Renovations and Repayments.

Hello and welcome to visitors familiar with my journey thus far and are surprised to see me on such a sensible board and a further warm welcome to the new faces wondering what they've let themselves in for.

Let me begin by clarifying a few points: the first one is I am not sure whether I'm actually serious or not about clearing my mortgage and the second is the fact my house needs quite a bit of work doing to it. This work I do myself and in the time my wife and I have lived in the house we've learnt all kinds of new skills. The current project involves renewing the windows and I am making the frames myself, two are done and I'm pleased to say look great.

I plan to use this mortgage free (how very grown up) diary to document the renovations and my savings activities, out of which overpayments may or may not be made. However, I am fully committed to long term saving and making as much money as possible. A long term goal of mine is to add to the BTL portfolio I shall one day inherit and am already becoming more involved in which is perhaps a good reason to pay my mortgage off and make my current property into an investment.

Aside from the recent interest in moneysaving I have a four year old son, run my own company, play and teach the violin and piano whilst studying for my own interest. Oh and don't mention the cars. ;)

Those familiar with my debt-free diary will know I'm not exactly great at record keeping but am trying to improve, so please don't expect the detailed financial updates others seem to put on here. To kick things off, I suppose I ought to confess the mortgage debt is a total of circa £185,000 and I have no real timescale or plan in mind to pay it off.

Sorry if this is not a particularly articulate introduction, as I seem to be at a loss how to tailor it to both those who've read my debt free diary and to new readers frequenting mortgage free.
2018 totals:
Savings £11,200
Mortgage Overpayments £5,500
«134567345

Comments

  • gallygirl
    gallygirl Posts: 17,228
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    :hello: Welcome Alex and good luck :hello:. Impressed (but not surprised!) by your window making skills :T.
    A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort
    :) Mortgage Balance = £0 :)
    "Do what others won't early in life so you can do what others can't later in life"
  • tootallulah
    tootallulah Posts: 2,197 Forumite
    Hiya Alex how lovely to see you over here. I am impressed by the windows, what a brilliant skill to have, and I should know as the woman who paid £1500 per handmade window when I renovated my house.

    Looking forward to hearing how your house improvements progress.
  • AlexLK
    AlexLK Posts: 6,125
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    gallygirl wrote: »
    :hello: Welcome Alex and good luck :hello:. Impressed (but not surprised!) by your window making skills :T.

    Thank you, gallygirl. As for the window making, clearly I'm a talented boy. ;)
    Hiya Alex how lovely to see you over here. I am impressed by the windows, what a brilliant skill to have, and I should know as the woman who paid £1500 per handmade window when I renovated my house.

    Looking forward to hearing how your house improvements progress.

    Thank you. :)

    They take a long time to make and the project is no where near finished but so far I'm pleased with the results.

    Regarding the house improvements (it can't get any worse :rotfl:), I suppose that's the biggest reasons I've made this diary. The other one helped me to stay focused on paying my debts off and starting afresh with the finances and this one I hope will give me a push to do what is needed to the house.
    2018 totals:
    Savings £11,200
    Mortgage Overpayments £5,500
  • abouttimetoo
    abouttimetoo Posts: 1,860
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    Welcome Alex


    I've seen you posting on Gally's thread so good to see you've started your own diary on this board


    That's an impressive debt reduction you've achieved so wishing you every success with your current plans for renovations and savings


    Regards
    ATT
    MFW Start Date 1.4.08. Updated 23.1.18. MFW date 1.8.18
    Original Mortgage o/s £187,643 / £71,904 (-115,739)
    Repay o/s £92,661 / now £55,900 (-36,761)
    Int Only o/s £94,982, now £16,004 (-78,978)
    Total daily interest £1 [a) £0.77 b)£0.23
    Total OP's:2018 target £TBC YTD £1,995
  • AlexLK
    AlexLK Posts: 6,125
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    abouttimetoo: Thank you. :) I don't really do things by half measures, unfortunately that meant the spending has been rather bad in years gone by. At least this is more productive.
    2018 totals:
    Savings £11,200
    Mortgage Overpayments £5,500
  • AlexLK
    AlexLK Posts: 6,125
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    Wednesday 11th March, 2015.

    Dear Diary,

    Unfortunately I have not had the time to do any work to the house in recent days but I did manage to tidy away some books and sheet music in the music room. For those who've followed my debt free diary will know that's quite an achievement as I'm not usually tidy, neat or organised.

    Since starting this diary, it has prompted me to think about the house a little more and whether or not the jobs are worth doing and it is worth paying the mortgage down. Whilst I still don't have a definite answer, I am quite sure about some of the jobs that I need to complete as they will increase the value of the house. My biggest concern is spending so much money on the house that will not be recovered.

    Yours Faithfully,
    Alex.
    2018 totals:
    Savings £11,200
    Mortgage Overpayments £5,500
  • maman
    maman Posts: 28,494
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    AlexLK wrote: »
    Wednesday 11th March, 2015.

    Dear Diary,

    Unfortunately I have not had the time to do any work to the house in recent days but I did manage to tidy away some books and sheet music in the music room. For those who've followed my debt free diary will know that's quite an achievement as I'm not usually tidy, neat or organised.

    Since starting this diary, it has prompted me to think about the house a little more and whether or not the jobs are worth doing and it is worth paying the mortgage down. Whilst I still don't have a definite answer, I am quite sure about some of the jobs that I need to complete as they will increase the value of the house. My biggest concern is spending so much money on the house that will not be recovered.

    Yours Faithfully,
    Alex.


    If you spend money on the house would you get back what you spend if you moved sooner rather than later? Many people would think that spending money on making their home more comfortable is worthwhile as they'll be living in it so they're doing it for them. That leaves you with the question of how long you plan to stay but that's a decision fraught with problems as MrsK is of a different mindset I believe.:)
  • gallygirl
    gallygirl Posts: 17,228
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    In other matters - I dreamt about you last night Alex :rotfl:. I didn't expect you to be that tall and gangly somehow :D. I liked how you'd revamped upstairs and made Little K's room into a den :T.
    A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort
    :) Mortgage Balance = £0 :)
    "Do what others won't early in life so you can do what others can't later in life"
  • AlexLK
    AlexLK Posts: 6,125
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    maman wrote: »
    If you spend money on the house would you get back what you spend if you moved sooner rather than later? Many people would think that spending money on making their home more comfortable is worthwhile as they'll be living in it so they're doing it for them. That leaves you with the question of how long you plan to stay but that's a decision fraught with problems as MrsK is of a different mindset I believe.:)

    I'm fairly certain that if all the work was done, there's a profit to be made. However, getting the work done and selling it would be a false economy as we couldn't move to somewhere I'd actually want to live without moving to my parents' house or unless they decide I'm worthy of their financial backing.

    As for spending money to make a home more comfortable to live in, I completely agree though to me the house is just a property. My wife is of a different mindset because she sees it as her "home".
    gallygirl wrote: »
    In other matters - I dreamt about you last night Alex :rotfl:. I didn't expect you to be that tall and gangly somehow :D. I liked how you'd revamped upstairs and made Little K's room into a den :T.

    :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Was it a dream or a nightmare?
    2018 totals:
    Savings £11,200
    Mortgage Overpayments £5,500
  • gallygirl
    gallygirl Posts: 17,228
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    AlexLK wrote: »



    :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Was it a dream or a nightmare?

    It was very bizarre, that's for sure. Also involved Gary Lineker and square sausage :D.
    A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort
    :) Mortgage Balance = £0 :)
    "Do what others won't early in life so you can do what others can't later in life"
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