My first home &I want to OWN it!

FloppyDisk

That's a great price Katzen, I can see your mortgage is going to vanish with finds like that. I was rushed by a kitchen fitter to pick a sink and ended up with a huge one in my tiny kitchen and it annoys me every time I see it (good excuse to let Mr F do the washing up!)

Katzen

Yeah, my mum has a kitchen she hates because the designer talked her in to it. I'm hoping that we can use our extra time wisely and not end up in the same situation, although if I keep buying all the bargains I see we will end up looking like a junk shop!

Katzen

Just got a cheque in the post for £40 from car insurance. Turns out the bonus incentive extra 6yrs no claims I had with my previous insurer is transferable and new insurer have agreed to honour it so that's 9yrs instead if 3! :j

Katzen

Right then- back off holiday and back to work tomorrow. Hols were wonderful but SO expensive, not quite sure where that is going to leave me for the rest of the month but nothing to be done about it now! Planning permission was officially granted last week :j: so work will be starting properly in a couple of weeks when the builder gets back off his hols- this is where the money stuff gets really interesting...

Katzen

Been a couple of weeks since the last post and things have moved on- although not really in the right direction. We've had the quote off the builder and the bottom line is that we can't afford to do what we wanted to do We are now faced with two options, either cut back on plans or do what we can then do the rest piece by piece.
I think DH is more interested in the latter option, I'm still weighing it all up, but it looks likely that we will be living off beans on toast long before we start to tackle this mortgage in any meaningful way.

Katzen

Building work has officially started and we are going to be able to get it watertight (fingers crossed) within budget but not much else. Had a few set backs with having to pay through the nose for slight alteration to planning permission (due to the architect's mistake) and for application to build over a sewer (which water company apparently didn't know existed until we contacted them). DH has done some ebaying and we've sold the old heating system to the scrap yard which just about makes up for those issues. Plan at the moment (she says, ignoring the rain) is to be in by the end of November so we can get some rental income. Fingers tightly crossed please!

Katzen

Building work has well and truly started and we are now up to the damp proof course on the extension. Some major stress caused by the sewers situation but thats all sorted now so that we can crack on with building. The money is still very tight and all a bit in the air really. Heating and windows will need to be credit carded I think, but not sure we can do that as tradesmen don't tend to have card machines! Have let frugal ways slip rather a lot lately, need to get back to it.

Katzen

3years almost to the day since I last posted and definitely no nearer to paying off the mortgage for a number of reasons.
1) renovating a house is way more expensive than I anticipated. We moved in just over two years ago and major work is all done but there are a million little jobs which all seem to require at least £100 so we are working through that slowly.
2) we now have a toddler so I've gone back to work part time and he is not exactly free to run.
3) we have the next bundle on the way and I'm seriously considering giving up work, it's just not worth the stress and hours for the small amount I'd have left after childcare for two.
All that said though, we should be doing better than we are, even if it's just at getting through the list of little jobs. With that in mind I find myself back on here trying to squeeze pennies where I can. More on that later

Katzen

Current penny squeezing plan:
-opened an easy saver to sit alongside joint account so that any little left over each month or windfalls can be squirrelled rather than squandered
-switched my personal savings into an easy access ISA. interest is minimal but better than previous easy saver
-stopping buying stuff unless I have the actual money, so no cc juggling from one month to the next
-Tilly tidies etc into savings
-keeping on top of online banking so I know exactly how much we have at any point
-cancel cleaning service and divert funds to round up mortgage to nearest £100
- shop around and switch providers for utilities. Have already cut down internet, renewed RAC for cheaper and switched energy tariff

Next job is to get on top of the mortgage and to get some of our clutter sold, probably a boot sale job but I've never done one so I'm a bit scared!

kirtsypoos

Congrats on the toddler and one on the way!

Good luck with your to do list, you'll be back to checking in on here before you know it