Over the Rainbow and Happy Ever After

clearmydebts

castlelough wrote: »

Well that was a long break......... :o

While I haven't run up any more debt than before, I haven't made any overpayments on the debt either. So time to focus on it again...

Especially as I am about to apply for two substantial loans... :eek:

One to cover a splurge for the new house that wasn't accounted for in the original mortgage. I have done the research and I still can't get past it - I really want an Aga. So.... I've ordered a reconditioned one from a reputable company. It's a 13-amp electric one, and we'll turn it on for 5-6 months of the year, and off for the warmer months. I've budgeted out the cost of running it, and eventually I pointed out to DH that running it for 6 months will cost less than running our racehorse did for one month! Not that either is a sensible or MSE thing to do....but he could understand it better in those terms! But I'm borrowing €6700 for it. I've applied for €10k because I've had to transfer some money from the mortgage across to my credit union account as collateral for the new loans. When the loans come through I'll transfer the money back to the mortgage.

The other loan is for a car... €10k. Maybe I'll get a car for less and not need that much money. But the reality is that my car is at the end of it's tether with almost 200k miles on the meter! And we are expecting a baby in January and I really want a safe and reliable car to drive and bring baby about in!

That's my great news! After all the heartbreak of the miscarriages I'm almost 15 weeks along with this little one. Everything is looking good. We've had 4 scans so far and seen the little heartbeat and the baby growing as it should! :j:smileyhea:smileyhea
We are paying for a private gynae so that is coming at a pricetag of €3000 but we have a payment plan sorted and we are happy that we can manage it. I'm not going to go overboard on baby things, and am happy to buy second-hand or take hand-me-downs from friends for the bigger items.

On the equine front, we only have a small bill left to clear with our trainer and horse has made a great recovery and is now out in the field with a little rescue pony that we got for company for him! :T
I had hoped to be riding him out this summer, but now that's a plan to be set aside until next spring, although I might try to find somebody else to exercise him from September onwards.

The house is moving along slowly. DH is doing the plumbing/heating and this has definitely slowed us down. I've been so frustrated at how long he has been taking and how little work he has managed to get done in the last few weeks (although in fairness to him, he is doing two other jobs of his own and fitting the house in when he can). The Aga has also upset my kitchen plans and I'm still trying to rearrange things so that I can fit in a hob and oven for the 6-7 months that the Aga won't be switched on. I know, I'm my own worst enemy! :( At present I can't see how it can be done without having the electrician come out and move at least one socket and one light switch :eek::eek: In the meanwhile Aga is being installed on July 23rd!!! Then there'll be no excuse to crack on with the rest of the kitchen!:)

Well that's it from here...
I amn't particularly looking forward to taking on the extra debt, but I know I can do it. I've done it before. I had just gotten to like having the extra bit of disposable income for the last few months with horse out of training!

Hope everyone is doing well? Sorry for the lack of personals! If anyone is still following my diary I hope you are doing well with your own goals!

xxx Castle

Hi CL,

Just catching up now. Wow - what fantastic news! How are you feeling?

You seem to be on top of your debts and how you are going to deal with them and that is the main thing, I think.

When you do you think the house will be finished? xx

EchoDelta

Congratulations Castle! Great news.

You sound really on top of things and have obviously done your research so enjoy the car and Aga!

castlelough

Thanks clearmydebts and EchoDelta for the encouragement!

All good here. Today was payday, and we also had an appointment with our doctor so I paid him another installment towards our fees. That's €1500/3000 paid, with another €500 due in 9 weeks time - so we are well on track with our payments to him. Baby was doing great, and was even measuring 4 days ahead - so that was very reassuring! :happyhear:heartpuls

We had a very MSE wedding anniversary on Tuesday, after spending most of the day choosing tiles for the new house. We managed to bargain down the price of the tiles and get a great quote for the tiling, so we were really happy. I was exhausted after all of that and we cancelled our plans to go out for dinner/cinema and had pizza at home, tv and an early night.

Then yesterday we sorted out the racehorse training bill. I went up to the yard to make a payment of €400 off the remaining €1770 owed. The great news is that DH and the trainer have bartered to settle the remainder of the bill. DH was owed some money for some plumbing work he had done, and the trainer wanted to buy some of the wood DH chopped up after the storms brought down a lot of trees back in the winter - so that bill is completely sorted! Such a relief! :j

Now, just to keep my head down for the next fortnight and stay on budget. :A

castlelough

I can't believe that it has been almost six months since I last wrote a post here. So much has happened in the meanwhile, with the biggest life changing events being the arrival of our little daughter eight weeks ago, and moving into our own house and home ten weeks ago!!! :beer:

The finances aren't too bad, but we have a lot of bills coming up and nothing set aside to meet them or in the case of an emergency... so I will be back tomorrow with a bit of a financial round-up and new goals for 2015!

If anyone is still following my diary...happy new year, and I hope you are doing well.
Castle

cazmanian_minx

Congratulations on the arrival of the small person and the new home :T:T:T:T:T

clearmydebts

Wowee - congratulations!!! On the baby and the house.

How are you getting on with both?

castlelough

Well it has been almost 6 months since I dropped by.
I hope you are both well ClearMyDebts and CazmanianMynx?

Time has flown by, and I will be going back to work in a few days.:shocked:

I'm hoping that going back to work will help me to be more focused and productive in my leisure time.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at home with my little sweetpea, and in an ideal world I wouldn't be going back to work for another while yet and, at that, I would be going back to a jobsharing position...but it isn't an option at this time. I'm going to work towards that goal before the next baby arrives hopefully.

Baby is 7.5 months and we are still breastfeeding here, and I make my own baby foods. I'm hoping to introduce more fingers foods in the coming weeks and move from spoon feeding to a baby-led approach. My cloth nappies are going very well, and I really enjoy using them! They are really not much hassle and there is definitely the potential to save money - I just need to stop buying cute prints! I have enough nappies to cloth three babies at this stage. Most of them were purchased preloved so it is definitely my goal to sell a good portion of them on again in the coming weeks and simplify my nappy stash.

I could do with tightening up my food budget too. A lot of food is being wasted here.

Debtwise I have been chipping away at my repayments. I need to start saving some money too though. And I need to make a list of priorities in the house. We lack focus here, and have achieved very little since we moved in. Some of the rooms haven't even a base coat of paint up, none have been finished and all the doors, woodwork etc has yet to be touched. Little things like towel rails, coat hooks and toilet roll holders would make a big difference in day to day comfort. Then there are bigger items such as a bath and a stove for the empty fireplace which would be lovely luxuries. There are heaps of things to be done and I don't even know where to start - one room at a time? Or is it more economical to have an electrician/painter/tiler come to do a number of small jobs in the house at once.

Then there is the garden. I can't wait to have a garden. It is currently like a building site. I want somewhere safe for Lily to play in the Spring when she will be able to walk. I want to plant an orchard and get hens and fix up the stable yard. So many wants....!

Without focus you forget that £10 here and £10 there, if stashed away, can quickly amass to being a useful sum of money... so here is to new beginnings and renewed energy and better use of our resources to reach our goals.

I'm going to have a think this evening and come back with a list of achievable goals for the rest of the year.
I will also update my signature later too to reflect my current state of financial affairs...!

castlelough

I just had a glance at my signature there! Wow, my original dfd was to be Sept 2015! And indeed, all those original debts have been cleared - except the credit card which stands at much the same as it was the last time I logged in.

Unfortunately I undertook new debts - so who knows when my new dfd will be...

clearmydebts

Happy New Year! How was the baby's first Christmas? What age is she now?

castlelough

A bit belated but - Happy New Year!!!
I think shorter but more frequent posts might be the way forward.

Life is good here!
I still amn't debtfree but I feel I have finally crossed the divide with regard to my attitude to debt. When this lot of debt has been cleared I was planning on getting a new loan to build a sand arena and do up the stables. A bit of totting things up has shown me that I could save enough without taking out a loan if I wait 12 months.
I feel prepared to wait and save up for the first time in my life. It is an amazing feeling! And then I will become one of those elite mfw crew!
Keeping the head down and overpaying my big loan.
Reducing credit card limit by €50 each month. It's the only way to keep myself from running it back up again. Aiming to get it down to €500 as I feel that is a figure I can comfortably clear each month if I do run it up to the limit.

Baby doing great! 14.5 months old and we are still breastfeeding and cloth nappying here so a very MSE baby! Oh and I got some hens! Three ex-battery hens who nless us with 3 delicious eggs each day.
Dh has the night off work, so off to snuggle up and enjoy a rare beverage together!