Lady K's savings diary

pinknsparkly

That's fab news LadyK! I'm just as guilty at wasting sooooo many hours with nothing to show for then, particularly when I have something I know I need to be doing!! Like today..... I promised myself I'd be up at 8am and get a good amount of work done. I didn't sit down at my laptop until about 1pm and then proceeded to do anything BUT work on it However, tomorrow is another day!! Enjoy the rest of your weekend

Skint_yet_Again

I had to get a new kettle this week and bought one in lidl for £15.99. Its light, not too noisy and not too long to boil, so good basic kettle for my needs. Have never bought electricals in lidl / aldi so time will tell I guess but am more than happy with it so far for the price

Dizzy_Ditzy

I love the first drink from a new kettle! It tastes so fresh :rotfl:

I wouldn't be without my kettle. It's a temperature control one so I make my tea at 85 degrees - means I can drink it quicker in the mornings when I'm rushing about trying to get ready for work :rotfl:

I've never had any problems with electrical system I've bought in either aldi or lidl

savingwannabe

Good luck with Kettle buying hopefully you can get one in the sales. My best kettle was the cheapest. All the fancy expensive ones I get don't seem to last the course. This reminds me I need a cup of tea:rotfl::rotfl:

Ladykernow

Mr Kernow (We aren't married, it's just easier to put this) said it was about £20, so I owe him half for the new kettle.

Dizzy Ditzy gotta love the first cup!

pinknsparkly It's all about switching the TV off and thinking 'if you don't do it today, there's more to do tomorrow'. Saying that, i've got a ton of housework that's to be done! But I did go to work today until 4 and finished my assignment and sent it off.

Ladykernow

A little bit sad today. I've settled my finances for the last two months with Mr. Kernow. Now £231 out of pocket. We travel down to Cornwall/Devon to see family over xmas so that's why the spending is slightly higher. Plus bills. We always split everything, but recently i've been struggling to pay things back. Now I really need to stick to the no spend challenge. On a positive note, I didn't spend any money this week. I could have bought lunch, but i've been good.

I've decided that i'll try and take over on the shopping this time, or go with him. He does take a list but I sometimes wonder what he has spent money on.

I've found a very handy site if anyone is interested.
https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/tools/budget-planner

Also, 89 days until our LISA matures!

pinknsparkly

I have a similar issue with my husband, LadyK - he's not really a spendthrift but somehow always manages to spend twice as much in a supermarket as I would manage, every single time!

Might it be worth trying to figure out a mutual budget together? I've downloaded, but not got round to using, an app called GoodBudget - I chose this one in particular because you can have two users on one account so you can both have the app on your phone. The free version seems to have a fairly limited number of categories/pots that you can set up. My plan when I was searching for it was for the two of us to start using it but never got round to it..... I guess that's another thing to put on my to-do list to consider for 2019.

Exciting times on the LISA - we had a similar situation of counting down the days until we could use it!! Also, in case you're not aware, Skipton require a 30 day notice period in advance of when you want the money. I'm not sure if Nottingham are the same. But when you do find a property, make sure that you send the completed forms to your solicitors right at the start (if, worst case scenario, the sale falls through then the money will either not be sent to your solicitors or, if it's already turned up there, sent back to your LISA). Also, find out if your solicitor will charge for processing the LISA. Our solicitors charged £250 for processing HTB ISAs (per ISA, so if you both had one it would be £500!!) but had never done a LISA before so didn't charge us. Other people I know haven't been charged a fee either, or have been charged a nominal fee.

Ladykernow

My partner and I are first time buyers and we went for an appointment to talk to a sales rep at one of the nearest to us. One of the sales reps said take a look around the show home (Not the one we were planning on). We went back in, and she didn't seem that interested in talking to us. We had looked at ones up to £300,000 and she then asked 'What can you actually afford?'. We said the price limit, and proceeded to tell us all the properties were 300k+. So we said, actually, one of them is £284k. She looked over to the other sales rep, I think the manager, and she replied 'Yes! We do.' She then came over and just mentioned the plots etc and told us there's a show home the next two towns over.

We did go there and view it. We really liked the layout. The sales person there was lovely! A far cry from the other branch. I'm 29 and Mr Kernow is 25, we look young, and I kind of feel that was why she didn't seem that interested in helping us. Anyway, that's my moan for today!

savingwannabe

What a horrid sales rep. Well their rudeness will be affecting their commission and salary I am sure!:eek::eek:

Ladykernow

:T On the 2nd of February we did go back to that new building development as we can afford it with the help to buy loan, and put down a reservation fee. The first week we got everything together. We have found a mortgage and waiting on the solicitor. Much cheaper than what we pay for our rent. Although I know there is going to be so much more to pay!

The house should be ready either May, June or July. We are hoping for July as we are kind of tied in at the moment with our rented place.

But after all these years hoping, we will finally be on the property ladder! :beer:

We are looking at the flooring options tomorrow. So looking forward to that!