Goodbye Mortgage - the beginning of the end!

darcyboo

Just stumbled across your diary and thought I'd say hello! Have you tried grocery shopping with cash to try and get back in control? I was finding myself over spending every month without fail, but recently switched to taking just cash with me (no card back up!), which has really helped me relearn the value of money and stick to the bloomin' budget! I actually underspent last week which is a first!

Good luck on your journey!

Beckyy

Hi Darcyboo! Thanks for stopping by

I have, but it ended miserably when I calculated wrong and ended up at the checkout with not enoguh money so put it on card (should have left it at home!)

At the moment I'm using a debit card with no overdraft and putting our budget in there each month. I know that my problem is just pure indulgence, like the chocolate and peanut butter pie we made at the weekend which used about £5 of ingredients (but was lovely) :A. I WILL be tougher on myself though, and I'm getting better at batch cooking/freezing so that definitely helps.

I've got quite a few phone calls to make today, making appointments and gettin quotes for things... I hate phoning people and am terrible on the phone but will be glad to get them over and done with. My sole eBay item is all ready to go to the PO so will take it when I walk the dog.

We've had a slight ant issue in the house so I need to find a solution to them today too

ETA: Am over £20 with DY, so as soon as the points are redeemable I'll cash in for a voucher. I wrote up a few extra reviews yesterday so can carry on posting throughout the week even if I don't get a chance to sit and write

Beckyy

I've booked a haircut at the local college, should work out half of what I'd normally pay at a salon

Plumber should hopefully we round BTL today to price up last of work, will be so glad if I can get it sorted in the next couple of weeks.

OH bought some new windscreen wipers online and the company sent the wrong ones, it's far too late to send them back now so they'll have to go on eBay. Dread to think how much postage will cost!

Beckyy

£10.01 Quidco CB OP'd.

My shelves arrived and they're lovely, the only problem is they are very heavy and I didn't check where the studs were in the wall - there's only one in the middle of where they need to go. So I need to have a long drive to screwfix this morning to get some fixings for them, I really hope they work.

DY is going well, will cash out a £25 voucher this weekend hopefully. Gonna save them for OH's birthday present though

BTL washing machine is getting delivered today. Quote is in from plumber - is more expensive than we hoped but will get it done. Almost there!

Beckyy

I've cashed in a £25 Amazon voucher on DY and have £6.50 towards another so far. Will save them up towards OH's birthday present though, I think.

Picked up a few extra hours at work today, with weekend pay, which is good!

Plumber is booked for BTL, and heating engineer is coming round to price up work on boiler. Washing machine has been delvivered, so once those jobs are finished it's good to go! I need to find a good mortgage advisor so that we can remortgage with a BTL and do some home improvements, OH would also like to get a new car which he's been dreaming about for years now. We'll also be able to start making some proper OPs too

Beckyy

OHs bank acc. went in overdraft again because I haven't had a chance to check it and he's been spending money on 'stuff' again. _pale_ Have taken the money out of savings to bring it up back up as I put most of his money in there to keep it out of the way. He has no interest in money saving!

Quidco cashback is looking better at the moment and Nectar points are on the up. DY is buildin gup again, just coming up to £7.

Heating engineer is at BTL today, let's hope it doesnt cost a fortune!

Peonie

Sorry Becky, it must be really hard. My OH occasionally buys a camera for £400 and I go mad.

Beckyy

They're terrible aren't they!?

My Dad needed a copy of his decree absolute which he lost, he wasn't really sure of the court etc. so I found the form online and sent it off with the £60 cheque thinking I'd suprise him and save him the hassle of visiting various offices searching... but he went on the mission and got it himself for £5 at one of the offices. So I've just phoned the Search Section and asked them if they could cancel my search request, I ony posted it yesterday so they've got good warning, they told me not to cancel the cheque as they would refund it - I just hope they manage to as I don't really want to lose the £60!

The boiler problem at BTL wasn't as sinister as I'd thought so that's fine now. Plumber is round later on in the week and after that it should be sorted. I'm sorely tempted to just post an ad on Gumtree myself, as the letting agent hasn't got back to me after my email a few days. If I feel like I couldn't cope with the tenancy agreement just yet I can always pass any itnerest onto an agent so feel like I've got nothing to lose, except money waiting around for a tenant!

I got my £25 DY voucher through and am up to £8 towards my next one.

Beckyy

I got my haircut at the college today.. £11!!!!

That's three times less than my last one, and it doesn't look any worse for it.

I also got a biggg bottle of Batiste dry shampoo for their 'try me free' offer. I sent the form and cap off using stamps from my RM surveys, and I got points in Boots for buying it. If they send me the refund + postage I'll be a couple of quid up on it .

Beckyy

I've put an ad out for BTL and we've had a few replies, have been asking some basic vetting q's and one prospective tenant looks quite promising. Fingers crossed they like it, as it will save us hundreds of poudns in agent fees if we find a tenant ourselves.