The Piano Diary

Good morning diary and all,

We are just back yesterday from a few days away camping in South Wales with DS. We went there because of the mountain biking and had a great time. Must admit we were glad to get home in the end, we all needed to get back to sleeping in a real bed again!
On our return I found a letter from our mortgage provider confirming the new term of the mortgage is now 7 years and 0 months (reduced from 13 years). I cant believe I am so happy about paying more every month for the mortgage, possibly this is something only MFWannabes would understand. I’m sure this is the right decision as it will make sure that the additional savings from being debt free go to the right place rather than leaking away as additional spending. As this has now been confirmed I was able to also apply to switch yesterday to a five year fixed rate at the same provider. This is a slightly lower interest rate so will reduce the payment slightly. The plan will be to overpay so that although the new term is 7 years, we will pay off in 5 years. I like knowing that the payment is fixed and I know what it is for possibly the remainder of the whole mortgage.

I am still fiddling with the budget since the mortgage will increase by about £400 per month starting this month. Everything is ok but we have had a few extra expenses in the last few weeks so we just need to keep everything on track. Today I have to take the car in for a job that needs doing, hoping for around £125 for this. Tomorrow our cat is having a scan at the vet to make sure he is ok.

So the journey has just taken a big step forward.

Good morning diary and all,

Weather seems to have picked up again this morning following the stormy / rainy day yesterday.

The smart energy meter is now installed so no more meter readings which is a good thing. We can also see our live energy usage so that should improve good habits regarding switching stuff off etc. This has got me thinking once again about how we can minimise our energy costs in the home. We have taken some actions previously such as increasing loft insulation. Resisting putting the heating on as long as is sensible and then when it goes on checking the on/off timings for heat and water, setting the thermostat at a reasonable level. That said I dont believe in being cold so we keep this in perspective. The boiler is quite old (10-15 years) and is a D rating. However, some investigation on line suggests that the saving from a new boiler would be around £150-200 so would take 10 years approx. to pay back. So while the current boiler works and is reliable I think we will hold off replacing it. Mostly I think we have done the structural stuff and changing suppliers etc, so now is mainly about good energy saving habits.

The new five year fixed deal came through yesterday for us to sign electronically so that should be sorted in the next few days. This new mortgage figure is now baked into the budget going forward, increased from £640 to £1050.
Found out yesterday from checking on line that my promotion has come through and salary increased effective 1st August. This is quite a big increase (approx. £350 take home per month) since I have moved up two grades, because I had been a bit remiss in not having applied for promotion earlier! In fact all the money saving focus over the past couple of years, and listening to Dave Ramsay podcasts was one of the reasons I finally pushed myself to apply for it. Definitely a lesson in there to not just focus on reducing spending and costs but also increasing earnings where possible and appropriate. This increase will help with achieving the financial goals, and I also intend to increase pension contributions from January. Holding off on that just for 4 months to help with recovering from the summer expenses that we have incurred.

We have some friends coming over this evening so that will be nice.
Have a great day all!

greent wrote: »

Congrats on the promotion - and what a lovely raise to go with it :T
x

Thanks Greent ! :beer: