A long journey ahead...

debtfreeforlife · 11 October 2017 at 8:18PM

Escapar - I'm motivated right now by my parents - my mum has been OPing since my age and is now about to retire early. I don't think I can go at 31, but I'd like to have a choice to go early if I have a chance! And as a perpetual singleton, I feel like I need to plan in advance as it's only my salary I can rely on.

enthusiasticsaver · 12 October 2017 at 2:53PM

Well done on making another overpayment. You should be able to tell on your annual statement how much you have reduced the term by hopefully. That is a great motivator.

I also think setting up a savings pot (or clear checkbook envelope) is a good idea and then do lump sums when they reach a certain point. Easier to keep track rather than small bits and pieces although I know some people do that. It is all much easier now with internet banking. When we used to do overpayments we had to make an appointment, send a cheque off and wait for three weeks while they processed it.

debtfreeforlife · 12 October 2017 at 4:51PM

enthusiasticsaver yes I will be making payments in lump sums - they have said that the interest doesn't come off daily so no reason why not to. Plus my online banking isn't particularly clear about when amounts have come off, so easier to keep track with larger lump sums.

debtfreeforlife · 14 October 2017 at 7:55AM

Argh, Life has gotten in the way of a planned beautiful overpayment. I have plans to pay up to the 10% on the smaller product in February and will still do that, but I had also been eyeing up my 'electricity envelope'. I decided for the first year of living in the flat I wanted to pay water and electricity by quarter rather than by direct debit, and have been putting aside money each month to pay for that. I've now switched to direct debit as I have a better sense of my usage, and there's a nice hoard in the electricity envelope that I'd planned to reallocate to the other product...

...until I got an email today telling me that a legal inquiry has now been resolved and so my managing agents are backdating the estate service charge to April 2016 as that was when it was last paid across the estate. And the apartment service charge came in at the same time. I have money aside for that and the next estate service charge payments but wasn't expecting the back pay requests. So I have an email into my solicitor asking if any money from the sale was withheld to address this - hoping this might be the case! If not, that will need to be covered by that extra from the electricity envelope. Very annoying!!! I am increasingly convinced that houses are in fact cheaper than flats...

However I have been told that I will be getting a small bonus at the end of this month so that will be split in half between my treat find envelope and the mop envelope.

wishingthemortgaheaway · 14 October 2017 at 8:57AM

Urghhh. I don't really understand the service and estate charges associated with flats, but that is a piggin pain in the whatsit. Grrrrr.
Hopefully someone else's owes at least some of it.

enthusiasticsaver · 15 October 2017 at 8:55PM

How annoying about the backdated service charge. Hope it does not upset your plans too much.

debtfreeforlife · 21 October 2017 at 8:46PM

Sorry both for the slow response - I completely forgot to check this thread despite reading everyone else's! I haven't heard back from my former solicitor yet (although she wasn't good on emails even when I was paying her, so will leave it a few more days). I'm not hopeful, though, and suspect I will have to pay.

MFW activities generally going well here - am on track to get on or under my groceries budget. As I am a big foodie who tries to buy organic as much as possible, this is usually where I'd go over budget! Any left will go to the MFW pot.

Have also decided from next month to reallocate the emergency budget payment to the MFW pot. I used to pay a certain amount in, however that emergency pot is now at an amount I am happy with. So the rest goes to the mortgage. Until there's an emergency which depletes the pot and I change it back again!

Am currently preparing to get some work done on the flat - need to start getting quotes in for decorators and carpets and figure out if I need to move money around in my envelopes to pay for it!

debtfreeforlife · 9 November 2017 at 8:19PM

So the less said about my mortgage overpayment the better at the moment... it's been a frantic few weeks with work and budgeting, healthy eating, exercise etc has gone out the window. I'm not looking at the grocery budget atm but I suspect I won't meet Nov target! I need to start being organized enough to have quick and healthy meal options available on busy work days. On the plus side I received a small bonus last month and have just been told I'll get another this month. It's been an incredibly hard few months so I feel I deserve it! I'd like to put a good portion towards the mop bucket now interest rates are rising. One of my products is up for renewal next August.

On the plus side I am quite proud of my savings this year. I received a pay rise when moving jobs last Nov. From Jan, I started allocating a portion of my salary each month to regular expenses e.g. Christmas, car insurance etc. This is the first Christmas where I won't be dreading the January credit card bill, so I am considering this year a success regardless of my mop bucket

[Deleted User] · 11 November 2017 at 9:14AM

Hi Dffl :hello: I thought I'd come and visit!

Annoying news about the service charge

hopefully it will be sorted soon! Good news on your savings though and your pay rise and bonuses....it will all help!

Good luck on your journey...I'll be here to cheer you on! :j

mortgage_girl · 12 November 2017 at 10:06AM

Hi dffl - just stopping by to wish you luck on your journey. Like you, I pay my mortgage on my own and I've found that every little helps. I've found that a combination of cutting costs and increasing my income through eb@ying, online surveys and sites such as sw@gbucks has helped too.

I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines.

MGx

A long journey ahead...

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