Country Home Wishes & Plans

Wish_List

Ooh, what a lovely feeling starting up a brand new, clean diary that's fresh out of it's package!

After doing lots of lurking and picking up lots of tips and inspiration I've decided to write my own "Mortgage Free To Be" diary to have the addition of a fantastic relocation out to more natural surroundings.

I do currently have a small mortgage in a family size house that , as lovely as it is, isn't for me anymore. I now have dreams and wishes of owning a nice converted property in a beautiful country location that also contains a community spirit. Living in Essex and working in London have both been great to me and the people I meet are generally really nice but I just feel that this life that I'm living right now doesn't suit me anymore.

I have no real responsibilities. No children, boyfriend or husband to worry about and I have really good equity in my current home (possibly enough to at least get me further out in a "stepping stone" home, if need be) so the timing is perfect. I am just a little short of the money I need to move away into the places I like the look of and be mortgage free there. I currently work part time and am on a good wage, and in order to get to where I want to be as fast as possible it has been my wages and fear of the unknown keeping me here. If I can get my current mortgage paid up and have a bit more in savings then I'll be in the best position to make this big change.

So this diary is to keep me on track in finding ways to boost my finances so I can really push ahead. Boot sales have unfortunately finished for this year so I'll need to look into things like eBay and Amazon to chip away at surplus clutter and also to find other ways of bringing some pennies in.

I am guilty of cluttering too, but the bonus is that I have things to sell. It's easier to get rid of things when you ask yourself "would this fit well into my new life?" and when the answer is invariably no then it goes into the To Sell list! So my first step is to prepare things to put for sale online!

On top of this I don't want to put my life on hold. I love to be around people and my friends are incredibly important to me, so hopefully I can stick with cheaper ways of entertaining. I'm quite frugal as it is and I think I do what I can to save money so hopefully this diary can put all of my tricks into focus and keep my eye on the end goal. It would be a real bonus if things I do could help anyone reading to see how to have fun without spending much.

So diary! Let's get this show started!

Wish_List

December 2013 - hoping to achieve

1. Move all Direct Debit's to 1-2-3 account.
2. Organise savings jars and accounts and update spreadsheet.
3. Get bike tidied up to save money on travel.
4. Cancel TV, Phone and TV Licence.
5. Make a decision on figure to aim for with savings. Get focused.

SmlSave

Welcome Wish List

Melaniep101

Hi Wish List

Good luck - I'll follow your thread as I have country home dreams too :-)

Mel

Wish_List

Hello SmlSave and MelanieP. Thank you for the welcome.

I haven't put together much for selling online so I need to get into gear for that.

I have managed to book a weekend's entertainment which won't cost much. On Saturday I'm going into London for an exhibition with a friend which is free to get in. He's bringing along another friend of his and as the 3 of us are interested in learning more on photography we'll spend some time on that. His friend takes some really enviable pictures so it'll be lovely to get his advice.

Sunday is a quiet day where I have some of my own personal work to do and then on Monday evening I've got my first training session that I bought a couple of months ago on one of the voucher sites. 10 training classes for £15.

Financially things are feeling a bit uncomfortable this month but I think that's due to my need to feel organised battling with not wanting to spend money. I really want to get the last of my Christmas gifts for people, but I don't want to part with any money either! . I've ordered a BHS cheap hamper today for my next door neighbour and that's the last standard gift I had to get leaving just 2 close family members and then I'm done!

I have shop & scan points I can redeem for Amazon vouchers so I'll see if I can get their gifts with those.

Today felt so much colder than we've had recently. I've even been reduced to putting my heating on! What's that about?

I hope everyone is managing to keep warm and frugal. I've been reading some diaries and forum postings on here and they go from being a major motivation and inspiration with lots of tips to those that are heartbreaking to read due to dire circumstances. Although, those are still usually inspirational stories, especially when you can hear that those going through terrible times keep themselves strong and upbeat. Amazing.

Wish_List

A fab weekend. The exhibition was quite heart wrenching as it was based around refugees and their hardships. There were some signs on the wall and one just said "I love my wife. I will find you". My eyes welled up reading that. There were some people being interviewed on camera but I didn't like to listen in as their stories are so personal and shocking.

From there we decided on a mystery tour so just jumped on the first bus that came along and got off at a place we liked the look of. Although we were taking a lot of pictures, there were also some lovely delis that we had a look in. The 2 guys I was with bought lots of cheese, but I'm not a big cheese fan so just loved the excuse to have a wander around the shop. One youngster wandered in with his Mum and in a very loud and clear voice said "this shop is stupid, it's too stinky for me". Surprisingly when his Mum asked that he not make a fuss as it was the last shop she needed, he had a look through his bag and brought out a couple of tiny toys that he marched along the counter very quietly. He couldn't have been more than 5 years old!

I'm really happy with some of the photos I took and have been playing around with a couple of them today. I have so much more to learn, but I do like a few of the ones I've taken. One in particular I'll get printed off and will find a home for it.

Today I've had a lot of online work to do, so have been getting on with that. Nothing exciting but productive.

I've got some financial things to sort out next week! I've also not put anything up on eBay again this weekend! I need to regroup!

I hope all weekends have been fab for everyone. x

sleepygirl126

welcome and good luck!!

Wish_List

Thank you sleepgirl.

It's been quite a busy week. I checked my noddle report and my last CCJ dropped off on 14th of this month! It's still on my Noddle account as that gets updated this weekend. To celebrate I applied for a Santander 123 account in the hope of getting some cashback on the bills I pay. They've emailed to say it's with the underwriters so it's 50/50 at this point I guess.

My 3% Aqua card is being removed too! I've earned almost £160 on that since I started using over a year ago so that's a bit of a blow. I've looked at the Luma card with it's Groceries and Petrol 4% cashback which may be worth applying for. I'll see what happens on Santander first before suddenly encouraging another search on my profile.

I'm off for a weekend away that I booked a few months ago this weekend and it's pretty bad timing! I need petrol and minimum money for food while away, but it's still feeling a bit stressful. I have a Boots voucher to take with me for the shopping trip, and it's nice to think I'll probably come home with it too as there really isn't anything I want.

So no more work for me until Tuesday again! Yay to that. There's something great about the evening of the last working day of the week, knowing that your time off still stretches in front of you! I'm seeing my personal trainer for my little 30 minute session before I pop off on my trip and if I've still not lost any weight I think he's going to beat me with a barbell! Even just 1lb would please us both!

Well I should go and pack now. Big warm winter woolies it is!!!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

lilyp

Hi wish list. When was your ccj from? I am currently on my third year since paid off bu credit rating still dire.

Good luck with your dream home

Wish_List

Hi lilyp,

It was issued on 14th November 2009. All CCJ's remain on your file for 6 years whether they're paid up or not. My last one is paid up, but wasn't sufficiently updated so states that it's still outstanding. As it didn't have long before it fell off I didn't pursue a settlement date on it.

I'm oddly in 2 minds about improving my credit file right now because I've had a few fraud attempts but as my credit is so rubbish they've fallen at the first hurdle! It's like my identity theft protection! Now I'm going to need to do something a little more proactive!

sleepygirl126

I'm stuck with one too!!! Another 4 years...:eek: