Edinburgher gets cracking!

Jock_Tight

Bet you are counting down the days to get the keys!

All the best for the move

edinburgher

Bet you are counting down the days to get the keys!

We certainly are - although not looking forward to packing!

Ah well, touch wood we'll be in this flat for c. 10 years before having to do it again

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

I bet the last two weeks go so fast before the move.. and equally the first two in the new place will be fast too! Good luck for the move... and keep up the OP pot additions!

misscousinitt

Good luck with the packing! and the move...its all very exciting.

MCI

edinburgher

Can't believe it's almost the weekend again!

Got my £5 monthly reward from Halifax, went straight into the OP pot.

Also expecting a cashback of £6 or so from a magazine subscription I applied for and also hoping to make nearly the cost of the subscription back by selling the free gift that comes with it (desperately trying to justify things here, must be a hangover from spending time over on the DFW board!)

edinburgher

Bed and mattress have arrived and we have bought new linen, duvet, pillow towels and a dressing table for my lovely wife.

We also picked up a lovely lamp for the sitting room from B&Q and managed to get GU10 LED lightbulbs (like the little halogen spots, but 6W total for 3 (as opposed to 27W for the halogen versions)). They have an estimated life of 10 years - who knows how much our mortgage will have shrunk by then?

Giving serious thought to replacing all lightbulbs in the house with LED ones, but it would be a fairly expensive project. Still, good for the environment and should hopefully pay back the difference within a few years?

Very nervous about the move on Saturday, but family are rallying round. Brother is bringing round packing crates, dad is paying for a van hire and collecting our *free* fridge and freezer for us, father-in-law is bringing round our free washing machine and has promised us a small dining table once we get settled.

I feel very lucky, if it's this expensive to move house with a raft of freebies, it must be murder for those less fortunate!

What with all the expenses of decorating equipment and assorted other stuff, our OP pot has pretty much disappeared. Ah well, I'd rather have no debt than a small sum of savings, must keep the big picture in mind.

We are in the unfortunate position of having to pay the mortgage and rent next month, so I've come up with an emergency budget whereby we only pay for essentials to generate as much spare cash as possible for decorating etc.

edinburgher

We get the keys tomorrow! I was up 'til half past eleven last night packing, think we're down to our last 5-6 boxes now.

Feeling very nervous, which is silly, as the hardest parts are behind us (well, bar paying the mortgage )

Have paid off my credit card, very wary of letting debt sit on it for too long and am trying my best to be frugal until we get the new place sorted out.

Granted, we'll probably still live off of takeaway for the first week like everyone does when they move house, but at least it'll be cheap takeaway

edinburgher

I can't believe we've been in our new home for over a week already - due to the amount of DIY it feels like a lot longer :eek:

Moving in was fairly hellish, with the actual moving process and associated trips to B&Q and Ikea (for a wardrobe), taking 11 hours or so. We will be leaving the white goods when we sell, moving a washing machine up 6 flights of stairs was a nightmare...

Said wardrobe took 16 hours to build and we lost all of last weekend as a result. A shame, as it was beautifully sunny.

We have repainted the master bedroom, put new handles on the cupboard doors and hung new curtains re-using the existing pole. The room is a mix of ivory and light green and the curtains are similar, with a bit of gold to add some extra colour. The curtains are lined and were purchased for a bargain £39.99 (considering the size of the window, this seems like the deal of the century).

I've also taken down the ceiling rose and am going to put up a modern light fitting (well, old fashioned, but with modern wiring) and will be using LED bulbs to keep utility costs down.

Have started to make *very* small payments into the OP pot again, but this is mostly to try and keep good habits. It all seems a little fruitless with the massive amount of DIY equipment and new purchases required for a home...

We have unpacked 75% of our possessions and are going to paint the spare room over the Easter weekend.

It's my birthday next Saturday and we'll be taking the day off to relax

edinburgher

Is it only me who looks back at their initial diary entries and winces as if they were reading teenage poetry?

Six months into paying our mortgage and we have done next to nothing to overpay - I've had a real maturity lesson in not getting carried away with plans before they're even begun! Due to unexpected costs and phantom bills I'd say that this is our first month where we actually know everything that's coming out of our account:

Anticipated savings aren't actual savings, so I've revised my signature and am scaling back my crazy overpayment plans for now. Life has a habit of getting in the way...

Currently standing at £50 total in the overpayment pot, feeling older, wiser and a bit of a MFW failure £50/mth going in, with plenty going into other savings accounts and I'll hopefully up this by 15% come April.

Sepa74

lol... don't worry! That's just how it is when you move into a new house. Had you asked, the advice would have been not to worry about OPing for at least six months... and here you are, back again bang on schedule!!

But it sounds like you are back on track! So now you can start focusing on getting rid of the mortgage... but don't forget it's a marathon... you need to live a little too!