Finally a MFW! :D

KolaKube

Sparkly pink lol! Not feeling quite so bad about mine now The new fireplace is getting collected on Saturday :j Apparently its been lit twice in its lifetime so it should be in great condition :cool:

Took OHs car for its MOT re-test today and it passed... just. Its becoming a bit of a money pit, so I think its definitely time to change it this year. Which means £££! Would be sensible to go for as new a car as we can manage I think to avoid the constant repairs.

So that means it's time for a little financial planning!

Aims and objectives for 2014:
1) New car for OH (£?? possibly £7000 or so?)
2) 2x professional exams (~£1000)
3) House refurbishment (bathroom, sitting room, update kitchen with new worktop tiles and floor, new radiators upstairs - the rest is very superficial) (Budget approx £2-3000)
4) Save up emergency fund back up to £10k
5) Start fund for next baby (planned for end of next year) - need about £4k to cover maternity shortfall
6) Overpay mortgage where possible! (Was hoping to go for the max OP of £10k but I cant see that happening somehow with the list above!)

So that all adds up to about £35k... we have £1400 left each month after everythings covered (but that is everything) - which leaves us about £20k short lol!

Better get ebaying

or, more realistically:

1) make do with the cars we have for as long as possible - we need two cars for work but if I was planning another maternity for the end of next year (which is when OHs would be needing another MOT) we could then go down to one car for a while and lengthen the saving period

2) claim back the tax on my professional exams

3) do the house more slowly / by gathering as many freebies and second hand bits as possible

4) Not compromising on the emergency fund!

5) Sort through all LOs stuff to see what to keep, and sell the rest towards a new baby fund

6) Chip away slowly at the mortgage but without punishing ourselves with quite such a large target

What would you do? xx

kirstypark

I would keep the cars (but it is a risk)

definately claim back the tax.

can you get your overpayments back? we are with nationwide and it is easy to claim back so dont have a huge emergency fund.

don't know about baby stuff - if you have anything you didn't use last time be as well selling it cos you won't use it next time? our local facebay is full of kids stuff and no fees to pay on that

and overpayments should be just for spare cash left over when you have other commintments i think.

gallygirl

kirstypark wrote: »

I would keep the cars (but it is a risk)

Seconded .

BlueMoo

kirstypark wrote: »

I would keep the cars (but it is a risk)


.

Thirded.

Then tackle LO fund, then tackle Emergency, then tackle House reno, then if anything is left mortgage OP.
It's a marathon, not a sprint and you still need to live your life.

KolaKube

Great advice guys Its definitely a marathon as youve said! I think we'll hold onto OHs car with a view to it possibly not passing next MOT / not even making it until next MOT - then going down to one car for a while to see how it goes. I need my own for work but he might be able to cope without for a while if needed... in the meantime we can save up for a new one just in case.

We're with nationwide and can use OPs to underpay within that calendar year if needed but as OHs contract is temporary we feel a little uneasy having less than 6 mths expenses put by... at the moment we'd last a month which is a scary place to be for us.

We have decided to put the renovation on hold for a bit which gives me time to gather up resources and have a think of how we want to do things xx

BlueMoo

Hello! :wave:
Have you made any decisions yet?

Just wanted to pop in and say thanks as I have chosen my dessert and your profiteroles inspired me!

KolaKube

Hi Bluemoo! Sorry I missed your post, I have been a little AWOL of late!

I've been a little disheartened by the ongoing inability to OP, but guess what everyone, it's payday on Monday! I get paid for 3 weeks of annual leave this month, so I am officially back in the game Unfortunately that means its also nearly back to work time though lol...

Will be doing a little spreadsheet jiggery pokery on Monday and will update from there.

House wise we are getting there slowly but surely, dining room is finished now and today I stripped the 40 year old mustard yellow wallpaper from the front bedroom, removed the green/red/yellow striped curtains with matching pelmet and prepped the walls for painting - they are in such good condition underneath its amazing, I guess thats what you get when you never decorate a room lol - I'm pretty sure the cream paint underneath is the original sealing coat for the plaster lol. Tomorrow I will be picking out paint and a nice new light fitting and switches and as the carpet is fine and new curtains salvaged from another room, thats another wee room transported 40 years forward in time for very little (did I mention my dad is a spark so he does all my electrically bits for me for free, handy!)

Anyway, hope you are all well. Will try to post more once we are back on track. Would love to be in double figures for Jan xx

KolaKube

Evening all!

Payday finally came £3.30 tidied to mortgage account.

This is going to be a long tight month (last months overspend, xmas, car bills etc and first month paying for childcare!) so as I only got paid for 3 weeks I'm not going to commit to a big OP this month - but I'll see what we can do on the small OP front

xx

KolaKube

£4.98 tidied to mortgage account yesterday, 57p today :rofl:

The bathroom is the next big renovation project. I have just spent £204 in the sales, but for that got £560 worth of bathroom things (steel bath, waste, shower screen, and good quality side and end panels) so pleased about that. The bath alone was £239 reduced to £75ish, and I did want a good strong steel one, so I pounced... it shall be living in the garage until I can gather up the rest of the bits (vanity / basin, toilet, taps, towel radiator, tiles) over the next month or so. Progress being slowly made!

Poor LO has been very sick over christmas, yesterday was a bit of a bust! We ended up taking him to out of hours in the evening with a temp of 39 - he was started on antibiotics for a throat infection. Lots of leftover food (and booze! so much booze!) so I'm going to see how long we can make it last us, with careful use of the freezer. We were supposed to be having family round today but with LO sick it was postponed so I will have to go through that food and see what can be frozen too.

Merry christmas to all of you xx

Pearla*Merle

Well done on the bathroom savings, KolaKube! That's some seriously good going :T

What a shame on the LO, hope he feels better soon. Extended Christmases are always fun though, string it out as much as possible (that's my motto!)