The Next Chapter: Our Dream House Fund

lessavyfav · 17 September 2016 at 9:41PM

So, I've been married for two weeks now (which was the most fun, amazing day), a wonderful honeymoon in The Maldives, and now back at home, going back to work on Monday — yep, the honeymoon is definitely over!

The next step for us is to continue saving for a deposit of our first home. Now, a little secret: I spent more than I wanted to on the wedding (paying extra little things for my mum, bridesmaid, flowers, taxis for family members visiting from abroad), and because my other half already outlaid more money than I did on the wedding, I don't want him to have to bail me out of the extra costs I put on my CC, to the tune of around £2400.

He knows I've got an outstanding debt, but not of the exact amount because it makes me pretty embarrassed to be honest. I have a diary over at the Debt Free Diary section but I've started a new one here as I want to start afresh, and am hoping I'll be able to pay off the CC relatively quickly.

After reading MSE, I discovered the lifeline that is balance transfer credit cards — so I've sent everything over to a Barclaycard for the next 21 months to give me some breathing space. I lowered my CC1 credit limit from £4k to £1400 and the balance transfer card from £6k to £4k. I've had CC2 for a few years, but it has a super low limit and high APR, so I'm going to cancel it this week.

I have been saving an emergency fund (£100 a month), as well as towards a Help to Buy fund with £200 a month, so that's forced savings, but I know I need to do more. Next month will be a tough one - husband's birthday and my parents are pressuring me to meet them in Europe (they're visiting from Australia) :eek: but from Christmas, it should hopefully be smooth sailing.

I know I need to be more disciplined: better with the grocery budget (which I look after), making an effort with eBay, and spending less on dinners with friends. Time to get my a$$ into gear: here's to the next chapter.

lessavyfav · 18 September 2016 at 11:52AM

Morning!

So today I've listed three things on eBay, that's about all the energy I can muster! I find it such a tedious task..

Last night I baked banana bread after I saw we had about 12 ripe bananas piling up in the freezer..it turned out delicious, so that'll be good for lunch treats this week. I also have a few lunches planned to take into work already and am making a proper effort to make things from scratch using good quality produce. Trying to keep it mostly veggie to keep down the costs and be a bit healthier.

I'm skint from now till payday, but I don't have too much on between now and then. My goal is to spend no more than £170 and this includes a friend's birthday dinner and present, lunch with friends today, travel card, charity DD and a few extras. If I can do this, it means I'll have a little more than £250 leftover to throw towards next month's budget, which is looking to be pretty costly.

I'm thinking now that my weekends and evening are free of wedmin (woohoo!), I can devote time into being a bit more creative: perhaps start a blog like I've always wanted to. At least that way, I can dedicate my time to something where I'm not spending money, and perhaps in the longrun could make some passive earnings from it.

Must get on with it, don't want to waste my Sunday!

savingwannabe · 18 September 2016 at 5:09PM

Hello and welcome. Well done on Wedding and Maldives. Wow. How amazing is that? Stay strong.

lessavyfav · 19 September 2016 at 6:56PM

Thanks savingwannabe! Yes, being on that island was a magical experience — who knew a place could be so perfect? I'll never forget it.

So, today I was well behaved. Other than my travelcard, no spending on coffee, lunch, snacks or anything else. In fact, I brought lunch in but we had a team thing in the diary (paid for) so I left food in the fridge for tomorrow.

I've also got a couple of bids on two items, so that's great. Plus, I cancelled an old credit card and Capital One told me that I had paid £49 when I first got it six years ago, so I get that back. Happy times!

Tomorrow's aim:
- no spending on coffee in the morning! This is a treat I do once a week with my other half after Pilates but we have a barista at work and get free coffee so no excuses. I can do without

- i shouldn't have anything to spend as I have food in the freezer and lunch sorted already.

lessavyfav · 22 September 2016 at 8:09PM

Ello, ello!

I've been keeping an eye on the budget and am still doing okay — spent more at my friend's birthday dinner than I wanted to, but I haven't spent much on work lunches this week (and will bring in tomorrow's), so it's evening out.

Tomorrow's aims:
- only buy fruit for lunch
- make dinner tomorrow night instead of being lazy and having takeaway

I need more solid savings goals i.e. save £10,000 or save xx by x date. Going to look at my projected spends over the next few months and see what I can rustle up, but I think having a specific focus will make it more achievable.

lessavyfav · 26 September 2016 at 7:05PM

Ergh, Mondays are so hard. At least the day is over.

I sold some things on eBay, for much higher than I thought, bonus! Two people have paid, just waiting on the other person..that'll be an extra £130 once fees are taken out so I'm happy

I'm meeting a friend for lunch tomorrow and no other spending expected till payday on Wednesday — can't come around soon enough. Once I get paid, a lot of that will go back out of my accounts, depressing. But very much looking forward to soon being able to add more money to the savings pot at least.

I'm keeping my eyes peeled for the £49 cheque refund for my CC, though that'll go straight back on the 0% card.

And that's it! A very quiet week ahead for me as I have a few friends away, so I'm going to lay low!

lessavyfav · 1 October 2016 at 6:09PM

Argh, where has the day gone? At least I've used it fairly wisely sorting out life admin that I was putting off.

The old CC account I closed is refunding me £49 back into my account, brill; began sorting my company enhanced pension and trying to consolidate with other plans I have — not quite done but I've filled out the forms and sent off an email so hopefully will hear back soon, then I'll only have to post a few documents; killed myself in a Barre class; and sorted part of my mum's 60th birthday present. I am looking online for the other half's birthday present now.

It's only October 1 but I have very little money to last me till payday at the end of the month — though this excludes all my bills, rent, travel card, the money that goes into my EF (£100) and H2B (£200). I'm determined to not touch my CC and get through it though. I'll do this by:
- bringing my lunch in from home as much as possible. Groceries come out of the joint account which I've paid in already
- aiming for a few NSDs a week
- selling more clothing, I have a couple of things I'm sure I could get rid of
- letting my close girlfriends know that I need to stick to cheap dates only, might have to see them a bit less frequently than I normally do

27 days till payday!

lessavyfav · 3 October 2016 at 7:25PM

I've decided to take it one week at a time to keep myself on track, as trying to work out a monthly spend feels a little airy fairy for me, money just ends up slipping through my fingers.

I've decided that each Sunday I will top up £70 on a prepaid card; this is to be used for dinners, lunches, snacks, getting nails done, drinks, etc. If I run out within the week, that's tough. If i have leftover money I'll just top up for the week till I get to £70. If I do this for the next 4 weeks I will definitely have leftover money in my pocket for CC payment or savings.

Today I didn't spend anything and tomorrow should be the same..Wednesday could also be a NSD if I work from home. Next week is where it gets tough. I have a work goodbye dinner (not paid for by work, fancy place), and a few friends are coming back from holiday who will want to catch up with a dinner, no doubt. But we'll cross that road when we get to it!

Work is tiring me at the moment. A lot of stuff dropped on my desk last minute and not enough time to work through things properly — time for me to focus and push back on people.

25 days till payday!

savingwannabe · 4 October 2016 at 4:31PM

I think a prepayment card is a good idea. How about a system where you withdraw £80 cash on a Sunday and just use that? I do that with £10 a week. lol.

lessavyfav · 4 October 2016 at 7:09PM

Hey savingwannabe, that's exactly the plan!

And even better, Monzo (used to be called Mondo) have added a brilliant new feature to their app where you can assign a monthly target amount for different categories; it detects most retailers into the correct category (so it would flag Pret a `Manger under 'Eating Out'). I think it'll be so handy for goal setting, so I'm going to begin to use it for groceries/household, eating out and entertainment. I think the groceries one is where I will really learn a lot! :j

lessavyfav · 4 October 2016 at 8:59PM

Oh my word. I just went through the joint account to calculate what I spend on our grocery spend and it's an absolute shocker!

The past months have been as follows:
April £253.70
May £239.27
June £310.51
July £273.48
August £261.05
Sept £133.64 (but that's because we were away for 2 weeks)

This is for 2 people with no pets who also go out 1 or 2 meals per week together, I'm really appalled with myself. It does also include alcohol, which can be a killer as the OH loves his craft beers, but something's got to give! There were way too many waitrose, marks and spencers and gourmet supermarkets on the statement — I didn't think I frequented those stores as much as I do!

So as of this month, I'm going to see if I can get the bill down to £200 — still too much I think, but it will be a start.

The Next Chapter: Our Dream House Fund

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