - I have a fixed mortgage that allows limitless OP - only due to the fact that years ago I started overpaying on a different product and was restricted to 10% per year - so when we changed we went with a provider that allows you to OP as much as you want. Appreciate the comment though as it would be a shock if that wasn’t the case!