Ruby's Bought a House, Now I want to Own It!

Cornish_mum

Have a brilliant holiday CM

ruby_eskimo

We're back!  And we had a great time 😎.  Too many highlights to list but we actually spent some time relaxing in the pool, consumed a few cocktails, ate some amazing food, met Mickey Mouse a few times, experienced some amazing new rides, walked about 10 miles a day and even came back with half of our spending money intact. 

That last one was mostly because I over budgeted for food and we actually ended up probably having 1 meal a day and then a couple of snacks to share; partly due to the huge portions but also because of the extreme heat, where fluids were more important than food.  The leftover money has been sent back to the holiday pot and we now have our money for the next adventure (Lisbon in 6 weeks time) sorted and are 20% of the way towards the money we need for the cruise next year.    

Came back to reality with a bit of a bump (I got a notification about the Queen's passing as we were checking out of our hotel 😢) but have unpacked and now have the last load of laundry ready to dry.  Manged to beat jetlag but still ridiculously tired 😴   Back to work today and we had no internet, so had to sort that out, then my coffee machine isn't working properly (need to reset it but for some reason it won't reset...) but I have managed to get my work emails down to under 100 so as long as I get through those today, I'll be happy.

On the money front we've made another regular OP to the mortgage but DH is still waiting on his inheritance so we won't be making a real dent on that until he receives that money.  I've also heard today that I'll be getting my pay increase in my September pay, backdated to April.  Think it's about £1400 or just under before tax / NI etc, but every little bit helps.

Think that's about it really for now.  My brain is too tired to think of anything more!  Hope you're all doing well, better get back to my emails...

savingholmes

Glad you had a great time. Lovely about the backpay too.

ruby_eskimo

I may have been back over a week but still not back into the swing of things.  Have drawn a line and getting back into things today, starting with the usual Tuesday jobs of changing the sheets and cleaning the bedrooms.  Have also stuck some split pea soup in the slow cooker to bubble away for lunch but even though it's on high, I'm not sure it's going to cook down enough for my liking in there.  May have to abort and put it on the hob later but will see how it goes.

Money wise, we're way under with our food spend this month (because of the holiday) so have moved the extra into a separate pot to account for the extra money we'll spend at Christmas / a buffer for the increasing food costs overall.  I also look to have some fun money left over this month so will again put that aside ready for the coming social season (not that I want to actually go out and see people 😆)

House wise we've ordered our new internal doors finally and have the carpenter all lined up.  Just need to go pick up the fixings from screwfix and all should be well.  Costs are being met from our house pot which has been sitting there accumulating for a while.  

Then we have the holidays...Lisbon is fully paid for and spending money is sitting there ready and waiting.  I've booked us a table for a Fado evening on our actual wedding anniversary which I'm looking forward too.  Just don't know what clothes to take as it's going to be Autumn, but about 20 degrees 🤷‍♀️  Then at the weekend my MIL let slip that they're bringing their wedding forward to next year and that's probably going to cause a lot of issues with our existing plans and trips but we'll have to wait and see what dates they pick.  Have had a quick draft of some prices and added to the budget but it's forecasting that we'll have the money in about 2 years time, so not holding out much hope!

Right, time to get back to work.

ruby_eskimo

Just realised that it's October and I haven't updated the thread so far this month 🤦‍♀️ and didn't do a round up for the end of September...

Money

- Overpay the mortgage by at least £5000: Currently at £2884.34 👍
- Max out the LISA: Getting there slowly.  Current balance is £2338 and should be at almost 75% by the start of November
- Build the emergency fund to £10,000: £7370.60 / £10k 
- Reduce my personal spending: Had a little flurry of things that I needed e.g. new winter coat (brand new on ebay for £26 when still retailing for £150 in Monsoon!) and replaced my fitbit (but got over £100 off the price)

House

- Declutter 365 items: DONE 🥳  and added a few more things this week
- "Renovate" the Kitchen: Still need to buy that blind...
- House to Home: Carpenter is literally here today fitting the new internal doors (and they look amazing and I can actually open and close them now!)  Just need to paint them and all the other wood work...😳

Personal

- Learn a new skill: Still need to start the calligraphy classes 😏 and it's been almost a year since I bought the kit...
- Visit a new (to me) place in the UK: Done, had a great time!
- Visit a new (to me) country: We go to Lisbon in 15 days!
- Read 52 books: Done! 🥳
- Build healthy habits: Still keeping up with the daily walks, vitamins and being mindful of what I eat.  Have really noticed a change in my arms and legs and my general energy levels.  Weight seems to be staying the same recently which is good but I would like to lose a bit more fat...


I think the theme of the last part of the year is "slowly".  We're edging closer to our goals but they aren't going to happen overnight and a little progress at a time is better than no progress.  It's a message I need to keep reminding myself of in all aspects of life.  

Next year is shaping up to be a "big" year travel wise which I wasn't really expecting.  We already booked the cruise (DH is still waiting for his inheritance payment but that's a whole other story...) and then we talked to some friends about possibly going to Eurovision (it's a bucket list thing for me) and well, it now looks like we're going to Liverpool.  Just need to keep an eye on when the tickets become available so we can try and book.  And then with MiL bringing her wedding forward to next year, we might be getting off a ship in Southampton and then racing to Heathrow to fly to California 😳  It's all a big adventure I guess!

Oh and then it's DH's 40th in 2024 so I need to start saving for that because I'm going to take him on a trip - his mum always wants to throw him a party and he hates the idea so we have to leave the country just in case.  

Lots of things happening, mostly exciting, but need to focus on saving more now than ever.

South_coast

Definitely exciting! I love the idea of going to see Eurovision, it would be a total kitsch-fest 😀😀😀!

ruby_eskimo

I really want to go to the live final but a) tickets are going to be hard to get and b) no one else in the group wants to spend all night there 🤨  so a live semi-final it will hopefully be!  So excited, I have the perfect sparkly outfit ready to go 🤣

And DH has woken up this morning with a large sum of money in his bank account 😲 so is now trying to transfer things around but can't find his authenticator thing from Natwest to do it 😶 I'm no help because I use the biometric stuff on my phone to authenticate things 😆  But at least he now has the first part of his inheritance.  We'll be raising a glass to Brian this evening 🥃

badmemory

ruby_eskimo said:

so is now trying to transfer things around but can't find his authenticator thing from Natwest to do it

If you are talking about the thing you put your card in, I can't remember it's proper name, then it doesn't have to be natwest's own any will do.

ruby_eskimo

badmemory said:

ruby_eskimo said:

so is now trying to transfer things around but can't find his authenticator thing from Natwest to do it

If you are talking about the thing you put your card in, I can't remember it's proper name, then it doesn't have to be natwest's own any will do.

Thanks @badmemory - he found the natwest one but can't authorise the payments online for some reason so it's a trip to the bank tomorrow.

savingholmes

Glad your DH has had part of his inheritance and your other plans are progressing well.

Good luck with resolving the money shuffle.