Extending our house without extending ourselves beyond our means

hugglemonster

All going well PF, sounds like the extension is shapeing up nicely. It's great when you can repurpose thing from around the house, the skirting boards in our bathroom are the old slats from our previous bed!

Good plans on overpaying the mortgage, have alovely weekend.

H x

PurpleFairy26

Have some annoying insomnia here, been awake since 1.40. So got up for a while and I’ll see if I can doze over shortly.

Mind has been working overdrive for the last 4 hours so one of the reasons I got up was to try and find the answer to a niggling question I had about our mortgage which I have been able to find from the providers website

Plans for today will depend on how much sleep I do or don’t get. But I’d like to :

Make some hummus from chickpeas I cooked the other day.
Meals from stores
Juice some beetroot that’s in the bottom of the fridge, need to check if it needs peeling first - assume so
Get ready for school tomorrow for smalls
Have a quick tidy round

I also want to play with our budgets some more, there are some potential changes afoot and I’d like to understand the possible scenarios and our options, may have to use a FA. So will need to research that too.

PurpleFairy26

Did finally manage to go back to sleep just before 7 for a couple of hours. I did however manage to research the things that were playing on my mind. A few still need some further work but at least I had some answers.

Quiet weekend, which results in low spends Stayed out of supermarket but will need some eggs to make a cake at some point. Possibly go shortly or tomorrow morning.

On top of washing and house is (fairly) tidy

Not much happening in the account as there is a bit of a lull from now until payday on Friday. So no opportunities for TT. They’ll be back next week though so just holding on for now. Any left on Thursday night will go to be OP too.

Got mortgage statement through for BTL today, lovely to see money in the ‘overpaid and reserve pot’ that has built up this year. Long may that continue and see the amount owed come down.

PurpleFairy26

Afternoon frugal pals. Just paid mine and DH tax bill the money might be saved but parting with it is still hard :rotfl:

Done a little bit of sewing this afternoon, including mending a hole in a hat.

Popped to the yellow and blue Swedish place this morning. Only spent £15, which were for items we went for. Can now hang a Christmas gift, which is another job done.

Traded up some c1ubcard vouchers for PE, will likely go this weekend as a ‘free’ meal.

Still need to move some repurposed furniture around, but need to work out a logical order so we are not left without somewhere to put stuff in one area.

Managed to view payslip online, 1 item is underpaid so I need to contact them about that, but I’ll get it back next month so no big issue. Have updated my spreadsheet. There will be some left in the pot for a TT tomorrow before payday which is good news.

Next project is empty and defrost one of the freezers as the door is not closing as well as it can. Meal planning for the week has been done around this.

brizzlegirl

All sounding good. Yes we also felt a twinge when we paid HMRC but at least it was saved up and budgeted for. Apart from a small payment in July think I am largely through that now as main role is now PAYE.

Didn’t know you had a BTL. Missed that one - doh!! How do you find it? May dabble in a few years time but given age of kids may well just gift them a large deposit instead. Probably better use of family funds.

Feeling weary today and in bad need of a run. Think will go out tomorrow morning. Need to get some air in my lungs after too much time on trains and buses...

Have a good day x

PurpleFairy26

brizzle the BTL was one of my better financial decisions from nearly 20 years ago! I’m very aware I’ve been very lucky with tenants and limited issues but it’s very much part of our retirement strategy (unless one of our smalls wanted to live in it, but it’s in a completely different town)

Today is payday :j I’ve done half on my money shuffle and will do the rest tonight. DH hasn’t been paid but they seem to have a window of about a week when they process it at least they always pay

Some useful jobs done at home today. DH put up 2 new curtain poles and I hung a new pair of curtains on another. Looks lots better.

New picture is up and looks lovely too.

Tried a complementary therapy I can currently get for free at the moment. Was lovely and have booked to go back next week :T will also look as I may be able to access some others too.

Cashed out £4.12 to a mr t voucher from £co.

Not a bad end to the month. Here’s hoping for a frugal Feb.

PurpleFairy26

Mr Purps pay arrived on Saturday so I was able to finish the shuffling, just one more feed through to get interest paid and then it’ll all be where it belongs for the rest of the month.

Productive day yesterday, DH did all 3 beds and spring cleaned one bedroom. I did the bathrooms and kitchen. Nice to start the week on a clean note. Baked a cake for the week too.

We treated ourselves out for tea using Mr T vouchers. Was absolutely lovely but would have been shockingly expensive without the vouchers and we wouldn’t have done it. Came home and watched a film on TV.

Today is all about a roast dinner later, ‘found’ a small cooked joint of beef in the freezer so feels like a freebie! Will make YP and cauli cheese and a crumble- have fruit in the freezer to use for that including som blackberries we picked last summer.

Will watch another film later with smalls once they have done their music practice and spellings.

PurpleFairy26

Productive week continues. Money all shuffled back from the account I need minimum pay-in for interest purposes and all in the right account.

Managed to round down the mortgage account to a zero and made a TT to the loan account.

Had a payout from a health cash plan for something yesterday meaning I’ve claimed nearly £400 back in this claim year and premiums are about £140 for the year so we’ll worth it. Also had a referral bonus of £25 from someone too

Food shop yesterday. Fridge full of lovely veggies :j May look at veg box again, will see.

Want to see if I can manage a run in the next few days. If not at least a couple of long walks.

Have a free healing treatment tomorrow again

PurpleFairy26

Another busy weekend in the fairy house but all good stuff. Treated to a lovely meal out on Saturday which was lovely after spending the day doing housework and getting it ship shape. 

Sunday we spent the day with friends, stayed in due to the storm but good fun was had and they provided a lovely meal. 

Lovely memories made all round. 

We've got off quite lightly with the storm so far compared to others but a portion of fence is likely not to last past today. So I need to arrange to get that sorted. Saw on social media a local company offering to replace fencing for elderly so they didn’t have to choose between getting it fixed and maybe paying for heating, made me happy there was some good folk out there. 

DD continue to dribble out of the bills account as the month goes on. Not a huge amount in the spend account but that’s ok we’ve a frugal month planned on spends 😉 

signed up for a veg box again, have used a code for 4th box free, got a free cook book and a charity very close to my heart is getting a donation on my first, 3rd and 5th box. So happy about that. Will monitor prices to check it remains good value. But considering I’d spent just over £20 in the fruit and veg isle yesterday in the shop (on the scanner) I think it should be worth it. 

Must remember I have an e card for the supermarket next time I go. I’ve forgotten the last twice, which is what I know they would like you to do!!

DH used a 5p off a litre to fill up tank which on his car safes a good few £££. I have another voucher which I’ll gift so it doesn’t go to waste. 

No run (weather not suitable for first run in several months) but have managed lots of steps so that’s good. 

Made 2 calls yesterday about financial things that were turning into frogs. Neither had the outcome I was expecting, although 1 was logical the other I may call back as I want to double check the info. 

Doing some research on activities for half term next week. Hoping for a day out in a city, have some lovely free museums and have vouchers to use for dinner and hopefully use our annual passes for somewhere new and take a picnic on at least one of the days. 

foxgloves

Free half term activities sound good. Sounds like you are working to get your mortgage paid down. I can still barely take in that we've got shot of ours before Christmas. Only yesterday when I checked our online banking for something, I thought 'Ah, but the mortgage payment won't go out until next week'...... before remembering that we no longer have one. I wonder how long it will take before it truly sinks in.
F x