Ok, here goes nothing!

LauraB89

So - an interesting day today.

I emailed my letting agent about finishing my tenancy before it's due (28th March) - I have been in my flat 5.5 years and they said that I would have to pay £450 as a "tenant find fee" and if they didn't get anyone in before the 28th March I would still be liable for the rent!!

Which means that I am going to have to stay here until the end of March

But we have only just had the mortgage offer and we still need to get the survey done etc, so hopefully we can set to exchange later than I wanted to and maybe we can get away with it!!!

I hate letting agents!

On the bright side, November is looking good, so hopefully I will get a good January bonus and that will help pay for everything.

xxx

Orange_Ena

I'm sure some of these lettings agents make up imaginary fees! Anything to squeeze more money out of you

But congratulations on getting a house, it's so exciting. When I bought mine, I remember thinking I own that tiny little piece of the world

Have a wonderful Christmas

LauraB89

Ahh thanks Orange, it will mean that we will need a little more money each month to get through it all so it might slow down my debt repaying!

So long as we are debt free and in the new house by the wedding (17th June) then I will be happy.

I think that letting agents are genuinely scum of the earth, with the internet there is no need for them at all.

Last day at work for a week and it's already so quiet, so I am not doing any work today!!!!!

xxx

LauraB89

Right!

Mortgage paperwork has come through, and I have myself a plan for the next few months;

- Pay up until 28th March in current flat
- Look to exchange/complete on or after 15th March

This should mean that we transition from paying rent at the flat to paying the mortgage.

As I have already paid for the initial solicitor fees (£350), broker fees (£250) and I am going to pay for the home buyers survey (£310) out of my wages, it will mean that the leftover from the deposit will be higher.

Once we move, the amount that we pay into the house account is around the same - this means that I can keep plugging away at the debts when we move, and we are both hoping that by the wedding (17th June) we will be debt free!

If we weren't moving house, it wouldn't be so bad and I could pay it off sooner, but I am under the £2k mark, and I have a wedding to pay for so I am not going to put too much pressure on myself. So long as I meet my own minimum payments (£50 on barclaycard, £100 on halifax card and £119 on loan) then I am happy and moving in the right direction.

Christmas was lovely, got loads of presents and ate loads of food! I have done a little food shop for this week/weekend and I am now looking pretty brassic until payday in Jan (£114 left according to my spending tracker!).

This is all on the basis that I wont be earning a bonus at all after Jan, which isn't likely as although I move departments, we are paid on a 2 month lag and December and January I should be able to earn for!

I have also decided that I am not going to look for a new job, because I want to get the maternity benefits from my current company - it takes 2 years for them to kick in and I will have been here 2 years in April. So the plan is that once we move house I am going to remove my coil and start trying a couple of months before the wedding. Fingers crossed people!

So to distill the plan for 2017 into a few bullets;

- Buy house
- Get married
- Be debt free
- Save ££
- Get pregnant
- LOVE LIFE!

Went to spy on our new house yesterday, and the surrounding area is so beautiful, I am so excited to go and live there!!!

Payday is on the 13th this month, so only 2 weeks to go until I have money again... and it all goes straight on debt/house/wedding lol!

I hope that everyone had a very merry Christmas and has a very happy new year - bring on 2017!!

xxx

LauraB89

Evening everyone!

I have been planning out my budget for January - it's looking likely that I will get a good bonus, but I also have to pay for the house survey and give one of my flatmates his deposit back (£300 each!).

Did my weekly food shop today for £28 - this week we are having;

- Sausage casserole
- Fishcakes (on offer in lidl!)
- Chilli con carne
- Shepherd's pie
- Pulled pork

For lunches we have leftovers and some chicken for the OH.

Today, my flatmates are driving me INSANE - get home at lunch, he has finished the milk and created a pile of washing up and then I realise he is just sitting around in his pyjamas. Great.

The other one brings his GF round tonight, with no warning - so I have to change what I am making and now my evening is being spent watching them watch game shows on TV.

Grr, rant over.

I am hoping to get my debt total under £1700 this month when I get paid, but if I get a bonus in Feb then I will be able to get right down to circa £1k.

Wedding planning is going well, it looks as though we are going to do it for a lot less than I had thought and the total left to pay is actually around £4.5k not the £6k I thought it was!

Plan for this month is to get through as much as possible and keep the spending low - I want to be able to pay off the Barclaycard even if I don't get a bonus in Feb. I am sure that I can do it, and once I have that cleared I can get that loan in my sights. I will definitely feel a massive sense of achievement once I get it under £1k - that will be the lowest, basically, ever!

I have big plans for 2017, so I am starting as I wish to go on!


How's everyone's Tuesday - Frug-day going??

xxx

jvr

Argh that reminds me of when I lived with flatmates! Can be the best fun and the most annoying thing ever!
Well done you are speeding through this debt so fast! Massive year ahead of you so many exciting things !!

LauraB89

Thanks JVR - it's all happening here!

Today was pretty spendy - I bought a fridge freezer and dishwasher (both off of gumtree) that were amazingly cheap. I got a new fridge freezer (it was an elderly man's for 6 months before he passed by the looks of it) for £75 - it's £250 new - it still has the sticker on and the instructions!! And a dishwasher for £40 that looks pretty new as well

On the house front, we have had the searches through from the solicitor - getting the survey done on the 6th - that should be all good. We are hoping to exchange in Feb and complete 1st March. It's all happening!!!!!

Get paid on the 13th, so countdown is really on - got almost no ££ but food in fridge and everything paid for so we are looking good. Need to get my mum a present for her birthday - but she doesnt want much so I will get that this week as well.

Had fishcakes (reduced in lidl this week - 79p for 2, really big and lots of fish) with bubble and squeak and fried egg - DELISH!

Tomorrow I should find out my bonus, and need to get some eggs - I have change for that so should be a NSP (I count cash out as soon as it's withdrawn as spent).

How is everyone's no-spendsday Wednesday going?

xxx

LauraB89

Ok, so it's a Sunday afternoon - I have until Friday before I get paid and I have NO MONEY!

I am a little bit scared that I am going to get an unexpected bill of some kind, but I have checked and everything that needs to be is paid - I used my emergency fund on the fridge/dishwasher and I am feeling a bit anxious.

Other than that, things are going well, house is progressing nicely - should have the survey done soon and we can hopefully look to exchange end of Jan/beginning of Feb.

Stupid Pintrest has me addicted - my new house will look amazing though! I am determined to do it all and continue to pay everything off - just going to use any bonus money to decorate. We should still be in a position to be debt-free by the wedding, and hopefully in a beautiful new house

Speaking of the wedding, the thought of wearing my dress with my current weight is starting to weigh on my mind. Like my debts, I am by no means in the danger zone (5"5' and I weigh about 10st 7lb) but it's higher than I have weighed previously and I would really like to feel confident all day - so, along with tracking my spending, I will also be tracking my food! Whenever I have done this in the past it's helped me to shift the lbs, so my 2017 motto is saving ££ and losing lbs

Luckily for me, the meals that I have been cooking to save money are pretty calorie friendly, it's all the other stuff that I eat that is the problem - need to get a grip on the chocolate of an evening.

I am properly excited to update my signature again next week - I should be looking at:

Barclaycard - £220
Halifax - £964
Lloyds - £455

Which will bring me to the lowest amount of debt I have had for a very long time: £1639!

Today, I have pork shoulder in the slow cooker - my darling flatmate has eaten all of the potatoes, milk and bread, so I need to pop to the shop... with no money... I also can't be bothered to move.

On the bright side, me and the man have cleared out a load of stuff from our bedroom (trying to do one room per weekend) in preparation for the move. Feeling lighter already

Hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday xxx

mummytogirls

All sounding really positive round at yours Laura!!!

Do you use MFP to track your food? xx

LauraB89

Hi M2G,

Yes - I have just started too again today. I am just trying to focus on the wedding dress and remember how great it would look on skinny arms hahaha! I have found it pretty good in the past, when I keep track of it all

I track all my spending on a different app. Track everything - hopefully I will only need to be really strict with it all until the wedding, then we will be debt free and I will be a little slimmer and then we can relax a little bit!!

xxx