Category Archives: mortgage

Holiday Time!

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I’m finally on holidays for Christmas and really looking forward to the break! The last few days I’ve been catching up on sleep with afternoon naps and I certainly feel better for it, nice not to be thinking about work.

I’ve been throwing every spare cent off the redraw as well as our holiday pay and its now down to $2964. I have one last payday before the end of the year and I am also waiting on a big payment from my second job which will see the redraw finally down to $0. DH just got his last full pay before it goes down to a part time amount.

Our tenants gave notice and are moving out this week. We have new tenants moving in straight away so there will be no vacancy at all.

I’ve been working on a new budget for 2019 and planning the work around the house that needs doing -I can’t wait to see the mortgage numbers come down next year! 

So I’m planning on getting some more decluttering done this week and spending some time with family over Christmas.

Finally got the tax back!

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This morning when I logged into the bank I was pleasantly surprised to see our tax return money sitting in the account. I decided to fill all my YNAB categories first and then I transferred the rest off the redraw. 

The new redraw balance is  $7,693.
 We’re on track to pay it off completely before the end of the year so long as we stick to a tight budget. Then it’s full steam ahead on paying off the rest of the mortgage asap.  I am really looking forward to 2019!

Refreshed and refocused!

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We’ve been home for a few days now. After being so busy for the last month its been nice to take it easy at home and just get unpacked, catch up on sleep and re-acclimatise to different weather. 

The holiday was great!  It was so nice to just have time to sit around and talk to each other about our plans and how we’re going to go about setting ourselves up for retirement.

I also re-read Down to Earth & The Simple Home by  Rhonda Hetzel and it was a lovely reminder of what I’m aiming for – simple living and time to enjoy my home and family. I really am ready to just stop working. I feel like time away from work has let me get things back in perspective.

So we have decided our next step is to get our vegetable gardens done so we can get back to growing our own vegetables. We will have raised, square foot gardening beds – probably about six across the back of the yard. I’m also going to start a potted herb garden out the front where there is full sun.

Now that DH is working less he’ll have time to do the work around the yard. The garden beds need to be cleaned out and replanted, paving, fences & paths need completing. Theres plenty of work to keep him busy.

We’re also going to look into solar power – electricity prices here are just so high – and increasing the insulation in the house.  Overall we’re trying to make the house retirement ready and reduce our running costs.

We passed another milestone with our mortgage by reaching the end of Year 14 balance. Our current mortgage balance is now $136,990. 

So today I am cooking. I have made chicken bone broth, vegetable soup and am about to make biscuits and muffins. I’ve got the freezer almost defrosted and  I am trying to work out a better system for storing food in a chest freezer so that food can be rotated and not lost in the bottom – if anyone has any ideas I’d love to hear them.