Hazelnutty's New Start

Karmacat · 26 October 2018 at 9:22AM

You're doing fine! It's the whole thing of it being a marathon, not sprint - £1200 a year, plus the ordinary mortgage payment, is really good, though I know it must feel horrible that it's coming off a late retirement goal

Keep going - you're living your life too, that's a good thing!

the_cross_rabbit · 26 October 2018 at 10:48AM

Hazelnutty I know you feel that £1200 a year isn't alot, I'm in a similar boat as mine is approx £600 (£50 a month SO) a year (maybe £900 with additional TT) . Its hard to keep focused when the numbers aren't reducing very fast. I look at other people paying sometimes massive OP and feel annoyed I can't do the same. There is only so much money in the pot. However as Karmacat says its a marathon not a sprint (hate running anyway). Just remember over the years it will all add up and it will reduce the amount of interest charged. Just keep chipping away at it and you'll get there.
CRx

Hazelnutty · 26 October 2018 at 11:48AM

Thanks, Karma and CR! I guess it was just a bit of a downer moment when, after feeling so positive about budgets and FBselling etc, I realised it was realistically a maximum of £100 a month I could OP. I did the snowball OP thingie on here a few weeks ago and I needed to be OP'ing a few grand a year to make a significant impact. But you're right, it will add up and I will pay less interest in the end!

Karma's right too, I do need to live my life. I could cut back further, but I don't want to be saying 'no' more than I am already, especially to DD when she wants to go out and do stuff together. Especially as it won't be long before the idea of going out and doing stuff with her mum will be THE MOST EMBARRASSING THING EVER.

CR - good to know there are others who are OPing at a similar rate to me (I was at £30 until last month). Chip, chip, chipping away even when others are making major inroads into their mortgages. It will always be a balance for me between OP and safety net. We're basically a one-income household and I'm never going to be a high earner, so I am conscious of building up more of a cushion than perhaps others need. My mortgage statement should arrive towards the end of November, so that should give me a boost, plus I'll have the interest from my NW regular saver @ 5%, which I fed the maximum £250/month from my existing savings. Plan is to immediately set up a new saver and just keep the feeding going. Again, small fry but it still counts!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and helping me keep my chin up!

Hazelnutty · 26 October 2018 at 11:49AM

Oh, and OH has just baked a chocolate cake so it can't be all bad!

greent · 26 October 2018 at 12:05PM

With mtges, every little OP really does add up - when you add up what the interest you're saving over the term comes to, even with 'smaller' OPs, it can be an amazing amount! - and as the mtge reduces in size (and if you can keep the mtge payment the same) the cumulative effect is fab x

If OH can get onto Pinec0ne, that's a good suvey earner. Pr0lific is one of the better ones, too

x

Hazelnutty · 26 October 2018 at 12:16PM

Thanks, Greent. I will definitely pass those on. The enthusiasm for surveying has waned as she was always getting weeded out and so earning nothing. Thanks also for the encouragement on the OPing - it really does help!

DD has loved having the decluttering lady round. They've done an amazing job and I now have a massive bag of clothes and a good few boxes to go through. There is quite a bit of lego and Playmobil which seems to sell well, although I'll also be kinda sad to see it go.

Hazelnutty · 28 October 2018 at 10:13PM

Evening all! Down on p3 today!
Had a nice day Saturday. OH and I had a little treat each having been so careful for ages. Super bargainaceous Converse for an extra 20% off the sale price (we both love our Converse). I paid for mine out of my guilt-free pot. Also got an overdue birthday pressie for my mum, cat toy and socks at TKMaxx. OH treated me to lunch for the first time ever. We had a lovely set meal at a Turkish place, had so much we didn't eat for the rest of the day! Back home for tea and films and pjs :cool:

Today we went to London to collect DD from my dad's (via a quick museum trip as we're both geeks) Then some friends over for tea and cake when we got back. OK so quite an expensive weekend compared to recent ones. A round at the clubhouse after the match Saturday, Converse and TK Maxx shop, train ticket and coffees today... But it was worth it for having a fun weekend.

Heating has finally gone on. It was just getting a bit silly, huddled under the spare room duvet watching Dr Who! So it's on. So much better! It's going to be on a bit more this year and OH and I are in during the day at least until the new year, but we're currently in good credit (small set of integrated solar panels in the roof have really helped over this summer) and frankly I hate being cold!

Quite a busy month work-wise, but a small amount of extra income for a small job I do each year at another university will bring a nice boost.

I really feel I need to just pull myself together a bit this week. Get out exercising, get my finger out work-wise...

pinkypig · 28 October 2018 at 10:47PM

Your weekend sounds like a well earned treat:)
I too love a museum, particularly the London ones. My favourite is the natural history museum:D
Have a good week xx

newgirly · 29 October 2018 at 9:42AM

Wow you are doing so well Hazelnutty! Don't feel disheartened that you can't make larger overpayments, it's early days still and these things tend to go in peaks and troughs. Some months we have managed to make massive ops, some years (been here a long time now!) we have scrapped by living and just managed the odd 10p here and there. I always think if you are on a lower budget the impact of being mf will be even greater

Ps. Dr.who was very traumatic last night :eek::eek::eek:

Karmacat · 29 October 2018 at 10:18AM

I'm a big fan of museums too, even on subjects I don't particularly go for

But when I *do* go for them, oh boy, I could live in a museum devoted to subjects I'm passionate about

Hazelnutty's New Start

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