MFW Diary.....before moving in!!!

edinburgher

That does sound a bit odd. I pay for a factor to run our property (or rather, not run it!) and the norm is to pay £x a month, billed quarterly.

Maybe it's different for new build properties - well worth speaking to neighbours - you're doubtless not the only person who'd rather pay in installments.

LauraWxx

ok glad its not just me who things it is a bit odd, I will look into it once they have handed over to the management company.

Had payout today from the Santander 123 account, got about £4.50, transferred that and a tidy up of the account to the savings...will update signature shortly.

Going to do some music magpieing later as have a load of cds to get rid of and may also put some of my old books onto ebay if i get time. However first I have just put chicago on, have done all my cleaning and food shopping etc this morning so now going to settle down for the film....LOVE chicago!!xx

LauraWxx

LauraWxx wrote: »

Spending Diary for Week 24/10/12 - 30/10/12


Total - £115 (inc £15pw contribution bf gives me for food shopping)

Budget
£35 - Petrol
£30 - Food Shopping
£10 - Meal out on Friday
£10 - Meal out on Monday (for mom's b-day)
£30 - Mom's b-day present (+ the same from bf but shouldn't be this much)

Hopefully I should be able to save a bit on the food shopping and the present as we have a lot in the freezer and for the present my bf will also be contributing half, I have allowed £30 but it wont be £60 total so will get some back there!

Actual

£35.00 - Petrol
£20.00 - Meal & Wine out on Friday
£38.00 - Moms birthday present
£10.00 - Meal for Moms birthday
£15.00 - Food shopping for the week

Total
£115.00 / £0.00 remaining

Updated from memory, as I have been very naughty at doing the diary this week...so busy the end of last week and then pretty much collapsed at the weekend.

The idea of trying to change the spending diary from a wednesday to wednesday to friday to friday is not going to well. I am spent up for the week and know that there are some bits i need to get on wednesday. Think I will leave as is for the moment and maybe try to shift it again in the new year.

LauraWxx

Spending Diary for Week 31/10/12 - 06/11/12


Total - £115 (inc £15pw contribution bf gives me for food shopping)

Budget
£35 - Petrol
£30 - Food Shopping
£10 - Bonfire on Saturday
£15 - Paint for Hall Decorating (weekend after)
£5 - Credit Card (Ordered some photo prints on it the other day)
£20 - Ikea / Xmas pressie

Still a lot in the freezer for the next week, so will continue to run that down.

Actual

30/10/2012 - £7.66 / £30.00 - Aldi food shopping
30/10/2012 - £22.34 - Amazon - Xmas Presents
31/10/2012 - £35.00 - Mr T - Petrol

Total
£65.00 / £50.00 remaining

Task for the Week -
List text books for sale
Music Magpie sale
List Ebay items

LauraWxx

I know its a few days early but judging on how rubbish I was last week at updating, thought it would be wise to start it now.

Also have finally meal planned this week out, using up stuff in the freezer and cupboard. Will be doing the same next week and trying to clear a bit of room (And save me a bit of money!).

KolaKube

Hi Laura!

My name's Laura too

Just popping in for a nosy, I like the way you do your weekly update / spending diary on here. So many good ideas from different diaries lol.

Keep up the good work!

KolaKube xx

LauraWxx

Thanks Laura!!

Keeps me on track...ish!!

I started off justifying all spending, but now I am finding that allocating my money in advanced is a better way for me of doing things!

Glad you are picking up tips :-)

LauraWxx

some good news today...£1k payrise which will equate to around £60 per month increase, should see it in November pay. Over the two years we plan on being in the flat that is a total of just under £1500 to add to the savings plan!

Nothing much else to report this week yet, looking forward to the weekend already!!

edinburgher

Well done Laura - was it expected, or a surprise?

LauraWxx

Arrggghhh still uming and ah'ing over my plan of save v overpay.

I started off wanting to OP and then thinking saving was the better idea. Now the £60k that I am due to come into is getting nearer I keep thinking maybe OP would be a better idea in the short term.

The prefered option at the moment is to do the following,

When £60k comes, earmark £20k for firstbuy scheme and then put the remainder in a locked savings account.

Then in January when all bills should have settled down etc (there a few I can cancel then) and bf moves in and starts making a contribution to bills, I should have around £400ish per month left over. If I op'd this on the flat then this would reduce the amount owed to around £50k by the time we looked to rent it out and buy our 'family home'. This would give me £40k to put into the family home, or a bit less and giving safety net etc and would also mean the flat has more equity in it if we came to remortgage.

If I could then convince the bf to stay in the flat another year (we have initally said 2 years) then it would mean the value of mortgage goes down even more.

In addition to the £40k ish I would have, he owns half a house which will be sold before we buy and is planning on doing some serious saving for the next couple of years.

any opinions??

I think the main reason for me now favouring the above is that I sort of feel like if i throw all the £60k at our family home then it will not be an equal house, which i want it to be. And i think the more equity I can get in the flat then the less of a risk it will be for void periods etc when rented out.