Dreaming of financial freedom!

Jessy103

Hi Ch4rly! You're doing great! I have started a spreadsheet for food in my freezer and cupboards so I know what I have left in there and what I can put together to make meals (I do love a good spreadsheet! Lol!) so that may help with your freezer bargains!
That's the only problem with owning your own home, you have to deal with all the repairs that come along!! I hope it gets sorted and doesn't cost you too much to repair! x

ch4rly2002

Great idea Jessy, thank you
Indeed - home ownership costs us more than just the interest... worth it though

ch4rly2002

Not much to report on the MSE front. I've kept up scouting out bargains while shopping and the freezer is well and truly stuffed. I'm going to enjoy some cheap meals this month
As I've been ill, I haven't had the energy or the inclination to do any non-essential shopping so that's removed any temptation I might have had. The only purchase has been some jewellery boxes for a fund raising event that my mum is organising, but I used my nectar points for that so ti didn't really cost me anything. I'm so looking forward to it!
I've found I've been wishing the days away to get to today, when the mortgage is paid - sad I know. I wanted to check if my interest calculations were right, and they were spot on to the penny (outstanding mortgage balance multiplied by interest rate then divided by 365 to get the daily interest charge. Then, multiply the daily interest charge by the number of days in the month). Thank you also to TMV for the spreadsheet that lets me keep track of OPs and predict what position I will be in in future months - that is a great motivation. £8.06 Tilly tidied to the mortgage to round it down to an even £201,000.
I haven't made the £500 overpayment on the BTL mortgage yet as DH and I have spotted a house that we both think is perfect. Normally we have to compromise on at least 1 aspect each but we are both in full agreement on this one. We've been discussing moving as this house doesn't quite meet our needs, but not sure if it's the right time or if it would be the right decision. DH suggested we take a look and it will either put it out of our minds or focus us on making it happen. Either way, if it went ahead we would need all the money possible. I rang the mortgage lender and got the current balance, so for now £15.05 Tilly tidied across to round it down to £127,800
Surveys up to date, free postcode lottery checked every day (postcodes from my village have some up twice this week - not on the main draw, but still exciting that it's that close) and the tidying/selling is coming nicely considering I've had no energy and haven't felt up to doing much for the last 2 weeks.

ch4rly2002

Forgot to add, I set up a standing order to buy £50 of premium bonds each month as that's the only way to buy less than £100 at a time. The first lot came out today, but considering you have to wait a full month plus the month you bought the bonds before they are even entered, buying them on the first of the month wasn't a great idea really. I'm going to try and change the date to pay day so that I'm only waiting slightly over a month for them to be included in the draw.

try_harder

That sounds a great idea ,i didnt realise that you could buy monthly ,i am going to have a look at that now .Thanks for the tips .Look forward to hearing more about the house.

Jessy103

Hi ch4rly! You're so on top of things!! Good luck with the house viewing! I think OH is right, if you go look at it then you won't regret not going! What's meant to be, will be!!
Looking forward to hearing about it! x

foxyloxy11

ditto on the house front and thanks for the info on the premium bonds. that's something to think about for the future

themadvix

I adjusted my payday so that I could get the most benefit from the premium bonds - I use them to save all my tax money in (I'm self-employed). Won £25 this month! I love the 'gambling' without gambling-ness of it!

ch4rly2002

I agree TMV, I like that I have a chance of winning a million but without throwing my money away in a casino or on lottery tickets. Haven't won anything yet (only had £1800 up until January, now have £8,000 in there) but I'm hoping given enough time that we will win something. This was the first month that all £8k was eligible for the draw and I was sure we'd win something this month but if we win £25 this year I'll be pretty happy.

ch4rly2002

Well, we ended up making the £500 OP on the buy-to-let mortgage as if we went for the other house now we'd probably have to sell the rented house for the deposit. However, I don't think it's quite the right time to buy the other house, and there are about 8 more on the estate as it's a new build so I'm sure that kind will come up in future if this one sells (although I don't think it will sell any time as it seems to be overpriced based on the sold prices of the others and the fact that it's been on the market nearly year). I think the dream house is going to stay just that for now, a dream, and OPs will continue. On that note, I've updated my signature to reflect the current position.
Had a bit of an expensive day on Friday. The gardener came to do a bit of weeding and general tidying up. It was £30, so less than when he does a full session but still quite a bit. It's nice to see the garden looking nicer though and he earned every penny of that (£25 plus £5 tip) for battling through and working in heavy, cold rain.
We had a lovely weekend this weekend just gone. My brothers came up to visit my Mum and Dad (and watch a football game, which their team lost). They all stayed at our house, including my Mum, so it reminded me why we went for this big house and it made me appreciate it a bit more, even though we're still facing a few repairs in the near future. It was truly lovely to have a house full. Thankfully Mum helped to make the beds and do some cleaning as I'm wiped out from this illness.Thank goodness for Mums eh?! I'm feeling a lot better and still coughing up phlegm, but nowhere as bad as I have been. On Friday my Mum brought us some steaks and made steak with med veg and potato 'pennies' - it was delicious! She also brought sausages and made sausage sandwiches for breakfast on Saturday, which filled us all so much we barely needed anything for lunch. On Saturday afternoon we went back to Mum's and started logging all of her and Dad's LPs, and looking at sold prices on fleabay to get an idea of values. We took a few down to a vinyl shop in town to get an idea of whether they offer fair prices, which they did so Mum made a bit of cash and has somewhere to store her handbags now. I'm going for my tea on Wednesday and I'll help her log and sort the remaining records and we'll get those sold either through the shop or on fleabay. On Saturday evening we went for a meal at a Thai restaurant in town - it was lovely and at £20 a head (Mum paid for some drinks and put some towards a tip) it was reasonably priced so we didn't feel like we were breaking the bank. It's the first time DH and I have eaten at a restaurant in ages (it used to be w weekly occurrence) so I think we appreciated it all the more. I also bought some Cava and chocolate for the SIL's birthday and £20 for the niece's birthday as well as card for the SIL in America (will send her birthday pressie back with the BIL when we see him in London later this month) and a charity donation for a friend's birthday... March is fairly busy on the birthday front. Yesterday we had chicken in white wine and tarragon sauce with sweet potato mash, roast potatoes, carrots, green beans and Yorkshire puddings. Another lovely meal which Mum kindly paid for. She looks after us
The BIL is round tonight and we will be watching the Walking Dead so I'll have to go out and get something to cook tonight. I'll cook their favourite chicken and chorizo pasta to use up the chorizo and linguine that we have left over, plus some chorizo that my aunt kindly brought me back from Spain. Just need some chicken and veggies for that, and it should be quite quick and easy.
I'm going to get some fresh veggies for the week and try to get away with using only freezer meat and fish this week. I'm sure I'll manage the challenge as we have so much in the freezer, but I might get swayed if I see some really good bargains when I go to the shop! Lunch today was a smoothie made from frozen cherried, blueberry and strawberries, along with a pretty sorry looking banana from the fruit bowl and some milk. The fruit is taking up so much room in the freezer and I have a glut of milk that needs using before the next bottle is delivered tomorrow so this seemed a tasty and healthy way to use that.
In terms of making a bit of extra cash, I have some items on fleabay that end tonight so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they sell well and make some more for the OP pot. I'm also up-to-date on Nectar Canvass and OnePoll.