Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

never_too_old

Good place to start. February last year i spent £380 on groceries, this Feb i spent £220. It takes effort and time . I ve used AF before but i just dont have room for anything else.

I put on average a £10 a day in petrol, frightening isnt it.:eek:

newgirly

Its way too much! Hopefully mine is only temporary, however the car drinks way more than the old one did.

We had a good morning watching my sky freebie tickets "we bought a zoo", one of the boys said it was'nt that good but I loved it, then to save money on takeaways there I bought food at m&s which turned out to be much more expensive but really nice, greek salad, houmous and party type bits.
DD went to a boot sale with the boys first thing and bought "the artist" on dodgy dvd which me and the kids watched in the hot tub this afternoon.

I have been on rightmove for the 10th time today as a house 3 doors up is up for sale, its had a board for a week but no details online, if its not on there tomorrow i shall have to ring up and ask how much it is.
I still have not sent back the signed papers for the new mortgage deal, its just I keep thinking its 5 years we will be tied for with big redemption penalties. I think I will make a full and final descision tomorrow!

My whole house is a tip, lots of washing and ironing, plus clutter everywhere , its starting to get me down. I think I need to sort it and myself out and start saying no to people and things until I can get a bit more organised, easier said than done I think though!

Starting tonight, I will make all packed lunches , find iron and lay out clothes get the kids to pack bags etc. Tomorrow is the start of a new week and a new me.:D

Weronika

newgirly wrote: »

Starting tonight, I will make all packed lunches , find iron and lay out clothes get the kids to pack bags etc. Tomorrow is the start of a new week and a new me.:D

I keep saying that each week:rotfl:

You should see my house - I finally washed all the new baby clothes (10 days left:p) - and all our radiators are just pink:D

20% chance it's a boy though - he will have to wear pink till 6 months old I bought so much stuff already:rotfl:

newgirly

Hi weronika, not long to go for you now, but I have to ask how do you have a 20% chance of having a boy ?!:D

Yesterday I went shopping and found a great bargin in primarni, knitted reindeer blankets for the kids xmas eve hampers £20 reduced to £2, so I bought 3.
I've been doing a bit more cooking the last few days as well, quorn shepherds pie, chicken and chickpea curry, and spag bol and lots of fairy cakes for lunchboxes, I just need to get the breadmaker going now.

Mortgage wise, I am now thinking of getting on a 2 yr tracker 3.29% instead of the 4.29% 5 yr fix. I had no idea about the difference between tracker and svr which is pretty bad as I'm a MFW! I did'nt know that lenders svr is not really connected to the base rate.
One of the reasons is that being tied for 5 years to not moving (chelsea won't lend us this much again) is a bit worrying, don't get me wrong we can't afford to move but it just seems a long time to commit.

I also need to revise the monthly budget and read the meters :eek:, I'm currently weighing up the need to save money with my big urge to upgrade to sky hd as I NEED to watch all the formula one this season.

never_too_old

Hi
blag it with Sky,ring and ask how much it would cost to have it added, then say oh, didn't realise it would be that much.i might take up Virgin with their offer as it was better and you never know they might offer it to you at a reduced price.

I dont know much about mortgages either really, all i know is that im on a repayment tracker mortgage and the rate is low at the moment.Really want to get as much paid off before interest rates all rise .As well as paying everything:eek: else off.

newgirly

Not sure about sky still, have had decided to go for it and then had a big shock as I read the meters. Worse than expected,since switching i have been paying £60 pm elec and £20 pm gas (usually quite low usage)

The bill worked out to :

From start nov :£ 560.93 gas
£349.86 elec

I have been paying £80pm so thats a shortfall of £589 :eek:
So I've upped the dd to £140 pm at the moment and put a ban on heating, plus will give all involved a lecture on 30 min showers which they all seem to enjoy everyday. I would'nt mind the the house is bloomin cold most of the time.:(
Daily costs have been :

£4.18 gas
£2.59 elec
£6.77 total.

I will take a look back through my old posts and see if I can find what I was paying last year.

As its mothers day I might ask my parents for dinner sunday, its quite dear to eat out as there are five of us, and its so busy I thought I might do it at home. There are lots of fussy eaters in our family so roast seems to be the easiest option, maybe a gammon joint and a big chicken. Perhaps a homemade pudding of some sort, will have alook through for some receipes later, but if anyone has ideas for cheap tasty puds that would be great!

never_too_old

Newgirly, we can both join the at least £2000 a year club on gas and electric.
Like you said you wouldnt mind so much if you had been lovely and warm all through winter.Hopefully the better weather is on its way and we wont need as much heating( wishfull thinking)

Must save for a log burner before next winter.....

newgirly

Not good is it NTO! I have just been trawling through old posts to see what I was paying before but there are too many posts to skim through, its very strange reading your own diary, makes me feel a bit nostalgic and I only wrote most of it a year or two ago.

I am off to do a fruit and veg shop at a*di now the kids are all home, I havn't been there for ages and I have been on the riverford organic veg box site again so need to stop the temptation to buy by seeing the chaper prices at the supermarket!

Weronika

newgirly wrote: »

Hi weronika, not long to go for you now, but I have to ask how do you have a 20% chance of having a boy ?!:D

the scan wasn't clear enough so it's 80% girl/20% boy:D

My mortgage although fixed is portable - meaning I can move it onto next house without penalties. The 4.29% fix for 5 years sounds good considering recent SVR hikes, so if it's commitment you are afraid I would check because maybe it's portable as well.

newgirly

Hi weronika, I see! I had a very spoilt DD first of all so lots of pink stuff, I was sure I would have another 2 girls with the twins but no it was 2 boys, I used to dress them in pink babygrows(not dresses though!) as I had so much stuff from DD and not a lot of money, but only at bed time and while they were quite small.;)

The mortgage is portable with the chelsea, its just we won't qualify soon as Dh will be classed as self employed ad there is lots of turmoil at work so no profit = no new mortgage, you have to do a whole new application when you port. I'm fed up with thinking about it so may decide on the toss of a coin.:D