Cherry takes the reins

WannabeFree

Oh nearly there with the mortgage well done x

Cherryfudge

WannabeFree wrote: »

Oh nearly there with the mortgage well done x

Thank you. I have to admit there are other parts to the mortgage but I do feel the end is on the horizon.

Well, my pay advice came through today and it's good news: a hefty chunk from extras worked earlier in the year (that is, a hefty chunk compared to my usual pay, it's not like winning the jackpot ). I'm not sure quite where it's going yet but I suspect the mortgage will get some.

In less good news, the meter readings I did for Mum's old house don't all appear to have arrived. The gas bill is probably right but the electricity bill isn't, and is based on an estimated reading. I can't remember exactly when I entered the figures but I suspect they had already done the estimate and used that. I've paid both bills anyway as I want a clean slate - though there will be insurance and Council Tax to pay soon as well, and possibly water rates. Then I'm hoping to get the essential work done on the roof and make some progress on the interior so the amount remaining in the estate is going to shrink before we can sell the house. It's hard to know where to draw the line but while we still have furniture in there and some maintenance needs to be done for insurance, these bills are going to keep coming. I've worked out I can't do another visit for some weeks but I may be able to get the workmen in.

The bills for the estate don't come from my own money so mentioning them here is a memo to self not to do with managing my own money.

I got today's list done apart from running. Off to bed in a minute as I need some sleep!

Spends:
Housekeeping £8.68
Transfer to other account £100
Paid self back from estate for train fare
Paid bills for Mum's house

WannabeFree

Is there other things in your mums house you can outsource to others? Cleaning/gardening etc? Sorry I'm not sure what your plans are but maybe paying someone in the short term to help will cut the longer term costs?

x

Cherryfudge

WannabeFree wrote: »

Is there other things in your mums house you can outsource to others? Cleaning/gardening etc? Sorry I'm not sure what your plans are but maybe paying someone in the short term to help will cut the longer term costs?

x

We have a lady who comes to keep an eye on things and wage war on the (large and overgrown) garden. I reduced her hours last year as it's actually cheaper to pay the train fares and do the housework side myself, though she is really helpful and does things to make the house look occupied. The garden is such a big project in summer that her time is best spent there. The house doesn't get much in the way of ordinary traffic so that reduces the maintenance side of things but having been empty so long everything has a layer of dirt which is gradually getting removed (by me).

I've just found a window cleaner (old one retired) who can do outside windows and gutters, which will be great: blocked gutters are causing a lot of expensive problems. Hopefully he will give us costings this week but he normally charges £20 a month which will mount up on top of the other costs. Having heating in place has helped a lot because there aren't the same issues with damp.

I'm not sure what else I can outsource - one of the issues being access. The more people have keys, the less secure it is! Mind you, the good people of MSE may well have ideas and experience that would help here. Idid wonder if an exterior decorator to redo outdoor paintwork would be a good idea. I've no idea of the cost but some of the paint is peeling. I did some last year and it looks 100% better but I can't reach it all.

Thanks for the thought, it's helpful to spell it out because it helps me be focused instead of feeling like a poor headless chicken!

Cherryfudge

I ended up working again last night - not too bad and I was able to take back some time owed to me as it was quiet this morning but now I am trying really hard not to get down to decluttering paper! Some spending yesterday which I will log in a minute.

24/4/18 Spends:
Piano lesson £10.00
Housekeeping £15.85
MS stuff:
Extra time at work - more pay next month
Used up some odds and ends to make pies (not good for the diet though).
Confession time:
Used the tumble dryer quite a bit in order to get dry bedding - it rained rather a lot, which wasn't in my plan.

Cherryfudge

Nothing spent today: I ended up going back to bed for a snooze this afternoon despite having had an early finish at work. Back in tomorrow (early) so you may get exactly the same post tomorrow.

I have, however, cooked from things we had in store (we are now at the point where we actually need to buy cous cous - can't remember how long since that last happened), done all the ironing and cleared a pile of papers! I'm especially proud of the papers. So there has been some progress.

Just off to check a couple of banking things then I'd better get to bed. Night all!

Spends:
ETA - collection at work for a present so I put something in:
Gifts £2.00
And decided to transfer enough to the mortgage to make sure I've put minimum payments through on all the subaccounts,
Mortgage £260.99

Cherryfudge

I was quite tempted to pop to the shops today purely not to waste time lounging on the computer but I made myself stay at home so as to stretch the £6.42 remaining in my share of the week's food money. DH bought tea for us (southern fried chicken) but I can't claim another NSD as I went back into the mortgage account and paid another £100 over. Lazy bank still hadn't moved yesterday's payment's over - though they left the current account immediately.

That's as much as I dare move just yet. I need to leave a buffer in case DH gets money out. I did find two payments made at supermarkets last weekend or Monday totalling about £10 which neither of us remembers making.

This means I won't manage to finish paying the smallest mortgage sub-account this month but it should be do-able early next month, after which the goal will shift to the second sub-account at just over £2,000. That should be gone by January (maybe earlier but we have our long holiday between then and now so I'm not making rash promises).

I haven't decided quite how to spend my 'windfall' of back pay - it isn't a huge amount but enough to make a good dent in something. It may well fall into the mortgage, which counts as paying ourselves in the longer term. However, I realised that I am soon to have three weeks off from piano lessons while my teacher is away, and am reallocating some of that money to treat myself to some sheet music that I found online.

Spends:
Mortgage £100
MS stuff:
Resisted the shops
Mortgage overpayment knocks about 3 and a half days off our mortgage term! (I think).

Cherryfudge

No grocery shopping today - only books! I spent a gift voucher on some sheet music, adding 97p of my own and bought a couple of 99p deals from Kindle.

I am getting concerned that I haven't heard from either of the people who were suppose to be contacting me with estimates to do with Mum's house... not sure I will get far following them up tomorrow as DD and I are having a mum and daughter day shopping and going to the ballet - rolling out birthday treats together quite a few weeks after the event! I will see if DH can ring regarding the quotes while we're out.

I've also gone through the year's mortgage payments so far - if you remember, I accidentally cancelled the DD for the mortgage, hared off down to the bank and got a new one as soon as I could, then the bank somehow lost it so what I thought were overpayments were actually stopping me going into default! I've sorted out the numbers now and of course haven't overpaid as much as I thought but it's still looking positive. £1,332.37 out of hopefully £3770 by the end of the year. Signature updated.

Spends:
Books/music £2.96

Sun_Addict

I hate waiting for people to get back with quotes, I seem to have spent a lot of time on this over the past year.

Glad you got the mortgage payments sorted.

Enjoy the ballet and shopping day

WannabeFree

Hope you didn't think I was being nosey - I was just aware how much time you're putting into the house with travel etc

x