Squirrelgirls MF quest

greent

But 527 days isn't *that* long - and what a fab feeling it will be! x

[Deleted User]

Thanks greent you're right but it feels so far away at the moment!

Anyhoo, some good news...the ballpark figure from my sparky is around 1k less than my budget!! :j obviously, I need a definite figure but I'm pretty happy with that!

I'm really torn at the moment with how to split budget savings :wall: :think: ....the reality is, the current state of the house depresses me; the shorter the period of time my house is in turmoil, the better for my mental health; paying off the mortgage is so important to me but could be done on one salary should anything happen, the renovations could not; the quicker the house is done I can throw everything I have at the mortgage. Conversely, the mortgage is low now, less than 20k and I could clear that in less than a year; owning my home outright is something I have been working towards for quite some time and there's no reason to think that I won't be able to keep my job for as long as it suits me so I can still do the house after the mortgage is paid.

Both make perfect sense - in lots of ways, that's the worst part of it!! :rotfl: I'll just have to give it more thought! :wall: :rotfl:

greent

Paying ours off before doing work or investing money at a better return was important because of mental health - for us (esp mr gt) the benefit mentally of owning our house outright massively outweighed everything else. However, if your MH will be affected by work being done to the house over a longer period, then that's definitely a big factor to take account of.

I think we have to find our own balance of what works for each of us - there's definitely not just the one solution - it would probably be easier if there was!

Great news re the electrician's bill (when you get it! ) :T
x

[Deleted User]

Long conversation with dh last night and the decision has been made to throw everything at the renovations then the mortgage :undecided

It does make sense but a little bit of me is crying inside! :rotfl: I know that I'll have to make token ops to keep a tiny shred of it going and I need to remember that the quicker the house is done the faster the mortgage goes - it's really hard though - another delay in my ultimate goal

However, on the plus side, I will love my sanctuary and it will be wonderful to hold the keys on the day it's all paid for and look at a home I love rather than a house that makes me feel like I live in a squat!!

Anyhoo, the first £100 has been put into the budget savings pot!! :j I am really pleased to have made a start and we also found an old lock box with some spare cash in it!! :beer: it's only about £10 but we will bank it tomorrow and put it to the fund

I've got a menu plan for next week (this week it's just using up anything that needs to be used and whatever is in the freezer) so I shall write the list for that - I may swap some ingredients so that I use what's available and minimise waste

I've got a few 'to-do' proformas printed out so that I can organise everything - home and work. it's all been a big out of control recently and I'm not good when that happens - by the end of this weekend, I want to have a clear pathway forward!

Anyhoo, early night for me - head has been spinning for days and I haven't slept much! :wave:

[Deleted User]

OMG!! I'm so happy!! :J I've just opened my £2 tin ( was going to be my weekend break tin) and discovered that I have £400 in there! No way am I spending that on a weekend away - that's three internal doors!! :rotfl:

yep, that's how sad I am now!!

Anyhoo that basically means that I am a 5th of the way to my house fund!! :j:j:j

Very long way to go but I am so happy that we are getting there with a bit of a boost at the start...it helps with the motivation (not to mention that it looks like I live in a building site now! )

[Deleted User]

Well, August was busy!! :rotfl:

Seriously, this month has been both chaotic and expensive but I am now in the right position to move forward!

This is the real start of trying to make budget savings. We have the full budget for food and petrol for the month ahead and we will spend as little as possible of both. I have told ds that he and dil will have to start paying rent from October once they have both started their new jobs so that money will be able to be put towards the house and mortgage. Both dh and I are going to quit smoking tomorrow - although we pay for it from our personal spending money, we have decided that we may as well cut it out and then spend it on other stuff or save it for the house fund.

I need to sit down with the kids and talk to them about their responsibilities in the house - it's going to be four adults living together and sharing space, not me being the parent to two adults They also need to realise that if they are wasteful with resources, their rent will have to be raised to accommodate that. I feel really harsh if I'm honest but between them, they will be earning as much as I do, so a covering some of their basic costs isn't too much to ask in my opinion.....

I'm going to make sure that I account for any cash that I spend and I have to be able to justify it before I buy it - the questions will be; Is it a want or a need? Is there an alternative solution which has no cost implication? if it's a need, can I substitute something else for the item which I currently have or can buy cheaper? Only then, will I make a purchase.

I'm putting the brakes on the house a bit - partly because I would rather have the money in the bank before I book the work and partly because my sparky won't be starting for an additional month now which gives me a bit of breathing space.
The window installation date still hasn't been confirmed but I have the money already. By the time the sparky starts the work, I will have his money too. That gives me enough time to have the plastering completed by the end of the year and it all in the bank in advance. I also need to sort a decorator but I am going to look locally for one of those.

I will hit the sales in either December or January to get, if possible, the majority of items for the house. I may use the 'buy now pay later' facility so that the money is in the offset and working against the interest on the mortgage......I will make that decision later in the process. The more money I have saved for though, the better - making a daily entry here will help keep me focused on saving the cash

I've got a new morning routine - come on the boards for 30 mins in the morning - report successes and failures, read other peoples diaries and remain accountable to the ether....it's good to keep me on track and won't annoy anyone hopefully!;)

So, here I am - 483 days or 68 weeks & 6 days away from my goal and I'm ready to hit it head on....fingers crossed I get there!!

the_cross_rabbit

Fingers crossed the giving up smoking goes well.

[Deleted User]

I've been poorly over the past few days so not able to come on the boards, but thankfully, not able to spend either!!

All is going well, dh is putting money into the 'House Fund' change jar every day - only a few pennies at a time, but it adds up! :T

I will make soup tomorrow for lunch if I'm up to it - pretty sure that I have a few bits and pieces of veg that will need using up so that will cover that.

I will do the menu plans tomorrow and hopefully be recovered enough to be able to get some cd's onto my mp3 player so that I can sell the discs - I know that you get next to nothing for them but I have so many it's ridiculous and we rarely use the stereo now.....must admit that it's not going to be easy - I have a bit of an attachment to them but I really do need to free up space and raise a bit of extra cash in the process!

478 days to go.......

[Deleted User]

Quitting smoking hasn't happened - I still feel dodgy and they are the only things relieving the nausea however, once I feel okay, they are out of the window....dh has quit :j so I'm proud of him for that

We've had a quiet few days - nothing much happening really with me being ropey, but no spending going on either

I've had another plasterer round to give me a quote - I'm still waiting for the quote to arrive but I'm hopeful that it will be less than the last one....I'm not holding out too much hope though!

I've got a busy day ahead - the house needs a go over as it's not been touched really for a couple of days and I will have to catch up on laundry too - I'm hoping that I can get most of it done before I feel too knackered to continue! :rotfl:

I've just cleared out my purse and I have £1.96 to add to the house fund jar :j
473 days to go.....

[Deleted User]

Two posts in one day.....strange but true...

I've spent the past couple of hours reading the boards and i am feeling all motivated!!

I am going to have another look at my finances in the next few days and see what else I can do to save more cash - I have no excuse not to hit this really hard and I have looked at some of my old diaries and realised that there are lots of other ways I could reduce expenditure.....the small stuff that I tend to forget about.....so I am going to have that conversation with the rest of the family at the weekend and stop messing around!