And so it begins....

cha97michelle

Lovely to see another new diary, and it sounds like you will be about for a long while. Good luck, and keep posting. It is the only thing that keeps me going when I feel I have done not a lot.

PixieFace

Morning all,

Thanks CathT and cha97michelle (hope you're feeling better now) for your hello's.

So, yesterday's goals

1. Waitrose with John Lewis voucher from surveys to buy a chicken and veg and milk Done £15 cash spent and have probably covered a week's worth of food now so no more shopping until next weekend.
2. Homebase for bits for the now vacant bedroom that we are decorating (missing a door latch, need a new pendant light and plaster for the walls I've made holes in for a new light switch and socket) Done, spent £40 and some pence and got £4 off with a voucher and Nectar points of course.
3. Hang door Done, OH did this, with much 'oops'ing and the ocassional swearword. That's the last one now :j, it only took 6 years to hang 6 doors!
4. Run light and socket cable not done, went up in the loft to get access for the light (changing a pull cord to a proper switch) and there was stuff in the way, so spent an hour or so decluttering, have filled both recycling and general waste wheelies and there is still more to go. Not much, if anything worth selling unfortunately. Although I found an unnecessary amount of sheets and pillow cases, which are all hideous and the wrong size. Am wondering what to do with them.
5. Fill all the holes, everywhere Not done
6. Clean the bathroom. Done, I did the bathroom while OH did the door.

Its grey and rainy here today. Am hoping it clears as I have clean towels to hang on the line. Unlike so many others, I'm a bit odd in that I rather like scratchy towels, so am quite happy for them not to go in the TD.

Cheeky cat is living up to her name having so far this morning come in all wet and covered in muck, tried to climb the chimney and attempted to play with the wool I am slowly turning into a blanket.

Today I plan to do all the things I didn't do yesterday, cook a chicken (OH will make stock tomorrow as he has the day off work) and roast the remaining tomatoes with some garlic and herbs to make a passata type thing to go in the freezer, make leek and potato soup, clean the grout in the shower area and stew some bramleys next door gave me to go in the freezer. In fact, having taken out the stock for my soup this morning, I realised our freezer is really quite empty, shall have to fill it up.

Back to work tomorrow, had Friday off but that is my last day of leave now until Christmas, booo! I'm sure my time could be spent much more productively if I were at home everyday

TTFN

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Very good luck with your journey. You are doing something that you will never regret, who wants to be paying a mortgage until they are 65?

All the best,
Squirrel

molit

am a little bit of lurker like you were. I was wondering whether you are planning on taking in a lodger for a short while to kcick start the overpayments? I have a decent spare room, but I also like the free space...

PixieFace

Hi Squirrel and molit. Nice to meet you.

A lodger is an option as we now have two spare rooms (or at least will have when the decorating is finished). However, we are rather enjoying our own space at the minute, and having lived with an extra for so many years, I think it would have to take major financial difficulties to consider it any time see. We'll see.

PixieFace

So, I decided to bite the bullet and do my SOA

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 2 (1 that goes, and 1 that doesn't)

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1183
Partners monthly income after tax....... 966
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2149

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage Sub AC 1 & 2........ 321
Mortgage Sub AC 3.............. 116
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 112 (10 months)
Gas and electricity............................. 66
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Landline, cable TV and internet........... 68.4
Mobile phone............................ 30.2 (for 2)
TV Licence.............................. 12.37
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 (60/week)
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 0 (see below for car bits)
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance................. 12.54 (Mr S and double Nectar points for 2 years)
Buildings insurance..................... 0 (pay annually for B&C)
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 26.62
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Spends (for 2)....................... 190
Mum..................................... 300
Partner Union........................... 7.95
Gym..................................... 41.09
Magazine................................ 2.5
Films................................... 8.16
Bank Account............................ 12.95
Total monthly expenses.................. 1752.78


Assets
Cash.................................... 600
House value (Gross)..................... 100000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 8000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 108600

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 75800....(321)......3.09%
Mortgage Sub AC 3..............15101....(116)......6.19%
Total secured & HP debts...... 90901

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Balance Transfer CC............1460......30........0%
Ttal unsecured debts..........1460

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,149
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,752.78
Available for debt repayments........... 396.22
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 30
Amount left after debt repayments....... 366.22


Currently, the remaining money is being put into savings, which were wiped out entirely when buying the house. Here is my plan - I have calculated the annual outgoings (B&C Insurance, MOT, road tax, car insurance, servicing, vets for booster vaccines, xmas and other presents spends), added a bit and rounded it up to a nice whole number (3,000). This is what is currently being saved for. The idea is to have 500 in an instant access savings account, with reasonable interest, and all the rest is going into an ISA. I figure I can also use this money as an emergency fund, as all these payments will come out at different times of the year, being replenished as required and (hopefully) £500 should be the maximum I would have to pay in one go, but could top this up if necessary. I welcome your thoughts:).

As of pay day at the end of Jan 2012, we have to start paying some money back to OH's mum. We will probably give her half the remaining money and continue paying into savings until our target is reached and when that is done, all the rest can go on the mortgage.:T

Cars - mine works, and is necessary to get me to work. OH's doesn't and isn't (rides his bike). But it is an historical vehicle (no tax :T) and is currently SORN. We are contemplating insuring though, as he'll lose his NCB otherwise, and for the security of knowing it's covered when it's just sitting there, rotting, and because he can borrow his mum's car for the winter as long as he's insured to drive it.

Clothes - we rarely buy clothes. The most recent trip was when OH had some shares from work mature that he didn't even know he had. Shopping generally makes me feel :mad: so I tend to avoid it at all costs, unless my clothes have fallen to bits, or I can't squeeze into them anymore.

For the council tax free months, the money will be going straight to the mortgage. Energy costs are calculated on my last year consumption and I give monthly meter readings and am quite happy to explain to the supplier why they are not going to increase my DD in winter when I am clearly very much in credit. Although this is a conversation I seem to have with them every year. One day they may learn :rotfl:.

TV/phone/internet - boy's a gamer, so god forbid we reduce the net capability! We did change from evil Sky (a whole other post) TV to combine with the phone and net we already had with virgin, saving over £30/month (hence the £8 on films) and they upped the BB speed too.

For other travel, if we are planning to visit someone, the fuel is budgeted for in that month (everyone I know lives so very far away ). As for holidays, what are they? We've been away with my family a couple of times, mum pays for us, the siblings and their OH's, and OH's mum took us to Florida in 2006 when she sold her old house and made a packet on it. We tend to view visiting friends and rellys as holidays. Or just take a week off, stay at home, bake, do gardening and DIY and eat.

The gym I will keep, because I do use it regularly, but not as much as I should. However, my employer is considering corporate membership, probably of the same gym, so I'm hoping for good news on that front. OH cancelled his gym membership after not going for many months, this is the first month of not paying for that, although his was £5 cheaper for some reason.

The bank account is the reason we have 3.09% on the mortgage, gives us breakdown cover, travel insurance (like we need that!), and phone insurance (OH has a smart phone, so that would cost the same by itself) and gets us a free equifax report once a year.

Spends I guess is the last thing. That, my friends, is for baccy. (I know, so please don't waste your valuable time, one day.......;))

And I guess that is it.

OK, Hit me!

shala_moo

Hi Pixie,

Great to read your thread... i'm in much the same position as you with borrowing money from the family. I owe my sister £60k and my dad £7k which i will pay back as soon as i can, before i can tackle the huge mortgage we've just took out (if we can ever get actually into our new house with so many solicitor issues)

Good luck to you.. x

PixieFace

Hi shala_moo, I've just stumbled across your diary, so will have to keep a close eye on that.

With the SOA, some bits I should have mentioned (although I realise now that it was quite a long post anyway) B&C insurance for the year was £187, road tax is £125 (ish) and car insurance was £360 this year for OH and I and business class insurance, as I use my car for work occasionally.

Speaking of which, I am using it tomorrow, so will use the expenses claim to fill the tank and save the amount I will no longer have to spend on fuel for the mortgage. It also looks like I might be away with work for a few days next week, for which they will provide a vehicle, so a few days I won't be using my own fuel. And I went swimming this morning, making use of the membership I pay for anyway and saving on my electricity consumption through showering and hairdrying at the gym (and not being at home with the lights and pc on).

misscousinitt

Just pooped by to say Hi and good luck....

Will pop back to look at your SOA when I have a bit more time.

PixieFace

Hi misscousinitt, thanks for popping in, I look forward to your comments on my SOA