Kolakube is bBack on the MFW bandwagon!

KolaKube

Hello everyone!

I'm not sure if any of you remember me, my name is KolaKube (well, not really lol...) and I had a MFW diary a few years ago which I shamefully let lapse although I have continued to lurk!

At that point, OH and I were just married, living in England and starting to save up the deposit on a place of our own.

Fast forward to 2012 and we're living back in Northern Ireland in rented accommodation, married nearly 2 years and expecting a little mini-Kube in early Feb!

We have saved hard for a house deposit and have yesterday put in a bid on a house that we like, a 3 bed semi out in a little country village. Unfortunately we've already been outbid but will bid up to our maximum budget over the next few days and see how we get on!

I'm starting a new diary to help us focus on saving up towards replenishing our rainy day fund, mortgage overpayments, and a few of lifes little luxuries (like furniture etc in the new house!)

I hope some of you can join me along the way :beer:

I shall be reading the other threads with interest

Off to have a play with the overpayment calculator!

Kola xx

KolaKube

Out of interest, we are looking at a 4 year fix with nationwide. Overpayments are capped at £500 a month (which I doubt we would be able to reach anyway!) so this shouldn't be a problem.

It seems if you run into trouble you can use any built up 'credit' as mortgage payments, which is a nice safety net

Having had a play with the calculator, if we *did* somehow manage to find £500 a month from the off we would be looking at paying the place off within 7 years and saving £41k in interest alone. Food for thought!

KolaKube

A few money-saving things we have been up to so far this month...

Finished the christmas shopping apart from getting a little something for each other. We've been at this since August and been buying things on sale / good offers / with vouchers and I'm feeling rather smug about being done! Wouldn't want to waddle round the shops 8 months pregnant anyway lol... no last minute xmas rush here!

We have £7 in tesco points build up for next months statement which I am hoping we can double up on baby and toddler when they put another exchange on to buy things for mini-Kube when he arrives! (Still have quite a few bits to get but am trying to be as cash neutral as possible!). I'm sure family will want to buy a few things for him when the time comes so I might try and steer them towards more useful things rather than little outfits etc.

On the mini-Kube front, we *were* planning to change my car, which is a small 3 door... however we managed to find a pram and travel system to fit! It was expensive, at £350, however that saves thousands in changing the car and I got £50 of boots points back which went on xmas pressies.

I'm hoping to breastfeed (nice and free and handy compared to heating bottles) and have nearly built up a full stash of cloth nappies (some lovely ones!) from ebay, offers, vouchers etc. Still need to keep my eyes peeled for some cheap thin flannels for reusable wipes etc but I've spotted ikea doing 20p towels so may drag out the sewing machine and do my own have a lovely pump bottle set aside for the wipes solution.

Trying very hard to keep control of the money from now on. Payday is on Monday and I will reassess the budget then. We do have some car repairs / MOT etc to pay but I'm hoping to put approx £1000 into the deposit pot.

Have done a big £60 asda stock up shop so should hopefully have enough meat etc for the month if we're careful. I'm a good cook and as I'm off work I need to try and get into the kitchen more. Beef stew and dumplings in the slow cooker for tonight, and if we leave enough, maybe some little pies for tomorrow as I'm quite good at homemade pastry

£79 refund from groupon also winging its way to our account. Every little helps

Kola x

mrs_motivated

Hi kola,

congratulations on baby kola :T.

I have also just started lurking on here, in fact I received my mortgage offer today (from Nationwide), currently renting so will be back in debt to the tune of £150K very shortly after been debt free for about 10 months lol.

I will at first only be able to overpay about £70 a month , as I am supporting one of my daughters through uni. However by next the end of next year I am hoping to increase that to £300 per month.

My mortgage term is 22 years (and I am hoping to get rid of it in 12 - 15 years)...

So will here for the long term

Good luck with your plans and the new baby.

KolaKube

Hiya Mrs Motivated! Congratulations on the mortgage offer and having been debt free! I hope it all goes well for you :beer:

Today I have sorted out all our household documentation (no mean feat as we had an entire cupboard shoved full of old letters, bills etc to sort through). Took 3 full hours.

In the process I found some paperwork I had been meaning to sort and rang up to get a £62 refund on some professional indemnity insurance I wont be needing on maternity :j so that should be back in the bank next week.

I also changed my breakdown cover to our rented address so I'm covered again.

I also found 25p in the bottom of the cupboard lol, every little helps!

Did a grocery comparison on MrA and although they were cheaper I now have a £5 off £40 voucher waiting in the account for our next shop

Found a £10 off £60 voucher for Ikea to be used with the family card, to be used by 4th Nov. As OH and I were planning a small trip to ikea this saturday and I can usually spend £60 with my eyes closed I'm sure we'll make good use of that. We also like to get lunch there and I think the family card puts in a few little perks for that too :cool: Will be doing a little shopping list on the website before we go.

OH is upping our offer on that house today. Very exciting!

Hope everyone is well, off to lurk the other diaries xx

KolaKube

Teehee a teeny weeny tube sample of bepanthen just arrived in the post for mini-Kube. Love little freebies xx

KolaKube

Also, upstairs flat moved out and left an old style (but solid wood) chest of drawers out the front, presumably to dump... do I bring it in and attempt to shabby chic it...?

I think I should.

HelenDaveKids

Definitely, go for it KC.

Congrats on baby.

I think its brilliant that your thinking about OP before youve bought the house. I wish my head had been that screwed on.

KolaKube

Hiya HelenDaveKids, thanks for popping in!

I've been thinking about OPing for a long time, just need the house so we can get started! I figure if we make the moneysaving principles a way of life early a) we'll have more built up to furnish the place and b) OPing the house wont feel like too much of a hardship when we do get to start!

Today I have hand delivered a letter in town (out of necessity as it was due in by today, rather than saving the price of a stamp lol!)

Collected some post from mums house and my MOT is due, so that's £30.50 fee plus the cost of an annual service to squeeze out of this months budget :eek: <not unexpected however!>

Just waiting now on a mortgage in principle through in the post today so we can forward it to the estate agents to support our offer

My amazing OH has been very good and come onto the MSE bandwagon full throttle. We need every penny next month towards the deposit so we don't have to borrow. It's lovely that we're doing this together

We're treating ourselves to the cinema tonight, to the new James bond! £12.80 but just a cheap wee date night really :rofl:

Hope everyones well!

Kola xx

KolaKube

Just signed up to quidco! Looks exciting

newgirly

Hi kolacube, I remember you! welcome back and congratulations on the baby, sounds like you are really focused, especially the christmas presents - very impressive.:D

Anyway enjoy bond tonight (I would take my own sweets although even if I do dh will still buy nachos/drink etc. and just eat twice as much ) Have fun.