Lulabelle's MFW Diary

lulabelle1

Hi Ammonite - I think it's a good idea to save all of the money up for the OP, especially if you can get a better Interest rate on your savings in comparison to the mortgage. Anything that gives you some peace of mind (which is what this is all about) is a good thing IMO.

For ages I have just transferred everything to the mortgage. I'm with Nationwide and have been with them for many many years, so I have a flex mortgage, whereby I can take as much or as little of my OP's back at any time. This gives some peace of mind but if I was to need some money in an emergency it's not really any good as it takes 1-2 weeks to get the cash.

Being paid some money late this week made me realise that I'd like to build up some handy savings. I have a little bit in an ISA and a reg savings account but I'd prefer to have some money in a savings account that has easy access and no penalty for withdrawal etc. I'm going to build this up a bit to a comfortable level and then go back to making as many mortgage OP's as possible.

lulabelle1

Money Saving:
Jkt potato for lunch (inspired by Natty, lol) - no spend
Returned a long sleeve Tshirt that I shouldn't have bought just because it was cheap - £5 refund
Sold something else - £50 (plus postage costs)

Spending (Sadly not a NSD)
Christening gift for this weekend
Need to write a chq - wedding gift for this weekend

Overall, I'm still £up and feeling very MS Indeed.

ammonite

Well our interest rate isn't really better than the mortgage (in fact, it's considerably worse)...but not 100% how financially secure we'll be in the next year or so, so would rather hang on to the money in case we need it, but always have it marked as an OP in my mind if that makes sense. I'd only "borrow" it from myself if I was seriously desperate (like can't pay the mortgage etc.!). Good that you can take your OPs back at any time, I might have to investigate if we can do that as I'd be more likely to OP monthly. Thanks for the tip

Well done for sales and your moneysaving ways today

lulabelle1

A safety net is good. Like you say you don't know what's round the corner, so as long as you can be disciplined and not spend the saved money on magic beans, then I'd say a savings fund is definitely the way to go.

lulabelle1

I'm getting my haircut this morning. Love my new hairdresser and its great that she comes to the house. £20 including the tip compared to the £45 that I used to pay. Fantastic!

DS2 is off for his swimming lessons with DH this morning (DH doesn't work Fridays) - it's the start of a new term, so £30 to pay, ouch.

We'll need to fill up with fuel aswell today for the journey up North for the wedding tomorrow.

On the bright side, we don't need to do any food shopping until Sunday when we get back.

I'd meal planned for next week and forgotten that we have house guests Mon to Fri, so 2 more mouths to feed. Have therefore amended the meal plan to big one pot cook up meals - easier, cheaper and just as yummy/filling. All of the meals I'd planned to use next week (from freezer etc), will keep to the following week.

Happy friday peeps!

nattypants

Hope you had a lovely time at the wedding lula and I'm with you regarding combination of savings / mortgage OP.
Ideally with savings I am hoping to achieve safety net of £5K and £500 - £1K easy access funds (no where near those figures!)

You are very focussed just now, which appears to coincide with my notable absence all last week. I can only conclude that I am a bad influence;)

NP:D

lulabelle1

Thanks Natty, wedding was good - but I must admit I'm not a huge fan of weddings.... It was also combined with a christening!

Did around 360 miles this weekend, that's too much fuel for my liking! My lovely sister did buy me some lunch before we set off though to say thanks for driving, so that was nice. Since I was driving, I didn't buy any drinks, so that was good too.

The wedding was in a lovely village where my cousin lives, could be tempted to have a move up north. It would be great to be near my sister and other family. Something to think about once we've OP'd and saved some more money.

DH stayed at home with the boys and had done the food shopping and hoovering by the time I got back today, so that was a big help and one less thing to do.

House guests are arriving tomorrow tea time, so need to organise a few things before they arrive.

Was going to make some cupcakes this afternoon but just remembered that my hand mixer broke at Halloween, so no cupcakes.

Natty - I have my ups and downs in regards to being focused, I'm doing fairly well at the moment but no idea how long it will last for.

edinburgher

DH stayed at home with the boys and had done the food shopping and hoovering by the time I got back today, so that was a big help and one less thing to do.

"Carp - Lulabelle's coming home - action stations everyone!" :rotfl:

lulabelle1

Yup, that pretty much sums it up Ed!

ammonite

Ooh yeah fuel is awful, when we go anywhere far away now I try and make sure we spend a couple of days there to make the most of the travelling costs. Its very depressing to fill up the car more than once a week!

I'm totally biased but the North is completely the 'place to be'