Brand spanking new to money saving and to my MFW diary

Penny_pauper

well where to start?
Mortgage total is £144363.61, going totally in the wrong direction! Ah well, knew it had to go up (due to exit fees etc) before it can start really coming down again.
Have had to take a long hard look at finances as I tend to put the majority of our cash into debt reduction and not enough into an emergency saving fund. So the plan is to stop overpayments until we have £6k in untouchable emergency money. Current total is £3950. Also need to make regular overpayments to the car loan that will be a total of £500 a month starting in November and loan should be cleared by July 2012. Mortgage overpayments will be set at £450 per month from November and hopefully this should be enough to get us back on track to hit our target of £129500 on the 12th of Dec 2012. Fingers crossed!
PP

Penny_pauper

Got car back from service, MOT, 2 new tyres and the timing belt replaced. Grand total £707.85 :eek::eek::eek:
I had budgeted £300 so clearly I'm a bit unrealsitic in my expectations of how much things cost. Currently off work with morning sickness. Keep feeling like yipee :janother baby, bleurgh vomiting 3 or 4 times a day! Didn't want my work to know I was pregnant again so soon but don't see any way round it what with the vomiting and being off work. I've been able to say it's a stomach bug for last two days but once the self certificate runs out, and if the throwing up hasn't stopped (which if the last pregnancy is anything to go by, it won't any time soon) I'll need the GP to sign me off and then the cat is most definitely out the bag.
PP

lvm

Just had a good read through your diary and you've certainly had a jam-packed life the last wee while!

And a BIG CONGRATULATIONS on your pregnancy!

I think you might live in the same region as me...going by your Clarkes shoes comment I'm guessing that was in Livingston? I live in Edinburgh but work in Livingston every couple of weeks.

I haven't yet started my MFW diary (still doing my DFW one!) but once I've saved a deposit for a B2L (end of 2012) I'll be aiming at being MF by 2020 (at the very latest!)

Hope the rest of your pregnancy goes well and the morning sickness dies down! x

Penny_pauper

Happy New Year Everyone
Well, I've been away for a while as morning sickness just got worse and worse, so here's a quick update. Ended up being off work for 9 weeks and was vomiting 8-9 times a day. Horrible. Then to top things off, my tennant moved out.
It should of been a really busy time but I was just too sick to do anything. So vomiting has now died down and we need to take control of the flat situation. I don't want to be a landlady, it was circumstances rather than a desire to own property that resulted in us being stuck with the flat and having to rent it out but it's not for me so it's going to be put up for sale.
When I looked closely at the flat it was disgusting. Had to pay for a cleaner to go in and sort the flat, then got it repainted and new carpets fitted. In total had to spend £1200 to get it into a fit state for putting it up for sale. So savings for mat leave and mortgage free have taken a huge hit.
Lawyers have been in and it'll go on the market in the new year, I don't care about making a profit, I only want it to cover the mortgage on it but even that looks dodgy in the current cirumstances.

Have to get back on track for savings and feeding the offset savings account.
So I've gone through the last years statements and here are the main areas of concern.

• Shocked at how much we spend on food, I had budgetted £55 per week for the three of us but in reality when I looked at all the accounts we are spending £85 per week:eek:. Have set the budget to £75 a week and will try to bring this down and be much more careful over the year. Have set up a link between food account and offset savings to move any underspends across straight away.
• Because we were constantly dipping into the month's living expenses to supplement the food budget (OH nipping in for the odd item and paying with the joint account rather than the food account etc) we were constantly hitting the living money for the month, so with food budget being more closely monitored we should have a few more pounds to move to savings at the end of the month.
• The cars are a huge expense. going to use autoaid for breakdown cover £38 for both of us when our current memberships lapse. As we do huge commutes an insurance quote of about £300 would be amazing so will try and find one as close to that as possible. Also when I go on mat leave will be walking more, pushing a huge double buggy so that should be good for the baby blubber and the petrol bill:D!
• A massive expense is the fact we have no tennant and are footing the bill for the flat mortgage and associated costs ourselves at roughly £430 a month. This needs to go. If we haven't sold the flat by the time the baby is born(May, possibly april), might need to take on a new tennant to cover it but it feels like such a waste after pouring so much money into it to get it into a saleable coondition .

Time to knuckle down and get serious about this mortgage free in three challenge or we will seriously miss our target in Dec of this year.

Good luck to everyone on their mortgage free quest in 2012!
_party__party__party_

Penny_pauper

Weekly shopping £58.08 so an underspend of £16.92. Will wait until the end of the month and then move it across to the offset savings. Have a small child up stairs who deperately needs a nap but is currently shouting 'Mummy' repeatedly through the monitor. Off to try and settle her (ha!)

Penny_pauper

Ah, silence! Have just looked at my sums and I think I need to continue to have the mortgage set at 1000, with an additional £335 per month into the offset savings to hit an annual target of £4000. Which would be doable if I was working but with another maternity leave coming up, it'll be tight. Ah well, that's why this is a challenge!

Penny_pauper

Car insurance bought. Cheapest I could get was £325, £65 cheaper than my renewal quote from the AA though.

Penny_pauper

Can't sleep, pregnancy insomnia. Very irritating especially as the wee one is snoozing away. Try to get some thoughts down in a list.

• Letter for council tax re unfurnished flat exemption.
• Put on a washing
• Pick up Debenham's order in store
• Go to both Clydesdale and Santander to close old accounts (one is an Abbey National account it is that old!)
• Return Library books
• File car insurance documents
• Text a friend to arrange a lunch date later in the month
• Clean all baby related carp out of car
• check oil and tyre pressures
• Sort out wee ones clothes and bag and put up loft any that are too small
• Measure up front room for carpet size
• If time go to carpet show room for idea on carpet prices
• Look up colour schemes for new bedroom
• Divvy up the greek lamb stew I made yesterday into portions
• Take wee one to GP
• Go to my eye check up appointment
• Meet up with a friend and her wee one for a play date

Hmm, looks rather a lot for my one day off!
Long term to do plan as we are going to play musical rooms (wee one into our room, us into the spare room and new baby eventually into the nursery) will involve plasterers, carpet fitters and some new furniture. Took advantage of sales and bought bedlinen from Debenhams as well as some room accessories £166 . I know this is a lot but I'm factoring the fact that we won't have council tax to pay and it'll be a treat to ourselves if the bedroom is a 'safe haven' if you know what I mean. Haven't told OH this yet, but he won't see the new linen on the bed for a while. The horror if my waters broke on it :rotfl:

Must get started on the mega list

Penny_pauper

I am absolutely knackered! Didn't manage the full list but a decent chunk.

• [STRIKE]
• Letter for council tax re unfurnished flat exemption.
• Put on a washing
• Pick up Debenham's order in store
• [/STRIKE]Go to both Clydesdale and Santander to close old accounts (one is an Abbey National account it is that old!)
• Return Library books
• [STRIKE]
• File car insurance documents
• Text a friend to arrange a lunch date later in the month
• Clean all baby related carp out of car
• [/STRIKE]
• check oil and tyre pressures
• Sort out wee ones clothes and bag and put up loft any that are too small
• Measure up front room for carpet size
• If time go to carpet show room for idea on carpet prices
• Look up colour schemes for new bedroom
• [STRIKE]
• Divvy up the greek lamb stew I made yesterday into portions
• Take wee one to GP
• Go to my eye check up appointment
• Meet up with a friend and her wee one for a play date
• [/STRIKE]

Will try and get the rest done by the weekend at least.

Penny_pauper

Well I seem to be getting thrown a bit of a curve ball at the moment. Got hit in the rear by a drunk driver on Friday but fortunately baby seems to be fine (got thoroughly checked out at maternity unit). I'm a bit sore but ok. £400 excess to pay which I should get back as he is insured but it's going to screw up this month's expenses a bit.
Ah well, just need to wait and see what the garage say about the car.