'Focus on the journey, not the destination...'

garfield1983

That sure is the case here... to give everyone a bit of a background here is my 'journey so far'

* Continued in education in order to help my Dad look after my Mum who had a chronic disease and younger brothers

* Took out a Student Loan of just over £9000 over 3 years but the Student loan paid for my tuition, bought my own computer for completing assignments, paid for driving licences, bought my first car (£500), pass my test and also helped me out when I couldn't work the odd days when my Mum was admitted to hospital towards the end. As I see it, it's not been money wasted. Unfortunately my Mum passed just before I graduated

* Worked full time since 2005 and progressed quite well earning an above average salary although this has now resulted in commuting 60 miles a day in order to achieve this salary (also had part time job until 2011)

* Bought house in 2007 (peak of housing market), split from partner after 6 months leaving me with mortgage in negative equity and all house bills resulting in large o/d plus CC and a loan totalling approx £10k (but was only earning £12k a year at the time)

* Met my current partner in 2008

* It took until summer 2011 to get ex off the mortgage (costing £7k plus legal costs (loan), which he also had to pay £7k for the priviledge)

* My partner and I, with a lot of help from SFIL renovated the property throughout (managed mainly through salary but ended up with £5k 0% CC and no savings left)

* Sold renovated property for a profit in 2013 (used money for deposit and for immediate home improvements needed before we moved into new home)

* Became a Fiancee in 2013

* Bought and moved into 'Forever Home' early 2014 (albeit needs some work but will never have to move again as it has everything we need)

* Baby on the way, due October 2014

So it's been one heck of a journey but we have arrived at our physical destination, now just need to concentrate on our financial destination so we can be DF, get married and provide a financially stable future for our child :j

Mint1955

Seems you have done so well through great hardship now together with your forever man you will manage just fine xxxx

garfield1983

So... I start my maternity leave in September but I am taking my 4 weeks holiday entitlement beforehand which will hopefully give me more time to continue organise myself, and my Fiance and get into a routine before Baby arrives.

Firstly I compiled a spreadsheet of our incomes and outgoings, loan amounts, amounts remaining, interest % etc and was staggered to find that we owe so much (although I am not sad about this, all our debt has been spent on getting to the happy point we are in our lifes (now)... well apart from our car (which will now have to last us many, many years).

So having looked at our debt I have set our DFW date to early 2018.

So what have we done so far since compiling the list this week?

* Washed and hoovered car ourselves - saving of £6 (usually wash only)
* Fortnightly shop cost £72, will need bread and milk in-between for work breakfast/lunches - [COLOR="rgb(255, 140, 0)"]saving of circa £90 as usually £80pw[/COLOR]

* Originally quote a few weeks ago for a new boiler and fitted in a new location £4100... Got a quote for a new boiler and the work completed seperately for £1787 - saving of £2313 (although not technically a saving as hadn't paid out but all the same, a saving is more money towards debts...)

* Switched energy suppliers from BG to First Utility - estimated savings £160pa

* Made home cooked meals all but one night from big shop we did last Monday

* Did my own eyebrows (I'm not high maintenance so costs for beauty treatments are minimal but my eyebrows do need to be sorted every 2/3 months) - [COLOR="rgb(255, 140, 0)"]saved £7 [/COLOR]

Today's tasks;

* Car will fit on drive on new driveway but we can't open doors to get out unless reversed right back to the garage at the end of the long driveway so fiance is currently knocking down the side wall of the garden - [COLOR="rgb(255, 140, 0)"]saving not sure as didn't get a quote but can imagine this would be a few hundred pounds minimum, plus car insurance will reduce as we will be parking on the drive and not on the road[/COLOR]

* Complete and submit competitions in Take a Break magazine

* Make lovely Sunday roast with food bought in big shop last Sunday (chicken, yorkshire puds, frozen veg, gravy)

* Make lunch for work tomorrow, including snacks (grazing is a new habit to warn off the sickness)

Here's to a good money saving week x

garfield1983

Hi Mint 1955

Thanks for stopping by, your comments are much appreciated.

I certainly feel we are able to achieve anything now, my partner is my rock x

garfield1983

Quick update whilst eating lunch...

Yesterday;
* Fiance knocked down half of the garden wall and it looks great, the car now fits on the driveway - looked into how much this would have cost us and it is looking like £250 wouldn't have been too far out so saving there

* Complete and submit competitions in Take a Break magazine - not done, will complete tonight

* Make lovely Sunday roast with food bought in big shop last Sunday (chicken, yorkshire puds, frozen veg, gravy) done, was lovely

* Make lunch for work tomorrow, including snacks (grazing is a new habit to warn off the sickness) done

Today:
Closed Littlewoods account - never used it as I paid outright for some curtains 18 months ago but sold my house at the end of last year and it suddenly dawned on me that, despite asking on a number of occasions for my account to be closed I was still getting letters / order forms through the post advising I had a £1000 limit, which in the wrong hands could have been costly.

Found loose change in my work pedestal when I was starting to clear them out (only 27 working days until I start my A/L and maternity leave :-/

Charged mobile phone at work

Home cooked tea - pork, potatoes, veg and peppercorn sauce - all bought in fortnightly shop last Monday

Still feeling positive and motivated, loving this site and my new diary - it's really helping to keep me focused

Hope you're all having a great DFW day x

SkintAndSparkly

Wow looks like you have come a long way so far already!

Congratulations to you and your OH on the upcoming arrival of your Little one sounds like your journey is about to become very exciting for you both.

garfield1983

Hi Skint and Sparkly

Thanks! We are sooo excited, it finally feels like things are going well after so many years of stress and upset. Think my main motivation is wanting to ensure that my child never goes without (but not spoilt) and that we can support it's many hobbies it will no doubt have if they are anything like me and his/her dad (both did many sports growing up).

I hope you are well and having a good day x

Update on progress;

Yesterday and today - NSD
Teas for the rest of the week planned from ingredients bought last Monday

Tomorrow:

Price check baby items in order to hopefully bag some bargains
Look for a cheap break away for OH and I - one last break before Bubs arrives

Slow progress after the initial changes which were made... not losing motivation though, Rome wasn't built in a day x

garfield1983

Well the 'morning' sickness seems to have made a comeback in the 3rd trimester and it's making it's appearance around tea time which last time meant I couldn't be bothered cooking when I got home from work and so end up eating nothing, a sandwich or grabbing takeaway - OH was amazing and did make some meals but we weren't as organised so this usually involved a trip to the shops to buy the ingredients. I was determined that this wasn't going to be the case this time so last night I forced myself to make tea (all made from stuff we bought last Monday in our fortnightly shop). Today I was working from home so before the sickness kicked in I made a chilli for tomorrow night. I must remember to buy a new tin opener from our loose change (yet to be counted but a quite a few quid in there)... it took 10 minutes to open an 18p tin of As.da Smart Price Red Kidney Beans is not great use of my time lol!

I have defrosted some sausages for Friday night but not sure what to make with these yet, was thinking sausage casserole but I can never make it as nice as the MIL so any ideas would be appreciated.

I have also defrosted some SW steak burgers which we bought from the local market week before last as I am really wanting a burger so making one with cheese, home made chips and peas - very much looking forward to that.

Today hasn't been a NSD as we needed to pick up some milk and a loaf of bread and also a bottle of Prosecco for the MIL's birthday (her favourite) - on offer at As.da though - should be £10.97 bought for £7 so £3.97 saved. . We also needed kitchen roll but at £2.97 at As.da and 87p at Home Bargains we decided to make do without until the weekend when we could visit HB saving £2.10.

Also went to buy a new boiler, my Uncle works in the trade so we did get this at trade price :money:. We paid for the boiler out of one of the loans which I have already accounted for in the outstanding debt. Once this has been fitted at the weekend we can begin to fit our new kitchen (bought from the equity out of the last house and partner (joiner) will be fitting so no cost for this).

With the boiler being replaced (and moved) over the weekend I did start to clean out the kitchen cupboards as they are being ripped out before the new boiler is fitted and wanted to be sure I could still access the food we have bought as we are not tempted to eat out or get takeaway. I found some loose change which will be added to my coffee jar (I will get round to counting that this weekend so I can add the amount to my signature).

Overall a good day, tomorrow is pay day so we can actually start to track everything we are spending. No spends needed tomorrow so I will visit the bank first thing on Friday as I am off work and will withdraw £400; £200 for food and £200 for us (going out, additional shopping which wouldn't be counted as essentials)... hoping we can keep within budget, we are both still very much motivated and questioning everything we are buying.

Here's to a new month, our first following our LBM! xx

garfield1983

I've just got into bed, there are 3 reasons for this;

* My alarm is yet again set for 5.30am (I commute and if I haven't set off by 6.30am the journey will be hideous and is made more uncomfortable with being pregnant)
* I can relax (I usually watch a programme on catch up as I don't really watch TV other than football and the odd programme)
* I can put the ceiling fan on for an hour so the room is cooler rather than coming to bed and falling asleep with the the fan on :money:

I've started doing the above automatically so my MSE ways must be well and truly embedded... and there's me thinking I wasn't really making any significant changes!

Also just declined an offer to go out at the weekend, opting to stay in to watch the last of the World Cup games.

The blogs on this site are so motivation that instead of watching a programme tonight I am going to continue to read a couple more blogs before calling it a night.

Hope you're all having a nice evening x

garfield1983

Ok so yesterday was payday and also a NSD :j

Been to the bank today and withdrawn 1/2 of our monthly budgets (partner gets paid on 15th when we will withdraw the second 1/2).

NSD so far but with the sun shining and also minimal plans for the weekend we will probably go and have a couple of drinks (non alcoholic for me) before having a home cooked tea.

Happy as I am able to update my signature today... more debts paid off, great to see the amount reducing.

This weekend:
Must count up loose change
Make teas from shop done a week last Monday
Must update spreadsheet so it calculates correctly at that point in the month how much we owe (currently on payday I use formula to calculate what we will owe once all the bills have been paid but some come out on the 10th and some come out on the 16th so I am reporting incorrectly for a couple of days, it kinda feels like an injustice is being done.

Hope you all have a nice evening x

garfield1983

Ok so I finally got around to counting the loose change I have been collecting and it came to a grand total of £55.47! OH just reminded me about the other loose change pot we had in our last house (nowhere near £55 in that one but should boost it slightly - I must count that next weekend!)

Think I'll keep adding to the change jar until I finish for maternity leave and then put it towards paying the 0% credit card - I know we have debt which is accruing interest but the 0% finishes at the end of the year (currently paying way above the minimum payment (£200 a month) so the sooner we can pay off the sooner we have £200 extra a month to go towards other debt or to add to our savings as a safety net for my maternity leave (will be down circa £1300 a month once on SMP but only planning on having one baby so planning on taking at least 9 month as I don't want to miss out on my baby's first year).

Getting the boiler fitted today, the other half has been busy prepping where the boiler will be going (plaster boarding and plastering under the new under stair area) and the SFIL has fitted the electrics required which have both saved us some money.

Only downside is no water tonight (money saved on electric and gas though...) and we now only have a oven, no hob. The kitchen is being ripped out this week and fitted by OH so can finally get straight and get all my SW cookbooks back out to help keep me motivated to plan, and make, nutritious, money saving, homemade meals :T

Today:
Update signature
Take a Break Competitions entryDone
Read the actual TAB magazine Done
Read more blogs and DFW posts to continue motivation
Use MIL washing machine to do one lot of washing Currently underway
Fill car with diesel circa £60 Done
Look for deals on washing powder as need some more and the local supermarket has the one I use isn't on offer (sensitive to most brands so stick to what I know rather than waste)
Walk the dog
Look at baby names with OH, we don't know what we are having so we have to choose one of each gender, finding it so difficult
Early night ready for another busy week

Tomorrow's plan:
Book remaining 3 days of annual leave (to be taken in the next 5 weeks)
Catch up on blogs
Buy last weeks TAB