Lynn's MFW Diary

Lynn11

Thanks for your opinion stuart. As I said we have to seriously consider this probably in 2011 as we would hinder our savings majority (ie have nothing left) if we considered this now - it is probably due to the fact that we had a fanastic time away. No doubt it will probably be a pipe dream but we will see.

Well we started potty training today - went well. Had 3 accidents this morning but she told us she had a wet bum and then was really good the rest of the day and even wanted to use the main toilet with her pink padded seat insert. She loves her sticker chart but will need to look out for more smiley stickers, as I only bought 1 packet in keswick when on holiday and at this rate Iwill be luck if we last another 2 days - at least she is happy to do this. Hope it continues well and will be a test to see how we get on the next few days and then at nursery on thursday.

gallygirl

Lynn11 wrote: »

Thanks for your opinion stuart. As I said we have to seriously consider this probably in 2011 as we would hinder our savings majority (ie have nothing left) if we considered this now - it is probably due to the fact that we had a fanastic time away. No doubt it will probably be a pipe dream but we will see.

Lynn, whilst I agree with Stuart about the financial and weather aspects I'm all for chasing a dream. If you stick to your mortgage reducing plans you'll put yourself in a position where you can decide whether or not it is the right thing for you, rather than having a dream but doing nothing about it. I know so many people who say they want a holiday home / sports car / early retirement etc. but do nothing about it, whilst spending £5 a day on sandwiches, £300 a month on clothes etc. You go for it girl :T:T:T

cha97michelle

Hi Lynn,

Just wanted to say hello on your diary. I am just training DS1 on the potty too, and i have also been using stickers. Mine were from Asda, and i have a selection of smiley faces, stars and animals to use with him. I found they had a good selection that were not too pricey.

He's been a star with wees, but struggling with poos so if you have any bright ideas i would be greatful to hear them.

I was hoping the nappy costs would go down but at the moment he is still using a night time one and a couple through the day to poo in. :rolleyes: It will be even better for me next summer when i can hopefully get DS2 to potty train too. All the wipes and stuff really add up don't they.

I'm glad you had a lovely holiday.

Michelle x

StuartGMC

Lynn and GallyGirl
Wasn't trying to be negative just that in any decision try to ensure you can see all the issues to be considered.

As for chasing dreams, do so. Last week I saw the James May programme on the space race and Apollo missions etc and it brought about a really strong emotional response in me. I remember being brought down in the night at the age of 4 to see the first moon landing in 1969, saw 5 Concordes under construction at Filton in 1970/1 as Dad worked there, saw her and the Vulcan test bed flying those Olympus engines before the scheduled flights and remember all that "the future promised".

Made me sad to think on the ideas we had to have expanded from Earth by now yet 40yrs on we're no further forward apart from destroying the only place we can survive... time for a drink methinks.

Lynn11

I agree about the cost of nappies especially her bum cream adding up, but hopefully I have enough nappies to do me for nights, as we have about 50 I think leftover from holiday and even some probably in the nursery.

Thanks for the suggestion and will be popping to asda tomorrow night and hopefully we can get some lovely stickers. Today no poos in potty but for the last 3 mths she started a poo in her nappy then stopped and wanted to do the rest in the potty - fingers crossed we will only have 1 accident of poos when it happens. Good luck on your potty training journey also.

cha97michelle wrote: »

Hi Lynn,

Just wanted to say hello on your diary. I am just training DS1 on the potty too, and i have also been using stickers. Mine were from Asda, and i have a selection of smiley faces, stars and animals to use with him. I found they had a good selection that were not too pricey.

He's been a star with wees, but struggling with poos so if you have any bright ideas i would be greatful to hear them.

I was hoping the nappy costs would go down but at the moment he is still using a night time one and a couple through the day to poo in. :rolleyes: It will be even better for me next summer when i can hopefully get DS2 to potty train too. All the wipes and stuff really add up don't they.

I'm glad you had a lovely holiday.

Michelle x

Louba

Hi Lynn, just wanted to say good luck with your challenge and offer a wee bit of advice on the caravan. I had a static caravan until last year and while it was great in many ways there were some issues which are worth thinking about.

The first is obviously cost - on top of the caravan you have your pitch fees but you normally also pay local authority rates (if its permentaly pitched), insuarance and gas and electricity get billed quarterly. My caravan was fairly old but in good condition and even then the insurance I think was around £400 a year! The next is the site - if you're going back year after year you really need to be happy with not only the site but it's owners. The site my van was on changed ownership and it made a huge difference to the level of service, this is important if you aren't there alot and need to be told if there has been bad weather and get some help to organise repairs. Other things to think about are whether the park has a policy on rentals - some will not let you commercially rent your van which is important if you are looking to recover the cost in this way. Another is whether they have a policy where they can ask customers to remove their vans once they reach 5 years old or if they are in disrepair. You might have a van which is older but in perfectly good condition and it is a pain to rehome it.

I hope this is helpful!! I loved having mine as it meant I could easily get away at the weekends without having to book hotels but as it got older and needed more attention it did become a bit of a tie - I sold it when I separated from my husband and thought I should get out rather than retreating to the country at the weekends!

Good luck whatever you decide to do!

L

Lynn11

Well its the 1st of july (half way through the year - where has it gone!!!).

Interest paid for month june £131.79 - (£4.39 daily) - mainly due to going on the 2.5% varible rate.
Interest paid for month May £250.95 - (£8.10 daily)
Interest paid for money April £245.41 - (£8.18 daily)
Interest paid for money March £256.08 - (£8.26 daily)

Originally the interest for June prior to my overpayments of £360 was £4.42 so at least I reduced the daily interest by 3p.

Received a letter today stating the details of our new fixed deal which will be begin next month. Wait for it - the letter states that we pay £70 less every month than stated in the telephone quote. I phoned up to check this and its correct - it is only about £10 more than we are paying at the moment on the 2.5% - excellent result and it means that my overpayment sum can go back up to £290 instead of the £220 as anticipated. Very pleased even though we reduced the mortgage term only by a year - hopefully we will reduce the term again maybe in 2010 or 2011 - we will see as ideally wish to pay off in 10yrs as the calculator states.

Potty training going ok at moment and fingers crossed daughter will be ok at nursery tomorrow doing this. She loves her sticker chart and its nearly full - so she is getting a new peppa pig t-shirt which was a bargain as a wee treat.

Hope to do an overpayment on saturday like the rest of the folk on the overpay 4th july prior to my hairdressing appointment.

StuartGMC

Great news on the monthly repayment figure. Will you be at max OP allowed in 2010? If not I'd leave the term the same as it gives some flexibility until you start to hit the ceiling, without impacting upon the actual date you'll hit repayment in full. Keep an eye on offsets for when you come of the fixed, you will probably be in a good position to do so, it will usually have no ERC and no OP limits which really helps at the lower end of mortgage capital outstanding.

Lynn11

Well potty training is going well. We started on Sunday and the last 2 days (which was day 5 & 6) she had no accidents at nursery - hurrah. Tonight we have put daughter to bed with pants, as her night nappy was dry in the morning - fingers crossed this works out. As she was so good I bought her a peppa pig t-shirt, which she loves. We had to buy a waterproof bed sheet for under the fitted sheet.

I previously had bought 2 packets of bedmats (1 is opened) but the other one I got on special of £3.00, Today hubbie went back to the supermarket and managed to get money back on this as we will not need them - he got the real price of £4.25 back - in the mortgage tin and also a profit of £1.25. I recently bought a small tube of bum cream whilst on special and hoping I can return this back to the shop as no need for this.

Hopefully will post tomorrow about an overpay made. Bye for now.

chirpchirp

Even if she doesn't end up potty trained do you really need bum cream? I can remember my health visitor recommending against it as it prevented the nappy from absorbing properly and could lead to further rashes. Mind you, times and advice keep changing! I can't believe they expect babies to go 6 months now before weaning.

Glad the potty training is going well - lots of savings being made there!