Paying the car tax via EBay, and other shenanigans.

mfmaybe

Thanks L - he is still ravenous at breakfast time so growth spurt could be it.

INOD - no we haven't, will consider after we have moved.

Talking of which, that's today. Wish us luck! Won't be on here so much until we get our internet sorted. Will try to check in via my phone but I'm not very good at typing on it.

mfmaybe

We are moved. Mixed feelings. Mainly tired - just logged off work 5 minutes ago. Started at 7.30am, with a short childcare interlude of a couple of hours. Meh.

Anyway the good news is money seems ok. (Well more than ok as we've got the house funds burning a hole in our savings account )

brizzledfw

How's it going MFM? Settled in yet?

Hope work has eased off

x

mfmaybe

Thanks Brizzle for checking in. Just got our internet last night so will get a chance to catch up! Feeling a bit more settled, but also weirdly homesick. We'd been in that house a long time and whilst this is better in some ways, it's not home and we know that. Also it's a long way from nursery so doing lots of driving about the place. Sigh.

Anyway things are fine really, work has calmed down a little. Will try to do a proper catch up soon!

mfmaybe

OK so will try a bit of a catch up.

So house is sold. All fees paid, mortgage paid off and a decent lump sum in our joint savings. That said, we've spent a good bit of it (in a 5 year goal kind of way). Moving costs weren't too bad as we did it ourselves so a month or so's storage costs, a couple or rolls of parcel tape, and some extra fuel. Everything had been so busy beforehand with work that wasn't as prepared as I'd hoped so the last day was manic. The in laws came to help and were shattered (as were we but it was our house and responsibility!). Very sad to leave the old place, but plans are afoot.

So onto the rental - it's fine, more modern and therefore warmer. Working our way through the change of address requirements. Internet now set up, utilities changing in a couple of weeks and importantly Ama-z1n know where we now live. This is useful for online purchases of gin :rotfl:. There is an Aldeee and Leedl both very near. Sainsbobs is further away but better than the Tesc0 that we'd have to use otherwise. The dishwasher hasn't been working but that has been fixed today finally. Yippeeeee. But as well as not working, it had been leaking (before we moved in) and therefore there is a definite damp smell in the house. Leak now repaired (mouse damage - cats better get busy) so fingers crossed that makes the place smell fresher!

I haven't been paying micro-attention to finances but I knew I hadn't been particularly overspending anywhere. That said, I have once again lost control of the monthly CC, in as much as money not set aside for it. So starting afresh on that. AGAIN :mad:.

Payday next week - card payment due. £271 shortfall.
Payday the month after - as it stands, shortfall is £470. Plus anything else we spend in the next week that I don't transfer cash for. Mitigants:

There is the huge annual road tax on it. Another 2 pay months will allow me to set aside another £120.
If all goes well this month I could put another £100 into the card account.
The monthly income (now reinstated) for my flat is seemingly been paid on a 4 weekly basis. At some point this might catch up but not sure when.

Budget is a bit less tight so perhaps more room for flex.

OK so enough for a catch up. Will come back if I think of anything else!

mfmaybe

On 29 Jan 2016 I posted this:

mfmaybe wrote: »

In other news, which is a bit mean as I'm not actually nearly ready to give details....I wrote a while ago about making a 5 year plan of achieving something I've always wanted. I think we are making decisions that will move us towards this goal, hopefully a good bit before the 5 year aim. It will have financial implications but all I can do in the meantime is continue to pay off debt, and ensure I grow the good habits I've been learning.

I think I did fess up what the plan was. But here it is again. I wanted to live in a house with my own land. As you know I have horses and we had been renting land for many years. This worked-ish, but wasn't ideal, and I decided we needed to make it work somehow. So just after that post we started getting our house ready to sell. A month later I found out I'd be losing my rented land anyway, so just as well. :eek:

Fast forward 18 months and we have now sold the house and <drumroll> bought the land. We have bought a large site and field with planning permission to build our own house :T. It involves relocating, but that is "back home" and makes sense from a family perspective.

So at time of selling, our mortgage on the existing house was £194k and a few pounds. We've managed to buy the land for cash out of proceeds, and now have the remaining cash to start building. Obviously we will need a mortgage too, but my minimum plan is to put another £750/month against what would have been the mortgage (just typed £750k per month - hahahaha :rotfl:). So let's say in a year's time the total mortgage on the new house should be no more than £194k less (£750*12). We could round that up and say mortgage should be no more than £184k. Rather than paying down our mortgage we will be boosting the savings whilst also depleting them by paying for the build. So it's going to be hard to keep track but that's the main goal.

PurpleFairy26

How exciting :T and what a lovely place to bro g up DS, just been able to go outside to your animals. How wonderful.

Plus design your own house, totes jealous (in a good way ) :rotfl: amamzing, best of luck with it all.

mfmaybe

Thanks PF it is exciting and also terribly daunting. I think I need to trust myself more though. I have literally always wanted to do this and have been doodling/sketching/thinking/planning/spreadsheet-ing for years. Literally. So I keep thinking we need lots and lots of expensive help, but really now I'm not so sure. (I am in the process of talking to architects hence why I'm in self-doubt territory!)

in_need_of_direction

Have you a wish list of what your new home will have? I do and yet have no plans for moving. This will be a forever home so make sure that it's all that you've dreamt of.

brizzledfw

Sounds brilliant. Be brave and have fun x