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

Karmacat

Sounds extremely cheery, apart from the lack of sleep. Nice reason even for that!

starnac

I have coco pops for breakfast quite often There has to be some upside to being woken at the crack of dawn by the kids!! :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

Certainly does starnac! :rotfl:

You're right KC, of course, although I confess I'm not looking forward to another night of it In fact we've got him for another two nights, then a break over the weekend, then again for a couple of nights next week :eek: He's fast asleep now - maybe I should be napping too?? :rotfl:

Not much to report. Bought some cakes to take to meeting for 59p :money: someone else had brought cake too, so I gave mine away (otherwise I would have eaten all eight french fancies before Mr Cheery even got home )

Just done a bit of digging, and it appears that my pay will increase by roughly £83 a month in September :j I was expecting about £50, but had actually forgotten about it when budgeting the other day

Combined with the extra £50 I'd overestimated the council tax by, that gives us around an extra £133 a month in the budget :j

That feels like a nice bit of wiggle room

Also - Mr Cheery has been investigating possibilities for a second car :eek: We'll get a teensy, efficient and cheap one that'll probably have a £30 tax rate - I'd budgeted for £130 (same as current one) so that's another nearly £10 a month there :j

Love MSE, making us count the pennies which rapidly add up :j :j

Cheery_Daff

Full mortgage application all sorted and signed :eek: :eek: At least we know exactly what we're budgeting for now :eek:

Turnaround according to building society website is 8 working days - broker said to expect slightly longer than that but at any rate we should hear within a couple of weeks or so

<drums fingers impatiently>

Cheery_Daff

Still no answer from mortgage company :rotfl:

Realised we'd taken ID docs but broker hadn't asked to see them. Have emailed copies but if they're not sufficient I'll have to drive back over there. Wouldn't mind but it's a 16 mile round trip!

Actual mortgage we've applied for doesn't seem like a bad deal - 1.8% fixed for two years, no arrangement fee, and they pay the valuation fee.

There was an option of upgrading to a full structural survey but they wanted an extra £1000 :eek: Glad I read Martin's advice first - he said to budget £700 and I got three quotes earlier this week which have all come in around that amount so I'll be organising that separately once the valuation has been done (so we can follow uo anything it brings up).

Monthly payment will be £890 :eek: that's probably not too abnormal but having never had a mortgage it seems outlandish :rotfl: Mr Cheery's old one was about £213 :rotfl:

We can overpay by 10% a year - and my aim is to get as close to that as possible Nowhere near in the first few years of course :eek: :rotfl: But I'll be starting a new MFW diary as soon as we move :j

Just ordered my first payout from Prolific of £24.90 :j :j That'll go straight to the house fund - or, more accurately, the stamp duty part of the house fund. Still need about £2700 more in there before we move so it's a race to save before everthing is finished :eek: can pilfer from ISA if necessary but I'd rather not!

Nothing else to report I don't think. Ate yesterday's lunch for tea (courgette and noodles etc - inspired by Greying's courgette pasta dish and probably not half so nice).

We did buy a treating lunch after we saw the mortgage broker but since it consisted of potato cakes and goats cheese for me (£3) and oatcakes and makerel for Mr Cheery (£3 ish ) it wasn't toooo extravagant...

Right, already in bed so I should get some sleep before pesky dog wakes up again!

Cheery_Daff

Morning MSE chums :hello:

Well pesky dog only woke me four times last night, fidgeting and snuffling...

Had Everyday Rewards payment from bank - £4 for paying in wages, not going overdrawn etc and £1.50 for using debit card to pay for stuff. Easy money :j Transferred straight to house fund :j

Also it's payday :money: going to sort YNAB as soon as I've taken dog out first job is to transfer full mortgage payment to house fund - if I can't do it now I'm going to struggle when we move!

Most excited today as an MSE pal is coming to visit :j :j actually visiting a place down the road but coming here for lunch then we'll do tea/ice cream in cafe - very MSE :money: (although i suppose VERY mse would be taking our own tea in a flask...) :rotfl:

Anyway, none of this will happen if I don't get out of bed!

Greying_Pilgrim

Morning Cheery - YAY for MSE chums visiting :j hope you have a proper cheery, rainbow-filled lunch; that hindlegs off donkeys are talked and that you have mucho, mucho - within budget - fun together

Greying X

Cheery_Daff

Thanks Greying It'll be a lentil-filled lunch the rate we're going - I don't have much else in so will have to be creative :rotfl:

Off to sort banks and YNAB

Cheery_Daff

Right - YNAB sorted :j

£900 into house fund - that's now up to £13,708.45 :eek:

Going to be very distressing to see that disappear in one fell swoop :eek: But it's got to cover

£1650 estate agents fees
£1505 for the rest of the conveyancing fees (already paid £250 for searches)
£11,500 stamp duty
= £14,655

:eek: Plus whatever the removal people cost - we'll likely be using a friend of a friend who is a 'man with a van' who's moved a few other people that we know so hopefully not tooooo expensive.

So we should actually reach the planned total wit next month's payday in the middle of September :j :j :j Most satisfying to have got there (just) before we move :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

Well what a lovely day :j :j

We have been visited by the lovely Pippi, who has been close by on a work trip :j :j and her canine chums - VERY exciting for our own canine chum who is staying for a few days :j Eeek!

Wandered down to the local botanical gardens with all the dogs, then got soaked on the way home :rotfl:

Very MSE - made lentil soup and soda bread, and avoided the cafe altogether :j :j (although me and Mr Cheery did take our £4 of the treats budget to the local cafe once they'd left...)

Our dog pal actually stole a big chunk of cheese from the kitchen table while we were in the garden :eek: :rotfl: never known him to steal food before so I reckon Pippi's dogs were egging him on, or he was trying to show off :rotfl: took three of us to wrestle it out of his mouth - what a waste of cheese! :eek: pesky hound.

Wandered into J@ck Fultons this evening - got three blocks of paneer for £1 :j just made half a block into a curry that'll last two meals so quite a bargain. No idea how long it keeps - can you freeze it??

Also got some coconut milk - now Greying you may know the answer, but what on earth has happened to blocks of creamed coconut?? Always used to have one in the cupboard for curries, and they were dead cheap, but I havent seen one for sale anywhere for months, if not years! Only coconut oil and tins of milk now. What's going on??

Hey ho. Nowt else to report. Just started my sock knitting again - got some wool in a charity shop for 50p the other day that will make at least pair so thought I'd best finish off the ones I've already started first!