Tm's MFW ramblings

gallygirl

Ooooohhhhh, good luck :T

SuperSecretSquirrel

15k :eek:

Make it happen! :cool:

lavinia21

turtlemoose im crossing everything for you good luck

turtlemoose

Well I've heard nothing back about my application yet, but the OH has managed to bag himself a new job with an extra 1k salary (and an extra 2k in 6 months time but he doesn't have this in writing so I keep [STRIKE]nagging[/STRIKE] telling him to get this sorted). His new job means we should be able to get rid of his car, freeing up the £200 pm it costs to run it. He starts Monday!

We seem to be in spend spend spend mode at the moment. It's not like us (or rather, like me!) at all. It's the wedding....we are only having a small no-nonsense registry office ceremony (but even that is £70 for licences and £165 for ceremony) plus a party at a pub afterwards....but the costs are just creeping up and creeping up! Got the rings to buy next....

And OH had some overtime lately and wanted to be a bit spendy, so that was £115 on tickets to a music festival in London in June. Just pricing up travel and we are looking at another £60 on top for travel. Plus drinks and food at London event prices. It's all mounting up quickly OH thinks I'm daft and we need to enjoy ourselves, but I feel guilty spending so much money when we have so much debt to pay.

turtlemoose

ok so almost 3 weeks later and NOTHING back about that job.

However, the recruiting manager (one step down from Director level) *apparently* told a QS here that they were "in no hurry to fill the position".

So that leaves me stewing over WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?! and DID HE EVEN ACTUALLY SAY IT. and OMFG I REALLY WANT THIS JOB AND THE GUY FILLING IN AT THE MO IS A NICE ENOUGH BLOKE BUT NOT AS GOOD AS MEEEEEEE.

and breathe!!

Is it a good idea to put together a little "what I'd do if I got the job" mini plan and catch said senior manager for 10 mins to whiz through it? Or is that too pushy? ARGH!

turtlemoose

As mentioned on another thread, I'm a planner. OH got his new van on day one of his new job which was an unexpected surprise as he'd initially been told it'd be a month or so before he got it. This is VERY GOOD NEWS for the budget, meaning I've had a good old reshuffle of the plan

In other VERY GOOD NEWS, OH's mum has said she will give us some money towards the wedding - the amount she has said will cover the food for our reception (the venue is free) so that is worthy of celebration!

So we need to budget for the following:
£150 - bouncy castle and decorations for reception
£600 - estimated for wedding ring x2 (off to jewelry quarter on Sat, have no idea how realistic this budget is for both of us!)
£500 - honeymoon spending money
£150 - OH clothes (will hire a suit, this is a generous estimate just in case)
£100 - miscellaneous for whatever we forget at the last minute!!
TOTAL : £1500 :eek::eek:

The wedding rings we will put on the Santand*r 123 CC as it is 0% interest on spending, and pay it off after the loan (4.9% interest) is gone. So need £900 in cash up front.

Plan is to make no debt OPs for May, June and July. Instead, the surplus will go to wedding pot - £200, £300 and £400 can be skimmed off the joint account, making the £900 required.

Then, once we are hitched, due to not having the car costs and OH having a little extra income we should be able to make a decent OP in August. Then September, ohhhh September. DS becomes eligible for his 15 free hours. That's when the spare cash really starts to flow. Here's my summary, I'm going to write the figures here so that I can't cheat and edit my spreadsheet
PLANNED DEBT OPS:
Aug: £300
Sept: £665
Oct: £740
Nov: £540
Dec: £520
Jan: £665
Feb: £495
Mar: £235

If we stick to this, we will be DF on the 21st March 2016, and not only that, we will still have a £350+ surplus that month. Then April 2016, oh April.....our surplus for the joint account will be ....are you ready... £880 :T:T:eek::eek::cool::cool::beer::beer: (I think that deserves an abundance of smileys!).

edinburgher

Excellent!

To be honest, the only silver lining (financially) that I can find about having children is that one day we'll be able to up our earnings again after the massive drop when Mrs E cuts down her hours for the next ? years.

The plan is to keep saving and investing hard during this lean period and hopefully by the time this happens, we'll be used to living on less, allowing for a more aggressive push for FI.

I know children are all about lovehearts and unicorns and stuff, but this is a financial board after all

Hooray for OH's Mum. I love little surprises like that. When we're budgeting, I always make the assumption that we're paying for everything. That way, everything we don't pay for is a mini triumph.

I sometimes regret howmuch I spent on engagement/wedding rings for Mrs E, I think my pride probably lend to spending a lot more than she would have been happy with?

turtlemoose

That April surplus is with the nipper still in full time nursery - when he goes to school in Sept 16 the childcare bill will drop again (just wraparound care) freeing up about another £300 or so. Imagine what £1k a month off my mortgage will do to my term!!

Now that the end is in sight for nursery fees, I'm feeling reluctant to go back to that again. But I very much would like another child, and soon. Decisions decisions.

Ref the rings - I really don't know if I've even got a ballpark figure there. Neither of us want to spend silly amounts of money on them, but we also both agreed that if we see something we really like then we should get it (within reason!) because of what it is/what it's a symbol for/how long it will last. OH did try on one the other week that he really liked and was only £120 (it was on half price) so perhaps we will not need that much.

edinburgher

Just don't do what a colleague did - kid stopped needing childcare - saving of £400/mth. Bought a sports car - £250/mth + insurance = £400/mth! :eek: :rotfl:

turtlemoose

That sounds like something my OH would do! luckily I'm the one in charge of the cash