Peonie's journey to smart money management

Peonie

Happy royal wedding day.

Today we watched the royal wedding on a big screen in a park. We were very money saving and used our travel passes to get a bus into town and took a picnic, which was made up from food and drink we had (we did not make a special trip to the supermarket).

In May I need to rejoin the take your lunch into work challenge - I am spending too much on dinners from the canteen. I am trying to cut down on the old scones at 10am by having a cuppa soup instead, they're cheaper and I really hope they are healthier.

What else have we been up to?

We applied for tickets to the Olympics, I really hope we get them. The OH's brother lives in London so we have already booked our place on his living room floor.

I joined Groupon and got 2 one hour passes for in door skiing, usually up to £25 each and down to £9.50 each. If we had moved into the new house I would have passed up on this deal but I really need something to look forward to.

Peonie

Today I thought I would update my diary and happily say how well the transfer game worked in April by making £X in interest. But for some reason (probably due to the bank holidays) the bank has not yet paid me said interest. Oh well.

Since starting my money saving journey I have kept track of the new ways I have saved money in comparison to my pre MSE days, and in April I saved £60, that makes a total of £856 since November.

I'm going to start my very own pamper myself challenge. I hardly ever buy new toiletries, many are gifts that have accumulated in cupboards and are left unused. My aim is to use the toiletries I have, free up some space and enjoy using them, unofficially I started in January and I am still going strong.

I suppose it's the same as the 'buy no new toiletries challenge' as I can buy a new moisturiser or hair conditioner when the old ones are used. But as I do not pamper myself and infrequently visit the smellies aisles of Boots or the supermarket I want to focus on the pampering aspect.

In other news, Mays has started well - I took a packed lunch into work.

Thanks for your comment Lois, I'm going to meet with my bank advisor at least once a year to make sure my money is in their accounts with the highest interest rates. Like a good money saver I have a reminder to tell me when to set my next appointment. And of course I'll keep an eye on the ISA and savings boards to see what else is out there.

Peonie

The interest from our 2 current accounts have been paid and we made £32 in April, it's not as much as I expected but I did only transfer money into the 2nd current account on the 19th so it's not bad.

A few more costs are hitting our accounts this month which will knock back my savings plan - my car's road tax needs to be renewed and the same car MOT tested. We applied for some tickets for the Olympics so expect £420 or less to be taken from my account in the next month.

And, the OH found out today from our solicitors there are extra home buying fees we need to pay. Essentially the house we are buying was put on the market a little over 2 years ago when the vendor had to produce a Home Information Pack, so we thought we would not have to have those searches conducted again, and would not have to pay for them. But the Home Information Packs are only valid for a year, this means the solicitors have to do the searches and we have to pay an extra £??? we had not budgeted for.

Ahhhh, the joys of buying a house.

Peonie

The solicitor searches continue, and we do not have a completion date. We did hope to complete at the end of this month, but unfortunately we have no such luck.

I really want to start paying off the mortgage asap. We opted for a variable rate mortgage and I want to take advantage of the low interest rate while it is so low.

At the beginning of June we will have to pay for another month of storage.

And, I'm still waiting for the money for the Olympics tickets to leave my account.

In other news, I went to a lovely wedding yesterday and practically all of my outfit came from the sales rack:-

• Coast jacket - now a few years old but still looks really good (originally £80, sale £29)
• Phase eight dress (o £130, s £33.60)
• Dune shoes - in the sale 2 years ago, I really can't remember the price (£?)
• Necklace - borrowed from mum (£0)
• Homemade belt (materials cost £5.25)
• Homemade clutch bag (materials cost around £9)
• New Look corsage (o £6, s £2.50)
• George earrings (full price £2.50)
• Primarni pearl bracelets (let's say £3.50)
• M&S tights (full price £4.00)
• Hair & makeup - done by me & at home (£0)

We have had a couple of days out, we met up with some friends we have not seen for 9 months and tonight we went out for a meal together. Even though it meant we spent money it was worth it to see our friends, celebrate the wedding and for us to spend some time together.

Peonie

I have some good news. My car passed it's MOT meaning no expensive repairs. Next - pay for my car tax.

We went food shopping last night and the OH produced a wad of Tesco vouchers. Unfortunately we have missed the great voucher exchange but I'll see what we can get for them, a weekend away maybe.

gratefulforhelp_2

Good luck on your journey. x

Peonie

Thanks Gratefulforhelp.

Yesterday I got really excited and wanted to write about something new I tried that I learned about on the OS board. I chopped up some vegetables that were on the verge of turning into a new species, chucked then in a sauce jar and froze them for when I next make soup.:T

It's a small thing, but it all adds up.

Here's a couple of other things I learned from the OS Board:
1. If lettuce is starting to wilt put the end in some water for a couple of hours. Doesn't it make absolute sense. How did I not know it.
2. In the old days when the oven was being switched off a tin of water was placed in the oven. The water was heated by the waste heat and used to wash up.

I will try them one day.

So far this week I have took my lunch to work for 2 out of the 4 days.

We have got quotes for life insurance for the mortgage. Our mortgage provider told us we should both take out the insurance separately. But if we take out a joint policy (which is cheaper) and one of us passes away before the other the insurance will only pay out once and pay off the mortgage. So why would we need separate ones?

If you know of a reason why we should take out separate policies please let me know.

gratefulforhelp_2

I can't think of a reason.

sutwam

Hi Peonie

Just subscribed to your thread as its very inspirational

Hope you get a completion date soon so you can start making inroads to that mortgage.

linz

I love the OS tips

I remember reading somewhere that turning your oven off 5 mins or so early saves gas and your food is still cooking in the last few minutes from the heat.

I also read about people who put cakes/biscuit mix in with food cooking in the oven to get the most out the oven being on