Cheery's buttling diary: tea in one hand, plant pot in the other, running shoes on

rtandon27

Carrot Cake?

Cheery_Daff

Er, trying to lessen the amount of cake that I'm eating at the minute RT! :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl: Quite impressed that I only put on 1.5lbs over Christmas :j but even so - the less cake the better for the time being, I think :rotfl:

I have, however, eaten 3 bowls of carrot soup :rotfl:

Not going to do any decorating this week, but I'm now thinking I should probably do a bit of a tidy up before the man comes on Monday... :eek: Downstairs isn't too bad (mostly boxes in the kitchen :rotfl: and Christmas tree in the living room). Attic is fine, tidied up for friend to stay last night. Bedroom needs clothes mountains putting away :eek: and workshop is just a giant pile of boxes - might at least put things in there in a pile so he can see the holes in the wall round the window :eek: :rotfl:

Feels quite exciting

Will also have to investigate finances again - haven't been back to the bank since got the new job so need to do a recalculation - will wait til we've got an idea of what we might get for the house. Estate agents have an independent financial advisor, so might investigate that too, and a mortgage broker recommended by a pal.

I remember making a list of all the other things we'd need to put aside for too, so I'd best dig that out and make sure it's not all in the ISA where we can't get at it! :eek: :rotfl:

I'm feeling my way with all this, never bought a house before even though we're selling this one, and Mr Cheery only ever bought this one, and I imagine things have changed somewhat in the last 26 years... :rotfl:

So I suspect Martin :money: will be our guru on this one

Oohh - also had a renewal quote for house insurance, due early Jan. £120 for buildings and contents for the year (was £108 last year) - at that price I don't think I'll bother shopping around (I do so hate shopping around :0 ), but must check they've got all the right details.

Cheery_Daff

Aha, found my list of fees - taken from here

* Mortgage fees (plus possible booking fee) = up to £2500 (can add to mortgage, but then you pay interest on it too)
* Valuation fee = £300-400
* Surveys = £400-700 (advises budgetting for 2-3) = £800-£2100
* Mortgage broker = anything from £0 to £500
* Stamp duty = £1500-5000 depending on cost of new house
* Conveyancing fee = £500-£1000
* Land registry fee = Likely £300
* Removal costs - got a couple of pals with big vans so MAY do most of this ourselves, but will budget £300

GRAND TOTAL: £3700-£12,100 :eek::eek::eek:

Crikey. Let's hope we don't land up with the top whack of all of those things :eek:

I can feel a new budget coming on... :rotfl: Although while it's tempting, I might wait til I actually get my first pay slip from new job to see exact amounts - should be around 18th Jan I think.

Might set up a section in YNAB for each of those things though and start populating it...

Cheery_Daff

Right - I have just spent a happy hour setting up the new version of YNAB (on a free trial :money: ) and I *think* I've got everything sorted out... :rotfl:

SO - before I abandon the old version, and while I can still easily see data for this year - a round up :j :j

Overall, net worth (calculated as 'money in all accounts' - doesn't include house/car etc) increased by £3329.74 :j :j Somehow I feel like I should have been able to save more than that but still We did actually pay for holidays etc too of course so technically saved more, then spent it :rotfl:


In total we have spent £20,994.73 :eek: Which doesn't include the food Mr Cheery has bought. Actually, that's not toooo bad for two of us I suppose, just feels a lot when you lump it all together like that...

That total includes:

£3893 (19%) on monthly bills
£2316 (11%) on rainy day funds (car/house repairs, dentist, and includes the amount still sitting in the emergency fund I think)
£773 (4%) on annual bills
£2567 (12%) on everyday expenses (diesel, treats budget, household stuff)
£7095 (34%) on savings goals (birthdays, Christmas, holidays, no quibble weekends, patchwork fund etc)
£137 (1%) charity donations
£2150 (10%) on 'hidden categories' (primarily my work travel - hidden because it no longer exists!)
and, most shockingly, £2059 (10%) on my own spending on frivolities and socialising :eek:

Crikey :eek:

As a balance of percentages though that's not too bad - although I could probably increase the 'giving' category and reduce my own personal spending rather a lot :rotfl: Surprised how little goes on actual BILLS and necessities - so much discretionary spending in there! But that's good - means it can be rejigged at will

So next year, there will be a slight rearrangement of categories based on what I've learned Back in a sec with new goals

Karmacat

Lots of discretion there! So a happy, discretionary year to you

Cheery_Daff

Thanks KC I'll be getting a lot more discretionary income in the near future :eek: which will rapidly disappear when I take out an enormous mortgage, no doubt Not going to complain about that though, not at all! :j

Hit a snag with the new version of YNAB - my phone is 3 years old and therefore incompatible with the new version of the mobile app :rotfl: :rotfl: That'll teach me to save money and not replace a perfectly working phone for no reason :rotfl: So back to the old version, but I'm going to do a 'fresh start' and start all over again :j I do like a fresh start :j

Lovely evening last night with friends, and stayed over at someone's house, and went out for brunch this morning :j Now curled up on the sofa with The Sound of Music - very jolly :j :j

Cheery_Daff

Ok, caved and bought a new phone NOT ideal But I've been considering it for a while, lots of things have stopped working now, and I've got a manufactured reconditioned one at least :j Not the latest version, but an awful lot more up to date than mine!

New boots for work will have to wait now

But on the plus side, I'll be able to use the new YNAB

rtandon27

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

But on the plus side, I'll be able to use the new YNAB

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Love the reasoning!

Cheery_Daff

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I'm actually embarrassed about it :rotfl: :rotfl: But I've had this one for over 3 years now, and all kinds of things don't work any more But in reality I suppose it could have limped on for another few months at least

Oh dear

Cheery_Daff

Hmm - finally got round to looking at the Ovo email about fixing tariffs and have fixed again for the next year with a 100% renewables thingy

Only issue is, it seems to be saying my direct debit is £86, when I was on a flexible one before at £71 and we're £281 in credit...

In fact, I've just looked and it's suggesting we switch to £67 a month on the flexible thing, so I'll do that now and see if they put it up again at the end of January when we switch to the new plan. Fingers crossed they don't - I've opted for 'online management only' so should retain the ability to change it!