The 2 Year Freedom Plan & 2015 Beat The Budget Challenge

Beckyy

Hello! Nice to see you back. Congratulation on your bump

It sounds like all is going well. Were your lenders ok with letting to a relative? I'm just due to make our first tax return for last years rental income for our old property so something to keep a note of all tax deductible expenses for offsetting against tax.

B-J-D

good luck, looking forwards to your new journey

I_want_a_baby

Thank you for your comments :-)

Beckyy when we applied for consent to let our lender didn't mention family, I scrutinised the small print of the agreement too and there was no mention there either.
Yes I must keep track of all that we spend so we can pay as little tax as possible. I am guessing I'll need to phone hmrc to inform them that we will be renting it out and therefore that we will need to complete a tax return?

Today's plan is to sort paperwork (from the comfort of the sofa and therefore resting my back). Despite it being frustrating I need to not do any unpacking or cleaning and just rest so hopefully my back can get better.

Target:

• Phone council - cancel council tax at old address, inform them of tenants. Possibly get a refund? DONE Refund of £229.43 on its way!
  Phone water - cancel for old address, inform of tenants. Possibly get a refund? DONE Refund of £34.84 on its way!
  TV licence refund form printed, need final bill from water company as proof of leaving address.
  Electric & Gas - taking meter reads on Saturday as agreed with sister so will contact them then. I think we are in credit :-)
  Cancel buildings & contents insurance at old address with effect of 4th
  Buy landlord insurance for old address with effect of 4th (can't use cashback site as non standard construction so need to phone). TRIED - Quote £317.62- need more quotes. Got another quote for £153.36 just finalising info and will then buy.
  Buy contents insurance through cashback site for new address with immediate effect.
  Finalise contracts and print ready.DONE
  Get husband to text builder and get plasterers phone number DONE & arrange date for them to come.
  Phone and arrange for electrician to come after this date.
  Update banks with transactions that have come out. DONE
  Count cash that have available to spend exactly and update here. DONE
  Speak to husband about cancelling sky (in his name). In progress
  Log on to doctors online portal and change address.
  Sit down and agree how we are going to pay for bills (direct with companies or trf money to in laws), how much and when. DONE

That should keep me busy for most of the day!

I will update the list as I complete things, let's hope I get confirmation of a few refunds too :-)

IWAB x

sue15cat

It's here!! Stoptober is off and running and I really look forward to following your progress. Good luck.

And I hope your back is feeling better soon

(thanks for the link to here)

I_want_a_baby

Morning everyone,


This morning I have written a meal plan for our evening meals up to Friday 10th October. I am going to try and just top up bread & milk from the village shop. It is more expensive but saves fuel travelling to town and most likely buying more than I need when there. I also like the fact that I am supporting the village shop.


I have counted my food cash purse and have £21.55 plus £37.90 in change in the tin. I also have £100 remaining food budget in notes. I would love to see how much of this I can save this month by being frugal.


I now need to sort out contents insurance (hopefully with some cashback).


My husband sold a hedge trimmer yesterday for £20 which I have put aside in an envelope. We have also sold a fridge freezer and a pine unit which should add another £60 to the envelope as long as they are collected as planned.
I am keeping this money aside as there are a few pieces of furniture we need to buy.


I sold my sister the blinds in the house and the lawnmower & strimmer. This made £50 which I will put into the virtual sealed tin.


I have also transferred £6.76 of interest and a few pence of save the change.


NEW VIRTUAL SEALED TIN BALANCE £412.55!
Next Target £500.


Right off to get a snack for my daughter and to start unpacking the office.


IWAB x

MrsPee

Wow, it all sounds very exciting! I'm jealous about all your fantastic plans. Make sure you keep us updated x

I_want_a_baby

Thank you MrsPee!


So we had a busy weekend, more unpacking, tidying, hanging doors, building shelves & finding homes for things.


Savings at the end of last week were £412.55 against a loan of £12611.35 which means I could already pay 3.27% off.


This weeks savings so far are:
£1.27 Save the change
£16.28 from rounding down accounts/budgets where small amounts were remaining.
£50.00 from selling things.
£480.10 - NEW BALANCE = 3.81%


Very happy with that!


IWAB x

I_want_a_baby

You know when you have a REALLY good day?


Well todays that day!


Last October I set up a 'retirement' savings account and paid in £27 per month. I've decided to close it and use the savings to pay off debt as the sooner the debt is paid off then we will be able to save £300 instead.


I knew the payments totalled £405 plus a little bit of interest. I can tell you the total was £440.37! This was put straight into the savings account.


I logged on to my internet banking to also find we had been paid the credit balance from our gas/electric account that we closed. I thought it might be about £43 but it was £119.42. I had to leave some in my gas/elec savings for the new place so I transferred the £75.42 that was left into savings as well.


These two big savings took me so close to £1000 that I then found £4.11 to add to round it up!


It is so exciting to know that I have saved up the first £1000 to pay off the loan! I know progress will slow down a lot when the months roll by and I only have small savings to make but for now I am so happy!


£12611.35 Current loan balance
£ 0.00 Regular payments made
£ 1000.00 Savings to pay off loan
£11611.35 Balance left to pay.


Still waiting for council tax & TV license refunds. I may also be due something else back from the water company. After this it will be the hard slog for the small savings - but game on I say!


Right off to make lunch and count the contents of my purse!


I love days like this!


IWAB x

I_want_a_baby

Hi everyone!


Things have been plodding along nicely here.


Current total debt £12519.35
Regular Payments £0.00
Savings to pay off debt £1006.25
Balance still to pay £11513.10


Rest of October Goals:

• Receive TV Licence Refund
• Phone water company - are we due anything else? (they took a payment on the day they calculated refund and not sure if it was included in calculation)
• Get refund of £27 from sister.
• Spend only cash and no more than the £44.75 in purse.
• Organise deposit to be registered.
• Do deposit letter.
• Get copy of contents info from sister.
• Organise contents insurance for new house.
• Organise chimney sweep (budgeted)
• Order approx. £50 of coal (budgeted)
• Take charity box to charity shop.

November Goals

• Sort out BT order/Cancel Sky
• Get in laws to pay final bill for us and get the very final owing figure.
• Phone HMRC re renting house out.
• Try to save £100 into the savings account towards debt. £25 per week x 4 weeks.
• Spend the month sorting, decluttering & decorating. Use only the things we have already.
• *simple life goal* build a pallet compost heap.
• *simple life goal* recycle everything we can.
• *simple life goal* fill two bags or boxes and take to charity.

So there is what I am focusing on, now to get to work!


IWAB x

I_want_a_baby

Had a good day today.

First, we haven't left the house so a NSD!

Next I've made fruit bread and gingerbread biscuits with store cupboard ingredients.

A great start to the holidays :-)

Might log into the online banking later to see if I can save a few pennies into the savings pot.

IWAB X