Going to get rid of my mortgage!

bbh30

Todays items:
1. Made various phone calls from work phone rather than mobile (I have PAYG mobile so each call costs me)
2. NSD
3. Free lunch, frozen soup I made at cooking club a few weeks ago
4. Jacket potato for tea
5. Checked online banking, all as expected
6. Campaigned for flooring to be included on new house, they are still saying no

Exchange deadline for the new house is tomorrow, I am getting immensely cold feet about the whole thing. I am so scared we will be in the new house with no floors, no carpets, a mountain of debt and not a penny to rub together. Ive no idea what will happen with the kids schools; they really cant stay in their current school, especially the girl child, she is unhappy there, other children are leaving the school in droves. Feel like giving up on the whole thing. The nicer schools near the new house are full. I feel like Im taking a huge huge gamble on this whole house move and Im terrified!! I feel like pulling out; the husband wants to go ahead but he worries less about money than me. He just says it will all be sorted but money isnt going to appear out of thin air is it??
I cant take another job in the evenings as he is travelling so much, plus I use the evenings for working in my other job anyway. I am just worrying so much about money and we havnt even moved yet. Will this really be worth it?

Muser1

Hi,

Don't children complicate things! I really hope they give in on the carpets and you can start to feel exited about the move. xx

Iris_Blue

I've just read all of your diary and really enjoyed it. thank you

You're bound to worry about the money side of it and wonder how it will all work out. You're good with money and I'm sure that you know if you can afford it or not. It's a huge step. It always works out in the end though, doesn't it. It will all fall into place.

I liked the chappati pizza tip, I've seen it's still £2 online at T's so I'm going to get some of that. Do you make a few up and freeze the rest, defrost and then add toppings as normal?

bbh30

Well not a good day for us today.

After spending lots of time thinking things through, I decided "sod it" and to go ahead with the exchange even though the builders wouldnt agree to new carpets; so called the solicitors and said to go ahead with the exchange of contracts (they had previously said they were just waiting for the go ahead from me). They said they would let me know when it was all done.

Later on I got an email saying the builders wanted to "reevalaute their position" and were not prepared to exchange contracts today. I have no idea what this means. Does this mean I have p!ssed them off royally by asking for carpets and they no longer want to go ahead? Do they want to pull out now?? I have no idea what's going on and am now in the dark until Tuesday at least! It is very frustrating.

Despite this, Ive decided that nothing I do this weekend will change the outcome of the builders decision so really I just have to put it to the back of my mind now. Ive just reevaluated the finances as the husband has received a load of expenses back from his work and we are in a slightly better position than I thought we were until pay day. Saying that, I'm aiming for a no spend saturday and sunday.

Today I did spend money paying for kids swimming lessons but other than that, spent nothing.
So 5 cost cutting exercises for today:
1. My kids had INSET day and they went to a friends to play (free childcare rather than paying a babysitter)
2. Kids had lunch at their friends so free lunch for them!
3. Dinner for us was homemade chappatis with homemade veggie curry. It was delicious and healthy and cheap. That was the last portion of veggie curry from the freezer so I will have to make some more at some point. I have about 3 packs of frozen minced beef in the freezer also so I will aim to use one of those up this weekend.
4. Financial "check up" of both husband and I bank accounts. Pay day next week for both of us.
5. Was tempted to buy kids Burger King for dinner (its next door to swimming pool!) but resisted and came home and cooked for them.

(6. Didn't exchange contracts on a new house thus saving literally hundreds of thousands of pounds!!!!)

Iris Blue- I was making the chappatis up as and when I needed them. I hadnt thought of freezing them but I expect you could!!

CathT

Hi, have just caught up with your diary and have enjoyed it. We very nearly part ex'd our house a few months ago which would have meant an increase of 70k which although affordable would have meant I probably wouldn't have slept at night with worry! I'm glad you have managed to get a good part ex deal as it really is so stressful trying to sell - as you know!

bbh30

We have had a lovely day today, it didnt end up being a NSD but it was a LSD so not too bad really.
The husband and I had a lay in and then the boy child bought us up the post when the postman came. And in the post was a cheque for £201 for the husband!! It was one of his PPI claims that I wrote for him!! I was really chuffed with that!! So we both got out of bed and headed into town to pay it straight into the bank.
Once we were in town, we remembered it was a childrens free fun day in a local park so headed there. They had a whale of a time; there were free rides, animals to pet and feed, punch and judy, bouncy castle, face painting, free candyfloss and loads more!! So we spent a few hours there, which was great, the sun was out and we had a lovely time, best of all, it was all freeeeeeeeeee!!!!! We ended up staying over lunch time but we had no lunch with us as we hadnt planned on staying out that long, the husband wanted to buy burgers from the burger van but we took a mini trip to Waitrose and bought a packet of ham and some rolls and made up sandwiches, at a cost of £2.89. I think the burgers were selling for about £3-4 each so feeding all 4 of us for £2.89 wasn't too bad going really.
I made tacos for tea, tacos made using the chappati flour and dried in the oven, which we had with chilli con carne with extra beans and lentils etc added. I made a huge pot of chilli and have lots left over to freeze. Ive portioned up the leftovers and will freeze it later. The girl child loved it, she loved adding everything into the taco; she ate 2, I couldnt believe it! Then for pudding, I made fruit kebabs, I have a load of skewers at home so just cut up bits of fruit and put them on the skewer- they looked nice and the kids loved them.
Now Im just having a nice evening in, watching Titanic on TV, Ive got lots of free books downloaded on my kindle so I will make a start on them this half term.
So things Ive done to save money today:
1. Bought bread and ham instead of buying burgers for lunch, potentially saving about £15
2. Husbands cheque for PPI arrived and paid straight into bank!
3. Batch cooked chilli for future dinners
4. Homemade tacos using chapatti flour rather than shop bought- just seen Tescos sell taco shells for £1.54, I reckon mine cost about 5p to make, so a saving of £1.49
5. Free entertainment for kids at the local fun day, if we had paid for the rides at a fair or similar, we would have spent at least £20
6. Husband got a free coffee from Waitrose using "my Waitrose" card where they give you free tea and coffee- he got his to take away and bought it to the fun day!!

Not a bad day all round, no specific plans for tomorrow, husband is out racing all day, I will see what the weather is like before I decide what the kids and I will be up to.

yukkibear

Well done on saving money at lunch time. My hubby would be opting for the burgers too, but rolls are so much better for you and I'll bet they tasted nicer too.

bbh30

Yay, a NSD was had today!

Husband took part in a triathalon this morning; luckily he got a lift there and back with a friend so no petrol even used. He offered petrol money to his friend but it was refused, woot! He took drinks and snacks with him so didnt buy anything. I took the kids to sunday school so that was free also.
We spent all afternoon in the garden playing, sunbathing etc. The neighbours kids came round and played with our kids and they were all happy playing together. Neighbours kids stayed for dinner and then their parents came over with a vienetta for our pudding to say thanks for feeding them!
I did lots of odd jobs today; several loads of washing, grass cut both front and back, lots of baking; plus even had time for a little siesta in the sunshine!!
Things I have done today to save money:
1. Several loads of washing all dried on the line for free.
2. Lunch was leftover tacos with tuna mayo, used up leftovers
3. Made a big carrot cake which has been chopped up and some frozen.
4. NSD
5. Had a BBQ for dinner, did not pop out to shops to buy meat but used minced beef from freezer and made homemade burgers, and made homemade rolls to go with it. Extra rolls leftover for another day. All served with whatever salady bits we could find in the fridge!
6. Free pudding from next door neighbours!
7. Husband wanted to buy more books for his kindle but I persuaded him to sync it with mine and now he is reading some of the books from my kindle, potential saving of a couple of quid?!!

Spendless

'Just caught back up with your thread. When I do odds and sods from the freezer to use stuff up, I put it on separate plates, call it a 'buffet' and the kids think they are having a treat.;):D I thought there must be an offer on at FD, a relative who works for them was on about how busy they are!

Take it you're no further with the exchange? Schools even if full, take more children once they go into yr 3. My friend's just done this for her youngest applied to a school that has no space for him now (yr 2) but does in September, once he moves into KS2. Is this a possibility for you, if the kids are the right ages, get eldest one in and then go on a waiting list under the sibling criteria for youngest, even if it means juggling 2 schools for a while?

bbh30

monday, we had a lovely day in the sunshine. We took the kids on a bike ride which ended up in a pub with a big garden which had a kids play area and a bouncy castle. We spent £20 on a round of drinks for us and some friends (the favour was later returned with a bowl of chips for us all to share!) and then on our way back home on the bikes we stopped off at the shops to get some bread rolls for our dinner and a beer for the husband.
It was a lovely chilled out day even with the boy child moaning on his bike that he couldn't go any further. Problem is, there's no other method of transport when your out in the middle of the country so he just had to man up and get on with it.
so mse things from bank holiday Monday
1. bike riding instead of using car, saving cost of petrol
2. another 2 loads of washing dried outside on the line
3. picnic lunch made up of bread rolls and tuna mayo (could have been tempted to get lunch in the pub costing about £40 for all of us I reckon)
4. online banking checked
5. dinner was leftover bbq food from the day before

I've got to do some shopping now, shame the weather is raining for half term but hopefully it will pick up as we are going to stay with the in laws for a few days tomorrow, they live right next to the beach!