It's a long and winding road

TwentySomethingGirl

I'm determined to be better at posting here! So apologies for the inevitable verbal (typed?) diarrhea that this will probably become.

I've had my car insurance renewal through. £295 for the year, lowest it's ever been! Have done some comparison quotes and I can get it for £256 but I need to check that the cover is the same. The renewal is with Direct Line and I did a quote with them and it came out more expensive?? First time ever a renewal hasn't been higher than a new quote!

Not much else to report from money news. I'm trying to spend as little as possible so we don't have to take too much out of savings when it comes time to pay the conveyancing and admin fees for the remortgage. We're also going on holiday in August which needs to be paid for which is £800 so a spendy couple of months ahead but I'm hoping to keep on track. I was hoping to have £20k in savings by the end of the year and we keep hovering around the £14k mark but there's still time and overtime potential for Mr TSG so we might just make it.

mrsp1987

Congrats on the baby news!
I'm with Santander and yes when you have a fixed rate mortgage they will only accept overpayments of £500 minimum so I save up £500 and then overpay. I too find it annoying!

You've probably renewed since your last post but if you're going to go to a new insurer have you thought of also going through a cash back website like TopCashBack or QuidCo? You might be able to get the cheaper deal plus a fixed amount or percentage back as cashback? Just a thought

TwentySomethingGirl

So, 2.5 months after starting the remortgage, we have finally completed! The new mortgage stands at £150k :eek::eek::eek: A bit daunting given that I'll be on maternity leave later in the year but I hope to be able to overpay a bit. Not really sure what a realistic aim is for overpaying. I'll probably start with trying for £1k next year, and as we have to save up and pay in £500 chunks that'll be £500 every 6 months which is £83 a month.

In other news, we've started sorting out the spare room to eventually become a nursery and will need to start getting bits and pieces for his lordship's arrival.

dizzyblnd

Just popping by to say congratulations! Such good news. I'll b reading on with interest.

TwentySomethingGirl

So as it has been a while, though not a lot has change (yet!) I have redone our SOA to see where we stand at the moment. This will obviously change once SMP starts...

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1391.62
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1776.28
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3167.9

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 610
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 155
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 67
Council tax............................. 125
Electricity............................. 43
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 23
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 52
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 47
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 11
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 25
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 45
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 62
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 200
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Savings................................. 700
Union................................... 13
Total monthly expenses.................. 2670


Assets
Cash.................................... 13000
House value (Gross)..................... 200000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 18000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 231000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 150000...(610)......1.64
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 0........(155)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 150000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
CC.............................1500......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........1500......0.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,167.9
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,670
Available for debt repayments........... 497.9
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 497.9

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 231,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -150,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,500
Net Assets.............................. 79,500

We don't have £500 left each month, but lately that is due to laziness and eating out a lot...we're trying to reign it in for the next couple of months when some of this money will be spent on baby related gubbins.

TwentySomethingGirl

Well it's been a while! Oops...

So baby boy was born in December. Planned home birth didn't happen as he arrived on the snowy day and no-one could get to us! We then had to stay in overnight and the next day were back at hospital because he was jaundiced. He and I spent a week in hospital but he's been fine since. It didn't do wonders for cash flow as my husband was eating Subway for lunch most days and no cooking happened at all.

Not a lot MSE going on. There's not much you can do with a baby that doesn't end in a cafe or pub. We mostly go for walks but always seems to end with a drink or lunch and it gets expensive after a while!

Even worse MSE, we bought a new (used) car as mine was quite a struggle to get the pram and all his gubbins in. We had planned to get a bigger car in a few months time but while we were out a couple of weeks ago we decided to have a look in a garage and they had just what we wanted so we bought a car... it was paid for with part ex, cash and a bit put on my 0% credit card. I only used the card for the protection it provides but we do have the money to pay it off so I'll be paying equal instalments for the next 5 months til the 0% ends.

Haven't had any time for knitting or cross stitch lately but also means I haven't bought any new stuff. I find it frustrating being on SMP and not really able to save much at all but life happens and there's more to it than money. Must try harder to spend less though!

TwentySomethingGirl

So over a year since my last update...

Went back to work in January, dropped a day, nursery fees are crazy but he likes it. I'm working for about £400 a month after fees but it's £400 more than we would have if I hadn't gone back.

We have today listed our property for sale so the hunt begins to find our next place. We've outgrown the 2 bed flat (mostly with toys) so it's time to upsize. I'm not looking forward to the process at all. Called an EA yesterday to arrange a viewing and already got the "what about this property that is £30k over your budget", "come in and see our mortgage advisor, they can probably get you more money".

While on the subject of moving, can anyone tell me if you have to see each EA's mortgage advisor? I know they have to check you have the money so you're not wasting time but surely that is when you offer? I really don't want to have to go through that with every agent for every viewing.

Mortgage stands at £141200, will be rising to £224k at most :eek:

TwentySomethingGirl

So I am officially useless at diaries...to be fair, and to my shame, I've barely been on MSE the last year. 

A lot has changed, we moved house in Oct 2019 and the mortgage went up to £230000 over a 35 year term. I started a new, full time job in March just as Lockdown 1 started so I've been working from home since then. Very odd, and difficult, starting a new job on your own from your kitchen... we've done quite a lot of work to the house, new kitchen, new windows, new carpets, loft boarding, stripping wallpaper and painting. Still a lot to do though. When lockdown started we took advantage of the mortgage holiday, mainly as I was in a probationary period. We saved the mortgage payment and used it to get the windows done. As we were at the start of a veeery long mortgage it only added about 15 quid a month to the payment.

Baby boy is now 3 and in full time nursery. The 30 hours funding has helped a lot and just in time as another baby boy is on the way. Luckily we still have everything so there is a very small number of things we need to get (new mattress for the cot and that's about it).

I am going to endeavor to update this more regularly, which may only be monthly as there is naff all going on but it gives me something to look back on. And will give me something to do during long nights with a new born...

TwentySomethingGirl

I'm following the Frugal Living Challenge on here. There isn't a whole lot of regular expenses we can cut back on but it is making me more mindful of what we spend on groceries. Eating out/takeaways are also a weakness though with everything being shut we're doing well with just having what we have at home. I've been doing a rough weekly meal plan for dinners and it seems to be working OK (she says, less than 1 month in).

I run our money by calendar month as I get paid on the 24th and DH gets paid end of the month. As his pay day is Friday and I don't envisage any spending between now and then I'm going to state what we've spent and hope having it written down will make sure we don't spend any more. So, variable spends this month have been:
£766.28 on cars !!! this includes insurance for the year for one of them, breakdown cover for a year for 2 cars (done through TCB but I include the full price as the cashback hasn't tracked yet, will be a nice bonus when it does), service, pads and discs for one and one tank of fuel. 
£179.34 on groceries. I think this is lower than it would normally be as we made an effort to use bits from the freezer that had been in there too long. Larder cupboard was also getting a bit bare.
£25.19 on takeaways, 1 pizza night and 1 portion of chips to go with some chicken we'd made at home.
£372.09 on misc bits. £95 of this was a payment towards a car seat, £199.95 was for pest control, the rest was several birthday cards and gifts, courier charges, DVDs, pants and a decorative plaque for our son, vacuum bags.

Between the cars and the pest control it's been a rather expense month! I'm quite pleased with the grocery spend and thrilled with how little we spent on takeaways.

It's going to be another tight month in February but I don't see lockdown being lifted in the next month so that will help. 

I'm going to post an updated SOA which will be relevant for the next 2/3 months before I go on SMP when I'll re-do it.

TwentySomethingGirl

[font=courier new][b]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b][b]

 

Household Information[/b]

Number of adults in household........... 2

Number of children in household......... 1

Number of cars owned.................... 2[b]

 

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 1568

Partners monthly income after tax....... 2176

Benefits................................ 84.2

Other income............................ 0[b]

Total monthly income.................... 3828.2[/b][b]

 

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 791

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0

Rent.................................... 0

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 184 - paid over 10 months

Electricity............................. 71 - gas & electric together

Gas..................................... 0

Oil..................................... 0

Water rates............................. 22

Telephone (land line)................... 25 - includes internet

Mobile phone............................ 26

TV Licence.............................. 13

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 38 - Sky & a contribution to friends Netflix

Internet Services....................... 0

Groceries etc. ......................... 300 - A high estimate, need to track for a couple of months for an accurate figure

Clothing................................ 0 - I don't budget anything here, me and DH rarely buy new clothes and we get a lot of hand-me-downs for our son so probably spend less than £100 a year

Petrol/diesel........................... 100 - estimate again, probably comes in a lot lower, especially in lockdown

Road tax................................ 5 - 2 cars at £30 tax a year

Car Insurance........................... 0

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0

Car parking............................. 0

Other travel............................ 0

Childcare/nursery....................... 565

Other child related expenses............ 0

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 27 - DH private dentist

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 37

Buildings insurance..................... 0

Contents insurance...................... 0

Life assurance ......................... 39

Other insurance......................... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15 - money put away for nephews for birthdays/Christmas. I don't put anything away for other birthdays, though probably should.

Haircuts................................ 0

Entertainment........................... 100 - a guess

Holiday................................. 125

Emergency fund.......................... 0 - nothing specific in here. Any money left in the bills account accumulates for this but we would use the holiday/annual savings if we needed to

Savings for annual bills................ 200 - ongoing saving to pay for car/house insurance/MOTs/other annual bills

Kids savings............................ 25

Pocket money............................ 80 - we each get £10 a week that is ours to do with as we want

Union................................... 15

Container............................... 89 - storage, hopefully will be empties this year

Total monthly expenses.................. 2892[/b]

[b]

 

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 4215.69

House value (Gross)..................... 285000

Shares and bonds........................ 0

Car(s).................................. 15000

Other assets............................ 0[b]

Total Assets............................ 304215.69[/b]

[b]

 

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Mortgage...................... 230000...(791)......2.09[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 230000....-.........-   [/b]

 

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Sainsburys CC..................3245.52...130.......0

Family.........................6475......225.......0[b]

Hitachi carpet.........................630.00......52.50.......0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........10350.52...407.50.......-  [/b]

 

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 3,828.2

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,892

Available for debt repayments........... 936.2

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 407.50[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 528.7[/b]

 

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 304,215.69

Total HP & Secured debt................. -230,000

Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,350.52[b]

Net Assets.............................. 63,865.17[/b]

 

[i]Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com.

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.[/i][/font]

There are months when we have money to save which goes into a house account for work that needs to be done to the house, I also overpay the mortgage to make it a round number as there isn't much more I can do on that at the mo. Feels like it's going to be there forever...just under 34 years to go..