Confessions of a mortgage-spreadsheet-a-holic

fishfins

I've been trying to keep up the good work with the surveys, but the past three days I've not managed a single one due to being screened out or there just not being any .

I'm on track with my budgets this month I think, although I've got out of the habit of keeping a spending diary. From the 21st of the month (when I get paid) I'm going to turn over a new leaf [again], I'm going to re-do my budgets spreadsheet and be really strict about keeping the spending diary!

I'm finding it a bit hard to be as motivated as I have in the past at the moment, with the thoughts of buying a new house and moving in together I almost feel like too much is going to change and it feels a bit pointless starting budgets and things now. I know I just need to get back into the swing of things and I'll probably feel better!

fishfins

I am feeling a little bit more positive today

I've re-done my budgeting spreadsheet so it is much clearer than it was before, and I've gone back and filled it in using bank statements and receipts for this month. I'm going to try to post a budget report at the end of each pay month to keep on track!

I also got a free lunch today at my mum's (very nice butternut squash soup plus a box of chocolate cake slices she bought and didn't want!), and I gave her some books she wanted from my decluttering pile. Hopefully now all the books I own (reading not text books) will fit onto one bookcase for when we move.

My car boot/charity shop pile is getting quite big now, I just need to look into how the local car boot works and who to contact and then we should be able to get rid of a whole load of stuff!

The last thing I did was cancel my RSPCA lottery payment. I felt a bit bad doing it but I have given them quite a lot of money over the years and it's £52 more per year I'm saving. It also means we can keep on our RSPB membership which I was thinking we were going to have to cancel.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

fishfins

Well, I've had a busy day today and quite productive too! (for once )

I got up early and cleaned the fish, hoovered the house/other housework etc, did some surveys, and then this afternoon had a big declutter in my top bedroom. I got rid of loads of stuff (after being persuaded by my boyfriend ) which I've been hoarding for ages and which there was no way I was going to use. I feel much better now, it's got me in the mood for decluttering and I'm going to try to carry it on this week.

My ebay/carboot/charity shop has grown quite a bit and I managed to get some venus razor blades up on ebay with the free listing tonight. I've put a starting price of £5 which works out cheaper per blade than any others I saw there, so hopefully I should get £5+ back from them, fingers crossed.

We did go out for tea tonight to Nandos but it only came to £20 and next time we go we get a free 1/4 chicken

gallygirl

fishfins wrote: »

I got up early and cleaned the fish

How did you cook them? In foil with some butter?


Sorry. I'll get me coat

I've had an ebay sorting weekend as well, must be spring in the air

fishfins

gallygirl wrote: »

How did you cook them? In foil with some butter?


Sorry. I'll get me coat

I've had an ebay sorting weekend as well, must be spring in the air

:eek:

My poor little fishies!! I did always tell my mum I was going to eat her rabbits though! I do love rabbit.

I think it definitely must be spring in the air, it's much lighter in the mornings now.

fishfins

1 more day until payday

I've had a no-spend weekend this weekend, been out and about walking in the lovely weather instead. Tomorrow we are both off work and second-viewing 2 houses, so fingers crossed for that!

I've been continuing with the declutter too, which has actually been really good. I think I'm going to make it a yearly spring de-clutter

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

fishfins

Budget from 21st Jan to 20th Feb:

Food/groceries £90.86/£120 (+£29.14)
Diesel £60.05/£45 (-£15.05)
Eating out £51.10/£50 (-£1.10)
Clothes £18.00/£40 (+22.00)
Days out £0.00/£30 (+£30.00)
Mobile £0.00/£5 (+£5.00)
Other £19.93

Total = £239.94/£290.00 (£69.00)

I was pretty happy to be within budget, I'm finding with the price of diesel going up I'm really struggling to make £20 last two weeks like it used to. I know some of the budgets could do with lowering, but I based them on a normal month and this month was an unusually frugal month for me!

At the moment, any money I save is going into my moving fund and towards the (fingers crossed!) new mortgage, then when we move I'll start saving for overpayments again.

fishfins

Well, it's been a busy few weeks!

I accepted an offer on my house a few weeks ago, and the survey is tomorrow morning which I'm freaking out about :eek:

We also put an offer in on a house, and our second offer was accepted It was a little bit more than we wanted to pay but we think it will be worth it and fingers crossed if it all goes through we will be hopefully happy there for a good long while.

We have asked them to be out by August, and they said they'll move as fast as they can, we're expecting to be messed around a little bit but because potentially it could be sooner than 6 months I think I will be moving back to my mum's house (mattress on the floor unfortunately!!) in the mean time (if I sell my house touch wood :mad:)

We completed our mortgage application for Natwest on tues and have to take the paperwork back on mon. Please don't say "What, Natwest???" We looked at an awful lot of mortgages and it works out the best for us. I have been with them the last 3 years and I have to say they have been really good. We got a 3.59 2 yr fixed rate 80%LTV £999 product fee (paid upfront, not added to mortgage. We have worked out that with the overpayments we expect to make we should be down to a 75% LTV by the time the rate ends, which should protect us a bit in case the interest rates rise. I will probably have to borrow £1000 from my mum for the deposit though, depending on how long it is until we move, I'm paying her back with the interest she'd earn with it in her highest ISA though to make me feel better about borrowing!

Hopefully everything will work out okay, I'm so nervous about it all going wrong, my fingers are almost raw from touching wood every time I say something about the whole lot!

I'm off to my Grandma and Grandpa's house in the Isle of Wight with my Mum this weekend, it will be a nice break from everything I hope!

Have a good weekend everyone