My first home &I want to OWN it!

Katzen

Been to Sainsbobs to buy Christmas fizz with double nectar points. Taste the Diff prosecco still on offer at £8/ bottle and my points double up to £40 so bought a case and only paid £8 cash for the lot. Pretty pleased with that!

Katzen

Productive and money saving day today. Our home insurance is up for renewal in early Dec. Quote from current provider £414. Followed Martin's advice and did a couple of comparison sites plus the two biggies they miss. Ended up going with Aviva for £253 plus £40 £uidco cash back. Not the cheapest but I always pay a little over to go with a provider I've heard of, especially as the details of home cover can be so variable. Very pleased with that.

Katzen

Having been really poorly, I've not been out to spend much recently so accounts are looking healthy. Got new details for online mortgage, hoping I can get them working! Plus £80 cash back from broadband deal was in the post today so that'll be going in the bank this week.

Going to try meal planning for the month, one big supermarket trip for stuff I can't get elsewhere and then shopping in town for the market and H0m3 Bargains for the rest. Need to see how much the milkman costs to cover that regular supermarket purchase and find a source of eggs and yoghurt, otherwise everything else can be bought at the start of the month or from the market I think. Motivation for this is 1) save money by not being tempted by offers in the big shops 2) support local business rather than being manipulated by the supermarkets. Wish me luck

Katzen

Right, finally sat down and did a bit of adding up and looking at our annual expenses :eek: Once I add in the stuff that comes out of the joint account, we get really close to our maxing out each month and that's without having a proper idea of food budget.

I've also done a bit of fiddling with the OP calculator and seen that we could pay off our main mortgage in 10 years if we OP by £600month. I don't think this is going to be manageable but it does give us something to aim for.

I am currently formulating a plan, I shall list it here once it comes together...

jeymate

Wish you all the best and good luck with your plan. My tip is to focus on small steps and always keep talking and planning. Stay on top of it. Some time ago I made the mistake of goiing into a deal that was way over my head. I almost got trapped into a vicious cirlcle of debt. Luckily I got out of it with an enormous amount of effort within 3 monts. Since then I do not enter any kind of deals with a bank, i cut off all my credit cards and live life with what I earn. Now I own a condo which I paid off and live in a rental property..

Katzen

Thanks Jeymate. I have formulated a plan and broken it into steps so here it is:

BIG goal: get mortgage to 50%LTV by end of our 5 year fix. So, £100,000 by August 2020.

small steps: OP average of £376.90/month from January plus the rounding up to £900 I'm going to set up

Challenges: Emergency fund £5000 (£4500 currently)
Saving for tax man £2400 (over estimate for now until bill comes)
Saving for windows £3000 (need quotes to confirm)

OP target will be tough, especially with impending maternity leave. But it's something to aim for!

Katzen

Ok, finally found out how to make OPs and set up payments on all 3 accounts that I might want to make them from (can I get DH to do his?) had to send some money so that's 65.00 in total. Need to create a signature to keep track.
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Also called the bank and set our Direct Debit £900.00, nice and round.
I've told DH all this and he is not nearly as keen as I'd like him to be so I'll have to do most of the plodding on without blabbing to him too much but he is in favour of the general idea. I'll get him on board eventually...

Katzen

Sitting at home ill is getting expensive! Today I've bought dog food and a dog bed, then been to pick up DS bike for his birthday. Both purchases were made online via quidco so come with a little chunk of cash back, and were bought with discounts etc but still, it's all still spending!
Also popped in the charity shop and found a big box of 10 jigsaws for £2.99. Feel a bit guilty about that one as it wasn't strictly a 'need' but they can be put in the pile of gifts for the little man.

Katzen

Wages in today and a nice little bump due to the pay rise. Not quite as much as I'd hoped but will need to see the payslip to know whether I miscalculated or student loans have taken a chunk. Either way, better than a kick in the teeth and a few extra ££ to top up the emergency fund.

Katzen

Not quite a NSD today as ordered mum's Christmas present in the Black Friday sales but won't feel bad as it was a planned expenditure. Just got my sister and DH to buy for now. Planning a little trip to town tomo. Need a couple of bits from £shops and going to get some bits in IKEA but have a voucher and also some things to return, so should be low spend if not no spend.