The final countdown to June 2026

carboot_karaoke

Oops actually logged on to say our regular £100 payment was paid of the mortgage.  

Ive added an extra £50 from the food budget because CK2 gets paid this week so I can put it back. New balance £24,000.

This means we've paid £39,000 😱 off our mortgage this year !!

Over 1.5 times my whole years salary It doesn't feel real just numbers on a transaction but in reality thats a huge amount to us. In fact every penny of the surplus after our bills. I'm so glad we decided, especially from May onwards (when the tenants renewed) to throw everything we had at it. Who knows what will happen in 2026 so I'm glad we made hay while the sunshine. 

Still hoping to chip a bit more off before the new year but very happy with the progress. Thank you all for cheering me along. I'm convinced l wouldn't have been so determined without this thread for accountability.  

beanielou

That’s massive. 

South_coast

Ooh, you've got to find another £1000 before the end of the year though - that's a very untidy amount 🤣!

carboot_karaoke

Thanks Beanie 😊

South_coast said:

Ooh, you've got to find another £1000 before the end of the year though - that's a very untidy amount 🤣!

Yep, l thought the very same thing 😂 

carboot_karaoke

Afternoon all,

The washing machine engineer turned up yesterday, after about 20 washes when the softener remained in the dispenser he ran it through and it cleared the first time  😠. In truth, he added extra water to the draw because he thinks that's the cause of it sticking. I did explain that when you use concentrate your only meant to need a small amount. But l doubt that applied when my washing was made many years ago. I guess ill have to water down the conditioner in future. 

While l was waiting l completed chapter 8 of my payroll course and the assignment that goes with it. Just two more chapters to finish this book.

I also emailed octopus energy yesterday we are in credit by over £376 I'm happy to have a buffer in our account, especially because we haven't hit the cold weather yet. Just wondering if l should be earning interest on the money or if its best left alone, so l don't spend the money and have to re-find it. 

Had a chat with my boss today and agreed l would break up for Xmas on the 19th, cant wait 😊. This does mean working on Friday, but its a compromise i'm willing to pay.



 

carboot_karaoke

Evening all,  

Weve had a chilled weekend in the CK household. Older kids are away for the weekend so the house is much quieter than normal.  

Apart from food shopping ive had a NS week !!  not sure how long that will last.  

The food bill was enough I spent more on breakfast and lunch items then normal.  Turns out CK4 hasn't been eating there sandwiches at school we found a weeks worth wrapped in kitchen roll in the bin. Similar issue with CK3 who doesn't want to eat breakfast unless it's 10 chocolate bars from the snacks cupboard 🤷‍♀️. It's no different to there older siblings at there age, but thought getting a variety,  wraps, bagels, brioche,  different cereals, pizza,  hummus, different sandwich fillings would help.  

Already seems to be working,  two bagels were consumed for breakfast today without been prompted and CK4 has took great pleasure in constructing there lunch for the next two days. 

Just finished dinner of thai green curry with plenty for lunch tomorrow,  the benefits of being a temporary family of four 😊. 

Hoping this week will go quickly cant wait to break up.  

Humdinger1

One of my book-keeper's children hid 3 months of banana sandwiches in a drawer beneath the bed. He only needed to say he'd gone off bananas, but no...

carboot_karaoke

Humdinger1 said:

One of my book-keeper's children hid 3 months of banana sandwiches in a drawer beneath the bed. He only needed to say he'd gone off bananas, but no...

😱😱 I can only imagine. The only thing worse perhaps would be tuna sandwiches 🤭😂

carboot_karaoke

So, unfortunately my day has not started well  😢

Had a phone call from the letting agents first thing to inform me that there had been a leak at the flat. The tenants had called out an emergency plumber and paid £838.40 !! which we now have to reimburse or have deducted from rent. Plus possibly more for remedial works on the ground floor flat. 

I'm gutted 😔 we have fully qualified friends who would have i'm sure fixed it at a fraction of the price. I think technically we could refuse to pay on the grounds we weren't given an opportunity to rectify the situation ourselves. However, they have been good tenants for 18 months and l understand the panic if a neighbour knocks on your door saying that your flat is leaking water into there home.

I will ask the agents to provide the tenants with the contact numbers of our electrician and plumber for future use. 

carboot_karaoke

Afternoon all

So it turns out deducting the cost from the rent wouldn't work, instead I had to reimburse the tenants directly. But will receive the rent as normal in January. We did have a rental emergency fund of £2500 which is now £1661.60. the problem is that this money was offsetting our mortgage as we aim to become mortgage neutral. 

Anyway, no point crying over spilt milk it was inevitable that an unplanned cost would come up at some point. l do think its important to have that little buffer so l think l will make that a priority before carrying on with the overpayments. 

This is likely to set back our end goal date by about a month, but if it means we have happy tenants that continue to rent our property past the existing June 2026 renewal date it will be well worth it.