Fresh start, new home!

kmcld2

As of today, my frugal living starts. I've taken £100 out my account to get for shopping this month so I'll see how I get on with that. Heading to Aldi shortly and will make a vegan lentil lasagne for dinner tonight.
I had to pay £112 to my Scottish power account today. I pay that direct debit and input my meter readings and ended up with a debit balance so I'm back in credit again.
On a cheerier note, my sister owes me £150 and not £100 as I first thought so that's extra towards an OP.

quicklee99

That internet bill and blackberry cost seems a bit high.

Why don't you sack off BT and get your phone/internet with EE as you will get a discount being an existing customer.

I get my mobile/landline/broadband with orange for £27 a month and the internet doesn't have a cap (just fair usage policy) so no additional charges.

kmcld2

I didn't know EE did that too. Will look into that. Thanks quicklee99!

kmcld2

I have broken down areas where I should be able to get money from every month.

£100 - normally gets transferred to my savings account.
£100 - to an emergency account.
£20 - to my Clydesdale account.
£30 - Fairyclick's challenge to save £1 a day.
£?? - whatever is left in current account on the day before payday.
£?? - whatever is left from £100 shopping money day before payday.

Ideally I would like to make an OP of a minimum of £200 every month as that's what I'm paying in interest. I am aiming for £500 though.

VoucherMan

kmcld2 wrote: »

Ideally I would like to make an OP of a minimum of £200 every month as that's what I'm paying in interest. I am aiming for £500 though.

I've added you to the MFW at number 119. You didn't put an actual figure so I've set your target at £4020. That's £500 a month from May onwards. No slacking on my watch . (just let me know if you'd like it changing)

kmcld2

That's fine thanks. I'll do my best to aim for £500.

kmcld2

I'd forgotten all about my little diary! I've been making fairly regular OP's to my mortgage but not as much or as often as I'd have liked. I've committed myself (my New Years resolution for 2014) to pay in whatever is left in my account the day before pay day and another £50 on payday itself. I'm also trying to lose weight so instead of buying my usual takeaway 2 or 3 times a week I'm going to transfer what I would have spent into my mortgage instead. I had a look back through my account and up to now I've paid £134.78 on various takeaways - I didn't realise it was that much! I've been batch cooking too which I enjoy. I'm vegan so it's all quite healthy. I've also started a vegetable patch in the back garden. I've been busy riddling soil to get rid of the big stones, broken glass and all other rubbish that's out there. That part of the garden hasn't been touched since I moved in nearly 5 years ago so it was a fairly big job but there's very little left to do now. I'm off next week from work so weather permitting I'll get it finished and ready for my seeds to be planted. I've also started a little business from home which is still in its early days and am still studying but this course will be finished this year then I'll go on and do the diploma. Busy times!

kmcld2

I have been busy this past wee while since I last posted. I dug out my breadmaker and have been making small 1 lb sized loaves of bread every day or two - they are so tasty and the house smells lovely. They are so much cheaper to make plus there's no nasty chemicals or preservatives in them and it just takes minutes to do. I have been batch cooking and have some lovely soups in the freezer thanks to the recipes on this site. I finally got my veg patch riddled and I've planted a whole load of vegetable seeds as well as rhubarb, strawberries and elderflower to make cordial so I'm hoping they all take. I'm hoping my plum tree produces fruit this year too. I've never grown veg before really, other than peas last year so this year will be my learning curve. I'll have a look at the gardening section on here too for hints and tips.
I've overpayed £2025 to my mortgage so far since I took it out in September 2009. It's not as much as I'd hoped but it's better than nothing at all. My fixed term ends in September 2016 so I'm hoping to get it away down quite a bit by then. I'm going to try and pay 10 % of my monthly wages in on payday every month. I've joined the 2014 MFW challenge to try and pay off an extra £2000 this year in overpayments. It's a great motivator to see the extra payments being made. I'm going to keep a spending diary too. I have no other loans or credit cards and I have no idea where my money is going. Theoretically I should be able to make a bit more in extra overpayments but I'm not so I'll keep a closer eye on my outgoings. I've put a little notebook in my bag to jot things down. I'll probably surprise myself. I'm also going to make a more concerted effort to shop in Aldi and Lidl. Both stores are a 10 minute walk from my house and I always walk into town to use the supermarkets which are further away.

kmcld2

I haven’t posted in here for years.  In the end I made £20K in overpayments over the 8 years I lived in my house in Inverness.  I ended up selling the house, making a £70K profit and moved back home in April 2017 because I got really homesick.  I’ve been living with my parents ever since until I seen a house I liked which I did in February.  I put in an offer which was accepted and I was supposed to be moving in on the 29th of April but with the corona virus it’s all been put back until May / June.  The house I’ve almost bought is £113,000.  I had mortgage of £43,000 approved and with my £70K deposit I was good to go.  It’s frustrating but can’t be helped.  I’ve been working in a hardware shop since I’ve moved back and we’ve never been busier.  I’ve also been planning on starting a small business as a knitwear designer as that’s what I’m trained as for a second income.  I’m planning on selling PDF patterns at the moment so no one has any need to leave their house unnecessarily and it can all be done online then when this all blows over I’ll do kits.  It’s not ‘essential’ so I don’t know how it’ll go but we’ll see.
I’d quite like to have a little greenhouse in my new garden so I can carry on with growing my vegetables which I done in Inverness, (some successful, some not so) and also carry on with batch cooking and using my bread maker.
I can pay 10% of the balance of my mortgage in overpayments over the year, either one lump sum or monthly.  I will be 45 this year and would love to have it paid off in full by the time I’m 50 but I’ll work things out properly once I know my entry date etc.

I’ve downloaded a couple of budget vegan cookbooks so will be meal planning and I’ve looked at my direct debits and either cancelled what I don’t need to have or have got better deals on what I do need to have.
So, it’s just a waiting game just now until I get a new entry date.
Hope everyone is doing ok and managing fine with the lockdown.

savingholmes

Good luck - I hope you get to complete on your house.