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

BookWorm

Just browsing diaries today and noticed you've not posted for a while. Hope all ok

misscousinitt

BookWorm wrote: »

Just browsing diaries today and noticed you've not posted for a while. Hope all ok

Seconded...let us know how you are Laura.
MCI

LauraWxx

Hi All,

Sorry work has been absolutely stupidly busy the last week or two, litterally coming in an hour or two early and staying till late in the evening, not had a min to myself to update my diary and in all honesty when I am finally getting home of an evening, the last thing I feel like doing is turning on my laptop to update!!

MFW world is going well.....need to seriously update the figures as the new car has been purchased (and awaiting pick up any day), but at the same time my claim money has come through so some of the cost is offset.

The rest of the spending / savings are on course and sticking to plan. Need to re-jig the savings targets as the new car will change those but also the bf is contributing so really need to go through and work it all out....just need soome time!

Really sorry for abondining my diary of late, the good thing however is i am subscribed to many of your diaries so i get all the posts from the day before on an email every morning. I always always always lie in bed and read all my emails first thing in a morning to give me an extra few min's to wake up, but also so i keep the mfw mindset even though my posting has dropped off considerably.

Will be back with full update soon - hopefully later part of the week.

Hope all are well xxxxx

misscousinitt

Hi Laura

Take your time - as long as we know you are ok!

MCI

LauraWxx

Hi All,

Long time no posting!
A lot has been happening the past few weeks. For one work has been horrendously busy, still is but I am having a few mins break...for what feels like the first time in ages.

First on the list of updates is the potential house purchase. As you may remember the plan was to stay put for 2 years, however we came across a house that was pretty much everything we wanted and more. We went to view and were smitten, however following this I have been trying to sort out a mortgage and we have now had to pretty much rule this idea out. The bf does not have good credit history, I knew this but in all honesty I did not realise how bad it was.
We downloaded his credit file last night and found that there is a default on their which was settled in Jan 2012. Speaking to some mortgage advisors today I have accepted that this pretty much rules anything out. The value of the house is too much for me to mortgage on my own .
We have an appointment with a mortgage advisor in person tomorrow which we will still go to but I cant see the outcome changing.

All in all I am gutted that we cannot proceed but at the same time it may be a blessing in disguise. He has only now realised the seriousness of his previous financial actions. I think I may keep the experian access going for a few months to check that all is ticking over as it should be (lots of greens and no reds!).

The good thing to take from this is that we now know moving is a no go for at least 12 months (that is what L&C told me) but ideally 2 to really have some good payment history behind us.

This will enable us to save more and more and I guess really want it. Dont get me wrong we loved this house, but we also dont really have the need to get out of the flat yet, haven't outgrown it yet if you know what I mean!

In other news, the savings have taken a small hit...We have bought a new car which I put £3k into at the start to get us 0% finance. The monthly payments are more but still affordable to allow decent savings every month and also the increased mortgage if we had of been able to purchase the house.

The shopping budget took a hit in March but we seem to be on course this month. We have both increased the amount we pay in by £5 a week now to hopefully ensure there is sufficient left over to pay for birthday presents etc.

Diet wise...well dont even go there! I think I am heavier now than I was at the begining of the year and need to really pull this in.

I have also slipped back into silly purchases and not taking my own lunch to work, having the thoughts that I am so tired of a weekend to do batch cooking but again this has to stop.



So here I am
................................................

That is my line drawn in the sand. From now on I need to

* Get back to posting regular updates to keep me focused.
* Meal plan (including lunches) and stick to it.
* Get back to budget shopping at Aldi rather than doing Asda Click & Collect for convenience.
* Go through savings targets and update - will have changed due to money out for car and increased payments mean amount able to save is now slightly less per month.
* Weigh myself in the morning and get back to tracking points (not getting home from work early enough to attend classes).
* Switch my WW Membership to online access whilst I am unable to attend classes.
* Make use of my gym membership or cancel it.
* Remember that I love my flat and enjoy it!


Hope everyone in MFW land is well. I have been keeping up to date with all the diaries as these come through on an email first thing in the morning!!

xxx

misscousinitt

Hi Laura

Good to see you back and and wish you renewed good luck with your plans.

There will be other houses (we were the same if you remember) and you will have more saved so you will have even better opportunities (either bigger deposit or more in the renovation fund) when the time does come.

Take care and stay focused.

MCI
x

LauraWxx

Your right MCI, i think upon discussions with the bf last night, he has come round to the idea of a 'doer uper'! The house we loved already had the kitchen extended and beautiful kitchen in place, as I thought the bf would be reluctant to do any work, but realising how much it adds on to the price he is now thinking doing the work ourselves would be the better option.

We saw the mortgage advisor last night, he has basically said we cannot get a joint normal mortgage. We are waiting to hear on a sub-prime mortgage with a view to remortgage in 3 years time on a more traditional mortgage (and interest rate) but in all honesty think the rate will be too high.

The other option we have is for me to get a sole mortgage, the amount I could borrow combined with the deposit I would be able to put in would put us in the £130k-£140k region. However doing this would leave little available cash to do the renovations.

I need to look at the good things to come out of this,
*I now am 100% certain I want a big kitchen / dinner room....either already in or potential to extend.
*I know the area I want to move to and with the money we have now it would be only just achievable, but with a bit more savings it would be very achievable.
*The bf has understood the seriousness of his actions and why I always rant on at him about going overdrawn or late payments etc.
*He knows that the bigger rooms sizes are important to him, and the style of houses in the chosen area come with larger than average room sizes.

I have deleted existing (large target area and max value of £200k) right-move search and have amended it to this specific area and a top budget of £150k to mean I cannot get too sidetracked looking at things we cant afford.

You are right MCI...the more saving we can make in the next few months / years the more we have to put into a deposit or a house to be renovated.

LauraWxx

Plans for the weekend -

*Meal Plan dinners and lunches for next week
*Food Shop (at Aldi)
*Review Savings plan
*Review Budget for next few months
*BIG GLASS OF WINE!!!!

misscousinitt

That glass of wine sounds good - will be having one of those myself tonight.

Hope you have a good weekend.

MCI

LauraWxx

Morning all,

Well most of the to doo list has been completed, meal planning and food shopping. I subbed working out savings plan for extra glasses of wine!!

We heard back from the mortgage advisor and we were surprised to hear we have been accepted (well decision in principle) for the £180k with 15% deposit. We are still decided that it is a no to that house, but it pleases me to know there is something we could do if the perfect house came along.

Wonderful day yesterday - no heating on at all!!!!
Hopefully that will continue through to autumn now although I am not holding my breath judging on the weather we have been having!

We have an issue with our water suppliers, basically we have had a bill come for the first 6 months of living in the flat. We are currently set to pay £25 per month (estimations told us £23 usage so upped it to be in credit). However the bill has come and says we are so far in debit that we have to up our payment to £62 per month to cover what we owe and future use. I rang them up yesterday and they think there may be a leak....I bloomin well hope so! We dont use a particularly excessive amount of water and certiantly not that much! Got to do the test tomorrow when we are both out all day and see what that tells us!

Also need to book a valuation on the flat, will need it to know what to pay off the first buy element but also will be interesting as the bf is convinced it has risen in value...would be very nice but I doubt it.

Think that is pretty much all to report. Work is still busy but as there are no signs of it slowing down I am trying to make sure I get my work / life balance back a little bit!

Holiday in 3 weeks....am def on the countdown!