Trying to make my dreams a reality!!

icontinuetodream

gallygirl wrote: »

Kitchen will be great when it's done . In the meantime, onepot dinners in the slow cooker sounds like the order of the day .

Oh, if only....don't have a slowcooker and no worktops to chop anything on at the moment...:( but, yep, will definately be worth it when its done!!

sofaman wrote: »

Just got 20k, so should be home dry soon.

Well done sofaman!!:T:T I am very much looking forward to being in a similar position

icontinuetodream

Just switched electricity supplier and should save about £102 per year and get £15 cashback....thank you martin :money::D

Am going to try to have some NSD's the rest of this month - probably aim for 5 as not too many days left!! Am also about to speak to dh regarding shoving some cash into the offset....;) I do love getting back into this!!

ETA - just had the chat....£237 from dh into the offset - woohoo!!!

icontinuetodream

I have had a good day today, I have transferred some money to the offset (£330 - bringing the total since yesterday to £567 :j) and I have checked my change pot and there is another £37 in there so that can be deposited tomorrow!!

I have also recieved the weeks rent from my ds, that I will pay off the actual mortgage rather than put it into the savings - hopefully, dd will also add her cash today and that will bring the total of the mortgage op to £50...no, not a great amount of money, but it's nice to put anything I can towards it

We decided that we would put a regular amount into the offset savings account and the kids rent, plus everything we manage to save from the budget will go as op's alongside our regular op...hopefully, that will make our money work for us better and also give us the security of a decent savings amount which we can draw on if needed

I have also started on my 'frogs' - cleaned the dog debris from the garden which was in dire need of doing as I have been away for a week and ds looked after them but works split shifts so can't get them out at their regular times _pale_ glad its over now!!

I have decided that the builder is taking so long that we can no longer live with everything from the kitchen being stored, so I have brought some of it out of boxes and should be able to start cooking again from today....that will cut the recent food bills down immediately!! :j

I am definately getting back into the mfw ways now, I am looking forward to paying my first OP tomorrow!!:dance:

icontinuetodream

Interesting day!! Tried to make my first OP today...and ended up putting the wrong account number on the transfer!! :doh:called my bank, who started the recovery process and also my mortgage provider who told me that the account I have tried to pay it to doesn't exist so it should be back with me within 10 working days...honestly, half a brain cell would make me dangerous!! :rotfl:

On the plus side, my errant friend called me out of the blue and asked me to go to his, which I did, and he gave me £200 of the money he owes me and has promised to do the same next week!! He was extremely apologetic, had got himself into a complete mess with some very unsavoury characters and basically had to disappear for a while until he could sort it out....still wish that he had just told me rather than disappear for several months without telling me what was happening, but am just grateful that I will be getting my cash back! I have transferred that cash straight to the offset too :jand I used the right account number for that one!! :rotfl:

Also caught up with one of my best mates today who has informed me that he still has a 3m worktop and a 1.2m worktop left over from when he did his kitchen so he has offered to give them to me for mine for free :j:j:j major result!!

All in all, not a bad day for a mfw!

gallygirl

Good news about your friend :T. And the offset money. As for the OP :rotfl:.

icontinuetodream

Yay!! My £87 op has turned up on my mortgage!! :j:j:j

I checked the mortgage balance and discovered I was only £67.44 above £57k so have just transferred another £68!!:D

So, in a few hours (thank you faster payments!!;)) my mortgage will be sub £57k!!!:D:D:D

I am sooooo excited its sad I never realised what a difference being able to look online at my balance would make to my motivation......I am feeling completely in control of it and am looking at ways to get it down a litte bit more every day. I am going to check it again on the 1st when my normal mortgage payment and regular OP come out and then set my self little mini targets....I think my next one will be to get it sub £55k....:A

I am really going to be able to have control of it when I finally have the kitchen done....I am not sure how much it is all going to cost yet so that is leaving me in a bit of a flux state....I have spoken to a friend though who makes boxes from reclaimed wood who has agreed to make me some cabinets for the kitchen....probably won't look great but will be original and functional!! :rotfl:Plus, should save me a fortune as I am supplying the wood and he will charge me mates rates for the work :T:T Don't think dh is too keen on the idea, but I am happy to 'make do' until the mortgage is paid off and then we can get the kitchen that we really want....the reason for having the building work done was to give us a workable space and that will be done, so what the units look like really isn't an issue for me.....and I think having a random looking kitchen will be a laugh!! Good job I have a strange sense of humour!!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Anyhoo, I was meant to be sorting my garden this weekend, but with gale force icy winds and 45 degree hail and sleet, I have decided to have a lazy day in the house and intend to enjoy it immensely!! Hope you all have a fab day too..:D:D:D

icontinuetodream

have spent the day catching up on threads, talking to dh about the mortgage and drinking wine....good day by all accounts!!:rotfl:

we have decided that once we hit 10k in offset savings, we will put everything to ops...up until then, our ops will predominantly be the regular op, kids rent, budget savings and any other incidentals we happen to have...we will count the money in the offset savings towards our op's as that will be where they will eventually land but I want to have them there incase of emergencies

So far, everything is going according to plan, we are really pleased with the progress we have made this month, we are increasing the repayments to my sister by £50pm from next payday so I am expecting to get that paid off in the next three years maximum....hopefully sooner in all honesty as it bothers me that I owe her money, even if it doesn't bother her!!

I have joined the 'don't throw food away' challenge again and intend to stick to that and will join the grocery challenge in november...it all helps to keep me focused.....I have also sent all my updates in for the mfw 2012 challenge (sorry spigs!!:o) as I haven't done so since january!!:eek:

On the down side, I think that dh feels like a bit of a mse widow at the moment....I have spent the last two weekends on these boards and pretty much ignoring him...bless him, its a good job he is understanding!!

right, time to get back to real life I suppose....will check back in tomorrow and update where necassary..happy mfw'ing!!!

icontinuetodream

I have joined the november grocery challenge and done a freezer inventory so intend not to buy anything other than salad type stuff, bread and milk for the next month....as it is generally just me and dh eating here these days, I am reasonably confident that I can do it as we are both happy to eat random stuff!!

I am going to sort some menus out today based on what we have in the freezer....I really need to do a dry food/tins inventory too, but have decided to just play the 'grab three things and make it up as I go along' game with it instead...could end up being a really interesting month food wise!! :rotfl:

House is all clean (well, as clean as it can be when every move brings a flurry of brick dust my way :mad:) and I am going to call my builder this afternoon to make sure that he is going to turn up tomorrow....I have decided that if he tells me that he is going to be another week before he starts again that I am going to fire him and get a new builder....I really can't be doing with waiting around anymore so will just ask him for an itemised bill for the work he has done so far and find someone else to do it

ETA - just heard from builder....he is coming tomorrow and my patio door is being delivered :j He also said that he would be 'cracking on with it' so I am hoping that this means no more delays, excuses or messing me about!! Hopefully, I should have a workable kitchen space by the middle of next month....either that, or I may have a small nervous breakdown!!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

icontinuetodream

well, builder turned up as did the patio door but.....either he ordered the wrong size or they delivered the wrong size!!!!:mad::mad::mad: so, new door being delivered next tuesday and I have an 8ft hole in my back wall which is currently boarded up and not a lot of other work has been done :eek: I am soooo fed up with this, it's totally doing my head in However, dh moved the washing machine to the not to be renovated part of the kitchen so at least that's a step forward

I have joined the NOvember challenge and have also committed to stopping smoking (again!!:o) once the cigarettes I have are gone....regardless of how bored I get, I am not going to restart...its ridiculous really, I don't know why I do it to myself

other than the kitchen, things are going well....I will check my mortgage balance tomorrow as this months payment and regular op come out today....hoping that I will be happily surprised by what the balance is I am hoping that I will be able to make my original 5k op target by the end of the year and am not too far away from that so fingers crossed!!:D

icontinuetodream

regular op came out yesterday and mortgage is now down to under 57k!!:j:j:j

dh has started to check the balance on-line too and seems to be catching the bug....he's talking about moving every additional penny to the mortgage...conversation went like this.... 'I have £1.68 over what I expected in my bank...shall I transfer it to the mortgage?'!!!! :laugh: Soooo happy...finally got him thinking the same way as me!!!:dance:

Anyhoo....we have decided to drop the additional offset savings target to 5k and once we reach that (not a million miles off it now really) we are going to totally concentrate on the what we classify as 'proper' mortgage OP's.....straight off the balance rather than in savings

Happy days!!