Finally a MFW! :D

KolaKube

Hello all!

Not sure if you remember me - KolaKube here :j

I have had 2 previous diaries, one when we lived in England about saving up for our house deposit, and one more recently where we had *almost* bought a place but it all fell through just before Christmas.

Since then we've had mini-Kube (who is a little boy now 4 months old and amazing!)

We have purchased a lovely 3/5 bed (depends if you want a dining room / study lol) semi with attic conversion and a great big garden, which is much nearer town than the place which had previously fallen through. Hoping to complete asap - realistically towards the end of July.

We'll start off owing £104500, and I know you lovely lot will help us pay it all off asap! I'm aiming for 10 years, or at the very least by the time I'm 40 (12 years time).

We can make overpayments of up to £11k a year with no penalty during the initial fixed rate period of 4 years.

I'm off on maternity for the rest of this year and I suspect we'll struggle to make any overpayments at all as the place is structurally fine but needs an entire facelift (think fake wood panelling, crazy paving fireplace, no bath etc etc) - however we intend to do this over time as its perfectly liveable (nomatter how ugly) as is! Will need some furniture etc but no stranger to second hand shops etc so not looking to spend a fortune .

Unfortunately OHs wage won't cover our basic outgoings entirely unless we cut them right back to the bone (which is the plan!) Our plan is just to survive to the end of the year and do a little basic DIY if possible out of savings, I will be getting paid again from December and back at work middle of Jan 2014 and we're hoping to overpay by £1k a month for 11 months of the year (xmas off!) from then.

Are we mad?

:money:

KolaKube

You know, now that I've put that all down, panic is starting to set in....!! Glass of vino getting poured lol. :beer:

Jevvers

Not at all mad - although I would say see how it goes with the £1k overpayments and adjust if it's too severe. Good luck and enjoy your baby time, those snuggles are just the best

kirstypark

Hello and welcome back.

KolaKube

Thanks guys! The £1k is something to aspire to - we were saving about £1500 a month before I went on maternity so if we are strict we might manage it :-/


Well looks like completion is going to be delayed another week - Nationwide had some computer glitch which meant no offer paperwork sent out to either us or the solicitor rang up today to see where it was as we had all the texts /emails last week <sigh!>

Katzen

Hi Kola Kube- found you!
I'm looking forward to reading your diary as we plan to start our family next year (fingers crossed) so need to work out how we'll manage whilst I'm on maternity and then once I go back. Hoping to pick up some good tips please!

Muser1

Looking forward to reading! Good luck. x

hattifattener

I'll be following. Good luck!

KolaKube

Thanks guys! Nice to have the support Aw yeah I have maternity money saving down lol!

A few moneysaving bits over the past few days:
Ellas Kitchen sent out £5 vouchers for mini-Kube as I sent them some positive feedback
Free pair of new glasses I had forgotten about (long boring story!)
Meal planned for the next fortnight and our shopping only cost £40! (Im new to meal planning but thats a huge leap down from £50 a week!

Other positive life things today-
sorted out our life insurance and mortgage cover
Went through and cleaned / sorted the kitchen cupboards
Started some new crochet!

KolaKube

Morning everyone. Mini-Kube is down having a nap and instead of doing anything useful for the 45 mins I'm on here having a nosy around lol.

Today should hopefully be a NSD - I need to go and pick up my new glasses, which is technically in a b00ts - but I will be strong!

Had to fork out an extra £195 for professional fees yesterday which I wasn't expecting so I'm playing catch up with this months spending money lol... feet up with a coffee and crochet it is :cool:

I'm building up to starting a full house move sort out over the next few days - will need to summon some energy for that from somewhere! Any tips?

KolaKube

Woohoo - £88 tax rebate lol... every little helps! <worryingly, that is quite a high proportion of my maternity pay...>