A stay at home mummy who wants to be a mfw - Yes I can and Yes I will!

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

I_want_a_baby wrote: »

Amount of £618 was calculated as this was the amount of rent £600 paid comfortably at the old house plus £18 which was the previous council tax amount less the current council tax amount. Therefore we feel as comfortable financially as we were in our last house doing this.

That's great you've been able to re-jig things without feeling like there's less each month!

I_want_a_baby

Thanks MRN - Had letter from Halifax today to confirm revised direct debit amount.

My update for today seems insignificant compared to other recent ones reporting large amounts saved. But I recognise that it was these smaller updates that helped get me into the fortunate position of home ownership in the first place.

So todays update:

• Made 5 x portions of chilli yesterday for the freezer - lovely winter ready meals.
• £2 into bucket list fund leftover from fritter money
• £2 coin into dog fund from fritter money
• £10 leftover food money has been put aside as we are going bowling with my family on saturday and it is currently unbudgeted.
• Tea will be food from the freezer
• Waiting in for a delivery so a NSD today - not very good at keeping track of these!
• Received first energy bill from British Gas, linked nectar card to account, submitted meter readings and set up DD - should be getting quite a few nectar points for this.
• Remembered to use nectar card when purchased a few items at sainsburys the other day and got another 20np i think.
• Managed to find and plug in energy monitor - electric bill was approx £50 this month - I have been using the tumble drier a lot though so was expected - hoping to monitor energy usage and reduce this to £40pm.
• Found DD's formula milk on offer £7 reduced from £8.98 so bought 5 tins which will save us £10 and keep us stocked up over xmas.

Got to go - DD whinging!

Stacey x

I_want_a_baby

£2.55 leftover in December budget after pay split between budgets today.
£6.25 Received from quidco
£8.80 Transfered to Mortgage OP Account

Hoping for another NSD today x

toozie_2

Hi Stacey

Very pleased you're doing so well.

A thought.........I never use my tumble dryer, I have one of those retractable washing lines (from Willkos I think) which I bought for about £1.99 7 or 8 years ago. It's in my utility room, and when the weather is bad I just hang my washing on there, usually stuff dries overnight, towels & jeans take longer.

Undies & socks I put over the ladder radiator in the bathroom over night.

Tumble dryer only gets used when daughter comes home from her flat & wants her jeans washed & dried "yesterday"!

I know some people don't like wet washing hanging around though!

xxx

I_want_a_baby

Hello everyone,

Drumroll please..... we are now connected to the internet!! Yey!

So updates can and will be a lot more frequent now!


Update for the last few days:

• Received £3 PC luncheon voucher - put aside with others for January grocery challenge.
• Ordered meat from the local butchers and used my sisters 'family' discount and got literally the best quality meat for less than supermarket prices .
• Batched cooked a cauliflower & macaroni cheese, two leek and potato bakes, three portions of spaghetti bolognaise, three portions of cajun pork and eight portions of lasagne all now in the freezer to help me eat better & avoid stressful tea times this December.
• Ran out of labels to label them but remembered I have some printer labels so used those to avoid buying new.
• Finished christmas present shopping .
• Must update remaining christmas budget :eek:.
• Made some white paper snowflakes for the window - usual christmas tradition just using normal printer paper.
• Officially vacated previous house so hope to get the final energy/water bills through soon to draw a line under that.
• Cancelled previous house contents insurance and will get a refund of £38.21 - will transfer this to OP account once received.
• Now internet is connected BT vision is working in time for christmas - Can record christmas TV/films :j.

This week has been good spendwise and purse balances are:
£30.12/£40.00 Food budget
£10.00/£10.00 Fritter Money.

Finance wise we haven't been bad but we haven't really been good either. I don't like the feeling when I cannot update my budgets/view my online banking regularly and xmas spending has been much higher than previous years.

I am trying to restrain myself and keep the spending in moderation but I have already told hubby that we will be having a frugal fast in January to get 'back on the wagon' and realign our life and spends to how we want to live.

So much to do on the to do list still so just trying to concentrate on a daily task and then at least I have made progress however small.

So happy to be back properly .

Stacey x

A_Fresh_Start_2

Hi Stacey,

I love following your diary and glad you'll be back updating regularly!

Seeing how much the small amounts could make such a big difference has really inspired me.

I've subscribed and look forward to your next update.

Welcome back x

I_want_a_baby

Thank you A Fresh Start, its very kind of you and much appreciated that you left me a comment.

I am as suprised as you are with regard to the small amounts I really am. I really hope I can overpay much more than targeted by swiping the pennies!

So a further update for today:
Did another PC survey - should get another £3 luncheon voucher to use in grocery challenge.
Realised 2nd mortgage payment has gone out and that this one is for the revised amount of £618 which means I have made my first standard overpayment which my faithful spreadsheet states is for £103.90!

Therefore new overpayment total is £2268.57.
Actual overpayment total is £103.90.

Need to get calpol, milk, a sieve and an ice scraper tomorrow. Aiming to keep spends under £10.

Off to check the bill account budgets to see if I can OP anything else .

Stacey x

I_want_a_baby

Cleanup of bill account budgets resulted in:
0.64 leftover in water account after DD taken
2.58 leftover in fritter account from last month
5.78 interest received
1.29 leftover in life insurance account after dd taken last month
0.49 milk/nappies budget rounded down to nearest £
10.78 transferred to Mortgage OP account

New total overpayment total is £2279.35
Actual overpayments made total is £103.90 (included in above).

Husband just had to order a new element for our top oven/grill. We are hoping to fix it ourselves to avoid labour charge. Saved £12 on the cost of it by shopping around online and he also managed to find the cheapest supplier on £co which will pay us 5% cashback!

Yawn. Definately time to call it a night.

Speak to you all soon x

A_Fresh_Start_2

Sorry if this is a really stupid question, but what it a PC survey?

Also well done on your first standard overpayment you'll be knocking those years off before you know it!

X

I_want_a_baby

Had a difficult week with the kids, we and they have had colds and there has been a vast lack of sleep and lots of whinging during the day! I will update with my savings for the week later x