new mfw

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Congrats on the job offer. I've had my just done my first week in my new full time job and my house looked tidy all week simply because I wasn't there! Also cleaning on Thursday evening was really easy as everything was already in it's rightful place. Still teaching MrMRN the difference between tidying and cleaning though!!! I think the electric and gas bills might reduce slightly too, no grilled cheese on toast for lunch and no laptop on during the day etc.

chirpchirp

Thanks Stuart - I've been thinking of a money saving way to avoid the costs! I don't have extra childcare costs during the holidays as I work in a school. However, I could reduce all childcare costs if the children were to change schools to my school. I will then just incur extra petrol by becoming full time and lose all my tax credits. However, the loss in tax credits will be offset by not paying childcare and by the increase in pay.

I'm not particularly worried about the mortgage and ex being made redundant as interest only payment will drop from £982 to £299 next week. I should be able to afford this from my own money before maitenence. I also stop paying my solictor £500 a month next month so we'll see how things go. I'm definitely in a much stronger position than I was a 3 months ago, so we'll see how things go.

Ex should get a huge redunancy payout and he suggested giving me a years worth of payments in advance from this and then reviewing the situation in a year dependent on his job situation. Although, he seems to be having second thoughts about this at the moment. If I use the payments wisely then I know I should be fine for at least a year. I'm quietly confident that he should find a job fairly quickly.

I've found out the nectar card has a small fortune on it equivalent to about £220 worth of Argos vouchers. It's a joint card with ex so I have suggested we use it for Christmas presents for the children - so quite good news. I like their presents to come from both of us so they don't think that one of us is spending more on them.

chirpchirp

Well, I'm shattered now. The kids bedroom is now decorated and I estimate i have saved about £450 doing this myself. Materials came in at just under £60 - shame the homebase 10% off didn't start a day earlier. Wasn't worth a seperate trip though sometimes it's worth foregoing the discount to save in petrol. The bedroom isn't perfect, but it looks a damn site better than it did and a real decorator couldn't have made it look £450 worth better.

Have been to solictor and given him the final payments from his last statement to me so that's a 4k bill paid off. Although he's advised there could be some further payments but he's doing his best not to rack them up.

Car insurance renewal quote arrived today - what fun that turned into. I was insured for myself and spouse but I no longer have a spouse. Taking him off added about £38 to the bill apparently there is a discount for husband and wife on the same policy which is just daft. Ridiculous that two people can be insured for less than the cost of one.

When I mentioned that I would leave it for now as I have until the 19.6 to sort my renewal and I wanted to get some quotes they were quick to put me through to retentions where I was quoted £263.55 a £55 drop. I then did my searches which were interesting looked like Swift cover would come in cheapest but they had about £30 difference between the different comparison sites.

Whilst I was doing this Uswitch called to say they had seen I had been on their site but had some new partners today who might be able to help me. They asked me for my lowest quote which was £242.35 and said this other partner - Swinton were keen to try and better it. The Swinton quote came in at over £500! Having been through all the comparison sites I called Norwich Union who came in at over £700!!!!!! Then Direct Line called me back ( original renewal from them and I have buildings and contents with them too) I told them that I was trying to make my mind up between them and Swift cover. She offered to speak to her manager on my behalf who added in a loyalty bonus bringing the Direct Line cover down to £243.60 - so I took it!

I hate sorting out all this insurance stuff! So now that's all the insurance changed and the utilities. I can't think of anything else which needs checking apart from my British Gas homecare agreement which I'm loathed to change as they replaced my boiler under it last year so I know they will pay out if need be! It was less than 7 years old . I also feel I know all their engineers after the problems with the last boiler!

Now all I need to do is start to get my head around ebay and quidco but I may leave that for a year or two!:rotfl:

wantabetterlife

well done chirp chirp on the insurance deal. Isnt it amazing how much you can save by just chancing your arm. A couple of years ago i would never have dreamt of asking for a more competitive quote or comparing with other comapanies. When the renewals came through i just went with it. I would have been far to embarassed to haggle- how times have changed!!:o

setmefree2

well done on the decorating :T

chirpchirp

How did you know to put the same shade of blue paint on your paint brush! I'm really proud of my decorating - thanks!

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

A bit of decorating: highly satisfying on completion and a change is as good as a rest... as some say!

chirpchirp

I've just found out the current value of my S&S ISA - which is a huge increase since March. A bit worrying though as I was hoping to pay some extra money in to it in a couple of months before the prices increases too much. However, it's still reassuring to see the prices go up. I'd be interested in Stuart's view as to whether he thinks this rise will be sustained or if he thinks it will dip again soon.

chirpchirp

Good news and bad news.

New job has been confirmed. Children will come with me so I will lose childcare expenses. However, new uniform, presents for teachers and more petrol to get the kids to school until I start in September.

Had the final bill for my gas today - another £104 out of the account. Blew £10 on cake and drinks in the cafe but was worth it to have a nice relaxed chat with the kids - they felt they were having a treat. Also had a blow out on two new pairs of sandals costing £60 in total but they but appear very comfy and I needed some comfy sandals for work! ( Although, I could have managed!). Presents and cards for teachers came in at less than £20 which isn't bad for 5 presents, went to an outlet centre! However, child minders leaving present will cost quite a bit and I need to pay her my notice.

Really quite excited about going full time - will be nice to take own decisions!

chirpchirp

It's so cold for June! I've just had to put the heating back on, plus jumper and warm socks. Which is a shame as I've managed for most of the week without heating and utility bills are my target to reduce at the moment. At what temperature do you try to keep your house? Mine has dropped to 17.8 degrees but I use to keep it at a minimum of 21.5 degrees.

Petrol prices seem to be rising and I seem to be driving more miles than usual due to changes in the childrens' activities. I filled up today, cost £26.50 having filled up last Saturday and not having done any driving whatsoever yesterday. So, £26.50 for a whole week seems a lot to me.

Extra keep creeping in to the grocery bill. This week it was sweets for the kids to give out as leaving presents £9.90! This idea of saving money by moving the kids school is certainly costing more in the short term. Lots of other benefits in them moving school too which don't involve money so I'm sure it's for the best!