would love to be mortgage free!

coldcazzie

• Santander say fixed rate is until a fixed point in time, not for a fixed amount of time. Shame the mortgage advisor didn't tell us that when we took it out so our fixed rate will end 03-10-2012. This is slightly annoying as it means I'm going to have to start looking for a new fix while studying for my final module next year - I was hoping I could look once it had finished.
• Want to sell my wedding dress. Been thinking about this for a few years now, I have no intention of wearing it again, so it may as well go on to help someone else have a lovely day... problem is I don't have the faintest whether it's actually worth it via one of these sale sites. Research is needed.
• 12-18m clothing bundle sold on eBay, but for a LOT less than I was hoping. Someone got themselves a RIGHT bargain! Still, every little helps I guess. Mental note: 18-24m bundle needs to be divided into smaller lots. This is on the list of things to do during the next few days.
• Card this morning from my grandparents with £60 as a Christmas gift, I want to earmark this for something we really need rather than it just getting lost in the account in that way that money tends to do. Already have joint sprog present (Jenga ) which I will wrap from them, so I'll transfer the rest into our rainy day savings until I can find something we need to spend it on.
• Updated sig with current MF date since reducing the term: 28-10-2038 :T

coldcazzie

Yesterday I started one of my other aims for 2012, aside from the monetary goals. My aim is to do some exercise every day. And I don't mean walking to school and back, although obviously that will help. I mean structured, low-impact exercise. Can't do anything high impact as I've issues with my joints since I was 11, so running and things like martial arts or zumba are out of the question. Last summer I spent a couple of months doing callanetics: stretches etc, and really noticed the difference in terms of back pain and my ability to walk longer distances without my hips hurting. So I'm starting it again. Yesterday was my first session. Today I ache. Aching is good. Must ache more :rotfl:

In other news, my books arrived for next year and I'm feeling less than enthusiastic about the whole thing. I know it's the final push to get my degree finished but I soooo can't be @rsed! Need to find some motivation from somewhere.

Finally, I've decided to break one of my tanks down. I'm not happy with the electric usage to heat and filter it plus I'm getting no enjoyment from the plants as they're in the garage so I'm going to sell the plants and attempt to move the shrimp into my big tank. I'm dubious as to how well this will work, but we'll see. I don't feel so bad about our £55 pcm bill now though; last night I asked a friend who has 5 or 6 tanks running what he spends on leccy, and his bill is between £80 and £90pcm! :eek:

coldcazzie

coldcazzie wrote: »

Must ache more

Owwwwwwwwwwwww!! :rotfl:

coldcazzie

This week:

• Finish photographing eBay items. After having a sort out of mine and man-wife's bedroom I have collected together a nice pile of items, with more to be added once I pursuade him to "eat a frog" (hahaha I love that phrase!) and sort out his jumpers and t-shirts, of which he has enough to clothe a third world country I am sure!:eek:
• Try to use freezer/cupboard food in best way so I don't have to spend much in supermarket next Wed. However, I did the Morrison's Christmas shop receipt thing, so if I spend over £40 I'll get £25 off.
• Continue with Callanetics.
• Redouble my tank upgrade efforts - my fishies need a bigger home very soon!
• Enjoy a lovely family Christmas, not surrounded by boxes like last year! :rotfl:

In the new year:

• Open that additional saver to use as an OP pot.
• Apply for P2L cards for me and the kids. Cards are approx £1 each, last for a year, and give you discounts for swimming sessions and lessons. Then I need to submit the application forms for their lessons.
• Organise the work we want to do on the house (shall detail this in another post).
• Sell sell sell on eBay. Half the funds rasied will go in the OP pot and half in the RDS.
• Sort wedding dress. I aint doing it now.
• Try to get ahead on reading/TMAs so that those which are due in the summer hols are done early.

And so I finish on a positive: 1) bike is now back on the road, fixed with the help of eBay and man-wife being as eager for bargains as I am for a grand total of: £168.36, and saving about £630 on the cost of repairing brand new :eek: and 2) credit card actually looks like it might come in under £600 this month, which would be a great start to the new year and to our current account buffer! :j:j:j

Alienwars

hi caz

I haven't read through the whole forum posts here but its interesting to see your outgoings

I too have life insurance - one of us won't keep the mortgage going!!

Sky - I'm a cheapskate and stick with FreeView!!
Mobiles - wife has PAYG and I have one from work (so that won't help your situation).
Boiler - I don't have cover but I am considering it. Its still a fairly new boiler.
Cat - I have 2 but they are still young yet, no insurance
Alarm - I am an Electrical Engineer, but saying that it never goes wrong (they are simple to repair).

my thoughts

John

coldcazzie

Hi John :)

Alienwars wrote: »

I too have life insurance - one of us won't keep the mortgage going!!

Indeed! Ours reduces in line with the mortgage, which reminds me - I must ring them and tell them the term has changed. I have absolutely no idea if it will do anything to the premiums or not...shall come back to report. I'm sure it would be cheaper except the man-wife has Type 1 Diabetes, and while it is currently well managed with an insulin pump, we are both acutely aware that it could easily result is his premature death without much warning.:(:(:(:(

Alienwars wrote: »

Sky - I'm a cheapskate and stick with FreeView!!

Hahaha I wish I could do that... I love my TV too much! Can't wait for new series of NCIS to start in January!

Alienwars wrote: »

Boiler - I don't have cover but I am considering it. Its still a fairly new boiler.

We didn't have it. We kept putting it off and thinking "oh it'll be fine!" Then it died, and we had to pay out £100 plus take out the cover for a year at £20pcm. Boiler's about 10 years old I think. It needed a new control board.

Alienwars wrote: »

Cat - I have 2 but they are still young yet, no insurance

Our insurance already doesn't cover skin complaints for one cat (who has a flea allergy). They're raw fed so I can't see them getting diabetes or having teeth/gut issues later in life. I am seriously considering not renewing come August and self-insuring instead, especially as I already have to fork out for any flea allergy related issues.

Alienwars wrote: »

Alarm - I am an Electrical Engineer, but saying that it never goes wrong (they are simple to repair).

You're probably right, but the monthly cost covers the monitoring as well as an annual servicing. I do sometimes question whether we actually need it. And then soon afterwards I hear about one of our neighbours being burgled, and that reassures me that it's worth it. Part of the system is a PIR in the garage, so anyone breaking into the garage would also set the alarm off - this is another reassurance in terms of bike security. Having had 3 bikes pinched in the past security is very important to us. They also have a panic button, a medical alert button and a smoke alarm all integrated into the alarm, so a fire in the house would set it off as well as a break in, and if man-wife were to have a fit or pass out then the kids only have to press the panic button.

Thankyou for your thoughts, it is very useful to see where other people consider our outgoings could perhaps be cut back helps me focus on whether I'm being realistic or not.

coldcazzie

coldcazzie wrote: »

I must ring them and tell them the term has changed. I have absolutely no idea if it will do anything to the premiums or not...shall come back to report.

Well that was an interesting phone call. For a start they hadn't updated our address, despite us telling them when we moved... and for some reason this wasn't flagged the other week when I changed the DD. Anyhoo, I asked if we could change the term, he ummed and ahhed and said he didn't know. He's going to pass it to the technical team and I'll get a callback next week. He couldn't tell me if the premiums would change either, so I guess we'll find that out next week too :rotfl:

coldcazzie

Merry Christmas to y'all fabulous mfws!

coldcazzie

I checked my ISA, this currently stands at £1818.23 (obviously it fluctuates with the stock market - last time I checked it it was £22xx). Anyways, I'm going to add this to our rainy day total, as in an emergency it would be used.

In the next few days I need to price up our planned house improvements so I can organise them into an appropriate order and incorporate them into our budget. My money management tasks today are: pay cheque in and grocery shop (aiming for £60). One trip to do those and all my other jobs today (Drs appt, dropping off presents etc) but I will have to taxi home from the supermarket

coldcazzie

coldcazzie wrote: »

grocery shop (aiming for £60).

Groceries: £60.63 minus a late Christmas present at £5.98, minus £25 "Christmas shop" voucher = £29.73 :T:T:T shame it doesn't work out like that every week!