Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

newgirly

Thanks michelle.

Well the boys are off at their first concert/festival, they are going to be so tired at school tomorrow as I think it will be a very late one.

We went to the boot sale but no nice furniture, but I did get a west ham football shirt signed by mostly current players for £18 for ds1's b'day, they guy selling was a big fan that had lots of old signed programs he was getting rid of but I held back. He is officially the biggest fan in the world so will be very pleased I think.
Also I bought TONS of fruit. I got:

2x pineapples, big bag of grapes, big bag of baking potatoes, 2lb of cherries , huge watermelon, a massive sack of red onions, 2x cucumbers, iceberg lettuce, 2x bunches bananas, 8x multi coloured peppers, for £10! I have chopped up and frozen the peppers as they were not going to last that long, same with the cherries so I had to eat most of those.

Now time for a bit of a tidy up and then some time working through the finances, yay!

newgirly

Right , here's my list of to do's for july:

• OP at least £50, (not much but its my 3 kids b'days this month!)
• Do one poll everyday
• get up to £10 voucher on VO £3 to go
• batch cook and start baking again, have got lazy
• buy all non perishables for devon hol in august
• sort out and pay for b'day parties/treats- this will be on a small scale this year.
• try and be less stressed
• sell at least 10 things on ebay ( have lost charger for new camera so was not able today)
• sort all old paperwork and box file it all

Thats it for me , dh has a few diy jobs to do as well.

newgirly

Hmm, not done one thing on my list already, instead of a low key b'day DD is now having a hawaiian/beach themed BBQ for around 22 friends.:eek:

It was going to be a few friends having burgers, but as usual its snowballed. I have splashed out on some scene setters for the garden, an inflatable flamingo, some garlands and signs and ordered some balloons, total cost £36. Ouch.

I will keep the food simple though, burgers/sausages etc. nothing fancy.

The pressure is now on money wise and cleaning/clearing the house, but DD was so fed up as none of her friends wanted to go to the pictures to see harry potter with her, I felt a bit sorry for her. Plus the log cabin has not had a party in it yet which is a terrible waste:D.

Dinner tonight was peppers and red onion from the boot sale with pasta and 20p tesco tomato sauce, healthy and super cheap.

One poll surveys done and even managed a VO.

Sepa74

Inflatable flamingo? I love it!!

newgirly

Up early again due to the dog barking at a fox in the garden. 4.30am is far too early!

I have been through the online cc statement so far this month and its huge, its going to be so tight. I have decided to skim some money off our holiday spending money to pay for dd's bbq. we now have £400 left for spending money and petrol to Devon for the week. We usually have a couple of pub lunches and the kids do watersports but thats it really, petrol is probably the worst cost. Plus dh always seems to have a bit of cash in his wallet so i doubt he will go with nothing even if he says he has

Food, drink and birthday cake budget is £60 for about 22 of them, i'll get a big costco cake ordered with her name on as they are such good value, and then I think mr I for the food and big bottles of fizzy.

DH had a look at the invites and was a little apprehensive as there are about 8 teenage boys coming as well, we only usually have girly parties for dd. Anyway its safe to say I will empty the bar of alcohol just incase when we have so many teenagers over, I'm sure they are all fine but I remember what I was like at that age!

I'm eagerly awaiting my onepoll payout to come through at the moment plus I have a couple of quid cashback requested as well, both to be op'd. I think I will ring up and check my mortgage balance as well today, as I have been working it out on my calculations, it could be slightly wrong.

newgirly

I went completely over budget yesterday, spending £58 on party drinks/crisps and burgers, I still have to pay for other bits of food and the cake.
The family are coming over sunday for a bbq as well, and no food for that but it will have to be a very simple bring your own drink one.
I have had two kids birthdays this week that I'd not budgeted for, its all getting really expensive this month, I hope I can manage it all This is what happens when you arrange last minute parties.

Today is junior sports day if it doesn't rain, which means non competitive games in the morning, then a picnic(no food for that yet!) then races in the afternoon, its an all day thing depending on the rain. I think its too long really, half a day would be plenty DH is not coming as he's too busy at work.

Time to raid the cupboards and see what I might have missed that would do a few dinners, and time to get the breadmaker on again.

newgirly

Another last minute birthday party this week, so another present to buy.

I went to the shops to get some presents for dd from my mum, and bought dd and I a new dress each, really nice and only £10 each, She is wearing hers for her hawaiian party. I could have bought loads more stuff but was fairly good.
I'm a bit nervous to go through my finances at the moment, there is still so much to pay out for and I don't see August being much better, what with dh having to fit the new bathroom, there is bound to be lots of extras to pay for.
I should'nt go buying new dresses I guess!

Still need to ring up the chelsea and find out my exact balance to make sure I'm close to the right figures.
We are still working along the lines of op as much as possible until our deal ends in may, with a view to making a decision on if we should move.
However, I have been going on a few mortgage calculators and the figures we can borrow vary from £77k to £169K, its a big difference I know, we currently owe £150k ish, I am wondering if we should be considering saving up the op money instead of actually oping it if that makes sense, so we could keep the mortgage and pay cash for the difference (eventually!)
Just incase we can't borrow as much, not really sure if this is a silly idea or not. I know we need a to take a new mortgage for a new house, but I believe that our building society would still lend us what we owe now.

I will stew on it , but if anyone has any thoughts on why this is a daft idea, please feel free to tell me !

cha97michelle

I told you to do this the other week.

You keep coming back to the idea of moving, and if they will only lend you what you have now, then you need to save it. Just make sure hon it is put safe where you won't touch it, because I keep seeing this pattern of 'I'm not going to spend, oh I spent ... on ...'

I find if money has gone to the mortgage, even if i want to spend it is gone in my mind. I could get it back within a week, but i won't whereas the devil will always sit on my shoulder telling me it is ok to have a treat with some of the savings.

newgirly

Ha ha , it takes a while to sink in with me, I've just gone back and had a read through and thats exactly what you said Michelle!

Very good advice I think, my only worry is exactly what you talked about which is the temptation to spend the money.
Perhaps I should set up a DD to a passbook account and give my gran the book.:rotfl:

Tonight i am having yet another meal from the boot sale veg of onion, pepper and frozen veg jalfrezi, with homemade pilau rice and 14p whoopsied nan, can't wait as I'm starving. After that I shall check out some savings accounts so see if they pay any interest.

cha97michelle

Don't I know you so well.

Full of great advice me, but not so good at following at times. I can only not spend as I stay at home a lot,as when I go out I seem to go mad. :rotfl: