Diary of a Property Dreamer

Kittenkirst

I love the idea of having friends over and having a nice budgeted evening in! ��

The chemistry tutoring sounds exciting too!

MandM90

We're slowly but surely edging towards the golden 31 day old money mark. Currently YNAB calculates we spend our money 26 days after we earn it. That's the longest we've managed since buying the house I've been logging our expenses and income religiously and it's making me feel much more in control.


We've cancelled a few direct debits we don't need, and the little pots (wedding, pet, home, car) are starting to fill nicely.




On top of everything else I've decided to try and drop a dress size this spring. I have loads of lovely Ted Baker dresses hanging in my wardrobe which I wouldn't fork out on now, but I might as well wear them! They are size 6-8 and I'm about a 10 now, so I hope I can get back into them by the summer.



I had 28p bean soup at my desk today (recipe here: http://thriftcottage.blogspot.fr/2016/03/beating-bulgeon-budget.html). Only 221kcals. I've decided I'm going to lose weight for free. That means no faddy foods, teas, vitamins. No magazines, no gym subscriptions. I'm going to run and eat lentils and beans and give up drinking (probably the hardest of all the challenges!)

MandM90

Last night was one pan egg dish. It was yummy, filling, only cost 50p and I was well within the calorie 'budget' for the day. We spent the evening snuggled up watching movies/programmes and I all of a sudden couldn't believe that this was OUR HOUSE!



We managed to get curtains up in the dining room last week, so I can walk around in the nude without scaring the neighbour. Makes me feel much more at home The curtain rail was free from freecycle and the curtains were from our previous house. I just popped them in the wash for a freshen and hung them.

MIL is redecorating their living room and has offered me a triple lined curtain to cover the front door, as it's the original Victorian door and is letting lots of draught in. So we're getting there.

There are some very exciting things on the horizon job-wise, which is good as I've always got one eye on our remortgage in autumn 2017.

Current age of money is still 26 days. Current mood regarding age of money is still chuffed yet keen to push on to 31 days!

MandM90

Last night's dinner was 41p. Came back after a 4 mile run with mum and was exhausted (haven't exercised it about a year), so threw this together. Some veggies, eggs from our hens and rice:



Tomorrow we are taking our lunches out to a National Trust property (we have a membership) and will pay £3 for DD to partake in an egg hunt.

Saturday will be spent at the allotment, then will watch movies and snuggle.

Sunday I suspect we will have lunch at the in laws house. They're going to some sort of music festival but I'm afraid it'll be dear so we may just pick up some local ale and go home to play board games after! No plans for Monday as yet, but I should probably try to squeeze some cleaning/sorting out into the weekend :rotfl:

I found out I owed £1800 to tax credits from a while back, which was a bit of a bummer (strangely they have my last two addresses but hadn't written to me up til now!?) but I've set up a payment plan of £50 a month. We've always been honest and kept them up to date so I don't understand how it happened but of course now I have to pay up. We will try and throw extra at it when we can but we have other financial bits and bobs to sort that are more urgent.

OH has been asking about a new mattress for the bed as ours is awful. We also have a wedding coming up and he's not feeling great about having to wear (his only) winter suit in May. I suggested just a shirt and grey trousers but I think it's more the tight budget that is getting him down than the outfit. He says he wants to wear nice clothes now while he 'still has his looks' :rotfl:


I don't want him to feel like I'm a tight taskmaster that just wants him to work, eat rice and do DIY so we will have to find middle ground between my budget obsession and his need for 'things'.

Shahsmit

You should speak with a specialist mortgage broker.. 3 years accounts may not necessarily be required. There are a lot of factors to be considered.

Have a look at this (regardless of you being a contractor or not):

itcontractorsuk.com/mortgage/contractor-mortgages.php

Moneyfordreams

MandM90 wrote: »

Ok, rang mortgage provider who said minimum payment is £500, they charge £75 admin fee + 3% ERC so if I want to reduct my mortgage by £1000 I'd need to pay £1120.

I can't believe you have such high charges to pay back money!! It's robbery :eek::eek:
or have I misunderstood?

MandM90

Moneyfordreams wrote: »

I can't believe you have such high charges to pay back money!! It's robbery :eek::eek:
or have I misunderstood?

You haven't misread. If I told you who our lender is you wouldn't be surprised. But in 18 months we will remortgage, and we are both employed now so it's likely that, even with an interest increase, we will do well out of switching to a high street lender :j

March Update

• Started to get back in control of my eating a little more - making me feel good and in control of my life
• Paid off more than £750 in money we owe (had to pay our IFA and accountant)
• Have two very attractive job offers. I start one of the two later this month (need to decide tonight), either way for the first time ever I'm feeling secure about my job situation
• Allotment has started up again - hoping for a good supply of free/cheap veg this year
• Got some money in the kitty towards holidays, house improvements, car and emergency fund
• Managed to buy all groceries for only £160!

April Goals

• Stick to daily calorie budget
• Get half of the allotment planted out (we only got this one last year)
• Pay off the rest we owe to the IFA, start to clear surprise HMRC debt :mad:
• Sell everything I don't need as part as a spring clean, to get emergency fund up to £1000

MandM90

Update:

Emergency fund: 563.75 (aim to get this up to £1k by end of this month)
Holiday fund: £367 (this will be 567 by the time we go off on our camping jollies in July. Ample for a week in Dorset)
Christmas fund: £160
Car Maintenance fund: £135
Home maintenance fund: £133 (I need to up my game with this, once emergency fund is covered. We've dipped into it a few times to make improvements)
Car insurance renewal fund: £500 (on track so I can buy a years in full in November :j and will probably have £300 or so change to reallocate)

Paid off mortgage advisor/IFA :beer:

I'm feeling really positive. By the end of next month we will pay off HMRC, then will only owe family and our mortgage provider :j

Oh, and I've also lost a stone and am back into size 6/8 so feeling really confident in myself :A


Tonight I'm going to Lidl to do the weekly shop.

This week's meal plan:

Monday: Salmon and pea pasta, to use up leftover sour cream and chive dip!

Tuesday:

Lunch: leftover pasta

Dinner: Beans on toast!

Wednesday:

Lunch: Egg salad

Dinner: Three bean chilli and rice

Thursday:

Lunch: Leftover Three bean chilli and rice

Dinner: Spaghetti olives (courgetti for me!)

Friday:

Lunch: Leftover spaghetti

Dinner: Out

Saturday:

Lunch: Vegetable soup or a brunch of egg on toast

Dinner: Baked bean lasagne

Sunday: Picnic things. At a summer solstice party. Will make some frittata and some vegetarian falafel scotch eggs to bring and share

I've made my list, ready to stick to it and see how well we do! I've abandoned Sainsburys completely now. I feel like I always walk out with hardly anything buy a stinging wallet!

MandM90

Beans and rice for dinner tonight. What was meant to be three bean chilli and rice is now two bean chilli and rice...ahhh cutbacks

I've been thinking a lot about my car today. I bought a £40k car in finer times, which I LOVE, but which costs me nearly £500 a month in the PCP, GAP insurance, car care plan etc :eek:

I think it's time I added a category on YNAB so when the next three years is up I can be sensible and buy a second hand motor cash, or maybe even just a cheaper new one as potential repairs worry me and I like the idea of a warranty.

I phoned my mobile provider today, it seems on 27th June I can cancel my contract and go SIM only for £15 a month. I've popped it in my diary...every little helps!

MandM90

Have £1000 in the emergency fund...woohoo!!!