First-Time Buyer, Mortgage free desires

philhews

If I'd had any money left from previous months to save then that's what I would have done, but currently I'm yet to get into that settled position thanks to far too many things to buy for my house.

I just need a couple of normal months and I'll be sorted, now all I have to do is find those months!

philhews

So I'm feeling a bit better about all of this now I've had time to think about it a bit more and look realistically at what I might be able to achieve.

It's also been helped by getting some tennis club expenses reimbursed which was £120 so the spending situation is not as bad as it looked, also I'll be getting about £80 extra take home from July after my pay review so that will go straight into savings so that I don't get used to it.

Have made bread, flapjack, 7 portions of soup this weekend and will make lamb & lentil curry this evening with any spare soup/curry going in the freezer. I tried shopping last Thursday night instead of my normal Saturday mornings and there wasn't really anything reduced, maybe I need to go later in the evening, but I have tried a few 'basics' things instead of my normal version so will see how that goes, should help me save some money there.

I'm resetting this year's savings target to £1500 as I feel I'm less likely to get disillusioned with it if it's a more reachable target.

Sepa74

Hi Phil, it sounds like it's being really tough to identify where you can make savings! Good luck with it, and keep on keeping on!

philhews

Hi Sepa, I'm having two problems essentially, identifying where I can make savings and also just stopping myself buying stuff. In the past whenever I've wanted something if it's £20 or £30 then I've just bought it and not really thought about it. It's proving hard to break that habit and it's that which is making the progress seem very slow and painstaking.

I managed to trap a nerve in my back last night which means more than just little movements gets quite painful so I'm not in the best of moods today. Hopefully it'll sort itself out in the next couple of days.

Phelpsie001

I would recommend keeping £5,000 ... this covers just about everything (new roof etc).

I'd say, set a savings target. Say £100 a month. Then pay a minimum of 10% on top of this as an O/P. Only save £40 ... only O/P £4! This then prevents having no backup, whilst still making some O/Ps?

philhews

The problem with OPs is that I can only pay in £500 chunks, so a few pounds here and there would take me years to even get to one payment!

I think I'll put it all towards the emergency pot for now, and then split it probably 50/50 once I have a base of savings. I'm hoping my roof is not going to come off in the near future!

Phelpsie001

That's a horrible rule about overpayments!! When you come to the end of your fixed deal, be sure to look for one where you can overpay any amount =P

philhews

It is a bit of a horrible rule, indeed, but the interest rate I managed to get has saved me about £50 a month on payments compared to the next best one around.

It is just what I read in my mortgage bumph, so I may ring them up and see if I can get the account details or something and manage to pay smaller amounts.

GeorgieFTB

philhews wrote: »

So I'm feeling a bit better about all of this now I've had time to think about it a bit more and look realistically at what I might be able to achieve.

It's also been helped by getting some tennis club expenses reimbursed which was £120 so the spending situation is not as bad as it looked, also I'll be getting about £80 extra take home from July after my pay review so that will go straight into savings so that I don't get used to it.

Have made bread, flapjack, 7 portions of soup this weekend and will make lamb & lentil curry this evening with any spare soup/curry going in the freezer. I tried shopping last Thursday night instead of my normal Saturday mornings and there wasn't really anything reduced, maybe I need to go later in the evening, but I have tried a few 'basics' things instead of my normal version so will see how that goes, should help me save some money there.

I'm resetting this year's savings target to £1500 as I feel I'm less likely to get disillusioned with it if it's a more reachable target.

Oooo... a man that can cook... swoon!!!!

I'm in exactly the same position, something always seems to come up:mad:

I think, as I'm impatient like you, is to work out what your minimum emergency fund is, mine is car insurance + mot + 2 biggest DDs, in a dodgy month when something blows up that should tide me over, and ideal emergency fund is 6 months net take home. Now I've got to my mimimum I'm starting to OP but still trying to build up the savings so I don't stress the next time somebody mentions consultations etc

Just looking at your SOA, why two cars?

Gx

philhews

I enjoy cooking, and I find that if I want food that tastes nicer and is better for me then I have to make it myself. Also everything I had as a kid was homemade so I kind of got used to nice food (my Mum learnt from her Mum who taught at Westminster catering college).

I have two cars because one of them is a standard commuting car (Ford Focus) that gets abused for taking stuff anywhere and just works everyday and the other is a 41 year old VW Beetle which I rebuilt and was my first car, I could save ~£300 a year if I got rid of it, but I don't want to, it's too much fun to drive!