Mortgage free by the time I'm 40

Baby_steps_2

LittleBit wrote: »

Home/contents ins £25
Is this paid monthly? if it is may be cheaper to do it anually at next renewal as the charge you interest for paying monthly. You can then save for it monthly through the year(tho may already be doing this!!). Also this is £300 per month which seems on the high side to me (although don't know your property) so may just be worth checking this is the best deal ou can get.

Pet ins £29.35
Again I don't know much about your pets but is this high as well as £350 a year!!
Car maintenance £25 (could do with increasing this)
Car ins £40
Tax/MOT £25 (could do with increasing this)
How many cars do you have?

Overall it looks pretty good, though as someone has already pointed out the gas/elec seems high so may just be worth checking your on the best rate, even if this does correct itself in a couple of months.

You should be pleased you seem to be left with £543 per month which is good on only one persons wage. One thing I would be advise is do a realistic budget. You mentioned on a couple of things that this should be increased. As you have the spare money it is better to budget realistically although you could then look at cutting costs. This way you won't become demotivated when you don' stick to your unrealistic budget.

Good luck with everything.

LittleBit_2

The home insurance is paid yearly actually, but I put away £25 a month so I know I definitely have enough to cover it when I need to pay it next. I think last time it was around £320 for the year so am reluctant to lower this amount.
The pet insurance is for 2 cats and a German Shepherd. I have shopped around put can't seem to get it any lower. I might have another look at it now actually and see if I can find anything cheaper.
Thanks for your comments

cha97michelle

Actually, our buildings and contents together were £192 for the year. I am not sure what amount DH has covered but knowing him it won't be insufficient and it will cover things like all of our bikes, and our gadgets.

Pet insurance - we have never bothered but this was because Fred (my cat) was injured when he was about 5 months old and he had only just started going out by himself in the garden. I know they don't cover existing illnesses and everything he has had has pretty much stemmed from the original injury. That didn't seem too high to me as it all depends on age of your pet as well and existing health. For 3 it isn't bad.

Sounds like you are having an enlightening weekend.

pammyj74

dont forget to go through cashback if you change your insurances.

pammyj74

LittleBit wrote: »

I have just sent off an application form to apply for an Access to Higher Education course. Fingers crossed I'll hear something soon.

What are you studying? I'm going to pop over to your diary now and have a nosey

have been bad and not studied over the past couple of days but i am hoping to get an accountancy qualification. At the moment studying at home is quite difficult to take it all in

LittleBit_2

Well so far so good. 2 NSDs in a row :j

We've decided we're going to be as frugal as we can with the food shopping this month, and live out of our freezer and tins cupboard. We've had Corned Beef Hash and Fish and Chips so far, so it's not like we're living on rations.

I've really enjoyed this bank holiday weekend. We went to my mum and dad's yesterday, and my aunty and uncle were over and also my sister and BIL so that was nice to catch up. Then today we've just pottered about at home getting on with the washing and ironing after our holidays, and DS1 has been playing in the garden.

I've also decided I want to learn to knit properly, so I asked my next door neighbour to teach me and I've been over there tonight learning how to do it :T I've got to find an easy pattern now and she's going to teach me how to follow it.

All in all a fab weekend

cha97michelle

Wow - another thing in common. I recently took up knitting again. I was taught basic knitting by a family friend when i was a nipper and never got any further.

I picked up a magazine with some patterns, and i have taught myself by using videos on you tube. It is dead easy if you find the right one. Might help if you need some extra hints. Let us know what you end up making 1st.

LittleBit_2

Ooh ta that's brill Am going to have a look on Ravelry and see what I can find. Might give you a shout if I get stuck.

LittleBit_2

Right, well after my good weekend I'm determined to carry on with the frugality and NOT be in our overdraft this month!!

So far I've done 2 loads of washing on 40 and hung them out on the line. There's no more to do at the moment (a very rare occurance in our house)
I'm hopefully going to do some baking this afternoon if I have enough ingredients left, I fancy having a go with some Twinks and maybe some scones or something similar.

DH got all DS1's old clothes down from the loft yesterday so I'm going to sort through them as DS2 is a whopper and is going into 9-12 month tops now. I can see what we have and if they will be any good for him as although they were born at almost the same time of year, as DS2 is so big he has skewed the seasons and so I'm not sure how much will be suitable.

I'm just going to pop some Gammon in the Slow Cooker too, not sure what else will be going in with it yet will have to have a quick look in the fridge.

Then nothing else really to do today other than take DS2 down to the baby group at the Local Sure Start centre. Hopefully I can find a pound in a coat pocket or something to pay for it

LittleBit_2

I alsmost had a NSD today, but then realised I had no veg in the house, so had to pop up to the shop and get some peas to have with our gammon. Then thought I'd get some eggs too, needed milk and got yoghurts for the kids too, so came to £7 something in total.
DH had £30 in his wallet left over from our hols, so he gave it to me to see how long it can last. I paid for the shopping out of it, and then tomorrow DS2 has a hospital appt so I will need to pay for the parking (which hopefully won't be a fortune). We also have playgroup in the morning so that's another £1.50. This spending never seems to end :mad:
I've stopped going to Slimming World though as I've lost a stone and a half now and have got a bit fed up of dieting to be honest. I'm hoping if I save the £5 a week it was costing me I can go on a beginners sewing class in June. It's at a mill nearish to my house and is a weekend course so 9:30 - 4pm Saturday and Sunday. It's the complete basics of sewing and I'm desperate to go on it. I hope they're not fully booked.
I'm just going to check the online banking before I go to bed and make some sort of mortgage OP - it may be a tiny one...