Finally have a mortgage now to try and get rid of it asap

egoode

Yesterday I finally got around to doing some batch cooking I made some lasagne's which I haven't made for years. I ate one for dinner to make sure they tasted ok and it was great I'll try and make a few more batches of things when I'm back from my holiday. So exciting to start filling up my freezer. One of the good things about my new flat is that the take away shops aren't as close as my old place so I've been cooking at home more and saving money that way. However for those nights I don't feel cooking it will be better for me to get something from the freezer than call up for a pizza delivery!

Other news on the money front my Dad has given me some money to put towards some of the plans I have for my flat. I've also arranged for a handyman to come around on Friday to help me out with a few little things I want done. It's the guy that removed my kitchen bench so I could get my new fridge freezer to fit and only charges £35/hr which seems a good price to me compared to lots of other handyman rates I've seen in London.

egoode

Finally had my first mortgage payment come out of my account and it was about £500 more than the regular payment would be and I'm really glad that's not my normal monthly payment as I don't feel I could afford it!

I've been really good this week and taken lunch into work on the days I've been in the office and made sure I had food at home for when I'm working at home. Also my cleaner was sick this week so wasn't able to come and clean so that saved me £30.

Need to do lots of washing tomorrow to prepare for my holiday. Sometimes I really wish I had a dryer but I'll just have to hope it's a bit sunny to help everything dry a bit quicker! I live in a flat with no outdoor space so try and chase the sun by moving the clothes to which ever window has the most sun coming through it!

London18

Good old Dad! And good start with the lasagne cooking. That will save money and be way better for you than takeaways.

I'm like you - though I have to tidy up Saturday as all the clean stuff is taking over the flat. Luckily my lounge usually gets enough sun from midday to sundown to get most things dry fairly quickly. In fact it can be boiling hot in summer. When are you off on holiday? I am off on Sunday for a week, thank goodness, it's been 6 months with only 1 day off

egoode

London18 wrote: »

When are you off on holiday? I am off on Sunday for a week, thank goodness, it's been 6 months with only 1 day off

I leave tomorrow morning for two weeks I haven't had a proper holiday for about 2 years as my trips home are rarely relaxing so I definitely need this.

Hope you have a good holiday London.

egoode

Well I got my first load of washing done and next one is in. Hopefully everything will dry in time for packing this evening as I fly out at 9:30 tomorrow morning!! I always seem to leave things to the last minute!

Also had the handyman arrive today and helped me put up some pictures, coat racks and various other things and really starting to feel it's my place now It's taken a while after renting it for so long!

egoode

I'm back from my holiday and didn't do too badly on the spending. I had a great time and was fabulous catching up with one of my friends from Australia. Now however back to work and back to trying to save for the work I want to do on the flat.

I finally managed to get access to online banking for my mortgage and will set up my signature with my mortgage amount and offset savings.

This week I'm aiming to not get any takeaways. I almost broke it on Monday as I just got back late Sunday night and didn't have much food in the house. However my lovely neighbours ended up dropping by with some food that was left over from temple as I think there was type of celebration so got some Indian food for free and had it for dinner last night and lunch today I definitely have great neighbours.

I've also just done a shopping order due to be delivered tomorrow and planning to make some cottage pies to freeze as my next bulk cooking effort. I'll soon have my freezer filled with food easy to heat and eat and hopefully help me with cutting down on ordering takeaways!

Need to catch up on some diaries now I'm back and hope you are all going well.

egoode

Just checked my online banking and apparently I'm saving £75/month on interest thanks to all my money in the offset account

egoode

Last week I did my business accounts and today I had the email from my accountant as how much dividend I could take from my business so been having a fun day of working out a budget for the next 3 months and seeing how much I can move across to the offset account. It's approx £20k I can move across which is way more than I expected but dividends for the rest of the year will be lower as I'll be working less.

I've decided I need to take a few more holidays as I've been overworking myself the last few years saving money for my deposit and my recent break reminded me how much I need to take a break every now and again.

I managed to make my cottage pies. I've never made them before and I had one and it tasted great and I've put 4 into the freezer for when I can't be bothered cooking. I managed to go the week without once getting a take away which is pretty rare for me. Hoping to do the same this week but I do have a night out planned on Friday.

The other main thing I'd like to do this week if I have time is approach the council about buying the freehold for the building my flat is in. My downstairs neighbour has said she's interested in buying it as well and as it's just the 2 flats in the building we should be able to manage the share of the freehold together without too much trouble. We both just want a bit more control over what maintenance is done to the building and hopefully it will reduce our service charges a bit as the council seems to make a lot of mistakes and try to add charges that aren't relevant for this property.

I'll update my signature once I've transferred all the money at the moment I've hit my daily limit.

egoode

Well I've moved all the money I needed to across to the offset account. There won't be much to add to it for the next 3 months until my next dividend is due. I've got enough in my bank account to cover me for the next 3 months and I kept a bit extra there just in case. I'm hoping to bring my spending down over the next few months so can add more and more to the offset savings.

I've been using YNAB for a couple of months now and have a good idea of what I spend my money on and there's definitely a few areas I could look at cutting back on. Main things I'm concentrating on at the moment are:
- Not using cabs as much. I got into a real bad habit with them when my Mum died and I couldn't handle being on the tube surrounded by people when I wasn't coping well at all so used to get a cab to work everyday. It's easier to avoid them in my new place as black cabs don't really frequent my new place as much, where I used to live I could walk to the end of the street and pretty much guarantee a cab was there in about 2 mins. I'm trying to limit them now to only be used when it's late at night and I don't want to walk home from the station so late alone.

- Take aways. I used to practically live on take aways and rarely cooked at home. Now I've got the bigger freezer I've started bulk cooking and my Indian neighbours are constantly bringing food over which is really nice I'm trying to either cut take aways out all together or only have them as a treat a few times a month.

- Work Lunches/Snacks. Even though I work at home a lot I've tended to always buy lunch when I go into the office. I'm going to try and bring salads and left overs from home for lunch instead and also eat breakfast before I head into the office and not get a muffin on the way to my desk!

I've started off well with my plans today as I've bought a salad in to work for lunch and my neighbours dropped by with an aubergine curry so that will be dinner tonight

egoode

Well I didn't have a great day yesterday started off badly by getting up late I pressed snooze a bit too much! Which meant I didn't have breakfast at home so got a muffin from Cafe Nero on the way to work. Then was asked out for a drink after work which turned into about 5 and a cab home. However I did manage to take lunch to work as I had made my salad the night before so I guess it could have been worse!

Tonight I'm going out to see a friend sing but will be having dinner before I go and will try not to have too many drinks. Also going with a friend who lives near me so will be getting the bus to and from the venue so no taxi tonight!