Taking the plunge

Jelllibeanz

The news finally arrived on Friday that the re-mortgage has been actioned with effect from the beginning of July. The first payment will be inflated, but then it will come down to £10 less than what I've been paying for the past few months. It has knocked 5 years off the original mortgage. So we are very happy bunnies. Now to start putting more OPs in to bring it down lower, whilst staying under 10% each year. Mr J was suitably impressed.


There have been other positives too. I found a fiver whilst walking the dogs at the weekend. We visited three carboot sales and only spent £1 on entrance fees for one. So the BH spending was kept fairly reasonable with two takeaways (a cheaper version of a popular chicken shop and then open bags of chips on the beach).


I also picked up a bread making machine on the bay of fleas for the princely sum of £1.20 I haven't had one for years and didn't use it much then, but it was lovely waking up to the smell of fresh bread. If I don't use it loads at that price I do not mind.


Thanks to a YS pork joint and some fresh veg this week's main meals have been fairly healthy and cheap. Following a roast on Monday we are still using it for stir fry. We didn't by pre-packed veg for it either. I actually like chopping and peeling after work. Plus with it cooking so quickly I'm not tied to the kitchen either.


I'm still walking most places. I cheated this week with uni. I went to get a bus, but it wasn't running to timetable and I would have been late. So I resorted a cab. It was almost £10!!!! So I won't be doing that again in hurry.

Jessy103

Congrats on the remortgage and well done on the minimal spending, I hope you enjoy making all the yummy bread!

Jelllibeanz

Thanks Jessy So far so good - the boys are looking forward to me trying to make a Nute11a one this weekend!


It hasn't been too bad a week. No big spends so far, but I do need to get a filter/pump for the solo fish in the tank. He's been with us for over 4 years and there's been the suggestion of getting him another fishy friend. However, the built in filter/pump has packed up. May have a look on the bay of fleas to see if there is anything locally.


Otherwise the DSs were little rascals fighting in the week. The upshot of which is we need to rehang their bedroom door. Given they damaged it we are making them wait for it. They got a jolly good ticking off from both of us and are now grounded. This includes no phones, consoles, tablets or TV. They now have to be in the living areas with us at all times. It's a fab punishment and they are being more sociable as a direct result.


We will still go away this weekend as the weather is set to be good. They aren't going to be allowed to go and play with their friends. So I suspect we will be doing some DIY. One suggestion that I did stumble across in things for them to do was to make their own bird feeders out of scrap wood materials. We've broached it with them and they seem to be up for it. It will help them to develop some practical and problem solving skills. Will benefit the local wildlife too.


I've decided to update my signature with a 10% focus. I've got until 31st Dec to put £6100 towards the overpayment pot. So far we're at £373/£6100. Then the pot will roll over again. I'm not sure we can manage this/be disciplined enough as it's a bit of a stretch goal. It's definitely something to aim for.


In other news my waistline has been expanding. I keep trying to blame the pixies for sewing my clothes together in the wardrobe, but I need to be honest and fair to the pixies. I think my wine consumption and snacking is more responsible. Therefore, I've avoided all wine since the beginning of the week. Admittedly I am having a small G&dietT in the garden on a sunny evening, but this is lower in calories and I like tonic water. I'm hoping that I may loose some inches and not need to buy any more new clothes.

Jelllibeanz

Well last weekend was fairly positive and it stayed low spend!! No trips to the supermarkets Just one small trip to the local pub for a couple of drinks - lead to grand outlay of £5.40


The birdbox idea went down a treat. The boys loved sawing etc. Plus they got some quality time with Mr J. We're not going there this weekend. We've agreed to have a weekend at home and give the house some TLC. The dishwasher is broke , but we have the repair team coming out tomorrow. This gives me a good chance to get out in the garden and do some much needed maintenance. I haven't a clue on the weather. I'm hoping it's nice, but not too nice.

Jelllibeanz

It's been ok on the £ front for the past couple of weeks. I've cancelled our online TV subscription. The price was going to go up and we weren't really watching it. So that's a tenner saved.


I've also cancelled the white goods insurance policy. However, I did get them out to repair the oven door and fix the dishwasher, which they subsequently replaced with a shiny new one. I think I'd rather put the £20 a month into a separate savings account for potential replacements/repairs in the future. Though I must admit I was thrilled to get a new dishwasher and couldn't believe the old one was eleven years old!


We are almost 22% of the way there with the OP target. We only have until Xmas until the pot rolls over. So we need to get as much done as we can.


In the cooking news I tried a bootstrap sweet corn muffin recipe. It didn't go down too well with Mr J. Admittedly I hadn't mashed up the corn too well and there were a couple of chunks at the bottom. Otherwise he loved the apple and cinnamon loaf I made last night and has quite happily taken a slice to work with him for lunch.


I've been taken some small bags of dry breakfast cereal for snacking on. Partly as I don't have breakfast. My colleagues were not too impressed when they caught me eating dry bran flakes with dried fruit. However, it is stopping me going to the shops and I have a problem with snacking at my desk. I tried something earlier in the week - eating a bag of rocket leaves instead. I must admit it was almost as good and less than 22 calories for the whole bag! So I may try that again soon.


Note to self: I must get my expenses claim put through this month as it quite a significant amount and I can put that towards the OP. In my head once it's left my bank it's spent. So any extra can be pooled in.

Jelllibeanz

Ok. So the note to self worked. My expenses should come through at circa £100 so it was certainly well worth putting through. That is ring fenced and going straight into the OP pot when it arrives. I've been doing ok so far. I pulled a few quid in cash and have restricted myself to that and kept a nice round figure in the bank account. However, I now need to pay for a conference and work will reimburse me later. I'm grumbling just because I don't like having to use my own money for it and it will ruin my roundness!


Otherwise all is good. I've too much work to do and trying to avoid it. I've been reading up on ISAs. I've never opened one. So I figure I will treat myself soon and go for it, but the car insurance will need sorting in the very near future and that is more important. I need to start generating some passive income for the future and adding to my pension pot. Can you tell I've started reading FIRE blogs by any chance?

Jelllibeanz

It's been a little while since I posted, but we are still making progress. Currently 50% of way towards making maximum OP before Dec. Things are on target, but it's been a very spendy month. We've booked the holiday of a lifetime to Florida for early next year!!! (I am super excited!!) It's all paid off and one set of park tickets has been bought already. Even though it has made a serious dent in the bank balance we are still ok with a small emergency buffer that needs to be built up again. I also need to build up a pot of spending money for when we are out there. However, I'm starting to digress.

In other news (more spending) we've purchased some push bikes. These are a two fold approach to money saving. Firstly we are going to use them to try to get fitter by doing family coastal bike rides at the weekends. It will be very challenging to begin with as Mr J and I are very unfit at present. On an MSE note these will mean DSs can ride to and from school. This creates a savings factor of £960 per annum just on bus fares (one way) or £1.6k if they had bus passes to travel there and back. So provided they don't get stolen by Jan 2020 they should have paid for themselves.

Mr J may be needing to change jobs, which means he may need the car or perhaps the train. Either way for the moment I am putting off the idea of buying another old banger and will continue to walk where possible.

Due to the very high spends this month I will be doing my level best to eat out of the freezer and start clearing down the cupboards again. Making meals out of what is available can be frustrating when I'm feeling tired and lazy, but so far the feedback from the family has been positive. There is plenty in the freezers (both at home and away). I just need to apply myself more.

We did fairly well this month with a week at our holiday home. The only major spend was the bikes. We had a couple of takeaways (chips on the beach and a fried chicken meal) plus we had one of the DSs' friends stay with us. Having said that they were really good and went swimming every day, rode their bikes, built dens in the woods and played footie. One of the best investments was a water slide that was £2.50 in the sales. It gave them a couple of afternoons of fun.

So the plan is this weekend will be our first ride together as a family along the coast, which should be fairly flat (fingers crossed). I'm looking forward to trying out my bike properly. I wasn't going to get one, but Mr J persuaded me when we drove by the promenade. The sea looked so good it was almost like we were abroad! So he spent loads of time researching the tree of gum and found me a Dutch style bike that had only been used twice with brand new basket, lock and bell for £50. I was absolutely chuffed as there was no way I was going to pay near £300 for the one I like in the shop.

Happy days .

Jessy103

Hope you have a lovely bike ride

Jelllibeanz

It was fantastic- we did 9 miles and the boys absolutely loved it!


Thank you Jessy


I'm only a little saddle sore and am looking forward to another this weekend.

Jelllibeanz

It's been a little while. So I figured I'd check in. Mortgage wise we are still on track and making good progress towards the 10% figure for this year. It rolls over on 1st Jan. So I'm staying disciplined and popping some across every pay day.


Last weekend I completely fell off the MSE wagon whilst visiting DD. Half a tank of fuel spent doing the round trip up to hers and then £200 in the local outlet centre on some cheap bits. In fairness I desperately needed some new bras as my regular ones had lost their elastic. It wasn't until I tried the new ones on I realised how bad they'd become. The new scaffolding is much appreciated. I plan to get a few more and look after myself a little better in future.


It was really good to see my baby girl though and well worth the expense. Life is for living too.


In other news Mr J has pulled it off again - the caravan boiler was playing up (giving heat and hot water that was only lukewarm) and after doing some research got a couple of contractors round. The first one said the parts were obsolete and it needed completely replacing - to the tune of £1.5K!!! :eek:After having a chat with the boiler manufacturer they recommended a different contractor who carries spare parts on their van and would do free of charge visit to establish what the issue was. Long and short.... the boiler needed a small white plastic tube replacing and it had gone into 'safe mode' to let us know. Cost for part and fitting: £85!!!! Mr J saved us £1420!!! :money::j


We are both so relieved. It means we can enjoy our holiday home again, especially the days are becoming shorter and cooler. And keep saving towards fun things in Florida