Lulabelle's MFW Diary

lulabelle1

CathT wrote: »

Lula, where have you been? Have missed your diary. Glad the Mexico booking wasn't needed and you still get to go the the wedding. I like how family holidays are one of your priorities, ours too and I'd definitely put them before a car <ponders how many more years I can get out of 8 year old car>

I know Cath, it's been ages... I get sidetracked and forget to post! 8 years is no age.... I'm sure you'll have many more stress free miles
Can't beat family holidays, I reckon its the best thing you can do with your money (along with some planning for the future). The memories will stay with the whole family forever
Have a fab weekend!

lulabelle1

Big Dog has her first birthday next week.... (I may have ordered her a horrid/tacky celebratory birthday hat which she will have to wear on the morning of every birthday whilst we sing to her..... I know I know...) and I'm planning to make her a birthday cake. Made from pate, treats, hot dogs etc. Sure she'll love it. She's at the beauty parlour today, she was in much need of some preening, her hair has gotten so long in the last 2 months that I can't see her eyes anymore. She's more like a dulux dog than a cockapoo.

DS2 was given a fit bit the other week. He's been a bit lazy recently, so I figured it might motivate him to move more. Seems to have done the trick, he's keen to go to the park across the road to kick around a ball after school and has been joining us for some of the of the dog walks. He's averaging around 12,000 steps a day. Downside, he eats even more than before!

I've got a few barely used clothing items on ebay (bought years ago), all have bids and plenty of watchers. I bought a chambray shirt from Next the other day which I think will be really versatile and also ordered a maxi skirt from Hush - also really versatile, figure it will be nice for my work trips - smart during the day for client meetings and then will be fine with a Tshirt and trainers for casual down times. I like to pack light for my trips, so always like my new purchases to be really versatile. That's 3 versatiles in one para but I can't think of a better word to use!!

Despite a couple of new purchases my wardrobe remains fairly empty, but it makes it so easy when deciding what to wear each day!!

Weekend looks like it will be a washout which is such a shame after the glorious weather we had last week.

Hoping it will brighten up again next weekend as we've booked a night in a dog friendly hotel/cottage thing near the seaside. And I don't want my chips to get soggy in the rain.

lulabelle1

It's been a productive few weeks...

Lots of eBay sales -which has funded bits and pieces for all in the household.

Few OP's made to the mortgage, now down to around £87k

Holiday booked for Easter next year - got lucky and managed to book reward flights on the day the flights were released with BA using all of my accrued Avios points, so just paying the Taxes.

A delivery truck driver reversed his lorry along the side of my car, ripped open the back panel. Nice. Just dropped it off today to be assessed for repair. Thankfully a few of the neighbours witnessed it and he was stopped before he bu**ared off. It's got me thinking whether we actually need to have two cars. Will see how this works out and then consider further.

Busy busy with work, quite a few opportunities to work on, but takes forever to bring them to the point where they deliver revenue. In the meantime, need to keep the belt tightened.

I've started to put aside a bit extra each month for my SIPP, will review whats what towards the end of the tax year and then decide what to pay in to try and keep child benefit and minimise higher rate tax etc etc.

It's a tough balance knowing what to OP and what to save/invest.

Had a lovely trip to the seaside and stayed o/night when it was bank hol weekend. We took food for picnics etc and was surprised at how little we spent whilst away for two days. Result.

Sun is shining brightly, hurrah!!!!!

lulabelle1

Well, it's cloudy and a bit cooler today - AND I'm happy about it. My hayfever is a total mare and I'm glad to be able to have windows closed.

My car is still being repaired. I think it's been 3 weeks now. I get my next update on Thursday. Honestly, I'm actually thinking about selling it and splitting the money between the mortgage and my S&S ISA. We both work from home for the most part and have 2 cars. There are times, like when I have a meeting or a trip abroad, where a second car is super handy, but I reckon we could possibly work around it. So, currently giving that some thought. In the last 3 weeks I've used the courtesy car once for an airport run (could have gotten the train) and 3 times to go to the shops & run errands - I could have just waited for DH to come home and used his car.

CathT

Going down to one car would be a game changer for us financially. Unfortunately, it is not possible due to or jobs and all the childrens activities. If it can work for you though it is definitley worth evaluating.

lulabelle1

CathT wrote: »

Going down to one car would be a game changer for us financially. Unfortunately, it is not possible due to or jobs and all the childrens activities. If it can work for you though it is definitley worth evaluating.

Yes, it would be great, as well as saving on the insurance, tax, MOT etc, I could use the sale proceeds for something useful; mortgage, SIPP, S&S ISA etc. I'm hopefully getting it back on tomorrow, so will give it some further consideration.

lulabelle1

Mortgage is now down to £85k. And, I'm feeling a bit torn. I'd originally planned that I would OP to ensure that it's paid off in the next 7 years which is when the fixed rate runs out. (My 50th)

But, I'm now considering:

-If I make no further OP's at all and just continue with the regular monthly payment, then it will be paid off in 12 years

-I could use the OP's already made to reduce the monthly payment, if I leave it with the current term of 22 years (!!!) then it would be down to approx £430 month. Which in itself it amazeballs as our monthly payment was almost £1,200 p/month when we bought the house (and we already took OP's back to fund an extension/new kitchen and the deposit for our B2L)

Whatever we decide, any money which would have been used for Mortgage payments will be put in to SIPPs and S&S ISA's. This has been fairly neglected in the grand scheme of things until recently and is certainly something that needs more attention.

I've spent far too much time in the last few days with spreadsheets etc etc working out projected SIPP / S&S ISA values etc for retirement. In some ways it's not as scary as I thought it would be, it's just trying to get the most from the money we have available. Nonetheless we'd best get saving!!!

lulabelle1

We've had a spendy last month or so.... new beds for DS1, the dog (!) and ourselves, decorated our bedroom and paid for the holiday to Cornwall next month.

Mortgage balance now stands at around £82k.

Income dropped last month and doesn't look great for this month or the next few months (the joys of working for yourself), so selling a few bits and pieces and cutting back in other areas has helped to fund the recent (but essential, well perhaps apart from the dogs bed) spends.

Focus for next few months is to keep the food spends & frittering to a minimum, so that we can still do some saving despite the lower income.

I'm hoping that my braces will be coming off in September -good for two reasons; the first of course is not having braces anymore and secondly the financial thing as I'm currently spending anywhere from £120 to £180 per month for my appointments/new wires etc. It's been almost a year now, so not having the financial commitment for that will be brilliant - as well as having lovely teeth (I hope!!!!)

Still contemplating selling my car, apart from the convenience factor, I don't think I need to have it but I'm nervous to get rid. It's a fab car and I'd struggle to get anything similar (if I decide I need a car in the future) for anything like the money I'd get from selling it. That said, I've just forked out £400+ to insure it, the MOT is due on Monday, the tax reminder just came through and it's due a big service in Sept....

We had a stroke of luck with DS1, we've been self funding some of his diabetes kit, it's now been signed off for prescription, so for the foreseeable (until the local authority change their minds about the funding) we no longer need to self fund to the tune of £!00 every 4 weeks. Love our NHS, it literally scares me when I think of how much it cost to keep DS1 alive if we lived in another country.

School holidays start today, hurrah!!!!!!

lulabelle1

The fate of the car is close to being sealed..... £230 for a new battery, grrrrrr

lulabelle1

What a lovely Summer we had.... so nice having good weather!!

We had a little break away to Cornwall, it was a very frugal trip away, first holiday with the pooch and we had such a fun time. Great family times and wonderful without the need for spending loads of money. We took pack ups out with us everyday (apart from padstow pasty day) and ate in every evening apart from one. I miss the evening/morning beach walks now that we're home. How lovely would it be to live somewhere like that!

Car is still here.

Braces are still on and it looks like they're going to be on until Easter. Clearly not happy about that and idea if I can stand it that long.

No OP's to mortgage since last post but will hopefully get back on that in the next few months.

I've a bit of a quandary. We have two bathrooms - one family and one ensuite. The ensuite is super tiny, just loo/sink/tiny shower that you can't move in - but really perfect for us and just whats needed really. The family bathroom has a bath and then one of those hand held shower heads that just clips on the wall. The bathroom hasn't been changed wince we bought the house new 12 years ago, but is still perfectly fine. BUT we have a 14 year old that is currently needing to use our shower (in the ensuite) and whenever certain family members come they casually come walking in to my bedroom to use the shower - which tbh, really drives me nuts. So, debating having the family bathroom done.

Looked at having just a shower in the bath installed, but we'd need to do something with tiling as its currently just part tiled. Tiles are no longer available and despite looking at various options (contrasting tiles etc etc) nothing will look great. So, we'd need to re-tile. Because its a big job to retile, one thing leads to another and we're in a situation where DH thinks we definitely need to just go for it and have the whole bathroom done.

On the one had I agree, it would look nice and it would be great not to have to share the ensuite. On the other, I hate the idea of spending (wasting??) the month when it's not 100% essential. Also seems a bit wasteful.

Most of the neighbours who bought new like us changed their bathrooms years ago, but it just seems like spending money for the sakes of it.

So, a bit of a dilemma, not helped by the fact that my mother and her husband are visiting from abroad and staying with us for 2 weeks at Christmas. I don't actually think her husband will fit in our tiny shower??!!