our forever patch challenge

sammy70

Just made our last overpayment of 2017- a massive £500- bringing our mortgage balance down to £228,500 !:beer:

Total overpayments to date= £6,658.63 :j

Also bought £205 p.bonds, and paid £502.68 off the workshop roof costs, the amount left to pay is £6,500, this is my other challenge to pay this back, before our next big projects start in spring 2018 :T

2017 has been a big year for us, our first year in our forever home, the coming together of 5 years of planning/debt clearing, then savings/overpaying and paying off our previous mortgage.

Overall I can honestly say this is our dream home, not every ones cup of tea, in the middle of nowhere, off grid internet, borehole supplied water, but these are minor hiccups when we look out over the stunning countryside, walk round our plot with big plans for our future, and that warm feeling I get as I turn down our lane after being away, knowing I'm coming back to the place I love, and is the place we belong.

2018 will no doubt bring lots of challenges, work , and money saving , to allow us to progress with our plans here, but every bit of backache, blackberry bush scratches, mud sweat and tears will be worth it!

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to everyone, we are starting a week off work, back 2nd January 2018, and I will be back here with my overpayments. We intend to have a relaxing ten days off, enjoying lots of nice food and drinks, and most of all making every moment here count, in our lovely countryside patch xx

hugglemonster

Fantastic results for the year and even better when it's for somewhere you love, all the best for 2018 I hope it's a happy and fulfilling year!

H x

try_harder

It all sounds idyllic to me sammy70 and love hearing all your stories you are doing great .Happy New Year to you ,hope you are having a great holiday .

sammy70

Thanks for the lovely comments tryharder and huggle!

We have had a totally lazy and relaxing few days off, mainly due to the weather not being good for outdoor jobs (snow!! brrr)

We have started making plans for 2018, but to be honest the first few months will be mainly saving every penny for projects spring/summertime..

Our daughter is struggling at the moment with finances due to her fledgling business, so we have helped her out, which though this makes our savings a bit behind, family comes first, and id rather delay a months cash than watch her struggle, im sure in time she will get on track bless her:)

My/our first challenge of 2018 is to pay back the £6,401.10 outstanding for the workshop roof, so ive paid £21.10 off it today (tilly tidy), so £6,390 to go!

We will start the next lot of fencing once this is sorted...

Heres to a frugal happy 2018 enjoying the countryside and wildlife with my lovely husband :j

Downshifterella

Just read back through your diary sammy70 what a great read!!:o
Inspiring stuff with all your work on your new home....made me want to get much better at DIY! ( Painting is about my limit! Lol )
Here's to a fab 2018! :beer:

sammy70

Thanks downshifterella! my hubby is the DIY one in our team I'm afraid, I'm just the blackberry bush/undergrowth shifter/labourer/bonfire maker :rotfl:

heres my monthly figures update-

interest for December was £415.56
daily- £13.40
new balance= £227,706.73

direct debit went out 1st jan- £1208.88- this is taken into account in the above balance btw

Made first 2018 overpayment- £16.73, this brings mortgage down to a rounded £227,690..
Even though I'm concentrating on savings for new 2018 projects/paying back last of workshop roof costs/ for the first few months of 2018, I'm still going to make token overpayments to the mortgage to keep me sane !:j

sammy70

"£10 overpayment made today, and £10 to diy costs :beer:
This was from refund of internet monthly cost, i complained yesterday about the internet being off for the days up to xmas,got this months cost refunded, every little helps!

sammy70

Not a lot to report today.. the weather is wet, and really cold today, so ive just got in from work, my one in four Saturday morning to work, I'm now going to get stuck into a couple of hours of tidying/cleaning..:(

Grocery costs have been low this week, and no fuel costs due to the cars hardly being used over xmas/new year:T

Ill continue with meal planning, hopefully this will help at payday, maybe a little overpayment can be made, though the bulk of any cash after direct debits etc covered will be used to pay diy costs as planned

Have a nice weekend everyone :)

sammy70

doing well with grocery savings! Managed a completely free £70.22 shop- no ive not taken to shoplifting-:) i had £70 of vouchers from work, we get them every xmas. i used these at iceland- got loads of meals, chicken breasts, cheese, cereal, everything we need for meals for the next 3 weeks!:T
the funny thing was, i found 2p behind a radiator at home, and 20p in the carpark, so had all the shop at no cost to us, woo hoo!! :beer:
im on a super frugal mission to get the next project underway, this proves every penny really does count, even pavement treasure :rotfl:

sammy70

happy weekend!!

An early start for me, we have had the fencing guy out again, to quote up for various areas of stockfencing, gates atc. We are expecting this to be expensive:eek: but, this is necessary if our livestock is to be safe.. the rest of our 2018 is mapped out for us really-
hubby and I to repair/rebuild large areas of stone walling- this will be lucky to be completed this year!:)
all spare cash this year is spoken for- paying fencing costs- buying field shelter- materials to re-roof outbuilding and repairs to this building to transform it into two stables..
my favorite bit- buying sheep/horse/chickens!:j

While money is going to be tight, we will try to make overpayments when we can, I'm intending using any savings made on the grocery budget, quidco, spending money, etc for this, but until end December, the cash after directs debits etc gone out will all go straight to pay off fencing etc costs.. it will be worth it!!:)