Mortgage freedom..Shala_moo's attempt at a diary..

shala_moo

Thanks Lulabelle...

Had all my paperwork for the sale of my current house today, so i've been busy filling that in. I'm hoping that we can get the surveyor in soonish just so i know whether there are going to be any major issues with the sale or not.

I'm guessing the sale won't go through until after xmas which i'm ok about as my sister wants to come and stay here when we move out as she has major building works going on in her house...

Today i have tried to start my xmas chutney and decorating my xmas cake... however i had a little bit of an incident with my finger and a mandolin :eek: so i've had to postpone it for a little bit..:( said finger is still intact but hurting somewhat so had some cheapo custard creams to cheer me up :T

have a good evening everyone xx

shala_moo

Good afternoon...

Well finally it's all systems go on the moving front. The builders are in the new house currently gutting it and the paperwork is flowing for the sale of the current house.

Fingers crossed we've been given a build date finish of the 16th Dec, but then we still have to the last bit of paperwork before we can get the keys!! I'm hoping we'll be in for xmas but who knows!!

Money saving wise this week

- i've bought some Thortons items for xmas, using a code for a free gift worth £9.99 and also 3 for 2 items. So spent £29 should have been £45 and £2.07 cash back
- £9 off a £90 shop at sainsbugs to use x 2, 5p petrol voucher for Tesc0, 10p off at sainsburys (used - saved £3.70)
- Used the H0vis h0mebake voucher to get free rolls - they were ok but i wouldn't be paying £1.20 for them, i can make nicer ones for less money!
- Used voucher for free icecream


On non - money saving ways
- OH's car cost £140 to repair (added to last months bill of £300 ish) :eek: it's just one of those cars that go wrong alot. We're hoping this last repair will fix it for good if not we'll have to buy a new car next year
- we ate the Xmas biscuits box last night £3.50 for what was probably the same quantity of 2 packs of biscuits.. now have to replace it!

Hope everyone's having a stress free, lovely day even though the weather is pants .. xx

newgirly

Great news on the house, fingers crossed you will get in before xmas.

shala_moo

Morning, thanks Newgirly i really hope so too.. although it's gonna be a big old rush even if we do!!

Even if we don't manage to get the tree up and Sky connected at least we'll still have a lovely time... plus i'll have loads of family to help unpack the boxes :rotfl:

Ok so pay day today :jdone my money shuffling :
£250 share save
£300 to regular 8% saver
£1000 to ha1ifax and back to get £5
credit card paid off
money put into bills account
£750 left in the curr ac moved to savings (i've been proper tight this month )

So my total debt as it stands

Nov 2011
Outstanding mortgage £89,109.67
Outstanding CC 0% £235.76
Savings £26,932.85

Total Debt at present moment £62,412.58

Paid off/saved this month = £3234.96 (i've added my share save scheme figure in of £2k as it's savings really)

Hopefully i can keep this level of repayment up for when we take on our new mortgage.. we will have a few weeks where we're paying bills for both houses though so those months will be a bit tight!!

I'm glad this is our forever house, i'm not sure i could even think about moving again! How people do it/afford it every few years is beyond me..:eek:

shala_moo

Good evening....

Apologies for not dropping by sooner but It's been a very busy week for us. Hope everyone is ok..

The new house has now been gutted and the plastering has been started, then hopefully the kitchen and bathroom will be fitted towards the end of next week! We went to have a good look at the garden last week too, it's going to be a work in progress as it doesn't have much structure, but, this should provide us with a nice new project for next spring! Any ideas on how to design gardens would be much appreciated...

We've been on a bit of a spending spree in the last week as we've had to start ordering some of the furniture. Ordered the sofa and dining table so far, both to be delivered before xmas so at least if we get the keys we'll have a table to eat at :rotfl:and a sofa to sit on! Haven't yet ordered the cooker and fridge but that should be in the next few weeks.

In money saving news i've managed to nab some ok bargains this week
- 0cado sent me an email for a £20 off £40 shop which is arriving this evening ( i replaced the Xmas biscuits for free! :T:o)
- the bathroom cabinet we wanted was reduced to half price then i found a £30 off voucher too
- B0ots have just opened a new store by us and have leaflets for £5 off so i went and had a nosey! £75 later :eek:.... I finished off most of my xmas shopping and i got 1000 points in their extra points weekend thing worth £10

I only ever shop at B0ots and 0cado when i have vouchers otherwise their prices make me cry!

I've kept a close eye on xmas costs this year(on a spreadsheet of course:D) and i reckon in total i will have paid £300 for all the presents, i know this is still alot, but usually i spend more. I have used vouchers where i can and also gone halves with my sister for some relatives presents, so i've saved a total of £300 so far.:j

Right i'm off to make some tea.. have a good friday evening everyone x

shala_moo

Mortgage payment gone out today.. will update signature later.

Managed to get some extra cash together today too,

£40 - onep0ll earnings coming through
£10.12 - Quidc0
£25.78 - Freefivers - will now be shutting my account as this has taken me since 2008 to get!

So £75 extra to put in my savings...

Also, just joined the 2012 MFW challenge so looking forward to seeing everyone's overpayments and the interest they'll be saving because of them! :T

Abyss

You are doing great! I really hope you are in your new home for Christmas, how exciting that will be! :xmastree: They always want to be in for Christmas on Grand Designs, and Kevin always chuckles at their hope! But your builders sound like they are making good progress!

How did you get your Strada vouchers? Mmm, Strada! Yum!

shala_moo

Hi Abyss.. thanks for dropping by..

The Strada vouchers come from Tesco clubcard points (we get loads as we both have a tesco credit card). We don't have many of the chain restaurants round by where we live, so usually order them for when we're going away somewhere... if we don't get to use them, i pass them onto my sister who lives near every chain restaurant that ever existed..

I'm using Positive Mental Attitude for a Xmas move. We're hoping the builders finish on the 16th, flooring on the 19th, to complete on the 21st and move on the 23rd :eek:


Have spent some more money today ordered a new cooker and fridge - I ordered them from Bo0ts Kitchen appliances with 2.06% cashback and one of the cheaper prices I found with next day delivery. Also got £35 worth of Bo0ts points which I will save to buy some presents next year.

Updated signature, although only a paltry £215 paid off the mortgage this month as just my normal payment gone out.

Off to read some more diaries! Have a good weekend everyone..

shala_moo

:wave:

Just a quick update as nothing much has changed here...

• Still waiting for the builders to finish the house - have had a few hiccups but they're mainy done and dusted, just bathrrom and kitchen to finish tiling and painting to be done
• transferred my freefivers and quidco money over into my savings pot £36(still waiting for Onepoll), also my £5 ha1ifax reward money
• get paid on the 16th this month so will be able to do money shuffling early - pay also includes 17.5 hours of overtime - so about £250 which will go straight into savings
• booked removal men for 23rd Dec :eek: £250 so not bad
• booked Sky fella to install on 24th Dec using topcashback so £65.65 cashback and hopefully £100 in M&S vouchers

shala_moo

Got paid early this month so money shuffling gets done early too.

So as usual :
£250 share save
£300 to regular 8% saver
£1000 to ha1ifax and back to get £5
credit card paid off
money put into bills account
£270 put into savings (overtime payment)

So my total debt as it stands

Dec 2011
Outstanding mortgage £88,892.90 (-216.77)
Outstanding CC 0% £2870.68 (+2634.92)
Savings £27,790.11 (+857.26)

Total Debt at present moment £ 63,973.47

Paid off/saved this month = -£1,560.89

we actually added to our debt this month because of buying cooker/fridge/dining set/cabinets so the 0% credit card has took a bashing.

New house wise we still have £350 to pay the FA and £250 for the removal men and then we're done on essential spending!

Some goals for next/year to help reign in the spends

• cut the food budget
• only buy things for the house if they are needed
• any cash from ppl goes straight into the bank or on a spending diary
• no takeaways (health benefit too)
• think of side business for OH to venture into for extra cash
• make more of an effort with surveys
• pay off credit card (£260 per month)
• lose a couple of stone

OH just text me to say he's won £50 on a xmas raffle at work :j he said i could use this for curtains :jA year ago he'd have blown it all on booze!