Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Viking_mfw · 12 July 2017 at 8:31PM

Hi Kittenkirst!

I should have realised you would have kittens. We have two boys too - a bit older than yours - in fact it's their first birthday on Saturday. Hope yours bounce back from the op - they mostly seem to.

Viking

Kittenkirst · 14 July 2017 at 8:36AM

Morning morning fellow MFW's & MSE-ers

Unintentional day working from home today as my work car did not arrive meaning I can't travel today so I can catch up on loads of work and start really pushing forward on a project that's been weighing heavily on my mind.

Good MSE day yesterday, took yogurt and sandwiches into the office. Was tempted to just buy lunch from canteen when I woke up late, but we have the free bread from the cashback app (already paid the £1 back!) and cheese and pickle in so I made myself pack the sandwich, and whilst it was no gourmet hotdog (that people were bringing up from the canteen!) it didn't cost me anything more and was healthier!

Also, found £5 in my old wallet that I sorted out ready to charity shop

that never happens to me so I was pretty chuffed (but also surprised I hadnt noticed a missing fiver!)

Free fruit at work yesterday and didn't realise the gf grabbed two pieces so we have two bananas at home (we both ate the apples in the office).

Pay day today and is £90 more than expected. I had a small (very small!) pay increase in April but because my annual bonus was paid in april the value of my pay each month had been different so it's hard to work out (to do with tax taken in April being so high then having to rectify itself!)

Talking with gf and whilst our accounts sort themselves out (ie we spend less for a few months and get out of Interest free overdrafts) we won't pay the £89 overpayment this month as that £89 pays for the boys being neutered on Monday. This means for the yearly challenge I need to find other ways to bolster overpayments for the rest of the year to make up for it.

For this month (our months run 15th-15th) we have
:heartpuls -40th birthday night tonight, I'm driving to save on drinks costs!)
:heartpuls -a day trip to Oxford to see my brother tomorrow,
:heartpuls - two meals out next week (booked In months ago!)
:heartpuls - one meal the following week which is free for food & drink from gf's birthday meal issue.
:heartpuls - one of gf's nephews coming to stay overnight to spend time with the kittens and we'll take him to do some activities etc. Need to see what fun activities are of offer etc to have a great time with him but not break the bank

So a busy and pretty spendy month, we'll need to plan carefully to keep the costs to a minimum especially as we want to get the cat flap installed this month too (taking from savings but with the aim to put back asap of course!)

Wow this turned into quite a long post, I hope you're all still with me

Kittenkirst · 14 July 2017 at 9:05AM

Viking_mfw wrote: »

Hi Kittenkirst!

I should have realised you would have kittens. We have two boys too - a bit older than yours - in fact it's their first birthday on Saturday. Hope yours bounce back from the op - they mostly seem to.

Viking

Hi Viking! Yes, we've not long had our little boys (got them in April) but they are already our little family! So naughty but so cute!

Kittenkirst · 14 July 2017 at 3:02PM

TheMadVix & Charley- I've had a few prolific surveys today on on my lunch break including a £10 one

I'll log on tomorrow and Sunday to do the other two parts but I'm so pleased. Thank you!

newgirly · 14 July 2017 at 5:03PM

Sorry not popped by for ages! I was shocked to read about your poor gf's accident but glad to hear she was mostly unharmed -scary stuff

MichaelDH · 14 July 2017 at 6:54PM

Hey Kittenkirst

It’s taken a couple of days but I’ve now read your diary from the start

Well done on the amazing over payments you’ve made so far, you’ve done brilliantly!

Our situation, mine and my boyfriends, is very similar to that of you and your girlfriend. We purchased our first home together last year, although yours is a shiny new build and ours is completely the opposite. For years I’ve had an obsession about buying the worst house in the best street, and that’s pretty much exactly what we did. We are now the proud owner of a 1950’s 3 bed semi, located in a small village in North Warwickshire.

We took out a 90% mortgage, fixed for two years as 2.45%, although we chose a slightly longer 30 year term to keep costs down a little for the first couple of years as there’s plenty of money that needs spending on the house. We are hoping that when we re-mortgage in August 2018 we can knock a good few years off the mortgage term due to the equity we will have built up in the house. Fortunately, we know that we paid quite a bit under market value, even considering the amount of work required, and three virtually identical properties have recently sold, for £69k, £77k and a staggering £102k more than we paid just 11 months ago, so we are confident the house will prove to be a good investment.

We haven't made any over payments on the mortgage yet, we've been spending every spare penny on the house, about £15k so far. In the long term we want to save for a kitchen extension to make it bigger plus add a separate utility and a downstairs toilet, so need to weigh up whether it's worth making over payments baring in mind we may eventually borrow more money, or whether we should just save the money so that when the time comes we need to borrow less... will have to do some research.

Anyway, your diary has inspired me to try and make some cost savings where possible so going to make this my mission for the rest of the month and try to come up with a budget. Might even start a diary of my own to try and keep us on track!

By coincidence, we also welcomed an Oscar in to our home a few months a go, although ours is a gorgeous puppy that's now 6 months old. He's a Cockalier, a mix between a Cocker Spaniel and a Cavalier King Charles, fully of energy and very mischievous. Having a pet in ours household has definitely made our house a home

Keep up the good work and have a great weekend!

Michael x

Kittenkirst · 15 July 2017 at 8:11AM

Hi MichaelDh!
Bless your heart for reading all the pages of my diary and for such lovely words.
I've not heard of a Cockaller dog before but he sounds like a lovely dog (my favourite dogs are Cavalier King Charles!). What colour is he? Our Oscar is a little ginger Tom and just adorable; not so cuddly now. Luckily Hugo is a snuggly cat so we get the best of both!

It sounds like you and your boyfriend have a great plan, and I must say even £69k over what you paid sounds fantastic!

I would definitely start a diary to track your progress and also provide you some motivation. Sometimes it's easy to forget the little things which all do add up!

Kittenkirst · 15 July 2017 at 8:15AM

Thanks NewGirly, I'm so happy that she came away physically unscathed. We saw some friends last night who didn't know so she was chatting about it and showed them the pic of the car. Still brings tears to my eyes just seeing that and realising how it could have been very different!

Went out last night to a friends 40th; I drove and got free on street parking which also meant I didn't drink, but Diet cokes can be quite expensive! Gf and I shared a pizza before the party as met some friends, need to now check the spend but I think they'll be below the £25 I set aside in the budget.

No plans today other than the gym and a house clean- bathrooms need their once over, all floors need a mopping etc so will crack on with that. We also need some groceries (cat littler has ran out) for the rest of the week so will go to Lidl/Tesco for that.

Other than that a quiet weekend planned- yay!

MichaelDH · 15 July 2017 at 9:06AM

Morning Kittenkirst

Sounds like you had a nice budget friendly night out last night.

I hadn't heard of a Cockalier before either... very popular in the US and Australia but a little unknown here in the UK. He's very much like a Cavalier in size but has the colouring and bounciness of a golden Cocker Spaniel. I resisted getting a puppy for a long time but Drew (boyfriend) finally wore me down. Glad he did, lovely to be greeted after a long day at work. Not very budget friendly, but we are thinking of getting another puppy in September so food and healthcare costs will double, but we think Oscar will love having a best friend to play with

I think we have been very lucky with this house. We originally saw it advertised in the December and discounted it as thought it needed too much work. We decided that we would increase our budget so started looking at houses around £240K, which unfortunately still doesn't buy much house around here. We viewed another house in the same road and offered full asking price but someone else did too so it wasn't meant to be, and then this house came back on the market. It was advertised for £195k and we got it for £188k. So far we've spent around £15k, so savings have been depleted, but on the plus side we now have shiny new windows and doors, central heating (the house had never had central heating before), we've taken down a wall between the living room and dining room, had some electrical work done, we've blocked up a door, the living room and dining room has been plastered and we've also plastered the hall, stairs and landing and had an alarm system fitted. Quite a lot in a small amount of time really. Now saving for wooden flooring in living room, dining room and hall, new skirting and door frames and new internal oak doors.

We are off to a craft fair in the village this morning. My friend Donna will be there selling her amazing home made soy wax candles. I absolutely love them so will be stocking up, there will also be a cake stall so of course I will be supporting that venture too! Got to have a few treats from time to time to keep the money saving plan on track

Have a great weekend!

Michael x

try_harder · 15 July 2017 at 9:51AM

Morning Kittenkirst .All sounding good and lots of fun things this month too cant be bad .Keep up the good work .

Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

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