London Dreams

MoneyQueen

Beckky, Thanks for letting me know. It's a big relief :j

MQ

mouche

MoneyQueen wrote: »

I just counted all the cash in DH's wallet and there is £56 unaccounted for. He doesn't remember where he has spent them :mad:

Sounds just like my husband!

I don't know were you want to live exactly or how large a house you are looking for but you may find that you don't need £600,000. We live in a £250,000 four bedroom (1 single, 2 doubles and a triple), 2 bathroom, 2 reception room house with large kitchen, garden and garage. This is in Zone 6 with a 40 min train ride to Charing Cross or Cannon street. It isn't a posh area but it's not slums either! Just a normal suburban area with professional families. So you can get nice houses for reasonable prices if you haven't got your heart set on central London.

MoneyQueen

mouche wrote: »

Sounds just like my husband!

I don't know were you want to live exactly or how large a house you are looking for but you may find that you don't need £600,000. We live in a £250,000 four bedroom (1 single, 2 doubles and a triple), 2 bathroom, 2 reception room house with large kitchen, garden and garage. This is in Zone 6 with a 40 min train ride to Charing Cross or Cannon street. It isn't a posh area but it's not slums either! Just a normal suburban area with professional families. So you can get nice houses for reasonable prices if you haven't got your heart set on central London.

Mouche, We haven't decided where we want to buy in London yet but will be looking somewhere either near Canary Wharf or Central London as these will be the work places for us. I am thinking the nearer we are the more we will save on travel costs long term as we both work and hence will need our own travel cards. Though this is only based on financial consideration. DH thinks I will change my mind when I start looking at houses in those areas as they will nowhere be as nice as the house we currently live in.

MQ

mouche

Hmmmm....well closer to the time you might like to look into to more closely. I just checked quickly and the difference between a Zone 1-2 travelcard and a Zone 1-5 travelcard is £856 per annum. Which if you work for the next 40 years (don't know your ages so apologies if that is wildly out!) is £34,240. Which is not that much compared to the extra £250,000 (or more) you'd spend on a house in Zone 2 vs. Zone 5.

But a lot will depend on where your family live - you'll want to be close enough to get to them easily. Also, what sort of lifestyle you're after. If you would want a lot of nightlife, obviously the closer you are to central London, the better.

MoneyQueen

Hi mouche, We are not much into nightlife but I do like people watching. I think we need to give it lots of thought. I am sure with £600,000 we won't be able to afford a place in/ very near zone 1. I think lots of it depends on where we can afford.

My parents are in Essex and sister near Canary wharf.

MQ

MoneyQueen

Payday :j :j :j

DH's credit card balance has been fully paid.i need to do some calculations tomorrow and them move the balance to DH's cash ISA.

MoneyQueen

mouche wrote: »

Sounds just like husband!.

DH thinks he may have got petrol for the car with £56 though isn't 100% sure. I am putting it under the "fuel" head though.

MQ

Jevvers

MoneyQueen wrote: »

Hi mouche, We are not much into nightlife but I do like people watching. I think we need to give it lots of thought. I am sure with £600,000 we won't be able to afford a place in/ very near zone 1. I think lots of it depends on where we can afford.

My parents are in Essex and sister near Canary wharf.

MQ

Could be worth looking at the eastern end of the Central Line then, good links to the City, good access to green spaces, less crazy house prices than some parts - although I'm afraid all London is rising month by month...

MoneyQueen

Jevvers wrote: »

Could be worth looking at the eastern end of the Central Line then, good links to the City, good access to green spaces, less crazy house prices than some parts - although I'm afraid all London is rising month by month...

Jevvers, Thanks for visiting my thread.

I may well be looking in those areas. I have lived in Gantts Hill few years ago and the area was alright then though not sure how it's now.

btw, that's a whopper of a mortgage you have got!!! Good Luck
MQ

MoneyQueen

22nd was the end of month for us as we get paid on the 23rd of every month

Following is what has been spent under various heads this month (the month was only 10 days long as I only started on 12th

Monthly bills

Essentials

Mortgage/Rent £862.09/£862.00 ( including an overpayment of £0.26)
Food and household shopping £82.96/ £200.00 (pro-rated to £64.52 for 10 days) ( This needs to be looked at this month)
Petrol/Diesel £56/ £100.00
Car Parking £5/£88.00 (pro-rated to £28.31) - DH was working from home quite a bit

Utilities

Mobile phones £14.03/ £17.00
TV licence £29.10/ £30.00
Internet/ Phone/ TV £75.28/ £36.00 ( DH needs to contact Virgin Media for this as this is unexpected)
Electricity/ Gas £94/ £94.00

Others

Hobbies £0/£75.00
Eating out £25/ £25.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym £0/ £30.00
Work expenses £0/ £5.00

Savings

S&S ISAs £0/ £960
Cash ISAs £777.93/ £960.00

Yearly expenses

Garden Maintenance. £4.11/ £50
Household maintenance £73.8/ £1,000.00
Council tax £105.46/ £1,500.00
Home insurance £0/ £220.00
Plumbing/Boiler cover £15.70/ £180.00
Car tax £0/ £170.00
Car insurance £0/ £321.00
Car maintenance £0/ £145.00
Breakdown cover £0/ £20.00
Family days out £ 0/ £150
Birthdays £100.00
Holidays £0/ £2,800.00
Clothes shopping £183.23/ £600
Haircuts £13/ £70.00

Total monthly expenses: £ 1243.46/ £1562
Total monthly savings: £777.93/ £1920 (This will be caught up with this month)
Total yearly expenses: £395.30/ £7236