Light the fire...

woodfired

FloppyDisk wrote: »

Would be lovely to get the one account off your to do list - can you commit to those OPs? Any extra month on that SVR would hurt!

Thanks for the reply FD! Yes 4.74% is alarming! Because it was an extra sum when we ported our mortgage it has always been on a high rate (3.69%) but being a smallish amount we didn't feel it too much. The payment will actually stay pretty much the same due to the OPs we have made but we are still accruing interest at silly rate!

I think we are going to go for it. Maybe not the whole £6k in one go but as much as possible is going to be thrown at it in March and thereafter. Our hols are cheap this year due to caravan and DH's business seems to be doing well (touch wood!) so lets go for it! :beer:

I am going to have to scrap the savings target of £20k though, that aint happening! :rotfl:

woodfired

Afternoon all. We have had a week of ups and downs.

The house of our dreams came on the market over the weekend, throwing us into turmoil. DH built the (huge) porch on it years ago and has coveted it ever since. It is priced at 480 000, we have about £175 000 equity in ours and so would need a mortgage around the £290k mark assuming they would take a bit less than asking price. The problem is that we have both gone self employed in the last 12 months. I am probably ok as the shop is an established business but DH has yet to file his first year's accounts (not til end of March). Its a shame as it has come up 18 months too early in all honesty. We have been planning to keep an eye out from next april ish when he has two years of accounts, the mortgage has reduced a bit and things are just generally more settled. The problem is that we don't want to leave our little village where both sets of parents are, school, my work and all our friends live. Houses that are the next "step up" are like hens teeth as the majority of housing stock is either 1980s built new-ish houses on estates or terraced cottages (which our current house falls under). Large, detached, older properties with a good garden number about 8. And this is one of them! Damn.

In terms of affordability this house would be fine, especially as we have always overpaid/saved and therefore are used to a lower level of disposable income. The problem would be finding a lender who would agree to lend to us! Damn again.

woodfired

Afternoon all.
Half term over here and I've got most of the week off.
We have decided to overpay the small sub account over the next few months, although perhaps not as aggressively as first planned. We are also going to save as much as possible and then when DH's accounts are completed in a couple of months we can potentially think about putting our house on the market and going for the dream house that is for sale. It sold in 2014, it was up for the same price as it is now and spent a total of 400 days on the market (including under offer/SSTC) the new owners haven't changed anything so fingers crossed it wont be snapped up too soon. If it is then so be it. I do believe in a bit of 'if its meant to be it will be' so leaving this one up to the gods :rotfl:. I do love it but we have to be sensible.

In other news we have been eating lots of OOD stuff from the shop so shopping spends are low again for feb so far. Last night was a lovely roast chicken with mash, roasties, roasted parsnips, onions and carrots, sprouts and peas. Served with a couple of yorkshires and mayflower gravy which is the best gravy i've ever eaten (think KFC gravy ) Yum. Tonight will be bubble and squeak with poached eggs and we're having chicken sandwiches for lunch.

Savings are still low (circa £8k), lots of things to pay for this month including holiday deposit (£800), remaining tax (£900) and I've had a letter to say my 0% ends next month on CC so need to pay that off (£800 remaining). Trying to economise to help towards this but we're off to Amsterdam on the 'Booze Cruise' this weekend so will need some spends for that. Hmm. And it's my sister's 30th this weekend. Ah well, onwards and upwards! x

woodfired

I spent an hour in the garden this afternoon with a cup of coffee in the hammock swing on the veranda of the summer house. It was so warm and sunny it felt like late spring. I felt as though I should be doing something in the veg garden but I know it was lulling me into a false sense of security, I am fully aware that there may well be several inches of snow and some really low temperatures before I get to plant anything!!
The kitten enjoyed being outside and played with lots of interesting things, including Fluffy the rabbit. Ralph wants to boss Fluffy but she is having none of it, spins to face him then head-butts him out of the way. It's fab to watch! :rotfl:

Tomorrow we go to Amsterdam on the party boat. I'm looking forward to it. I have saved some cash in my envelope system so all spends are covered, just need to collect the Euros tomorrow morning.

I managed to last without any food shopping this week and as we are away all weekend I will stretch it til Monday now. We have had leftover meat and veg for tea, tomorrow's breakfast will be the final bits of veg and mash, fried up as bubble and squeak with the last of the mushrooms and eggs. The fridge will be pretty much bare then. Sunday night we are out for my sister's 30th meal so don't really need any food in til Monday anyway. Then it's only 4 days to month end! Where did feb go?!

woodfired

We had a fantastic weekend on the mini cruise and in Amsterdam, so much fun and laughter, it was great. And much cheaper than I had budgeted for. I had expected to pay for breakfast, lunch, afternoon drinks and souvenirs for the children whilst in the city but as it turned out we had a late breakfast so no lunch required, I only had one glass of wine (and a few coffees) and we picked up a couple of lovely prezzies very cheaply so I brought half of my 140 euros home. :A

In addition, we spent less than anticipated on the boat and friends were very generous with diesel money as they were grateful that we drove so we had over £130 sterling left over too. Very happy with that especially when we didn't purposefully scrimp on anything all weekend.

Today I am off work, I am unpacking, washing, cooking and generally organising the house for the week ahead. The weather is fabulous so I am hanging washing on the line and will venture out for a gentle run in the sunshine later on. Ralph cat is due back at the vets this aft for a final check and 2nd vaccinations but (hopefully) there will be no charge, fingers crossed.

Food spends this month stand at £225, £5 under my target, although I did knock £31.50 off one shop after logging into my clubcard account and realising I had loads of old vouchers I hadn't used (its was lucky too as a couple of them expired very soon). Huge shop yesterday came in at £130:eek: but I hadn't been shopping in ages and we were really low on lots of things, oh and it included flowers for MIL for having kids and box of chocs for sis. Not too bad overall. Won't need anything else this month as cupboards and fridge are bursting.

OK off to get on with some jobs. x

woodfired

Well today turned out to be very productive, I get so much more done when the weather is good.

List of accomplishments include:
- 3 loads of laundry washed and nearly dried (final load to go on the line tomorrow)
- all ironing done and clean washing put away
- unpacked and put away all clean clothes and other bits from weekend travels
- tidied whole house - was a tip! *see notes about travel above :rotfl:
- hoovered and dusted whole house
- our bed stripped; bedding washed, line dried and put back on the bed
- DD's PE kit assembled and ready to go
- 4 mile walk/gentle run completed
- cat taken to vets (no charge)
- both kids and DH fed and watered
- half hour sit in the garden with a coffee done

I just have tomorrow's lunches to sort and I'm finished! Phew!

woodfired

Happy 1st March! :beer:

I have just emptied a couple of savings accounts and made my first overpayment of £2700 to sub account 2. The fixed rate ended yesterday and has jumped up 1% to 4.74%! :eek:
We have agreed to OP as much as possible to get rid of this account, hopefully before the rest of the mortgage needs re-fixing at the end of Oct. I estimate the balance now to be around £9170 so this is do-able if we divert the money we usually save monthly into it but I do want to keep a decent amount as an emergency fund. We are also still looking to potentially move so will need some savings to cover moving costs.

Feb figures look good. Mortgage finished at £123 278, capital reduction of £721. Food came in £5 under budget and spends in other categories were very low too. Savings had reached £7571, now considerably reduced following my overpayment! Credit card debt is down to £550 and is on track to be cleared by 6th March when the 0% rate ends. Hanging on to the balance in my 5% account until the last minute!

Hope we can maintain focus in March and keep hammering sub account 2 with all we've got.

woodfired

I have paid across the balance of my credit card today to give it chance to clear before the 0% ends on Wednesday. Just have the holiday balance (£650) to find at the end of this month and everything is paid off.

We've had a nice quiet weekend, just what was needed after such a busy one last week. Long bike ride Friday followed by a lovely lunch out whilst children were at school. HM pizzas and a glass of wine Friday night followed by a Bond film (Spectre). Saturday we popped into nearby market town for a few bits, then visited both sets of parents, followed by a lazy afternoon/evening in front of the fire. Yesterday was another quiet day. I did a bit of cooking, made a Thai noodle curry with prawns using up some veg and bits from stores for my lunches this week then caught up with the ironing and got all uniforms/lunches ready for today. I did have to come into work last night as a member of staff let me down at short notice, however, I avoided the bath-time madness (poor DH ) and got a bit of work done whilst here so not all bad.

It's going to be a busy week at work this week, VAT return is due by Thursday and I'm ashamed to say I've hardly started it. Must stay off the MSE forums and get my head down! :rotfl: Not going well so far..... :rotfl:

jodles16

Hey WF! Any more thoughts on the dream house? Such bad timing for it to come up, could it be feasible if you have a chat with the owners re: cost etc?


Really pleased about hubby's business, how fantastic and fingers crossed it keeps doing well!



Also, very glad kitty is doing ok!



Jodles

try_harder

I have been wondering about the dream house too ..I have a dream house that i have fallen in love with too but mine is definitely just that ..a dream