Dreaming of our forever home!

BlueMoo

My OH works at a school and it's not just the kids - staff nights/governor fundraisers/plays/performances/school proms/food on trips all for each of the 7 years.

It pretty much is never ending.

RIGHT OFF THE SOFA!:rotfl:

Muser1

Yes it's constant! This week has been Poppies, Christmas cards, school trip! Need I go on.

x

RunningGirl

Thanks for popping in BlueMoo and Muser1. And thanks for the push off the sofa...it worked :j

Busy week with more school spends and money for Christmas work night out.

Another overpayment made bringing this months total to £500. Hoping for another £500-650 next month then looking to start next year with a £1,000 OP if I can. Have extra money in the everyday account that has accumulated, for various reasons, over the past year but want to get 2014 started with a clean slate and budget. I've always liked having a bit of a buffer in the everyday account but there's just too much in there just now and it's not doing very much - well apart from making me want to go and spend it

Christmas shopping nearly complete - thanks goodness! Few bits and pieces to get this weekend and that should be it unless DS keeps adding to his Santa list, which he seems to be doing quite a lot of recently :rotfl:

Waiting on my £40 from opinion poll coming through and have just got back into valued opinions as have never been able to complete any of their surveys on the ipad. Need to go into Consumer Pulse and claim my next £10 voucher.

Managed to get a new phone the other week - same monthly cost but more minutes :T

Amount we're spending in the supermarkets has become a bit too high lately, although we do have a pretty packed freezer and cupboards not too bad. Giving myself just £20 for next week's shop :cool:

Looking ahead to next year's targets and thinking of having an op target of £7000, increase savings by £2000 + (already at £11,200). So both of those plus saving for birthdays, Christmas, annual household and car bills and house maintenance means a monthly target of £900 :eek:BUT I already have a standing order going into my savings and we'll have 2 free council tax months PLUS the excess money in the everyday account so that should (hopefully!!!!) bring it down to around £680 - phew!

I'm also thinking of setting myself a mini target of not spending any money on clothes from dec-march/April. Well, apart from any Xmas money & vouchers I get! I'm not daft enough to leave myself with no clothes spends and I know loads of people on the various boards have managed a year or more with no clothing spends but I'm a bit of a clothesaholic :rotfl:

Happy Friday everyone :beer:

FloppyDisk

Hi RunningGirl! Just wanted to pop in and say what a good start you've made! You're putting us old hands to shame. I have a similar plan to yours - pay off as much as poss on the current mortgage and reap the benefits on the next purchase. Are you happy where you are now? I find it so hard to enjoy my current home when I can't stop dreaming about the next!

Anyway, keep up the good work!
Floppy x

RunningGirl

Hi FloppyDisk and thanks for the kind words! I'm a bit like you and always thinking about the next house. Our house is ok - hate the kitchen and bathroom and refuse to spend much money on them as won't get our money back when we move - overall area is great and we'll stay within the area ish as schools are fab here.

Couple of no spend days but more Christmas shopping to do tomorrow :eek:

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

BlueMoo

Ditto FloppyDisk and RunningGirl. I do love my current house, but it's just not what I truly want. Not to sound ungrateful - I am so lucky to have a roof over my head, a job and a great life.
Though we have done the majority of renovation, we still have a couple of bits to go and I just want them done now! :rotfl:It's hard waiting.....

Muser1

Snap blue moo. X

RunningGirl

haha - looks like there's plenty of us in the same boat! I have a very bad habit of looking at the local property guide online most days :rotfl: I'm soooo impatient too.....

Worked out some more budgets for next year - it's not looking pretty :eek: Don't think there will be many treats next year :cool:

Heating on more now but i had to with a little one in the house - so cold the past few days. Managing more no spend days which is a bonus - 2 so far this week :T

RunningGirl

Money saving tip for today for anyone who is reading my nonsense :money::D

Body shop have got 35% off online plus free gift and free delivery if you spend over £5. However, if you have a love your body card you get an additional 40% off! I use their face base so stocked up along with their lightning touch and saved £26!! I had been running low on it so really glad I managed to get it very cheap!

Happy shopping :money:

RunningGirl

Ooops - MIA for a wee while

Busy getting ready for Christmas and have worked out a new budget for next year but we're starting it this month so all credit cards (we pay most things on CCs then pay off in full at end of month as all our CCs earn us money ) will show true balances etc. Finally got the OH on board - took a wee bit of persuasion but we got there in the end lol!

All presents except one are bought - feeling organised! Christmas tree up and decorated, small child becoming unbearable - it's nearly Christmas :j

Made regular £500 OP last week. We have quite a lot of spare money in the everyday account for various reasons but at the start of next month I want to bring this down to the bare minimum so we can see exactly what we're left with at the end of the month. So there will be a bigger than normal OP next month (woohoo!) as well as money being put aside in various savings pots to be used for annual bills etc. the new budget will be a bit of a challenge and there'll be quite a few cut backs. Let's hope we can do it but keep the balance with having a life/fun etc etc

Happy nearly hump day peeps :beer: