Goodbye Mortgage - the beginning of the end!

Pearla*Merle

Glad to hear it! :T

Beckyy

I'm really noticing the difference our rate change has made to the mortgage, our OPs seem to be making much more of a dent which is encouraging.

We're at £85,800.86 now.

We need to pay for our new garden fence, fingers crossed neighbours are going to split the bill otherwise it's going to be more than we are happy to pay really.

I have an agent coming to value BTL today, would have liked to have had everything 100% ready, still need to tidy up outside and clean the bedroom carpet but on the whole everything is ready. Fingers crossed for a positive valuation.

Luckyinlife

Well done becky 85k is amazing :] year or 2 now youll be hunting down that magic 50k mark bring it on

lilmissmup

Well done on the mortgage balance, I am hoping to get ours down to the 5 figure mark once my inheritance comes through

Beckyy

I've had to take a few days off work so have ended up getting the groceries delivered. The downside is I can't shop around and use the cheaper shops, but at least I can meal plan and get everything we need without any extras and the delivery is cheaper than the fuel to drive there.

August is hectic for birthdays, we have 6 in the next month so very glad we budget for them. 3 we're sorted for, 2 shouldn't be too hard and just 1 I'll need to think about.

We're thinking about getting a new bathroom. Our current one is 'okay' but we would love to change it, and it would certainly help to market the house when we let out/sell so I don't think it would be a bad idea as long as we budget accordingly.

£1.50 in the Q Me pot now, will withdraw and add the the savings. Every little helps!

lilmissmup

I am using online delivery more and more now, might cost me a bit more money but with a nearly 1 year old in tow its not worth the stress!

Do shop with whoever sends me the "it's been a while since you shopped with us" money off vouchers though, got a £6 one and a £7.50 one from Tesco in last two weeks so last two shops have been with them.

Beckyy

I seem to lose track of figures as the month goes on, too much switching money from here to there etc. and telling myself that I'll remember it all.

Hopefully we will get BTL on the market soon, I just need to do a few finishing touches and it will be ready. Must.Stay.Motivated.

I've made a couple of OP's, £225 so far this month. I'm still trying to boost our savings more now. We have the new garden fence going up and also getting a new carpet fitted so thankful for the overtime I did in the last couple of months!

Our grocery bills are feeling very high. I try to buy organic/local whenever I can but the cost is mad, I don't even want to say a figure. On one hand I think if we are going to be indulgent in any area of life then good and healthy food isn't a bad one to pick but it just feels weird trying to scrimp and save on the smallest of things then spending loads of money on groceries.

I have a couple of new cookery books and have done most of next weeks meal plan from those, thankfully very healthy and we had most store cupboard ingredients needed!

Our vouchers are adding up from surveys again, currently saving them for gifts to soften the blow of birthdays and Chr...(dare I say it in August!)...Christmas!

Beckyy

Well, just waiting for paperwork etc. to get BTL on the market. It's been a bit delayed due to working so much, which is a false economy as it's probably cost more empty for that period than I earned!

I'm still finding our grocery budget becoming very high again. Not through over indulgence, but because of generally trying to buy local/organic and finding it difficult to balance that with a budget. We use a lot of veg and to buy all organic/locally would cost a small fortune. I'm finding we have lots at the beginning of the month then the last week or two I'm having to use Ald! and the likes to keep anywhere near our budget. Not sure what the answer is as organic/local and cheap really don't go hand in hand, however I can't keep going over budget with groceries as we already spend alot on them.

StrugglingYouth

Do you have a local farm shop close to you? My local one does 20kg sacks of potatoes for £5 and if I spend around £7 on other veg I can eat for about 10 days and Im a vegetarian so I eat a lot of them.

jodles16

Hi Beckyy,

Just read through your diary and wanted to day your doing a great job considering all the expenses!

Best of luck with the BTL getting sold and pleased your doggy is doing well!

Jodles