new mfw

chirpchirp

Lovely drying weather at the moment, the washing machine seems to be permanently on as the children seem to have hidden their clothes in all manner of places. Found lots of clothes today hidden behind and under the bed, why they can't just put them in the washing basket is beyond me. There is something therapeutic about seeing the washing blowing on the line and knowing the tumble dryer isn't on costing money.

I still need to work on getting the children to switch their lights off etc and my son has learnt to use the boiler. Often I'm finding I've switched the heating off and then wake in the night really hot to find that he's been cold and switched it on but then not turned it off again. I really need a thermostat to sort it out but electricians etc always seem so unreliable at coming to do such small jobs.

chirpchirp

StuartGMC wrote: »

ChirpChirp

Petrol has risen a lot; about 85p in January and now about £1.01 or so

Food also is more expensive (weaker sterling, higher transport costs etc) in our assessment of the groceries.

Our heating remains off but we're in East Anglia so not "north"; don't expect to put heating on until October...

I was just reading back through my diary and found this in 2009. Seems laughable now when I paid 137.9 yesterday then saw it for 134.9 today.

chirpchirp

Outstanding amount after April payment £114.736.10. Current daily interest according to my calculations is £9.39 which is quite a difference from when I started my diary although the change is partially due to interest rates dropping and currently paying 2.99%.

chirpchirp

Applied for a job last month. Waiting to hear if I have an interview, have been told I'll hear either way this week, fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Would be great as it's what I wanted to do when I was 18 and set off to uni. Would also help the mortgage!

chirpchirp

Plodding on! Didn't get the job.

Expecting a tax refund from HMRC which will be offset by the car insurance. I managed to negotiate with Direct Line and brought the cost down so it'a about £6 more than last year. However, I also dropped how many miles a year I do from 12k to 10k. This might encourage me to drive less as I tend to do in the region of 10k. I'm also looking in to how to claim tax back on savings accounts.

Expensive month, but every month seems to have something crop up. This month it has been car insurance and new school uniform for my son who is starting secondary school. I'm hoping July is a quiet month but my car could do with a service. August is tax disc and then I think I have a breather before house insurance becomes due in October.

Another year without a holiday.

chirpchirp

Well what a strange few months I've had! Been taken for a bit of a ride by someone I was dating, seemed to end up paying for many things but that's come to an end and at least the bright side is that I won't be paying as much in petrol as I won't be travelling as far. Saving number 1 for October!

Car needed a service, new clutch and front brakes just over £500!

My renewal for house insurance came in but current provider refused to budge on amount and I could get it from them as a new customer but would only save £17! I went to compare the market ( I think it was this one) and got a quote for £160, I dropped the excess by £50 and the price only went up to £161. This is a saving of £159 on my renewal quote and is still a lot less than my buildings insurance in 2009 when I first got on top of insurance it also included my contents.

I have been saving my old renewal amount each month from my renewal in 2009 which I now use yearly to buy something for the house. This month I decided to get an American Fridge Freezer - excessive and expensive but I've wanted one since 2006/7. When it arrived the delivery drivers were adamant it wouldn't go in my kitchen so went and got a refund. Meanwhile the price had gone down so measured it, fairly certain it will go in if the delivery drivers can be bothered to get it off the van and I've re-ordered it. Downside is this time the delivery date has a price whereas last time I had free delivery but still saving £184.

I've taken a look at my finances again and I've increased the amount to go towards the mortgage each month by a further £64. I realised that as one stream of my income is linked to rpi that I should perhaps pay this stream direct to the mortgage for as long as I can and increase it each year.

I have 14 years left on the mortgage and it's £110500 that is outstanding. If I continue to pay at the current rate it should be paid in about 10 years. Ideally I would like it paid by my 45th birthday so need to cut it to 5 years.

Meanwhile my direct debit on my energy has decreased and I'm trying to ensure that I just heat one main room using free wood from garden. If I don't manage to get the energy company to return it to the old amount I will put the extra into my ISA which is money that I hope to one day pay towards the mortgage.

Wow that was a long post sorry to bore you all.

chirpchirp

Does anyone know how I post a link to this for Bluemoo?

chirpchirp

Damn my increase in mortgage payment hasn't gone through in time!

gallygirl

:wave:

chirpchirp wrote: »

Does anyone know how I post a link to this for Bluemoo?

You just go onto the first page and copy the address bar - I've done it below:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1615559

Or to be clever:
Copy the address bar as above.
Write something like CHIRP CHIRP'S DIARY
Highlight it, press the little earth with the 'paper clip' (I think it's actually a chain :rotfl:) at the top of the reply window.
Right click and paste the link.
This then changes the format of the words and the link should work when you click on them after you've submitted your reply:
CHIRP CHIRP'S DIARY

HTH

Edit: Ashamed to say I've just seem your diary for the first time . Hello :wave:.

BlueMoo

Found it Chirp Chirp!:wave:

Sounds like you have been incredibly busy and hard at work.

Sorry, I haven't had a chance to read it all yet, but hopefully tonight I can have a good look through!