Making my house a home and my life my own

ajmoney

I am long overdue a new diary as I have just read the first line of my last one. I was married, in my previous house with a much larger mortgage. I hadn’t realised that this was still the same one.

I will add all the financial bits and my plans over the coming days, but the title says it all really.

KajiKita

Happy new diary 😊🤩

Looking forward to reading all your plans 😊

KK

ajmoney

I live in a lovely three bedroom bungalow. I have two mortgage products on the property

Mortgage 1 £37,320.87 monthly payment £311.42

Mortgage 2 £17,117.06 monthly payment £135.27

I remortgaged in July and have been OPing £400 a month, £335.83 to the larger and £64.17 to the smaller bringing the overall total to £400. The amounts probably seem strange and if I am honest I don't truly remember how I came up with that figure so will have to look back at my old diary to help with that.

I became mortgage neutral nearly a year ago now so many people will think it bizarre that I remortgaged in the summer but the set up is working for me. I have saved £18.5k on top of the mortgage balance. My aim is to continue having enough across my savings accounts that I can pay off my mortgage, while using the rest to decorate my house and make it my home (the decorating, house/home bit will be in another post). 

I plan to pay off my mortgage at the end of this fixed rate (July 2027) unless there is a dramatic change in my plans or circumstances. By then the house should be decorated and a good buffer saved so I don't have to empty my savings so I can be mortgage free.

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary. 

ajmoney

Making my house a home...it has not been a smooth ride when it comes to decoration and home improvements. I have had so many tradespeople not turn up that is has taken a long time to get anywhere. I have been in my house for 6 and a half years and internal improvements only started a year ago. I have now had my living room, dining room, 3 bedrooms and hallway plastered and decorated, tomorrow I am getting a carpet fitted in my bedroom. I had hoped to get the bedroom furniture by now so I could set everything up next weekend but I can't find what I want. The range I thought I wanted doesn't work for me so rather than settle for second best I am going to use some temporary solutions. As a perfectionist the temporary solution doesn't sit well but I deserve to live in a lovely house with what I want so it is essential. I bought a hanging rail a couple of months ago when I took the built in wardrobe out so that will get moved into my bedroom tomorrow evening and I have some plastic drawers that I will wash out. It will give me some time to work out how much storage I need.

Once I have got my bed base out of the dining room (I have been sleeping on the mattress on the floor of another room for months) and my clothes into my room I am going to order the carpets for the other bedrooms and hallway. By Christmas I hope to have all the flooring down.

I don't currently have any heating as some radiators were taken off the wall for decorating and I don't know if I can turn the others on without causing leaks and damage. These will be getting fitted tomorrow, I can't begin to say how excited I am to be warm from tomorrow evening.

I am undecided on some of the furniture for my living and dining room too as I don't know what sizes are going to work but I have some old furniture to play about with. 

When I moved here it was from my marital home, a new build that needed no work doing to it but it had no soul to it. I had been in the house less than a year when we went into lockdown. I have had some low times and this house has been my place of solitude, I want to transition it to my comfortable home.

Watty1

Happy new diary. I've followed the big changes you have made, highs and lows, and really looking forward to reading/watching this stage of the journey.