Peonie's journey to smart money management

*Jellie*

Congratulations on your house move and your OPs so far. Very inspiring!

Peonie

I realised I did not tell you we did buy an Ikea kitchen the day after we moved house. It cost a few pennies over £2,000, which meant we received the £200 gift vouchers to spend in store. They went on a couple of chairs and bits for the kitchen. We went for the 0% credit and will pay off the kitchen over 12 months starting in August.

The house is a mess. Apart from the sink the kitchen units are in the dining room and the dining room is in the sun room with 50 or so boxes of flat pack kitchen cabinets.

The kitchen tiles have been ripped off the wall and are in a pile in the back garden and we have decided to rip up the garage and pantry floor at the same time and laying a new one as the cement has crumbled. I don't know where everything from the garage is going to go. A partition wall will be erected in the garage and turn part of it into a temporary utility room. And by temporary, I mean 5 years or more!

My DH is phoning around for an electrician, plumber and plasterer. Thank goodness he gets that job.

The painting in the 2nd bedroom is complete and the furniture is in, plus all of our Christmas decorations and what we made/gathered for our wedding last year. Plus boxes everywhere else...

- - - - - - - -

My signature has been updated and now includes the extra £11,000 deposit we paid. In case you were wondering why I copy my signature into my posts, it's to remind me how far I've come when I look back at my diary, it is now:
Mortgage at its highest: July 2011 at £154,000.
Mortgage now: Date at £***,***.
Original MF date: July 2036, now June 2036.
MFW 214: overpayment £700 plus £11,000 extra deposit, target £2,000, target achieved.
Annual ISA saving challenge: saved £2,550, target £5,340, achieved 59%.

Peonie

So I seem to be spending money rather than saving it. I have booked 2 nights in a Travelodge for when we visit friends in a couple of months, and it only cost £40 - £25 for the Saturday night and £15 for Sunday (we just missed out on the £10 Sunday night sale price but it's still an absolute bargain). I booked the two nights separately as they were going to charge £25 for each night if we booked them together, which I thought was a little cheeky. I hope we get to stay in the same room.

Peonie

Portion control can be a little bit of a problem in the Peonie household and has definitely resulted in a slowly increasing waistline. We don't cook as much of the meat as the instructions call for, but the 2 of us still eat the same amount of sauce that's for 4. So we're trying something new - portion control. The extra food goes into the freezer for another day.

Lois_E

Hi Peonie
I'm enjoying your diary and just stopping by to subscribe. :wave:

Peonie

Thanks Jellie I'm going to hunt out your diary.

Hi Lois, Isn't it strange, I actually remember when you joined. Thanks for stopping by.

If you have any advice it is appreciated, I might not get to use it straight away but I will at some point.

Can anyone tell me what that coloured dots under our names mean?

gallygirl

Green means you are on the site, red means you've gone off for a lie down or to make an OP etc.

Peonie

gallygirl wrote: »

Green means you are on the site, red means you've gone off for a lie down or to make an OP etc.

:rotfl: Thank you so much I really had no idea.

Peonie

Since my last post I have been keeping up with everyone else's diaries, just not my own.

A few things have kept us busy.

A family friend moved house and gave us some furniture which will keep us going a few years. Isn't it funny, at our last house we were getting to the point of buying long lasting furniture, and now we're back at the beginning. My sights certainly have been lowered.

A family member has been quite ill.

We have met with friends and spent a good a few hours doing something fun. Plus we have booked a couple of weekends away.

My spending diary is up to date. In July we spent £240.50 on food, including meals out, takeaways and lunch at work. Is that alot for 2 of us? Walking to the train station is going well, in July I spent £0 on fuel.

HSBC took our first official mortgage payment yesterday, so I have updated my signature to show our new balance. It is now:

Mortgage at its highest: July 2011 at £154,000.
Mortgage now: 1 August 2011 at £152,934.
Mortgage free date: was July 2036, now June 2036.
MFW no 214: overpayment £700 plus £11,000 extra deposit, target £2,000, target achieved.
Annual ISA saving challenge: saved £2,800, target £5,340, achieved 52%.

To do:

• Go food shopping, there isn't a meal in the house.
• Give the veggie patch some care and attention. A cat crapped in it this week
• Phone Mr T clubcard and get my name added to the account and get my credit card points transferred.
• WRITE A WILL.

Lois_E

Sorry to hear about your family member being ill. Hope things improve soon.

Your new sig looks great, especially that £11000 extra deposit. You have totally smashed your target of £2000! :T

I'm well impressed with £0 on fuel for your car. :A I am trying to cycle more, but am only just beginning to get going with it, and suspect my resolutions won't last long once (a) term starts and I have much less time and (b) the weather gets nasty.