My first home &I want to OWN it!

groovyleapyear

KolaKube wrote: »

I see you're going on a yarn diet! Me too I have a bag at the moment with some gorgeous bright colours which I'm making mini-Kube a few soft furnishings for his new room out of (excuses excuses!) and once that is gone I'm going to have to be strict with myself... I do have a bit box of fabric so I might move back over to sewing and make a few cushion covers etc but definitely need something to scratch the crafty itch!

Also - we menu planned and are doing the next two weeks (nice dinners too!) for £40 for me, OH and mini-Kube is weaning so gets a little veg puree etc too (will need to buy milk / bread at some point too) so it's doable for definite xx

Do you have the menu plan you could send me - I would love to be able to do nice dinners for £40 for two weeks but don't know where to start!!

Twiggy_34

Hi Katzen, good luck with your project, it sounds like you're going to be a busy bee for quite some time!

I've been in a similar boat recently, my DP & I bought our first flat together a year ago thanks to family and friends pulling together to help make the purchase successful despite the odds which were stacked against us. It was also a project property, but after 6 months of hard work (mostly, but not entirely, decorative) we had it valued and it went from the £80k we bought for up to around £120-£125k, so needless to say we are very happy with that result.

We still have small jobs to do around the place, but the estate agent just feels they would help secure the extra £5k in the estimate rather than add any further significant value. Because I believe we have to live in the property for another 2 years otherwise we'd be eligible for capital gains, we have plenty of time now to rectify those minor issues, and as things currently stand we have no plans to change properties anyway.

Are you & your DH a dab hand with tools and diy? I only ask as my other half is not keen on doing any at all, he did what he had to, to help get the place to a standard suitable for living in, but otherwise left it all to me and my dad (who since passed away rather suddenly). His argument was that he'd happily pay for someone else to do the work, but I refused to pay someone to do something I could do myself, so muggins here did most of it. I'm not really complaining though, it's not all as bad as it sounds as DP paid for a weekend in Paris once things had calmed down enough to be able to take some time out, plus I loved seeing the transformation and find it very rewarding to be able to turn around & say to yourself "I did that"! Plus it turned out to be a fantastic opportunity for my dad and I to spend a ton of time together, which I'll be eternally grateful for.

We got professionals in for some of the bigger jobs, like fitting a replacement back door frame, but got lucky with some carpentry jobs (e.g. new stairs bannister to replace a non-existent one) as an old school friend recently started training in carpentry and welcomed the opportunity to try a new project. For his first ever attempt he's done a brilliant job and for a ridiculously cheap price.

Twiggy_34

Katzen wrote: »

Nearly time for our first mortgage payment and I'm getting excited. Won't be an OP this month as its a bumper payment anyway to cover interest from the last part-month.

Don't suppose anyone has a good spread sheet do they? Would love to see the numbers coming down each month!

I forgot to mention in my previous post (got carried away talking about our flat, oops, sorry!). Have you come across this thread yet https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4152769

They do quarterly updates/spreadsheets demonstrating your achievement against your goal for how much you want to reduce your mortgage by, so might well be just the kind of thing you're looking for and am sure they're still taking newcomers. The idea is to reduce or get rid of your mortgage over the next 3 years. We're overpaying ours by just under £70 a month which, as things currently stand, should reduce the mortgage term by almost 5 years over the life of the mortgage and it is nice having something to measure our progress against.

KolaKube

groovyleapyear wrote: »

Do you have the menu plan you could send me - I would love to be able to do nice dinners for £40 for two weeks but don't know where to start!!

Of course! <Lets just hope what I think are nice dinners and what you think are nice dinners agree!> - it was based around what was on offer in MrT at the time, I think some of its still on. I'll send you a PM sure, don't want to hijack Katzens thread x

Katzen

Just got login details for the mortgage account and its showing £155031 :eek: first payment due on Monday so that will come down very soon :j

Went to BIL's wedding last night. Feeling so hungover right now! Don't think I will tackle any MF stuff today but car insurance due this month so need to invest a bit of time on that, maybe tomorrow though!

Katzen

Found £20 on pavement yesterday with no obvious owner around so adopted it myself. As it was a little bonus I think it should really be allowed to live a happy life in my emergency fund account so I'm off to transfer it there.

Beckyy

I agree - it will be much happier with you. Nice find!

Katzen

Lucky day today. Finished hockey, couldn't find my purse but was sure it'd put it in my bag. Raced home to find a note saying someone had picked it up off the street and given it to my neighbours. Phew!

Also got a decision to make. My friend from uni has invited me on her hen do. I'm dead keen to go just not so keen on the cost. £220 for a weekend in Bath :eek: reckon that's £300-350 all told. Now, I've got the cash but don't really want to blow it on that. How do I politely say 'sorry but that's too expensive'?

Knit_Witch

:eek::eek::eek:

That is a lot of money! Erm what you said sums it up

Katzen

First mortgage payment went out yesterday :j The balance has dropped a tiny smidge, it'll be months until we even pay off the fees at this rate. Have to keep telling myself that patience is a virtue and there's no point OPing that whilst we have zero in emergency fund savings and work to be done on it the place.

Off to have a look at car insurance and get that down some...