Mrs Toast's Journey to DFD

Mrs_Toast

Good evening diary,

DS and I had a lovely lazy morning and then DS went to preschool. While he was there I walked into town in the sun and spoke to the mortgage advisor at Lloyds. We are currently on an interest-only at 2.5% and we really need to get onto repayment to get some more equity.

Well, the mortgage advisor said we could have a repayment at the same 2.5% @ £431 a month which I think is affordable. I didn't ask about any fee but he didn't mention any. I also need to look into insurance for it so I will have a list of questions for him on Thursday. I need to sit down tomorrow and double check we can afford this and still save/pay off credit cards.

My spends for today were

£1.99 at McDonalds
50p at Bakers
85p for sugar
£1.25 for craft club tea/biscuits
55p for weight watchers crisps

Everything but the sugar came out of the entertainment budget. The sugar came out of the food budget. We should have £10 spare from the entertainment budget as we aren't going out for tea at the play barn. MIL has made us tea and will feed DS while we are at the hospital for our scan

I had a lovely time at craft club as both my mum and sister came. It was the first time my mum came and she really enjoyed herself and got alot of her patchwork done. I think seeing her there will be a regular thing which is great for me as I get to see my mum more:T

Right, off to watch The Great British Sewing Bee and do some more knitting. Cross fingers for a girl comfirmation tomorrow as girl's dresses are easy to make :rotfl:

lurvlyloz

how did you scan go today Mrs Toast? been thinking of you x

Mrs_Toast

Thanks Lurvlyloz, everything went fine and baby was very cooperative. We found out definitively that it's a girl :j:j:j

To celebrate DH and I went to the garden centre next to the hospital and had afternoon tea so £6.69 spent there from entertainment budget but deserved I think. I had to pay £3 for parking which was planned for.

I've managed to put mortgage repayment into my spreadsheet and it looks like we can afford it even with overpaying debts, saving and insurance so very pleased with myself. Now all I need to do is look for cheap insurance to go with it. I might nip to my friendly mortgage advisor in the morning. I'm hoping for a SFD tomorrow, Friday and Saturday but we'll see. I certaintly won't be making 20 this month but it's only my first month of trying.

lurvlyloz

ahhh excellent so pleased eeeeeeek

Mrs_Toast

Well I had a SFD today finally :j:j. I decided to continue to research life insurance and go to the bank on Saturday while I'm doing the food shop. I've had a really productive day today.

* Mopped kitchen floor
* Decluttered kitchen
* Swept hallway
* Decluttered hallway
* Weeded front of house
* Sorted out nursery & did 2 loads of DS's old clothes for car boot
* Reorganised DS's toys
* Prepared craft activity for playgroup tomorrow
* Hoovered living room

I think that's it. I felt that know I now that we're having a girl I can prepare the house properly.

I'm planning on walking to playgroup to save the last of my petrol for the weekend but it depends how I feel in the morning. In the afternoon I have my mum coming round to organise National Trust membership online for them. We're off to a local National Trust property on Sunday for a free day out. Hopefully it'll be nice enough for a picnic and we won't spend anything but petrol.

Mrs_Toast

We've had a great day today even though I didn't end up walking to playgroup. DS has been very good today and I've paid off more debt :j:j

I finally managed to get online to see the MBNA statement and it had a payment date of 8th May so I've transfered the £80 I had already put aside to it. The minimum payment was £25 so feel very chuffed with myself.

I also paid £10.56 onto the barclaycard as I had saved it from skimming accounts etc. So, these are my totals so far

Total debt as of September '12 £5243.93
Paid off as of today £735.43
Total debt as of today £4508.50 :T:T

I would love to get it to £1000 paid off and under £4000 worth of debt probably by the end of May as I'm planning a car boot sale. I'm hoping to have paid most of it off by the time our baby girl arrives but the 0% rates last until February next year at the earliest so still ok.

I'm considering purchasing National Trust membership for DS and I. At the moment I can get it for £5.75 a month on DD which is great value considering parking at our local one is £5 a time if you don't have membership. I think I might chat to someone while we're there on Sunday otherwise go through quidco as it's 5% cashback at the moment.

Right, off to finish tea, write a meal plan/shopping list for tomorrow and update my signature

Mrs_Toast

What a lovely day. I went into town with my sister and the kids to do our food shopping.

I've managed to purchase my first baby item, a Graco buggy for £39.99 at a charity shop. It's in great condition and has come with a footmuff. It doesn't have a raincover but I know I can get one quite cheap. I'm really chuffed as it was £10 under what I was expecting to pay and it suits our lifestyle perfectly.

I didn't manage to find any kids clothes but am meeting my Aunt at a car boot sale tomorrow so maybe then.

I've spent £12.26 of the food budget and just need to go to Tesco for the rest. I also need to put £10 of petrol in the car to hopefully last us until Friday.

Off to the playbarn this afternoon for a little bit to tire DS out :rotfl:

beanielou

Great news on buggy

Mrs_Toast

Thanks Beanielou.

Well the car boot wasn't as good as expected but I still managed to get a grobag for £1 & 50p for a dungarees. I had to pay 50p entrance but still works out ok.

Currently at the play barn again but it is pouring it down so NT visit today. Its payday on friday & I'm so excited . Don't think thats normal. Tonight I need to buy DHs train ticket 4 friday & work out our budget 4 May including all planned spends. Managed to sort out more of DSs clothes & have asked a friend to come over & offer me a price 4 any she wants 4 her son.

Mrs_Toast

I have done our May budget and updated my second post. Hopefully we will be able to pay £332.86 off our debt next month which means I only need to find £73 after normal repayments. I am hoping to get our debt to £4000 but that means finding another £146 from somewhere and I don't think we can make that at a car boot :rotfl:

I've also worked out that we should be debt free by April 2014 :TI'm hoping with extra child benefit and child tax credits we should do it for xmas but next April is fine. When we are debt free we can pay off more of the mortgage and save a decent deposit for our next house. It's amazing that we can do this while still having savings for everyday things like the car and having fun.

Next week should be a cheap week I think. Only the 2 playgroups and maybe a visit to the play barn. They say the weather will improve so we can go to the park with is free :rotfl: