The Little Cottage by the Sea

BrimfulofSascha

Good morning loves,

The remortgaging saga continues! despite a couple more requests for an update on the tracking app since my last post I have still not heard a single thing about the current status from the conveyancer. No closer to a confirmed completion date. The date i requested for the new mortgage to start when I originally applied on 9th July was tomorrow! 
I am really questioning if it was worth moving to a new provider at all. What is the point in having an instant messaging app if you are going to completely ignore your clients. I sent them a rather firm email at 6am this morning requesting a call back and a completion date by close of business today. not that my threats hold any real clout.

The stress continues.

Not much to say in the world of finances today. I spent about £70 on car maintenance yesterday that I carried out myself in order to get it through the MOT next month (new fuel filter, headlight bulbs and front wiper blades).
Dinner tonight is chicken and mushroom pie with dauphinoise potatoes courtesy of the yellow stickers in the coop last night.
I've renewed my building and contents insurance this morning through TCB, that should be £38 back if it registers correctly. I decided to do pay monthly as the interest was only 1.5% way below inflation so actually cheaper when you account for that and keeping the £180 in savings to drip feed from.
I've paid just over the minimums on the credit cards this month, hoping to keep stashing away in savings to pay off in lumps as the 0%'s end. 
I've also requested a redemption statement on the big loan to see if I have enough to clear that off before the end of the year. It feels mad that there are just 9 weeks left of 2025! Just one more full year of consumer debt life then its debt free in 2027 (everything crossed)

L&L 
Sascha

vampirotoothus

Hi Sascha, I had the Velux in the roof for my bedroom replaced by a Velux fitting specialist I found on Checkatrade. It was all done from  the room, so no scaffold required and it was a about £970 fitted for a 1m * 700cm one. This was about 5 years ago. Cheers V x

BrimfulofSascha

vampirotoothus said:

Hi Sascha, I had the Velux in the roof for my bedroom replaced by a Velux fitting specialist I found on Checkatrade. It was all done from  the room, so no scaffold required and it was a about £970 fitted for a 1m * 700cm one. This was about 5 years ago. Cheers V x

Thank you, That is a really helpful ballpark.

BrimfulofSascha

Good afternoon loves,

I'm so glad it is Friday. What a week!

The mortgage stress is finally over and everything is where it should be. Yay!
I have now gone from 1.99% to 4.01% though. Boo!

I have done my money shuffle for the month and started up some pots. I don't have exact historic figures for my spending as I've still been spending a bit on CC's and then paying it off. So it's only the past couple of months I have averages for. The pot goals are what I expect, and to reflect what I will spend each year. Therefore the pots will never really reach their total as I will spend on those categories throughout the year. Hopefully that makes sense? CC spending is now banned. I want my wages to be fully mine each month.
Now I have paid all the interest bearing debt I will take my foot off the gas a little so that I can be more realistic about what real spending is and avoid CC spending.

The pots currently sit as:
 £84.65   / £900      Gifts (this is all birthday and Christmas - plus Christmas big shop)
 £27.78   / £300      Home (this is annual insurance and gas check)
 £103.73 / £1200    Car maintenance (this is for insurance, MOT, and service and repairs I drive 24k miles pa)  
 £200.20 / £2400    Adventures (Travel is our thing, we travel cheaply but often)

Total £416.27 / £4,800

So, the big debt update; 
(totals are balance at 1st Jan 2025/ current balance, I don't have the breakdown from June 2024 by debt)

CC1 (S)       £11060.80 / £6232.31 
CC2 (V)       £0 / £6319.13 (this is a newer card that I used for 0% BT
CC3 (B)       £3420.51/ £4441.03(this has gone up due to 0% BT)
CC4 (F)       £0 / £0 

Loan 1 (M) £18,194.75/£0 
Loan 2 (R) £1502.06 / £491.16
Loan 3 (A) £7019.00 / £0

Total Debt £41,197.12 / £17,421.63

Debt reduced in 2025 YTD £23,775.49

Total debt paid from worst £30,350.85 (63%)

That is a disgusting amount of money old me has borrowed from current me.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will see that my CC debt has gone up by £2.5k! I have not been an angel and have continued to spend on holidays and house reno stuff. This has now stopped as of September. I have pots, I am going to do this budgeting thing properly.

Technically Loan 1 isn't paid off until Monday. By the time I had the redemption statement I had my DD pending, so I will call them and clear it Monday, but the savings are tucked away to clear the balance on this so I'm counting it as gone. The monthly payment for Loan 2 hasn't left yet so this will go down £107 by mid November.

The plan now is to just round up the minimum payments on the CC to the nearest £50. and then chuck everything I can into savings so I can pay lumps off as the 0% expires (all my debt is now interest free)
I need to get out of the CC cycle. I am not a CC person. So, doing it this way if something comes up I can ride the wave rather than go down a rabbit hole of using plastic.

Speaking of things coming up, savings are currently:

Emergency fund                £1000 / £12,000
Overpayment/house reno £7340.61 (there isn't really a goal value for this just keep plugging away until i'm debt free and the house is less of a mess)

Total £8,340.61

New Mortgage

£180,386 5 year fixed at 4.01%
Fix expires October 2030
Monthly payment £953.14
House value (according to mortgage valuation) £268,000
LTV 67%


Next steps

1) Pay off credit card debt as 0% terms expire - final date March 2027
2) Start overpaying the mortgage - My first goal with this is to round my minimum payment up to £1000 while I still have CC debt.
3) Alongside paying off debt, keep adding to EF until I get to 6 months of minimum living expenses (c.£12k)
4) Aggressively overpay mortgage. My dream goal is to get this to £120k by renewal. That would be a big stretch, let see what we can do.

It feels good seeing progress and seeing it all written down. I am fortunate that I earn a good salary and my utilities are cheap. I also had a couple of bonuses this year that have helped speed up the progress. I can't guarantee I'll keep getting these next year due to issues of the industry I currently work in.

Right off to update my signature, then a long dark drive home from work.

Love and light
Sascha 
 

Rhyddid2026

Wow! That's amazing progress! Well done.

BrimfulofSascha

Good morning Loves,

It feels very autumnal this morning, I fear it is going to be wet and windy until spring from here.

I feel like I've already fallen into the habit of spending most of my budget in the first couple of weeks of the month.
This weekend had some unnecessary spending. DP and I went out for a lovely country walk to celebrate our anniversary, which ended in a café, I paid. £30 I should have budgeted for.
We also used an activity voucher we got for Christmas. Most of the day was covered by the voucher but there was a small difference plus parking. He drove, I paid. 
It will balance out in a couple of weeks as we have a weekend away with friends and he has paid for that.
I have also done more snacky shops than is good for my budget and waistline!

I'd better hibernate for the next two weeks!

I've taken some Bolognese sauce out of the freezer for dinner, with pasta tonight, and mash tomorrow. Lunches will be sandwiches, boring, but cheap. I need to sit down and do a meal plan for this week. and also rotate the pantry cupboard.

I also need to start doing a Christmas plan. It will be meaningful token gifts this year. DP has made my nieces present so that's free. Just my elder niece, nephew, sister & BIL (she is hosting boxing day), my parents, DP and DD. then probably a cheap SS for my sport team Christmas party. I'm defiantly going to try d=to avoid just buying all the yummy Christmas treats, I'll try and meal plan the treats. Christmas eve cheeseboard, Small Christmas roast, panettone French toast for Christmas breakfast, then wine to take to my sisters for boxing day. There is no need for me to be spending c.£250 for seasonal treat food. I do need to budget my meal for sport team Christmas party. I'll also use our faux Christmas tree this year instead of buying a real one. But, I will try to budget a Christmas activity/shopping day with DD/DP instead. I'd better get a spreadsheet out and make a plan.

Small money win, car insurance renews Dec 1st. I went through TCB which should see £40 cashback. And my renewal price is £84 less than my current providers renewal quote. Obviously I only have 1 month of car maintenance pot to pull from and this isn't enough to cover the car insurance and MOT this month so I might have to pull from savings so it doesn't mess with my budget. Next year Christmas and car costs should be fully paid for from pots.

What a ramble. It really does help to brain dump in this diary.

L&L

Sascha

doingitanyway

Im glad you celebrated your anniversary with a cafe treat for you both
Your Christmas plans look good and MSE
Love the idea of Christmas Eve cheeseboard. I might steal that one!

BrimfulofSascha

Good afternoon Loves,

I hope you are well.

What a day, WFH days are always chaos. I've only just stopped for lunch!

I think I might have to tweak the grocery budget. It's currently £60pw for food, cleaning, toiletries, cat food/litter.
However DD has been losing weight over the past year, to the point that she is now on the 2nd centile for BMI and worryingly underweight. She is starting to suffer from dizziness and exhaustion, DR has been contacted so we can investigate if there is a more worrying cause. It isn't disordered eating, just a fast metabolism and a small natural appetite. She is actually really self conscious of her thinness.
I need to be getting calories into her so I need to swap some of our healthier cheaper batch cooking, to food that brings her joy. "whatever she fancies when she fancies it" until we are back to a safer weight. So tonight is Burgers with cheese and salad, Friday she has asked for pizza. Thank goodness I am marathon training, we do not have the same body shape or metabolism at all!

I also need to start thinking about how I can navigate Black Friday for Christmas gifts. I have always avoided the capitalist holiday because...yuk! DD would like a heated blanket/throw. I feel like this is a perfect Black Friday item, but I've no idea where to even look. Any tips very welcome.

I've no idea what to get for DP, it's also a milestone birthday for him in the new year. Old spendy me would have booked an amazing trip. Two years from Now me would be able to book a trip from savings. Current me won't/ can't do either...although we are only a couple of years apart so maybe I'll suggest a joint bucket list trip to celebrate both of us part way through...that doesn't solve the 'what do I do for him for his actual birthday?' issue. we are both adventure junkies. open to ideas!

Not really much to say on finances. The old mortgage account is now gone off my banking app. The big loan is officially gone. So other than the 4 payments outstanding on the little loan (monthly interest is c.£2 pm) I am (ALMOST) paying no interest on debt for the first time since I got a CC 15 years ago. Ignoring mortgage interest of course. But I'm just going to call that rent. In my head I own 33% and rent 67% from the bank. haha.

on we plod. 

L&L
Sascha

BrimfulofSascha

Good afternoon and very merry Friday my Loves!


I checked my credit score today, it's gone down by a couple of points because I've opened a new mortgage. Nearly had a heart attack looking at the debt figure before my brain kicked in and noticed that it was because both the old mortgage and new mortgage were showing on my file. The paid off loan also hasn't updated.
I still haven't had the paperwork for my new mortgage to tell me when my first payment is and how much it will be. I assume it will be delayed and higher than normal to make up for the longer interest period.

I've made some progress on house renovation plans too. I thought I'd panic at the thought of spending money, but actually as it's saved it's a bit of a relief to plan to get things done. I feel like I've been playing Russian roulette with both the boiler and the Velux. Both engineers are of the impression that they are originals to the house which is the same age as me!

So the deposit is paid for the boiler and that will be replaced (and moved upstairs to the airing cupboard) on the 17th December.
I've had 3 quotes for the Velux window replacement, all c.£1200. I have an engineer from a local independent company coming for a site visit on Monday.

Once those things are done DP and I can DIY pretty much everything else.
Will start with insulating and boarding the garage ceiling to stop the bathroom above being like a fridge. We will then be able to plumb a utility/laundry area in the back of the garage so I can make space for my first ever dishwasher. I'd also like to move the cats litter trays etc into the garage so that I can have my cloakroom back. Will also get DP to build new shelves in the airing cupboard so I can store our linens better. It's currently cramped with a big tank in there. It should be much more practical once there's just a compact combi boiler.
I may also ask him to help me build some better understairs storage. The current coat cupboard is vast but impractical as it's hard to reach the back so shoes just get thrown in. Something flush and pull out would be lovely.
I have also promised DD a double bed. The poor thing is still on a rubbish foam single mattress she has had since she was a toddler, it is not suitable for a good nights sleep at all!
I also need my own wardrobe, I currently share the built ins in DD's room. The poor girl needs some privacy.

...and then there's finishing off the kitchen...I'd like to replace all the flooring....finishing stripping and repainting the bannister and stairs, repainting the hallway...
I'd also like a completely new bathroom. We replaced part of the bathroom after a previous owners bodge-job caused flooding(hense the garage having no ceiling). To save money we tried to match tiling to what was there. It looks ok at a glance, but closer inspection and it looks completely rubbish. In hindsight I wish we had ripped the whole thing out, re-plastered, retiled and done it in a much better layout. It's functional though, so I'll have to live with it until the debt is gone and I've fully saved up.

I figure one thing every 4-6 weeks is feasible both budget and energy wise, but we will see how we go. Slow and steady, and properly. no rush DIY bodges this time around. I'd like to be proud to have people over rather than hiding the half finishedness of everything.

I have no idea what order to prioritise this all in. I think I need to have a good reflection on what my values are, both with house things, and life in general. Once I'm debt free I'm not sure I know who I am. What my dream lifestyle is, where I should be focusing my resources.

Love and light
Sascha

BrimfulofSascha

Good afternoon Loves,

Another week, another update.

So I have decided to replace the Velux using the local independent company that came around this week. I signed the contract and paid the deposit today. This will come out of the general savings pot. I should have a new boiler and window before Christmas! What luxury!

The letter from my new mortgage company came 2 days ago outlining payments and payment dates. The first DD will be 26th, so technically I have no mortgage payment this pay period (paid on 24th). I managed to set my online banking app up. The account management page gives you a tally of what amount you can over pay by without penalty which is really handy. My regular DD is £953 so I plan on doing a small over payment each month to get it to a neat £1k. The first payment is only £875.36, I couldn't help myself so I made the £124.64 overpayment today instead of waiting for payday. When making the overpayment in the app it gives you an option to either lower the monthly payment or take off the balance and it tells you how much interest you save by doing each option which is a pretty cool feature. My £124.64 overpayment saves me £213.72 in interest across the life of the mortgage. Bonkers.

Car had it's MOT this week and passed with no extra's for the first time ever, not even a bulb. Winner!

In bad money news, I had an event 'down south' last month and forgot to pay the Dartcharge until I returned. The initial letter said it was £3.50 (the cost of the fare) if I paid immediately, or I could contest it. I contested it as I had paid £7 (return journey) and the spare £3.50 sat unattached in my account as it wouldn't let me assign it when I paid. Finally had a response this week and they rejected my claim telling me that as a goodwill gesture they would reduce my fine to £38. I used the link to make payment and the fine was £3.50 (it was the only option I could pay)!  I still have an unassigned £3.50 in the account that I couldn't use to pay the fine. What a load of drama over a few pennies. If they come back and say I haven't paid the fine I might lose the plot entirely.

DP and I are due to go to Eryri tomorrow with friends. And just my luck...storm Claudia has to stick her nose in and ruin my hiking plans. We will still go but may have to rethink routes. I don't think summiting Tryfan in 96mph winds will be much fun, not even the type 2 kind.

The end of the year is fast approaching and I feel so unprepared for it. I have bought just one Christmas present, year end things are behind at work due to waiting on c-suite decisions, I'm stalling on things I know I need to make plans for in the new year. All this stuff is taking up so much mental energy. I think I need to make a to do list and start clearing things off. Do what is in my control. Keep note of the things that aren't and come back to them. 

A starter for 10:

* Book haircut (not had a trim since May - Starting to look like Brian May!)
* Order xmas gift for Nephew. (neice is done)
* Buy Xmas chocs for stockings (including neice and nephew)
* Buy secret santa for sport team person (pick name out of hat)
* Parents have requested only buying for grandchildren - I am happy with that but will get them a token from DD
* Decide on, and buy heated blanket for DD
* Speak to DP about his (big) birthday plans in Jan and book, have realised if I pause reno savings for 2 months we can take the trip he wants, I will massively regret not doing this now debt is in control.
* Book flights and accommodation for my marathon in Feb.
* Order stocking bits for Me/DP/DD ( a tradition i created when DD was small and i was a solo parent- she got sad that I didn't have presents, it's never fancy)
* Make xmas day meal plan - nobody loves turkey so open to ideas (might make a turkey, leek, sprout pie?)
*Write DD CV so she can get a job. She needs life out of the bubble of school.


Ok so that's 11 not 10! Better get cracking!

L&L

Sascha