Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

newgirly

Hi Pammy, lovely to hear from you:)

We have debated this for 3 years now, and we are only going for it as we can't now get a mortgage for at least 3 years due to dh's business accts and the twins are driving us bonkers With their bickering:D

I never thought this house would be our "forever"home , more like a stop gap to get us into the area for a couple so years (12 yrs and counting nearly,) so with such a big mortgage and loan combined our next move will probably be retirement flats :rotfl:

You have done so well and I can't believe you will paid paid off in under 4 years, a fantastic achievement especially going it alone ,the best of luck and here's hoping for that cute cottage by the sea one day!

newgirly

Oops, just seen other posts on previous page, hi nto and natty pants:D I hope you are right about prices , but the loft guy has a long waiting list and said the recession has made lots more business for him as its the cheaper option over moving.

newgirly

Finally found a great maths tutor for dd and she had her first lesson today, the lady she is is perfect, friendly and already very familiar with dd 's school, not cheap at £30 an hour , but if it does the trick and ups her grades a bit well worth it:D

I do need To work out where an extra £120 a month+ is coming from though, my parents have kindly offered to pay for it but I turned them down as we can get by and I feel like its our responsibility. This year is going to be the tightest one ever at this rate.

On the plus side spinach and chickpea curry batch cooked again ( my fav at the moment!) and leftover roast for everyone from yesterday so a cheap food day.

Alchemilla

£30 an hour, wow. *beetles off to find tutoring work*

newgirly

I must admit I did think it was quite pricey but she really has given us both confidence that dd will be able to get the grade she needs, but I can't lie I want to be a tutor too if only I had a talent :rotfl:

A busy day ahead, lots of work to do for dh and a mountain of ironing that needs doing at some point soon.

I'm still a bit worried about the costs of the loft and wish I knew how much it will be so I can make a concrete plan, we will not manage to pay off the stoozing cc this year (£2300) because of having to find an extra months wages as dh's pay changes to monthly.

The tutoring money will only be paid until exam time in June, so to cover it I've reduced the food/petrol/clothes budget by £60, dh's money by £20 the holiday fund by £20 and the Xmas budget by £20, which will cover 4 lessons a month.

That will allow a budget of £130 for the Alton towers overnighter for petrol,breakfast and dinner in Easter. Not sure whether to do away with the holiday budget completely this year after that, but not sure I can give up our Xmas weekend away without the kids

never_too_old

Morning NG ,I find it easier not to plan to far ahead then i cant be dissapoinyed when i have to cancel something because we cant afford it.

Are you having the new loft room?:)

Alchemilla

Seriously you cant put a price on that academic confidence.

newgirly

Yes we are getting it done, unless the quotes come back thousands more than we expect! We have the loan money already (25k) and need around another 5k, we have another company for a quote on Friday so hopefully will get more of an idea by this time next week what it will cost.

Gave dh a mini lecture on the finances last night , he loves that :rotfl: I've done away with the hol budget for this year, will need to find enough for petrol , ticket for dd's friend and spending at Easter for one night at alton towers though. Have no budget for any birthdays this year and we buy for flippin loads have reduced the Xmas budget which will now roughly cover everyone we buy for except our kids ( will obviously buy for them , just not worked out how yet!)

The whole year will now be on a shoestring, I can't really set any targets as we are kind of borrowing and spending it quite soon after, I think it's best if I just have the so balance in my sig. Will continue to op the mortgage everyday though even if it is just pennies, otherwise I can't hang out here.:p

So new plans for the year:

Op every day
Stop booking weekends away
Earn more money
Spend less
Grow stuff to eat,even if its just herbs
Clear loft
Carry on making one item a month for Xmas
Feed us all on a low budget but well
Keep smiling , it will be easier next year

newgirly

Well best part of the day spent going through the finances yet again! I wanted to change some direct debits as the halifax are changing the terms for their reward accts and you need to have 2x dd's going out each month to get the £5 bonus.

I 've also changed a few of the dd's from the main current acct to the 28th ,so hopefully I won 't need to find a whole months money to cater for dh's wage changes, to change the loan payment date I'll have to make an early payment in feb , but even that and having to find a "float" it does mean I have a surplus , so I've cleared the gas/ elec arrears that were going to be paid monthly, and stuck £500 in the savings acct.:T feeling a bit better with a tiny bit more breathing space and money to go away at Easter if we get stuck.

The one thing that has been going very badly lately is my so called diet, it seems I can either be good with money and eat a lot or good with dieting whilst splurging , why can't I do oth at the same time?

Anyway, ops for the last few days have been:

10p a day until 12/2/13 £4.00 and £7.00 today. I also forgot to mention that the cash for clothes bad from the loft on Sunday made us £34.65 sadly though I gave dh the £30 as he was a bit broke and paid dh's 2 the change for helping out.

newgirly

:smileyhea Dh has left a card and a lovely bunch of pink and red flowers for be on table which I found this morning after he went to work, I will have to cook something nice for him tonight

Only 2 more days until the kids are on half term, where has the time gone since Xmas ? Not sure what I will do with them all week, theme parks are all shut, I might take them to see a new 12 rated zombie film they are all keen on seeing, it's cheaper in the day and bog off on weds. Other than that not sure, it's harder the older they get , they just want to listen to music and play video games.

Off to check the acts again , you never know something exciting may have happened in the night!