London Dreams

MoneyQueen

Finally somethings to report:

Did some grocery shopping on Friday from Lidl and spent £7.42. DH went to Aldi on Saturday and bought some essentials for £4.60 and £0.60 was duly spent on an icecream from MacD. I went to Sainsburys today for milk and ended up spending £8.18 there.
We had a busy Sunday as went to Costco and Ikea for grocery, some stuff for the house and a shirt for DH. Spent £73 in Ikea and £80 in Costco. Dad and DH are still busy with lots of DIY which resulted in trips to B&Q and Screwfix over the weekend and a spend of £75.39.

I also received £3154.54 from a bond which had matured and have moved the money to DH's cash ISA taking it to the maximum limit. There is still some leftover balance which I will be transferring to my ISA tomorrow.

Various expense heads as of now:

Monthly Expenses (specifically for this month)

Parking: £15
Grocery: £52.07
Car Fuel: £48.07

Yearly Expenses (running totals from the start of the year)

Birthdays/ Occasions: £111.16
House Maintenance: £330.24
Clothes shopping £235.23
ISA savings: £5760

MoneyQueen

Jevvers wrote: »

MQ I just read back through your diary. I am very sorry for your loss, what terrible grief you must be feeling. It's still such early days and I'm sure any counsellor will tailor their advice to your situation. All the best and look after yourself
J

Thanks Jevvers

MQ

MoneyQueen

I haven't been able to post for a few days as things were not good with DH. He had to spend couple of days in the hospital for an ailment and it also seems the death of our baby has been more traumatic for him than I realized initially so overall the last couple of weeks were not easy at all. We went for private treatment this time which we will have to co-pay along with our private insurance from work. We don't know how much it will be at the moment but should be a few hundred pounds atleast. We spent £10.25 for some medicines for him so I am putting that under "Miscellaneous" head. We also spent £34 on cabs as I had to take DH to the hospital as I was not in a state to drive. Also spent £10.20 on train fare. As I don't have a head in the budget for such expenses, I am putting it under Car fuel only. Parking has also been quite expensive the week with the total for this month now at £64.

Anyways, I am back to slimming world to loose weight which hopefully will also mean me feeling better about myself. I have 22 lbs to loose so it should take a few months at least. What this has also meant is that we have been spending more on the groceries as I have been eating different from everyone else in the house. In the last 10 days we have spent £96.59 on groceries. Though the good news is that I have discovered Aldi this week. With DH being a brand snob, I have only shopped from there if I haven't been able to go to one of the big four supermarkets even though that's the nearest one from our house but I have shopped quite a few times from there in the last few days and I am not finding the quality any worse than other supermarkets so this will be the way to go now I think.

My dad is still busy with DIY in the house so have spent another £45.88 in Screwfix/ Wickes etc. I have also treated myself to a top from NewLook which was reduced so I only paid £10.99 for it.

Various expense heads as of now:

Monthly Expenses (specifically for this month)

Parking: £64
Grocery: £148.66
Car Fuel: £118.20
Haircuts/ personal expenses -£1.49

Yearly Expenses (running totals from the start of the year)

Birthdays/ Occasions: £111.16
House Maintenance: £376.12
Clothes shopping £246.21
ISA savings: £5760
Miscellaneous: £10.25

MoneyQueen

Almost forgot, I have also transferred £880.51 to my ISA account so various heads now look like

Monthly Expenses (specifically for this month)

Parking: £64
Grocery: £148.66
Car Fuel: £118.20
Haircuts/ personal expenses: £1.49

Yearly Expenses (running totals from the start of the year)

Birthdays/ Occasions: £111.16
House Maintenance: £376.12
Clothes shopping: £246.21
ISA savings: £6640.51
Miscellaneous: £10.25

gallygirl

I'm so sorry things have been so difficult for you both x

MoneyQueen

I have been absent from my diary again as things have been a bit busy at the moment and hence I haven't been paying much attention to finances though have still been tracking everything. Grocery and fuel expenses have gone over the roof this month so I will need to pay special attention to these areas now

Parking: £104
Grocery: £270.06
Car Fuel: £182.20
Haircuts/ personal expenses: £5.69

Yearly Expenses (running totals from the start of the year)

Birthdays/ Occasions: £121.34
House Maintenance: £452.62
Clothes shopping: £250
ISA savings: £6640.51
Miscellaneous: £10.25

MQ

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Well done Moneyqueen, and very best wishes to you. Oth,

Squirrel

MoneyQueen

Last month, I have worked towards almost clearing DH's credit card and also making sure that cash isa's have been filled up completely. So it looks like I have fallen back on the target of the savings for the deposit for the house as I am not including the Cash ISA in the calculations though thats not the case as from this month, I will be concentrating on the non ISA savings till 23rd January. Then I will be concentrating on the S&S ISA. this should ensure all the targets are met in this financial year. Then in the next year, I will be doing regular monthly transfers for all three - cash ISA, S&S ISA, non ISA savings.


DH's credit card: - £150.21 debit
Mortgage: - 56578.00 debit

DH's Cash ISA at 2.5%: - £11566 .79credit
DH's this year's Cash ISA at 2.5%: - £5760 credit
My this year's Cash ISA at 2% :- £5760 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

DH's 5 year bond at 4.12% until November 2014: - £3937.57credit
My 5 year bond at 4.12% until November 2014: - £3643.72credit
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

Current Accounts: - £3401.38
Cash (Notes + Coins): - £35

Totals

Cash ISA: - £44,734.02 credit (A)
Non ISA Savings: - £19,470.41 credit (B)

Debts: - £56,698.21 debit (C)
Current House Value: - £145,000 (D)

Savings Goal for House Deposit: - £274,000 (E)
Balance still to save in six years: - £166,227.80 (E+C-B-D)

Will update my signature now

mouche

Wow MoneyQueen - those are some serious numbers. Good for you for being careful and managing your money despite having a good income. It's so easy to fritter money away when you know you don't NEED to economise.

I realise from your figures that if you were to use your savings to pay off your mortgage, you would be mortgage free on your current mortgage. I'm sure you have good reasons why you are choosing not to do this and of course your target is to save for a deposit for the London house - but still - it must be a nice feeling to know that you are technically MF.

MoneyQueen

Hi Mouche, thanks for visiting my diary. Yes, there is a valid reason for not paying the mortgage early. We are currently on a lifetime tracker mortgage at 1.29% and hence it doesn't make sense to pay it off early as we should be able to earn more interest in a savings account even after tax.

MQ