London Dreams

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Hello,

Just wanted to add my support. I wish you all the very best for the future and hope that you will find strength and happiness in your endeavours to move house.

However, I would add to Elantan's message about London. £600k won't buy you very much in the nicer parts of London. If you end up in a dodgy area it will all have been for nothing. Why not have a look at commuter belt edges of Kent, Hertfordshire or Essex? Lovely market towns and villages and you have London in the doorstep when you want it. And you will be able to afford a lovely house rather than a terraced place with possibly less salubrious neighbours... I work in a school in inner London and probably wouldn't want my students and their parents living next door.

Really hope it all works out,

Squirrel

MoneyQueen

Secret Saving Squirrel i am realizing this more and more as I have been looking at the house prices in London. I don't have a specific area in mind yet. We used to live in Essex when we were in London earlier though I like Kent more so may well be looking there.

DH and my dad have sorted the attic today and for the first time, I can see the attic floor:o

We have had LSDs last couple of days with £7 spent at Sainsburys, £1.33 at Aldi for some seeds and £31.70 at an Indian restaurant. £31.70 is more than the monthly budget of £25 but considering we had my parents with us, that's pretty good me thinks!! I will be putting the extra £6.70 against the grocery budget though to ensure we don't go over the budget.

Grocery: £12.70
Garden Maintenance: 1.33
Eating Out: £25

I am starting this month from 12th but will start again from 23rd as thats when DH gets paid.

MQ

MoneyQueen

DH phoned his bank today for finding out the balance of his 5 year cash ISA as that's a passbook account. As of today the balance is £12,867.95 which is more than what I thought it was so all good there.

DH also phoned santander to transfer funds from an ISA account at 1.5% to another one at 2.5% which should all be done in 2-3 working days. I can then add this year's ISA contribution for DH in the same account. I still need to open a ISA for me for this year.

MoneyQueen

I and DH have managed to get up to date balances of all accounts so we know where exactly we stand now :T

DH's credit card: - £1154.51 debit
Mortgage: - 58,178.26 debit

DH's Cash ISA: - £11524.17 credit
My 5 year cash ISA at 5% until July 2014: - £8779.28 credit
DH's 5 year cash ISA at 5% until July 2014: - £12867.95 credit

My 1 year bond at 2.75% that is maturing on 13th Oct 2013: - £3154.54 credit
DH's 5 year bond at 4.12% until November 2014: - £3781.76 credit
My 5 year bond at 4.12% until November 2014: - £3499.54 credit
My 5 year bond at 4.4% until April 2016: - £5346.20 credit
My regular Saver at 4.5% which has matured: - £3106.54 credit
Dh's regular Saver at 4.5% which has matured: - £3106.39credit

Totals

Cash ISA: - £33,171.40 credit
Non ISA Savings: - £21,994.94 credit

Debts: - £59,332.77 debit
Current House Value: - £145,000

Savings Goal for House Deposit: - £274,000
Balance still to save in six years: - £166,337.83

MQ

MoneyQueen

I have transferred £439.25 from our current accounts to DH's Santander's Cash ISA leaving only £100 in both the current accounts till payday. I have also requested a payment of £36.75 from TCB which will also be going to DH's ISA account once received.

I intend to clear DH's credit card balance this month and add the rest to DH's Cash ISA.

MoneyQueen

I and DH had a very productive day today. We sorted all bank statements/ other documents received in the post for the last one year as it had been pending since I got pregnant last year. They are all in their individual files now. But I am going to go a step further this year and sort them according to the year in which they were received to find a specific document quickly in future. But will be doing one file a time. Doing this exercise has reminded me that i have some unnecessary credit cards/ accounts which I am all going to close soon.

We also found lots of stuff to shred but the shredder has given up the ghost as it's got lots of jammed paper. DH is trying to fix that now. Fingers crossed it works otherwise will need to replace

MQ

MoneyQueen

Totally non productive day yesterday. All I wanted to do was stay in bed in PJs. I have finally filled the form for closing and the 1 year bond account that matured on 13th Oct. All I have to do now is just post it. These funds will be transferred to DH's Cash ISA.

DH had £1 in an old Cash ISA which I had emptied earlier this year leaving just £1. I closed that account couple of days ago but the bank added the closing interest taking the balance to £39.48. They have been received in the current account today and promptly transferred to DH's new Cash ISA. I also received £36.75 from TopCashBack which has also been moved to DH's ISA account. Also returned some stuff to M&S couple of days ago which resulted in £6 refunded. Since it's only a week before the pay comes in with the £100 each we left in our current accounts still untouched, I have transferred a total of £132.23 to DH's Cash ISA today leaving £75 each in the current accounts till pay day.

mouche

Hi MoneyQueen...just discovered your diary. I am not sure if you are from India yourself but I just wanted to give you a friendly hello as OH and I are from India too.

I am so sorry to hear about your baby boy. Nothing I say will be of any use but here's a big hug.

You've obviously done really well in the past to be in the position you are and you seem really focused and motivated to do better. You've already made me realise I need to get our ISAs moved to higher interest accounts as they have been sitting there earning next to nothing.

I live in Greater London myself and if you need any advice closer to the time, feel free to ask.

MoneyQueen

I have been looking at my budget planner that I posted earlier and it seems that I didn't plan for unexpected/ miscellaneous spends. Now that it's done, I am not going to change it but the spends will have to go under a head which is the most appropriate to cover any underspends in that head. We spent £82.75 for a winter coat for DH's mom yesterday which I am putting under "Clothes Shopping" head. What this means is that we only have £517.75 left in our budge till 23rd Oct 2014.

DH also bought an MDF board to make some shelves and a saw yesterday from B&Q but I am not sure how much he spent. I will have to check with him.

Following is the spends under various heads as of today

Grocery: 29.88
Eating Out: £25
Clothes Shopping: 82.75
Garden Maintenance: £1.33
House Maintenance: To check with DH

MoneyQueen

Hi Mouche :wave:

Thanks for visiting my diary and for the kind words. I am half scottish and half Indian (Scottish dad) but DH is as he says "Complete Indian". Though I spent most of my childhood in India so I am more Indian than Scottish.

Regarding the ISAs, I am looking to open the Tesco one as thats the best rate I can see at the moment if you don't want to fix. I missed the boat with Santander 2.5% when I opened it for DH few months ago.