Diary of a home owner wannabe (my 6 year journey)

pennyforthepot

Off cleaning this morning - once I can get out my pjs!
I was very lethargic yesterday - I think doing all the washing and ironing on the first day back wore me out. Spent some quality time with DH on the sofa and also popped out for afternoon tea as it was our 2nd wedding anniversary. I'm not one for major celebrations with these things so we celebrated with a kebab and a box of chocolates - whilst watching the commonwealth games :rotfl: DH bought me some flowers and chocolates and I bought him a bottle of iron and vitamin c tonic to help combat his fatigue:rotfl:

Whilst we were out we chatted about the holiday and what we should do next year. Although I love going away for our family week abroad with all the kids from 24 down to 13, it is such a lot of money for one week chilling by the pool. We are considering not doing it next year but instead having a monthly budget to spend doing stuff that we wouldn't ordinarily do with the kids. We don't really go out a great deal as a family as for 6 of us it is just so expensive even to go to the cinema or go out for a pizza. This way we would have £500 a month to do something really special. I think it's the psychology of needing to go on holiday as a family that is holding me back. Saying that DD went off to Spain yesterday on her 3rd holiday in as many weeks so its not as if the kids will miss out :eek: The decision won't be made until the end of this year as we have no more money in the holiday pot until then.

I haven't managed to get back into the running since we got back. I must do it tomorrow otherwise all that hard work will have gone to waste.

I must also get back on top of my food planning and shopping next month - it has been fairly disastrous this month - my only saving grace is that we have been away and the kids were away for an additional week which has kept the spend below budget.

One more coffee then I'll get dressed

PFTP x

Goldiegirl

Glad you had a good holiday.

You sound like me - I always like to get the washing and ironing done ASAP.

It's certainly something to consider, spreading the fun out over the year in days out and experiences, rather than have a big holiday

Happy anniversary by the way

pennyforthepot

Thanks Goldie Girl

I had a very productive day down at my friends. I took the vacuum down empty and I ended the day with it full (and that was just from one room :eek:) I also managed to fold away all the bed linen that was piled up on a chest of drawers on the landing blocking all the light from the window. Lets just say there was a lot including 22 bed sheets! She definitely has an emotional attachment to stuff - a large chest of drawers full of her mother's jumpers (who died over 20 years ago) and rows and rows of video cassettes of disney films from when her kids were little (18 and 16 now). Its not the cleaning that is going to be hard work but the decluttering.

Had a phone message and a couple of e-mails from our accountant as our end of year accounts are due at the end of August for Companies House :eek: He's asked for quite a bit of information that I'm not quite sure what it is. I think I'm going to pretend I'm still on holiday until the end of the week so I can get on top of what it is he needs

Failed again on the running this morning - smacked hand - no excuse. Tomorrow I'm going to get up and go even if I just walk it.

TO DO LIST

• company accounts
• change dd for electricity which has for some reason been cut in half despite being in debt
• re-book kids dental appointment
• send a belated bday card to my nephew
• washing and ironing
• buy lunch and dinner from Mr T
• Try not to get anxious about the accounts!

Daily food budget:£15.28

Have a good one PFTP x

pennyforthepot

Managed to get the bare minimum done for the accountant yesterday and will hopefully finish it off tomorrow but I do need to spend a few days getting everything back in order as I've slipped a little since I've been working:eek:

Back down to Hoarder Round the Corner this morning - the kitchen is on the agenda today!

A good month on the savings front as I managed to meet my target of £3000- ideally I could have saved more than that but I have been a little lax on the food front and I have doled out a lot of money for the kids as I had to pay for the flights and food for DD's holiday! I was helped a long by £1000 interest from a fund and 2 months of maintenance payments from DSS2's mum that I had not received before plus the money from cleaning and decorating so other than this money my own savings target wouldn't have been met.

I will update my monthly spend later as I have to get ready to go de-cluttering.

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

OUTGOINGS:JULY

£250-council tax
£131 -mobile phones x 5
£36-internet and landline
£10-gas
£65-electric
£44-water
£192-car loan
£15-charity d/d
£213 -food
£87-fuel
£8-car maintenance
£600 -kids costs
£170-entertainment
£0.00-house
£795-holiday
£100-birthdays
£0.00-christmas
£0.00 -contingency
£2-miscellaneous

£2718-TOTAL

61% - savings to income ratio

Thanks to my additional income I managed to hit my target for this month of £3000

BLUE- spending down on last month
RED - spending up on last month
BLACK - no difference.

The highs and lows of the month:

HIGHS:
Managed to hit my savings target
Money in from decorating and decluttering work
Gas usage for the month only £10
Had a great holiday
Underspent on my food budget
Only over spent on my entertainment budget by £20
Have reduced my clothes to 55
I have maintained my reduced usage of dishwasher and washing machine.

LOWS
Increase in electricity usage due to broken hot water
Failed on my running challenge - still haven't gone since holidays
Failed on my fruit challenge - not too bad as I was fine up until the last few days of the month when I got back from hols. Need to get back into the routine

CHALLENGES FOR AUGUST:

Stick within my entertainment budget!

Although during the holidays I said I would increase the food budget to £450 I didn't need it last month so my challenge is to see if I can stick to £385 for August

Reach my target savings for August which is £2000

Start running again.
Attempt my lowest monthly spend below the £2000 mark

Carry on with other challenges I have accumulated. I must post all my challenges otherwise I forget what I am meant to be doing

Daily food budget for July:£8.94

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

I've just been looking at my MS New Years Resolutions and savings target for 2014 - most of them I have stuck to apart from the meal planning - the bain of my life! I must try and get back into that.

My savings target was originally £20,000 but then I reduced it down to £18,000. I have decided that I am going to increase it up to £23,000 by the end of this year - this will put me at £125,000 which will be half way towards my final target of £250,000. I have saved just over £14,000 this year already and given that I am now getting some maintenance from DSS2s mum and have some extra income from my decorating and cleaning if I give it a really good push over the next 5 months I should be able to reach it. That's £8,600 over the next 5 months or £1,720 each month. It would be so good to get over that half way mark.

I've also looked at the monthly amount I need to save in order to achieve the £250,000 by the end of the 62 month period. At the beginning of they year it stood at £2173 each month and it now stands at £2150. In order to maintain that level I need to save £10,750 over the next 5 months - lets see how we go.

Lots of admin to do this weekend plus a bit of housework to be getting on with.

Daily Food Budget: £8.91

Enjoy

PFTP x

Dobbibill

PFTP,




You sound like you are back from holidays with more drive and determination than ever.


I'm still a fan of your lists and how you break things down (the blue/red/black and the highs/lows)


Really rooting for you to get to that half way target by the end of the year. :T




DB

pennyforthepot

Dobbibill wrote: »

PFTP,


You sound like you are back from holidays with more drive and determination than ever.


I'm still a fan of your lists and how you break things down (the blue/red/black and the highs/lows)


Really rooting for you to get to that half way target by the end of the year. :T

DB

Thanks DB - I always start the month really motivated then it drifts off as the weeks go by

To be honest I'm very aware that I only have one year with the maintenance for DSS2 before he leaves for university and then 2 years after that DS goes off and my maintenance for my kids is halved so I have to save as much as I can over the next three years as I suspect I will have 2 years left when I will be lucky to save anything :eek:

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

Dobbibill wrote: »

PFTP,


You sound like you are back from holidays with more drive and determination than ever.


I'm still a fan of your lists and how you break things down (the blue/red/black and the highs/lows)


Really rooting for you to get to that half way target by the end of the year. :T

DB

Thanks DB - I always start the month really motivated then it drifts off as the weeks go by

To be honest I'm very aware that I only have one year with the maintenance for DSS2 before he leaves for university and then 2 years after that DS goes off and my maintenance for my kids is halved so I have to save as much as I can over the next three years as I suspect I will have 2 years left when I will be lucky to save anything :eek:

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

I've been reading some great personal finance blogs recently - My Open Wallet, Frugal Zeitgeist and MMM amongst others. They're a great read - particularly when you have 5+ years worth of content so you can really follow their financial path. I would like to read some from the UK but haven't found many that I rate. Any suggestions?

The only downside to reading these blogs is that it makes me feel a little anxious over the amount of money I need to save to secure my financial freedom. Coming to the game so late is a real disadvantage - so many of these bloggers are in there 30s and even 20's (and most seem to have a decent salary to throw at their mortgage or savings) so at the ripe old age of 46 and no major career path on the horizon I start to get a bit jittery. Some of these guys already have a net worth of over a million £/$ already and are looking for 2+million to retire on :eek: A lot of them talk about the impact of inflation on current savings levels which again worries me.

I know that I could go and get a job that pays more than my cleaning and decorating but it's important to me to have the flexibility to be around my kids whilst they are still at home so I certainly am not feeling hard done by. I know that I will instill into my kids the importance of paying off their mortgage as soon as they can and encourage them to save a portion of everything they earn from a very early age. If I can teach them the Holy Grail of Compound Interest then I will be happy

I should be doing admin today but I really don't feel like it. It is the weekend after all

PFTP x