The ups, downs, and occasional sideways bits of trying to be mortgage free

armchairexpert · 25 July 2017 at 2:33AM

New doggie is here and snoring on the armchair in my office. She's a delight so far: licked the girls to pieces, napped on Mr E's arm, played chasey with the younger cat (he initiated it, lest you worry about his well being! He loves a chase), made friends with some other dogs on the oval, and received a stern talking to on the subject of Not Chasing The Hens.

Yesterday was a whirlwind and I might as well have torn up a bunch of money and tossed it in the air for all the money-saving I did. I took the older cat to the vet to discover she has a sore tail and maybe an infection, and that was $180. I still needed dog beds and a car harness and a lead and a tag, and that was another $120. Both girls have birthday parties coming up (not their birthdays: friends) and we spent $40 on gifts and cards between the two of them. So much money.

Mr E has been buying lots of little things as well, I think costume bits for Book Week and a couple of books - he has a surgical procedure next week and then a week of enforced couch rest so he's laying in entertainment supplies. And a new coat. All very reasonable, and nothing compared to the dog, but we're over on all our discretionary categories AGAIN. I'm just going to have to earn more.

Tahlullah · 25 July 2017 at 7:12PM

Sometimes, the choice between earning more or spending less is easy, and earning more comes out on top!

Tx

armchairexpert · 26 July 2017 at 4:29AM

Indeed. I don't live a life without any luxuries, but there's little left to cut, and as I was scraping out the remnants of a lipstick with a brush this morning - I'm down to two and completely out of foundation and moisturiser - I thought, there must be a better way. Now, if only my clients would pay me.

End of financial year has meant an extra $505 into the bank account from the government because we overestimated our income and received less child care benefit than we were entitled to. I have allocated $100 to me so I can buy a bit of makeup. Last time I bought a product was almost a year ago.

armchairexpert · 27 July 2017 at 2:25AM

Good run this morning with Lovely Dog. She's asleep on the chair again now. I really like having her around, she's motivating me to go get exercise even when I don't feel like it, and one always feels so much better for it.

Off to another city tomorrow for the weekend. This is a combination of an annual jolly (lots of my friends live there) and business stuff. I had hoped to be taking spending money, but unless a slew of invoices come in today it might end up a bit lean. I have a dinner with friends organised at a not-too-expensive Chinese restaurant, then drinks after but I don't drink alcohol so that's always pretty cheap for me, and a day of hitting the good charity shops to hunt for clothing bargains. I don't really need to buy anything, it's just for fun.

Mr E got reimbursed for his recent business trip today so I've topped up some pots. Nothing else MSE happening.

armchairexpert · 31 July 2017 at 6:06AM

Hi! I've been away for the weekend and correspondently silent, but I've just got YNAB up to date and back to normal life. TBH the weekend was a bit of a letdown: I was going to see a very good friend and also have a big dinner with a whole circle of friends who irritatingly live interstate, but the very good friend has been battling flu for weeks and was ordered back to bed, and since it's winter most of the others were also sick, and I was mainly on my own for three days. We managed the dinner, but it ended up just being four of us, rather than the original 12.

It also meant that instead of spending a day hitting the good charity stores that we don't have over here, and having a good bargain hunting session, I was in the centre of the city with the mainstream stores. I bought a few indulgent things that I had planned for and budgeted out of my tax return money, and that was nice, but the bargain hunting would have been far better as well as cheaper. I'm not a big shopper, really, so without the company and the joy of the hunt part it felt a bit flat.

On the Sunday I packed myself a salad roll and ate it, and a good coffee, on the waterbank before hitting the free parts of the Art Gallery and that was lovely. But then I trailed all around the city looking for gifts for the girls. Eh. I don't know. A shopping trip is not my style, really. I feel like I've wasted my annual Indulgent Get Away On My Own trip on things I didn't really care about.

Anyway, there we go, it's done. In other news, all the paperwork for the bank is finally in for the refinance, but unfortunately the loans officer completely forgot what we'd discussed (did she not take notes? it seems like a small thing to expect?) and tried to sell me a completely, totally, utterly different package which was literally wrong in every single element. I've written it all down for her in a numbered list and talked her through it an hopefully she'll manage the right thing this time. Honestly. Do people not need basic qualifications or common sense to work in banks?

Mr E's tax return is now in, so we'll to wait until it ticks over to tomorrow to see what our mortgage stands at, at the end of this month, but we're finally drawing ahead.

armchairexpert · 1 August 2017 at 2:56AM

The mortgage (plus credit card: I'm rolling it all into one debt here) has gone down from $228K to $212K in five months: $16,000. That looks more impressive than it is: it includes $10,000 in tax return money and $3,000 when I sold a car. Although I guess the tax return money represents a form of savings, since it was money I put aside from my business over the year, over and above what I ended up owing the tax office. So okay, I'm claiming that as a win: we lived within our means and I managed to put money aside.

I've said before that this often feels more like a Debt Free Diary, because it's become so clear to me that in fact we were spending outside our means on a casual, invisible basis before I started this project (and then making up the difference with the end of year tax lump sum). So just breaking even has been quite a turnaround for us.

Going forward, the mortgage refi will make a big difference I think. Our mortgage has gone up almost an entire 1% - from 4.8% to 5.6% - in the past two months, which has meant an extra $300 over the two mortgages. I'm hoping to reverse that trend going into this month, as the refi will see the home loan rate come down to 3.8% and the investor loan to 5.15%. Because I'm working with very small margins for error, that'll make a huge difference and we might finally start to pull ahead.

Many things are now habit, including baking bread and shopping at the cheaper grocery stores, and we're more thoughtful as a family about what we spend and when. I anticipate no more big expenses between now and Christmas, although we might try for a cheap week away in the spring (October) holidays. The budget is balanced and the household is happy.

Tahlullah · 2 August 2017 at 8:51PM

Hello ACE, I have said for quite a while that I think I am on the wrong thread and completely agree that perhaps I should be on the Debt Free Wanabee pages. So I totally understand where you are coming from. Sometimes, you get the feeling that you are less paying down the mortgage and more juggling your money and any surplus you can accumulate allows you to pay off the mortgage, but there appears to be no structure or regularity to it.

However, despite that, you do have a pattern and you should not dismiss it. A $16k reduction in 5 months is extremely impressive and it was only made possible by your budgeting and living within your means (with the odd splurge to remind you why you work for a living!)

As you say, the budget is balanced and the household is happy. You cannot ask for more!

Congrats on the pay down, you have made a fantastic deposit. Lets hope the re-financing makes an even bigger difference to your big debt!

armchairexpert · 3 August 2017 at 3:22AM

Yes, that's exactly right, there's no real structure. But also, if I'm honest, we've been pretty reluctant to make big changes. We've cut down on groceries, and cafes, and those sorts of casual spends, but all the other expenses are still chugging along. I'd like to think we've all got enough clothes for the year now, but I doubt that's true. I think if we really really wanted to we could definitely cut back further, but it has to be a joint effort: it's too depressing feeling like I'm forgoing a $4 coffee once a week while everyone else merrily carries on with their expensive hobbies.

Anyway, Mr E got paid today and I realised it's a three-pay month for him! He's paid fortnightly, but my budget is monthly, so twice a year we get an extra pay. Since July was pretty extravagant, I think I'm going to stick the entire pay into the mortgage - actually I might top up the Christmas account, that one's been worrying me a bit. I'm very pleased with this, because it was accidental - I mean when I set up the budgets I didn't think about the fortnightly/monthly issue, so this seems like free money!

Doggie had an excellent time running around in the mud with a friend this morning and now she's filthy. I splurged on some dry shampoo and furniture deodoriser, because it's rained every day for a week and everything smells like a kennel.

armchairexpert · 4 August 2017 at 6:26AM

Who'd have thought the old man had so much rain in him? It's been pouring all day with several more days of it forecast, which means the tumble dryer has been going fairly continuously. I hate using it, but needs must. Even Doggie didn't want to go out in it this morning: looked at me like are you serious? when I urged her to come out for her morning toileting, and ran back inside as soon as she was done. Was likewise very lukewarm about doggie park, so we left as soon as I'd finished my coffee (I bring in a thermos, to drink with my gloves on, and my hat, and my big fleecy coat, I'm a sight I tell you!).

Nothing to report on the money front, which is nice. Took Big Girl out for a mulled apple juice yesterday while Little Girl was at a friend's house because she had school/friend problems she wanted to discuss. That means Little Girl is going to want a coffee shop date today while Big is at ballet. Our YNAB category for this sort of thing is so tiny it'll eat up a quarter of the month's allocation, but I think it's important that we do it sometimes so they feel heard. I usually try and persuade them into a Nice Country Walk instead, but not when the weather's this unpleasant! Doggie can just stay on the couch with Mr E which is where she wants to be.

Mr E goes back to work Monday. It's been nice having him around. He's taking it easy so he heals, so I'm doing the bulk of the housework, but today he's been simmering chicken stock from all the carcasses I was saving in the freezer, which bodes well for dinner. If I'm lucky he's also baked some bread. We're ploughing through the food in this weather!

VelvetFreak · 6 August 2017 at 6:03AM

Hi ACE. Glad to see all is well over here. So nice to hear that you now have a doggie friend

I too sometimes worry that I am in the wrong section, as at the moment I am technically saving an emergency fund, not paying off the mortgage as such.

Have you ever heard of Dave Ramsey, specifically the financial Baby Steps plan? I am trying to follow them, because I believe the plan truly works. But at the same time, it is very restrictive and slow progress.

The ups, downs, and occasional sideways bits of trying to be mortgage free

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