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

Cheery_Daff

Thanks

Don't distract me though - I just sat down to do YNAB :rotfl: :rotfl:

Got stuff I haven't cleared since 21st May :eek: Might be a long session... kettle's on...

rtandon27

...sneaks in to leave some biscuits...

...biscuits always help with YNAB...

...my session will be tomorrow, have gathered all the assorted receipts out of the bottom of my tote bag & OH has emptied his pockets of assorted paperwork...;)

...night night & happy YNABing:D

Cheery_Daff

Mmm, biscuits :j :j :j

Well, that's done but it was NOT pleasant - a right old mess and almost £200 went through the 'budget fiddling' category (which is where I round off the balance when I didn't write down what I spent stuff on...)

Still, all straight now :j and didn't transfer allocated money to savings account last month, so just did £1250 in one go, and noticed that £18 interest had gone in there too :j House fund looking very healthy now, thank goodness :j Our budget has upped over the time we've been looking (partly cos I've had a couple of pay rises, partly cos we've seen how much we're comfortable saving etc) so obviously that will up the stamp duty fee so I must remember to account for that in savings. Clearly we're guessing about conveyancing, estate agent, survey etc costs (using Martin's guide) but I think by the time we actually get round to having to pay those things, we'll have more than enough :j (and in fact with what's in the ISA we *could* pay everything now if we had to, but hopefully we'll have enough in the instant access saver).

Gosh, tired now!

Cheery_Daff

Seriously though, how to people afford to move house frequently?? I guess most of what we've saved will go towards stamp duty (which would obviously be cheaper if we were buying a cheaper house) but do people normally add the extra to the mortgage, or take a loan, or just save up every time?

Right, now I really must get out of these painty overalls!

EssexHebridean

I bet the majority just borrow more to cover all those costs without even thinking of it - and of course this is where first time buyers have a huge issue too - because they CAN'T do that as they've not got any equity in a property to take the costs from in the first place!

Greying_Pilgrim

Cheery,

Morning :hello:

i've been and gorn and dunn it! I've signed up for the UFM - July on Mrs frugalwoods thread! I thought you did so well in January, that you have inspired me to have a bash

One question, did you think that being in the faceache group added much to the experience? I'm not a fan of any of the media's sociale, and don't really want to join just for this challenge. But if you thought I would get, say, 50% more out of it all if I joined up, well then I suppose I had better.

What's your opinion, dear heart?

EDIT: Thanks for the quick response over on mine, love. Appreciated

Greying X

Cheery_Daff

Oops, didn't even see your post on here Greying - my own thread didn't show as having any new posts!

Well, I am going to sign up too :j :j things have been getting rather spendy of late and we need to be in a good financial position right now.

House moving is progressing slowly, but at least progressing. Had an estate agent round to value the other day, happy with what he said and he was muh cheaper than the folks we had 18 months ago :money:

Also went to see another house at the weekend that we fell in love with... and we put in an offer this morning :eek:

Don't go getting excited though - it was rejected 30 mins later as the vendor was 'looking to get something closer to the asking price' :rotfl: Going to have a discussion with Mr Cheery about whether to put in another offer, but they said two lots of people are having a 2nd viewing this week and we can't afford to get into too much of a bidding war...

Made an appointment with a different bank's mortgage adviser, although I was quite vexed to find, on ringing to make a 'branch appointment' that this does NOT mean an appointment in a branch, but rather a 90 minute telephone conversation amd only after that will they meet you face to face. I've booked it for later this week, but confess I'm exhausted even thinking about spending 90 mins on the phone with a bank... :eek:

Also had a recommendation for an independent broker, so going to get in touch with them in the morning and see if I can make an appointment this week - if I can I'm tempted to cancel annoying bank and see where we get with them instead.

Might also brave posting over on the mortgages board as we're in an odd situation with Mr Cheery being somewhat older than me - if we put him (and his earnings) on the mortgage, we don't get as long (and therefore potentially have less money) but can we NOT put him on given current house is in both our names? Also is it wise to use his pension lump sum towards deposit, and can we do that if he's not on the mortgage?

Nothing's ever straightforward is it?

Anyway, an uber frugal month might help to demonstrate to the bank that we can afford what we think we can afford. Although clearly not every month is going to be quite that frugal!

Anyway, we'll see. Am thoroughly sick of living in building site and we are set on putting ours on the market the week of 10th July come what may! :j :j

EssexHebridean

Hopefully your question about joint names on current house has already been answered elsewhere.

Exciting to be at the point of actually being able to make proper offers on places you like! But I completely get why you're unimpressed with the bank - 90 minutes on the phone?! :eek:

I shan't be participating in Uber Frugal July but will be cheering those of you who are on from the sidelines!

Cheery_Daff

Thanks EH

Got an appointment (face to face) with mortgage adviser this afternoon so have cancelled stupid bank. They just asked my date of birth and address and said 'right that's cancelled, bye' - no asking why, no attempt to rearrange. I mean of course I'd rather they weren't nosy but clearly they've got too much business to bother with being nice to a potential new mortgage client!! :eek:

Hey ho. Have all our financial paperwork gathered up and we shall see where we end up...

Cheery_Daff

Well, what a difference a couple of days makes! :eek:

We have a mortgage agreed in principle for 25 years :j

We're going for a second viewing on our new house in 3 hours

Photographer is booked for Wednesday morning :eek: :eek: :eek:

Must say I LOVE having a broker I was slightly skeptical (I'm quite independent and believe myself capable of most things if I put my mind to them), but I had a recommendation from a friend, and as our situation is slightly odd with Mr Cheery going past retirement age during mortgage period, thought I'd give it a go.

I also rather liked the idea of (a) only having to explain everything once, and (b) not having to grapple with online comparison sites - you know how much I hate checking the insurance and this is 100 times worse! :eek:

Anyway, a 45 minute chat with him (in person, over a cuppa), and less than 48 hours later we had an offer with absolutely no messing about from me :j :j Now wondering whether I can get him to do other tasks for me :rotfl: :rotfl:

Incidentally, part of the reason it was so straightforward was because I had all my financial paperwork in order - bank statements, payslips for me, tax returns and pension forecast for Mr Cheery - and a year's worth of YNAB reports showing actual expenditure on bills, but also household stuff of food, clothes, etc :rotfl: felt a bit embarrassed with my little graphs but he was delighted and it saved us sitting and guessing and filling the forms in on the spot - I just handed everything over and he did it after I'd gone :rotfl:

Not sure what he made of my Budget Fiddling and No Quibble categories but still :rotfl: :rotfl:

So we're now in a position to offer the asking price today if we decide to go ahead, and ohr estate agents are on standby to confirm we're booked in for Wednesday...

Fingers crossed! Also fingers crossed for my poor back - going to be shifting a LOT of stuff in the next four days :eek: :eek: