A whirly week and a money day

You've all had those weeks where your usual chaos of busyness is compounded by chaos's cousin frenzy.

It's one of those weeks were the to do list grows exponentially. As fast as you cross an item off the list, four more appear at the bottom of the list.

It's a combo pack between work and home. Several big things happening at school which I happen to be in charge of, plus the boys running six ways from sunday and flogging away at homework.

So in the midst of that today two money things crossed my plate today. The first is that FINALLY husband's insurance sent the cheque for DS2's glasses. Their policy covers 68% of the bill. So I quicky whapped that money into the account that covered the Mastercard payment for said glasses. It's been about 6 weeks and I refused to allow that charge to stay on my MC. I do so love that 'paid in full' feeling.

I quickly mailed off the statement to my insurance and ran it to the mail. It will be slower getting there with the upcoming stat holiday but it will get there and my insurance is generally quick to refund.

Secondly our chit chat over lunch at school I heard the news I had not yet had the opportunity to hear. Bank interest rates are going up. and soon.  toute suite.  that becomes more important as my mortgage is due for renegotiation July 1.

I quickly phoned over to the local branch of my bank and was able to renegotiate over the phone. Our current rate is 5.95%. I locked in for five years at 3.75%. Bare in mind I really have little knowledge of mortgage negotiation, but my math skills tell me 3 is lower than 5. I ensured I had the same good terms as before and also checked on how much of  a lump sum I can make on the principal without penalty, and what the penalty would be should we get a windfall and could pay a larger chunk.  The seven year fixed term was 5.79% which is only slightly better than I currently have.

I kept the amount of payment the same per month. It technically could have gone down about $100 ish, but if we can make the current payment, then there is no reason to stop paying that amount. By doing so, I knocked 16 months off the life of my mortgage.

I have no clue if I did well or not. It was a fast decision, a bit in the dark. Right now I feel good about it though. Let's hope that continues to be the way I feel as time passes.