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

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 62: Day 5

Morning! Spent most of yesterday 'improving' the architect's plans - they are really quite close to the designs we originally scribbled out before we even met the architect, which makes me think the whole thing may have been a total waste of time, but then there are a few really really good ideas he's had which make the space work better and we never would have come up with, and I think we wouldn't have been as pleased with the design without that. Still slightly bitter though.

My maths (using the new build/remodelling per square metre prices the architect gave me) makes the design we're now looking at more or less hit the £40k mark, so until someone tells us otherwise we're going with that. If money runs short it also allows us to do some of the internal remodelling later (moving one of the bathrooms a small way to make a boot room space, and putting in a new bathroom) as it is unrelated to the rest of the work. We can also split the work into dormer plus later ground floor extension if we want, although we think that economies of scale and logistics will mean it makes more sense to do it at once if we possibly can.

BusyMee1 we haven't booked a builder, but my thinking is exactly the same as yours - I'm hoping to be in a position to get quotes within the next month or so, and if it turns out they can't start until later next year, then the worst thing that happens is that we've paid off more of the debt. It makes things trickier with the remortgaging and timing building work for holidays, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I figure if we're getting quotes in June we'll be able to start work next spring though, unless builders round here are seriously in demand (which is possible). Spring really would be better than January in all ways, it's just the logistics of getting it finished before the end of the summer that presents a challenge.

Not a lot else exciting going on. Need to tidy my poor house today and generally get back into 'being at home' mode. Not really working this weekend though, just a little contract work to get through. Unfortunately the heat wave is mean to give up the ghost down here by Saturday.

Have continued with my rounding down pot all month so far (last month I had given up by this stage in the face of birthday expenses!), and am pleased to have paid an extra £33 off the barclaycard so far. I know it's not much, but I also haven't missed it at all, making payments every time the rounding down pot goes over £1.

To do today:
1. Contract work for next week.
2. Pack orders for smaller business.
3. Clear emails.
4. Plan weekend.
5. Talk to DH about latest extension plans and sums.
6. Redo menu plan based on what food my mum used - I'm not sure the plan was stuck to while I was away!

Debt repayment:
- £33.12/30 April rounding down pot.
- £1,926.46/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.

Treadingonplaymobil

One thing that is happening with all this extension chat/design is that I'm getting really focused on paying off as much debt and saving as much as possible this year so we're in as strong a position as humanly possible for next year. For once my propensity for nice things is standing me in good stead, as I know that the victim of bad budgeting is going to be the quality of the finish!

DC3 is poorly so I've been stuck on the sofa with her all day. I've been doing more research about the costs we need to cover before we can actually start building, as I need to concentrate on getting those sorted over the course of this year.

1) Remaining architect's fees: This should be another £1,800 for various things that get us to the stage of actually building.
2) Structural engineer fees - google suggests £600 plus VAT, so I'm saying £1,000.
3) Some sort of quantity surveying - there seem to be options from the very cheap (free online/£200 online) to the pricier (£1,000 or 2% of build cost which should be roughly the same thing), so £1,000 to be on the safe side. Architect confident we can use the cheaper options, but I haven't done enough research to be sure yet.
4) Planning permission - £200
5) South West Water - this is a huge unknown, but we need to build over part of a sewer, so this needs investigating. I don't think we need planning to make a start on this, so I will probably get going on this fairly soon. Initial inspection is cheap, but further work can be required, and may actually affect the size of the extension, so I'm thinking needs addressing sooner than later. Google suggests anything from £300 for a build over agreement to £1,000 for minor changes to much more (£10k+) if major changes are required (which would probably scupper the entire thing, but seem unlikely). Let's say £1,000, as if it's at the £10k end then the whole thing is being called off anyway!

So that's a cool £5k before a single brick is laid or drop of concrete is poured! Crazy stuff. At the moment we are saving £285pm towards these costs, which if we take a full year to get all of that sorted before starting to build means we'll still only have saved £3,420 towards those costs, and will be removing £1,580 from the build budget to cover the remainder.

Instead of doing that, I'd like to (a) cover all of those costs before building starts and (b) have them covered by the end of the year rather than taking 12 months. In order to cover it in May-December's budgets I'll need to increase the monthly savings for this from £285 to £625, which is an absolutely massive increase, but gives me something to aim for.

Obviously our budget has very little flex in it, so it's not like I can wiggle things to produce that saving, and I won't reduce our debt repayment further (I could stop overpaying with the rounding down pots, or reduce payments to the minimum), so that money has to come from extra income.

I'm going to continue with my savings division for now, but will reassess at some stage (maybe end of May) to see whether I'm anything like on track or need to reconsider priorities.
10% debt overpayments
10% extension savings
10% house stuff
10% biz account emergency savings
10% food/household supplies
10% annual insurances
10% supplies for sister's wedding cake
10% saving towards 4 months' buffer in biz account
10% DC1 tutor (starting in Sept)
10% emergency fund

Once again, the need for additional income is highlighted. May and June are two of the highest working time months of the year (I average 20hrs per week, but some months this is more, to allow much less during holiday months like April and August) - 92 hours in May and 84 hours in June. I need to make sure I really maximise this time in order to ensure as much income as possible, as I won't work this many hours again until October when DC3 is in school full time and I go up to 95+ per month.

My salary into our joint account (so excluding saving for future months salary, business costs etc, which all stays in my business account) comes to £2,616 so far this year, more than double the £1,000 our budget requires me to bring in over the same period.

Around £650 has gone on debt overpayment, in Jan and Feb some extra went on budget balancing due to over-spending, then the remainder on massive car and birthday spends in Feb/March, but if I can continue to over-earn at that rate and there aren't any hideous car/house/child expenses and I manage to contain the budget as I have in March and April, then there's some chance I'll be able to approach those higher savings targets.

I'm really just noting all this down so I have a reference to check back to at the end of May when I reassess our position, not because I expect anyone to have any magic solutions here!

Verbatim

Is there a way of reducing the Xmas spend by planning ahead now?

Treadingonplaymobil

Verbatim wrote: »

Is there a way of reducing the Xmas spend by planning ahead now?

Not an obvious one that I can think of - I wouldn't dare buy presents now because no doubt the DCs will change their minds about favourites, and I'll make jams etc for food hampers as we get to the appropriate times of the year (have already made marmalade). Some handmade stuff maybe, will have a think.

Might post up our SOA again later for another mauling, sometimes someone comes up with something I haven't spotted!

Treadingonplaymobil

Current SOA, as mentioned previously. Open to any suggestions, although I think most things have been trimmed as much as we're prepared to.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 250 (as mentioned, this is generally higher, but this is my minimum)
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2869.87 (I think this might go up by a whopping £20 or so next month, but not certain. Some fraction of a percentage point rise at the end of the tax year).
Benefits................................ 192.4
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3312.27

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 708.7
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 146.9
Electricity............................. 49.84 (gas and electricity. Worryingly low after being high for a year, must do meter reading)
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 75 (just reduced from £95, need to submit a meter reading to check it's right)
Telephone (land line)................... 18.99 (landline and internet)
Mobile phone............................ 70.94 (includes expensive contract for my work phone, DH now sim only)
TV Licence.............................. 12.37
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 (not prepared to reduce this, having experienced having it lower)
Petrol/diesel........................... 225
Road tax................................ 16.62
Car Insurance........................... 32.74
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 42
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 50 (DH's train fare 1 day a week on average)
Childcare/nursery....................... 10 (will end in July)
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 31.84 (building and contents)
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 16.26
Other insurance......................... 0
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 150
Holiday................................. 75
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Extension............................... 285 (this is what I would like to increase)
YNAB.................................... 3
National Trust.......................... 9.6
Birthdays............................... 60
Christmas............................... 100
Tutor................................... 17.5 (this is accumulating in advance of September start, but will need to go up at some stage - will be £75pm minus whatever I have already saved averaged over the year)
Swimming lessons........................ 34
Music lessons........................... 15 (one DC has given up, so have moved the space money to tutor savings)
Cubs/Beavers............................ 30
Subscriptions (DCs' presents from last Christmas) 19 (This will end in August)
School trips etc........................ 5
Pocket money............................ 5
House stuff/maintenance................. 15
Children's clothes...................... 60
DH kitty................................ 40 (includes clothes)
my kitty................................ 20 (doesn't include clothes - I pay for these as a percentage of my business income due to needing to look 'the part' for work)
iCloud storage.......................... 6.99
Netflix................................. 5.99 (I would ditch this, DH won't countenance it)
Total monthly expenses.................. 2948.28


Assets
Cash.................................... 3627 (biz and personal account - personal alone has c.£1,300 in it)
House value (Gross)..................... 225000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 500 (we will run it until it dies, it's basically worthless)
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 229127


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 193009...(708.7)....2.99 (I think this is the right rate, not 100% certain)
Total secured & HP debts...... 193009....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................11342.....285.......0 (until Sept '18)
Virgin.........................2809......28........0 (until some time in 2020)
Parental loan..................20000.....0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........34151.....313.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,312.27
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,948.28
Available for debt repayments........... 363.99
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 313
Amount left after debt repayments....... 50.99 (this usually gets sucked into a food or entertainment overspend)

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 229,127
Total HP & Secured debt................. -193,009
Total Unsecured debt.................... -34,151
Net Assets.............................. 1,967 (This is the first time it's been a positive figure since we started I think!)

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

Sea_Shell

Has your mum definitely confirmed she can lend you £20,000 on-top of the amount already borrowed. Just checking she doesn't think the original amount is not needing to be paid back yet as it's for the extension and this is what she means?

Silver_Queen

Your car insurance seems expensive! I assume you've shopped around?

The iCloud storage, are you actually using it all? 2TB a month seems like a lot but I suppose it depends on your work. Any chance you can move some of the stuff to a cheap flash drive and delete some stuff? A tiny saving but a saving nonetheless.

Again with the swimming lessons (I feel like a broken record!) - have the DC learned to swim well enough now that the swimming lessons aren't required, or do they still look like they're needed?

What will happened when your childcare ends? Will it be 0 or will it increase?

The difference in this SOA and the original SOA that you posted is astounding!

Treadingonplaymobil

Sea_Shell wrote: »

Has your mum definitely confirmed she can lend you £20,000 on-top of the amount already borrowed. Just checking she doesn't think the original amount is not needing to be paid back yet as it's for the extension and this is what she means?

Definitely another £20k! With interest and repayment planned.

Busy_Mee1

Hi TOPM
A few observations from me

Building - I am slightly puzzled by the need for Quantity Surveyor on a fairly modest domestic build. We didn't use one on either of our builds - just got quotes from three builders who calculated quantities and costs (they may have used one but that was wrapped up in their price).

Likewise the structural engineer. We didn't use one for our extension but had one for our house build (complicated loading for a cantilevered roof).
Is there some complication with your design ? A good builder will know what is what for most straightforward builds.

Work- looking at your SOA there isn't loads of wriggle room there, unless you stop the DC's activities which I know you would rather not do. I think you are right the only way you will fund this, is if you make more profit from your work. You can do this in two ways, working more and also minimising your costs.

Yep I am talking about reducing your clothing allowance here....could this be the year that you demonstrate how to dress cleverly from Zara or any other high street chain, with your existing investment/vintage pieces ?

Can you try and get yourself organised so that you can work a bit more through the school holidays this year ?

This is only for a year and remember your work is likely to take a hit when you actually do the building work.

Other stuff I would announce to your family that you are having a frugal year to pay for the extension. This means that you are not buying gifts at Christmas and won't be able to join in with expensive celebrations.

This will hopefully mean that you won't get ambushed by expensive bottles of champagne or promises of treats in London for the DC that you end up covering.

I know you don't like the idea but you could have a cheaper Christmas this year...it is just one year and if it enables you to have the home you want then it will be well worth it. I would start looking for the standard Christmas gifts that you buy every year in sales...new pyjamas, the big Lego set for the Christmas Eve hamper or thinking of cheaper alternatives ( DVD instead of Lego ? )

Hope that helps x

ellen_vannin

Christmas ideas

It is worth putting a any extra bits of money aside or buying any bargains you see in sales.
If you shop in Tesco the Xmas reward saver can be added to each week - you only need to put small amounts on but adds up and Tesco adds a bonus.
Presume you use Quidco or similar cashback site - allow cashback to accumulate or take out as vouchers for Xmas spends.