Here we go...a new MFW!

feelingfestive

Hi LauraJo -thanks for stopping by! I hope your lesson went really well! I know exactly what you mean about the mud! Absolutely ridiculous although the weather's been lush here this weekend so I've managed to ride both days! :T Makes me feel very :j.
Had a pretty cheap weekend. Spent £40 on top up shop, 2 x presents and cards for friends who have had babies & bits and bobs for the house.
Feeling positive about the saving and the house at the moment. We have a 3 year plan to get us into a situation where the whole of the bungalow (minus the roof conversion) is done so that we can have children of our own. Plan first is to get the savings up to £5000 as an emergency fund and then we'll start doing things to the house and hopefully OP'ing the mortgage at the same time.
After watching the horrific scenes on the TV of the awful situation in the Philippines I think we have both decided that we need to be a little more grateful of what we have got instead of wishing our life away to get what we haven't got yet. What we do have is youth, health and a wonderful extended family. :beer:

feelingfestive

Very productive week this week. I've been working my wotsits off at school as part of my new role. Although I don't technically start until January if I don't get cracking I'll be so behind just as exam season starts to get going.
I've also been getting on with the first assignment for my EdD. It's due in a week Tuesday and whilst I've got a reasonable draft I know it's not as good as I want it to be. This should make this week quite cheap though as I'll be working on my essay and doing work for school and the horse so that lot should keep me occupied and out of the shops!!!
Unfortunately, there's not much to report on the mortgage front. Our fixed rate of 5.37% ends this month and so a part of our mortgage will drop quite a lot. This will mean that our money paid will go a bit further. We are hoping that with the extra money from this and my new job that I've got a bit extra to do stuff to the house and OP the mortgage. We've decided we want kids in 3 years so we've got the whole electrical system and hot water system to change and 6 rooms and 2 bathrooms and 4 big windows to sort out by then! That should spend most of our money!
We bought the new fascia's, electrical circuit and outside lights this month so that'll keep OH busy this month and then we need to save for the hot water system which will cost about a grand. Hmm, not sure there'll be much OP'ing for a couple of months yet!

feelingfestive

Wow! I can't believe I haven't posted since November! I have been lurking though and picking up some pointers along the way and I'm finally feeling like our journey has restarted and we are enjoying life more too.
Recently, we have booked our wedding for next summer which is terribly exciting but not terribly MSE. We are trying to keep it on a tight rein but we are lucky that both our parents are contributing so we can have the day of our dreams without having to find all of the money that goes with it. Yay!
On the savings front we are now up to £6350 for the house changes. It would be more but we've paid 20% of the wedding and paid an architect for the plans so really that's not a bad savings pot. We have also been OP'ing the mortgage as often as possible at the balance stands at just a shade over £200k. I'm hoping that at the end off this month it'll be under for the first time! That would mean we've cleared £4.5k capital in one year which I don't think is too bad. We're still hoping to have it under 197k by the end of this year.
So, plans for today are to finish clearing the back bedroom so it can be decorated (I can't wait to get rid of the peach walls in there!), help OH finish putting up the new guttering and fascia boards and bake a cake for the week. I also need to do a freezer inventory and start eating the more interesting items rather than avoiding them and using the mince every time!
Have a great Easter everyone.

Alchemilla

Wonderful news about your wedding. How lovely.

feelingfestive

Wow! Can't believe I haven't posted since April! I have been watching other posts though and picking up tips.
The mortgage is going well. We are on target to get our mortgage below 197k which was the aim for this year. That means that since we moved in 18 months ago we have wiped £8000 off the mortgage which I'm quite pleased with.
We've saved 10k for the loft conversion and changes to the house so we need another 10k before I'll feel confident about starting the big work. In the meantime we have decorated a room, redone all the guttering, bought all the bits for a new hot water system and now we just need a couple weeks until my sisters OH (who is a plumber!) to have some time to fit it all for us.
I don't expect we will have the 20k saved by May 2015 but I am impressed at how far we have got considering we've paid out bits for the wedding and saved 1k for the wedding so far but overall I'm really pleased with the progress being made at the moment.


It's half term at the mo and I have two assignments to do for my part time EdD so I really need to crack on.