The next chapter ....

benbenandme

Morning all, up bright and breezy this morning, the windows are all open and there's nice crisp air coming in. My bed has been stripped and is in the washing machine and I've remade it ready for tonight

Everywhere else is relatively tidy, today is cleaning day and some more number crunching. It's suddenly all seeming achievable and like it might actually be going ahead which is exciting, a bit nervous but very exciting.

Tesco shopping is coming between 9-10 this morning, ds is meeting up with his friend again just before lunch. Bournemouth are on telly later this afternoon so I will be sitting down chilling by then

dangers

The possible move sounds exciting. X

Florence_J

Have a great weekend, i'm so impressed you have achieved that much already! I had a bit of a late night last night so i woke up later than i would have liked. I hope Bournemouth win today.

BusyGirl

Hi Benben I hope you don't mind me asking but which sites do you use? I think I'm finally going to have a go at matched betting and I know you're very successful at it, especially this week!

benbenandme

Busygirl - this weeks betting stuff hasn't been matched betting, it's mostly been playing through the odd fiver on normal slots games and getting very lucky. It's not something recommended as a moneymaker I used to do lots of matched betting though, I have joined probably approx 50 bookies in my time, although several of them have closed my accounts (happens regularly to matched betters, just one of those things), most of them I have just joined to get the joining offer and never used again. There are only two or three that I still use and even then I hardly make anything from m. betting these days (back in the day I could make £100 each weekend from half an hours betting). The offers available these days are nothing like they were 5-6 years ago unfortunately. However, if you are keen to give it a go please please please go and read and re-read and re-read again the matched betting forum pages, they are really helpful over there but you must must must be sure of what you are doing before you risk any money

I do feel like this morning has been productive Florence, since my last post I have cleaned the fridge, put the tesco shopping away ( no substitutes :T), polished and hoovered through, filled the dishwasher and put it on, finished planting the new plants out the front and cleaning up out there, done a few surveys, put another load of washing in and eaten a cream doughnut

Thanks Dangers - I think that's why I've got my *rse in gear tthis morning, suddenly I'm feeling motivated again. Up til now I've been saving money but with no goal in mind, suddenly I feel focussed again, I'm keen to sort some more banking stuff a bit later. I have also decided to add in the xmas money Mum gave me (£100) as I have had it for 2 months now and haven't spent it, so will chuck it into the savings pot

benbenandme

I've moved this months council tax money into my savings too as I pay over 10 months and Feb / March are the months off, so that goes into my savings pot in those months

So I've number crunched some more ... basically there are some jobs I need to do to the flat to get it ready for sale, I am planning on trying to get most of these done over the Easter holidays. Then it can go on the market. I'm not under any illusion - flats here can take quite a while to sell, however that just gives me more time to save some more towards the house

My very basic estimates are as follows:

Cost of doing up the flat: £2k
Sell for: £155k-£160k
Remaining mortgage: £5k
(reducing by £300 p/m)

Total: £150k

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Buy house: £275k
Fees: £10k

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Total costs: £285k

Deposit: £150k
Savings: £9k

Mortgage needed: £126k

These are obviously very much ball-park figures, but it's a starting point for me. The mortgage figure needed will hopefully be lower than this as there will be further savings between now and moving day, which will affect this. There are so many variables in here, for example the value of my flat may not be accurate or achievable, my remaining mortgage could be substantially lower than that by the time I sell the flat - lets say by the end of the summer then it could be below £4k by then. It's all very vague, and I will do what I can to save every penny where possible, for example removal costs, estate agent fees etc, however it's something to begin thinking about.

benbenandme

Just remembered I've got a freshly made bed waiting for me - think I may get into bed with the laptop

juliejim

You're sounding really motivated benbenandme. Good luck with the new plans.

Jue

benbenandme

Morning all, I have decided on a laptop for ds but am waiting for tesco clubcard boost to start again - there's rumours there will be one this week, so will hang on to see if I can use my vouchers to save some money there as that will now be coming out of my (accounted for) savings

Ds wants to go to the train station today and watch some trains, he's happy to go by himself these days, that way he can stay for longer as he knows I get stupidly bored really quickly if I go with him

Back to school tomorrow It has been a very productive yet restful week but I'm sure once I'm back it will feel like I've never been away

Smart_Mart

Would you stay in the same area as you are now or move away a bit? Guess a lot is to do with DS's school, work etc.