£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

enthusiasticsaver

You should mention to your remortgage provider you will be looking for secured borrowing in a years time but often it is treated as an add on to the mortgage so not necessarily the same rate and does not involve you repaying existing mortgage. Problems may come though if you move lenders.

in_need_of_direction

A word of caution, like all survey sites, PA is profile dependent. I check at least once a day, every day but am averaging around £20 a month. It's better than a lot of sites but it's not guaranteed riches.

JoJoC

I'd echo PA - I cashed out £50 just over a week ago and just cashed out another £25 last night, with £11 pending in my account.

I check it around 8 times per day (I work in front of a computer so just keep the tab open and refresh in between tasks) but spending the odd 10 minutes here and there has proved valuable for me.

For us, next year we'd like our first family holiday so I've set up a separate savings account just for survey money to start off the holiday savings. Once my latest cash out clears, I'll have £75 in there

Worth looking at if you can spare the odd few minutes throughout the day.

Verbatim

I'm astounded at your energy levels and love your positive, can-do approach.
I was wondering if you'd started your savings to repay the parent who lent you money for your deposit? At the start of the diary you were having to repay CT and were looking forward to dc3 getting free nursery hours. So I thought maybe that"extra" had gone for that? But I may have forgotten or missed that update.

Treadingonplaymobil

Verbatim wrote: »

I'm astounded at your energy levels and love your positive, can-do approach.
I was wondering if you'd started your savings to repay the parent who lent you money for your deposit? At the start of the diary you were having to repay CT and were looking forward to dc3 getting free nursery hours. So I thought maybe that"extra" had gone for that? But I may have forgotten or missed that update.

Basically the extra got used to make our budget balance - it previously was more wishful thinking than reality. The relative in question is trying to push more money on us and is more than happy with the loan to continue to be outstanding, so for now I'm not stressing about it.

And thank you for the nice comment. 'Can-do', that's me. Or possibly 'Can-do, while whinging and moaning incessantly and shouting at DH/the children/passers by to see if any of them would like to -do instead'

Treadingonplaymobil

Actually had a moderately successful attempt at a 'relaxing' holiday day today - only two DC in the house, but we didn't really do anything. Both tired, one played with trains and the other alternately stared at the TV and played with me. Not my finest parenting hour, but (a) free and (b) a good wind down day for them.

Emailed my mortgage broker, and she's optimistic she can get us a mortgage with a provider who won't penalise us for adding to our borrowing, which is incredibly positive news. Now the only challenge is to get a decent fixed rate, as our debt is a good £10k higher, maybe £15k, on paper than it was when we took the mortgage out. I am cheerfully remaining slightly head in the sand about that one, will deal with it when it comes to the end of the term.

Had a comedy batch cooking incident today - I miscalculated my multiplications making a big batch of Columbian black bean stew (SO FREAKING CHEAP. And my children like it. And black beans are super good for you), as I was using dried beans rather than fresh, and ended up having to make quadruple the recipe quantity rather than my usual double. Actually a total win as I'll take it camping this weekend as an easy first night dinner.

to do today
1. Email local young archeologists club for DC1. Must actually do this. Done, got a reply, need to show him the info and see if he still fancies it.
2. Laundry (for a change). Done. EMPTY LAUNDRY BASKET. Apparently it's going to rain tomorrow, so I am feeling smug.
3. Ironing (also totally groundbreaking). Almost all done, but piled up all over the sitting room instead of in drawers. Baby steps.
4. Make columbian black bean stew for dinner. Done x1,000,000.
5. Weed front garden. Not done.
6. Phone EE to remove DH's inadvertently added data bundle. Not done, I've outsourced it to DH (his phone, his problem).
7. Bag up charity shop stuff. Done, so now the children can't see the piles of their junk that I am getting rid of. :cool:
8. Tidy away the lego, which should now be easily sorted thanks to the zillion tupperwares. Not done. Sitting room still resembles Lego testing station.
9. Make a spreadsheet for the extension plans so we can see whether we are on track as we go. Done.
10. Email the architect to keep him in the loop. Not done.
11. Email mortgage broker to enquire about remortgaging situation. Done.

to do this week
1. charity shop run. Donations still cluttering up hallway.
2. take snacks and picnics for days out with the children - no unplanned cafe trips!
3. pack for camping.
4. buy walking boots. DH managed to get some in the sale today for only £65 (down from £120), so only mine to go.
5. make a decision on house extension and email architect. Decision made, need to email architect.

Aims for July
1. Pay some extra off the MBNA card - I'd like this card gone asap. Well, a whopping £15 paid on top of the minimum payment so far, hoping to make another payment before end of month.
2. Pay for camping holiday commitments out of self employed income rather than adding to debt. So far so good, but there is one more camping trip to cover in August.
3. Stick to the budget even more closely than in June!

apple_muncher

You surf! Am so jealous! I would love to be able to do it, but reckon that a dodgy shoulder and extremely fuzzy vision without my specs on might just stop me! However, I would still love to learn to paddleboard...

Arthurs_Rose

Just wanted to pop by and say Hi, ive read your entire diary and its kept me entertained over several boring days of weekend work. Wish i had half your energy.

Treadingonplaymobil

apple_muncher wrote: »

You surf! Am so jealous! I would love to be able to do it, but reckon that a dodgy shoulder and extremely fuzzy vision without my specs on might just stop me! However, I would still love to learn to paddleboard...

I'm not sure I'd call what I do surfing . I only started a year ago, and I am truly terrible, but I've always wanted to do it, and I really enjoy it.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 24: Day 4

Ambitions of another cheap day today - going to make playdough and/or salt dough with the DC, hoping that some crafting will keep them occupied for a while, and perhaps afterwards we'll use up some of those crafting kits children get for their birthdays and then set there because we never have time to do them. Having got this far into the holidays (three whole days) without a cafe trip or expensive day out is pretty unheard of for us, so I'm feeling pleased.

I am on end-of-the-month countdown at this stage, as I know lot of us are by this time. DH gets paid tomorrow and I can start having fun trying to make our new budget (with a small savings pot for the extension) balance. That should be fun.

to do today
1. Finish the last bit of ironing.
2. Weed front garden, as long as the forecast rain stops at lunchtime as promised.
3. Tidy the lego.
4. Email the architect to keep him in the loop.
5. Pack an order for smaller business.
6. Organise the DCs' art and craft supplies, they have got a bit messy over the last few days, and arty stuff is always a good free activity for them.
7. Spend a few mins on social media for both businesses - really feeling the lack of earning! Summer is always by far my quietest period.
8. Start researching presents for DC1, whose birthday is in September. Want to get things with cashback and make sure we're getting the most bang for buck, as it will be his first birthday since LBM, and last year's was somewhat extravagant, so I think he'll notice the difference.

to do this week
1. charity shop run. Donations still cluttering up hallway.
2. take snacks and picnics for days out with the children - no unplanned cafe trips!
3. pack for camping.
4. buy walking boots. DH managed to get some in the sale today for only £65 (down from £120), so only mine to go.
5. make a decision on house extension and email architect. Decision made, need to email architect.

Aims for July
1. Pay some extra off the MBNA card - I'd like this card gone asap. Well, a whopping £15 paid on top of the minimum payment so far, hoping to make another payment before end of month.
2. Pay for camping holiday commitments out of self employed income rather than adding to debt. So far so good, but there is one more camping trip to cover in August.
3. Stick to the budget even more closely than in June!