Our attempt at being MF!!

smallholdingsister

We have fallen foul of that one I think...we are about to go to our third agent.

norfolkdream

Blimey reading all the advice makes me want to stay where I am! Glad you have decided.
For me moving to Norfolk has always been my dream but now I am thinking of doing my house up and staying and just going to Norfolk more often (say one weekend a month as I could afford it with no mortgage ) and have more holidays in different places

CathT

I am mostly happy with our EA but they didn't give us feedback on our last viewer, I only found out when they sent the monthly email report which doesn't usually include any new information, it's just a log really.

Stressful day at work, was under the illusion we would be winding down for Christmas! Bought some @ldi baileys on the way home and a few other bits so we can continue to top up shop locally rather than going anywhere near the supermarket!

Was meant to start wrapping presents this evening but I am shattered! Rang architect earlier, they can fit us in first week of January which is great.Original quote will go up though as they only quoted us for a single storey, hope they don't go up too much, the costs are high as it is!

In money news, c0-0p have declined our claim through TCB, bit annoyed as we did everything corectly and I was looking forward to receiving the payment. Still waiting on reward from 8T, not hopeful this will EVER arrive!

Disturbed sleep again last night,early night for me!!

Food - £122.40
Petrol - £123.47

CathT

You know that feeling when you wake up and realise it's only Tuesday?!?

Accounts checked, £3.59 big Tilly tidy of an account and paid off a cc.

We are currently £284 away from year end target! Almost 98% achieved so far! I didn't think we would achieve this, never mind possibly beat it!

I think budgets are set for next year to include increasing mortgage OP by £100. This is only £50 more than we paid when we bought the house wheni was really young and didn't even have a proper job! Lenders were obviously far more generous back then! :rotfl:

Need to ring the architects again today, time to get the ball rolling and a small amount of savings behind us. Regular saver rates don't seem worth the hassle!

CathT

Architect appointment booked! I think we get billed at end of second phase which gives us a little longer to get those savings behind us.

I'm unsure what to do with OP's at the moment. Our standard OP built into mortgage is £200 which I about to increase to £300. If I temporarily reduced OP right down that would give us the cash to save for the architects fees a lot faster and I can re-jig payments when the new mortgage with additional borrowing comes through. This goes against my views on making OP's but it would allow us to save for the long term plan more quickly and with a bit less stress. Not sure how much impact those few months of not making OP's would have over the term of the mortgage when we are looking to borrow £30k ish anyway.

I really want us to get the quotes in and see if all of our build can be completed or if we will have to save some jobs such as (bathroom installations, driveway). I am just happy the process has sort of started with an appointment booked to start the design. :j

Found £8 still in current account, it's been that balance for about a week so since it's payday tomorrow I have paid it off a cc! I have however 'borrowed' £225 out of food account which means in last 4 weeks we have only spent £368 on food and petrol. I am hopeful this means I can reduce the £500 budget slightly. Perhaps it was the wine we were drinking using up that excess! :rotfl:

No news from EA agent even though they are unaware of our new plan. It will stay on the market until things are confirmed in terms of plan A! At least the we can say 'we tried to sell'.

lulabelle1

Hi Cath... my personal view would be stop the OP's and save them....It will give you some ready cash which will be very handy when you undertake the extension, plus in the long run, it just means that you may need to borrow less on the mortgage. Just start them again once everything is sorted and paid for....

Moneyfordreams

.wow, your diary is fantastic .

I wanted to complete reading it prior to commenting. you have done a fantastic job.

Thank you for reading my diary. Yes I work in your former profession. I've been there too long to leave. I wasn't clued up enough when I was younger.

Good luck with your extension plans. My house still hasn't sold after about 16 months. We may take it off in the new year. House selling is so traumatic.

enthusiasticsaver

Just finished reading your diary CathT and well done on over paying so much of your mortgage. Moving house is stressful so agree that extending would be a better option if you are able to do that. I would agree with lulabelle that having some savings behind you may also be a good option to help fund the extension. You can earn 5 or 6% on regular savings or current accounts which is not bad especially if you are paying a lower interest rate on your mortgage.

debtfreeoneday

Just popping in to say hello and will subscribe to follow you!

CathT

lulabelle1 wrote: »

Hi Cath... my personal view would be stop the OP's and save them....It will give you some ready cash which will be very handy when you undertake the extension, plus in the long run, it just means that you may need to borrow less on the mortgage. Just start them again once everything is sorted and paid for....

Thanks Lulabelle, this is something I toyed with doing when house first went on the market once we knew amount they would lend us. Never quite got around to it as we didn't get an offer. I have done this now, am paying a very small OP of about £10 for the next few months which will enable us to save the architect and planning fees that we need.

Moneyfordreams wrote: »

.wow, your diary is fantastic .

I wanted to complete reading it prior to commenting. you have done a fantastic job.

Thank you for reading my diary. Yes I work in your former profession. I've been there too long to leave. I wasn't clued up enough when I was younger.

Good luck with your extension plans. My house still hasn't sold after about 16 months. We may take it off in the new year. House selling is so traumatic.

Hi moneyfordreams, you didn't read the whole thing did you? It's mostly waffle but it definitely helps me if I am focused on making OP's. I wasn't around much for a year as I retrained so I could specialise and the course was intense!!! I felt much better when I started reading and posting again.

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Just finished reading your diary CathT and well done on over paying so much of your mortgage. Moving house is stressful so agree that extending would be a better option if you are able to do that. I would agree with lulabelle that having some savings behind you may also be a good option to help fund the extension. You can earn 5 or 6% on regular savings or current accounts which is not bad especially if you are paying a lower interest rate on your mortgage.

Hi enthusiasticsaver, thank you. I am now happy with our decision to stay, it doesn't feel like a move up the property ladder but I am not sure we could afford to buy the size of house we will end up with so I think it is the right 'move' for us! I will look into some regular savings, FD had some good rates I have used before. I remember having 10% accounts for dd at one point, those days are long gone! :eek:

Do you have a diary? I will have a look for it.