Light the fire...

woodfired

Hey Jodles and try harder :hello:

Dream house is very much still on our minds, the rightmove ad is permanently open on a tab in my browser! :rotfl: We are trying to remain calm and wait it out a little bit.

DH business is doing really well but the accounts won't fully reflect that as the big orders didn't start rolling in 'til August but the years accounts will take into account the months prior to that before we really got going. We are hoping that the profits will be enough to secure a largeish mortgage and my rough estimates suggest they will, however, I seem to find that when accounts go into the accountants their figures bear little resemblance to mine!!
The upshot is, once we have some definite numbers from the accountants we will have more idea about the likelihood of getting a mortgage then we can potentially approach the owners as you suggest Jodles. I don't want to waste their time by jumping the gun. It is very nerve wracking though and I dread seeing an 'under offer' next to the ad!

We've got everything crossed!x

woodfired

I have gone through the house insurance today and the new quotes were coming out £50 more than the renewal quote so I have renewed and paid upfront for the year, £193.39.

I have been food shopping today and spent £79 in @ldi. Lots of meals planned with the spend and it should last a while as I find I'm only shopping every 10 ish days lately. I'm making the most of wholesale items/OOD stuff from the shop to supplement our budget.

Yesterday was Mum's birthday. Sisters and I clubbed together for gifts and we had a takeaway last night to celebrate. One sister owed me some money for accomodation for a trip later this month and the cost of the gift and food was equal to that so no actual spend needed. I made Mum a malteser cake and so it was a cheap celebration overall. Mum still had a great time and felt very spoiled though.

Looking at our budget spreadsheet today we should have a healthy surplus this month, thanks to no council tax and a 5 week month (we are both paid weekly) so I have sent another £600 to the mortgage. This drops us under £120k :T :j
I have a few more expenses coming up this month but will hopefully find another OP before month end.

In other news I have set myself a target of burning 2000 calories per week through exercise. Hit the target last week but this week I am 170 cal short. Will have to get out for a quick walk/run later. So far this week I have completed 2 x 3 mile runs (475 cal each) and a 6 mile walk (880 cal). Hoping to keep this up and shift some pounds.

woodfired

A short working day today as Mum and Dad are in full swing with lambing time and Mum struggles to look after the sheep and children at the same time.

I have arranged to finish work at 2, get some housework done (was planning some exercise but no chance in this hideous weather!) then go to the farm with the children to help with the sheep after school.
I love lambing time, Saturday night for me was punctuated by trips to check on the sheep due to lamb and I delivered a large lamb in between main course and pudding! I love it and it gives Dad a bit of a break from the constant dashing outside to check all is well.
There was a poorly lamb in front of the Aga that night that sadly died later on that evening, DD and DS were very upset but when you lamb 500 sheep unfortunately a few lambs are inevitably lost. Its a sad but essential lesson for them to learn around farming, you can't save them all.

In money news there's not much to report. OP came off the balance I can see in the app but although I only OP'd £600 the balance has reduced by £612. This is puzzling as the interest is applied at the end of the month so I don't think it's anything to do with that? It has happened with the previous OPs too, I suppose I shouldn't complain as it's knocking even more off the balance but it makes it very difficult to achieve round numbers!! :rotfl:

woodfired

Morning All,

Yesterday afternoon was productive, got the house tidy and hoovered, caught up with a few bits of admin, went through the huge pile of invoices/newspapers/school letters/junk that accumulates weekly on top of the bread bin :mad:. All dealt with/filed away/binned as required!

Then collected children and went to help Mum at the farm, lambed a sheep and helped feed/water/bed etc all the rest. Children helped which they love and it was nice to be out in the fresh air for a couple of hours. Mum really appreciated the help too.
Quick tea of pasta then my nephew came for an hour or so of tutoring whilst DH went to spin. Then collapsed on the sofa tired out! I was asleep by 9.30 I think the weather is partly to blame, I semi wake up at every loud gust of wind and so I'm not really sleeping properly, I'll be glad when the weather settles down! Its bad for business too as people don't venture to the shops when the weather is so horrendous but make do with what they already have in!!

I had a bit of good luck yesterday, SK7 BET were offering a free refund of your bet on the first race every day at Cheltenham up to £20 so I opened an account and put £20 on Klassical Dream (liked the name!) and it came in at 6/1!!! £120 winnings plus my stake back. DH was asking what we should spend it on and I told him I had spent it on owning another tiny percentage of our house as I had already sent it to the mortgage. Happy days.

woodfired

Posting my to-do list for this afternoon as I've loads to do and it's very tempting to waste an hour (or 3!) reading diaries etc!
-unpack shopping
-light Esse to cook/run underfloor heating/warm house up
-hang out dark wash
-bleach then wash tea towels
-white wash
-tidy and hoover upstairs
-tidy and hoover downstairs
-make corned beef pasties for dinner
-collect children from school
-help Mum with sheeps
- go for a run (may scrap this one, weather is foul!)
-ring CNC manufacturer to arrange service
-email potential new supplier
-eat dinner, drink large glass of wine :rotfl:

Sleep.

woodfired

-unpack shopping Done
-light Esse to cook/run underfloor heating/warm house up Done
-hang out dark wash Done
-bleach then wash tea towels Done
-white wash Machine has just finished
-tidy and hoover upstairs Done
-tidy and hoover downstairs Done
-make corned beef pasties for dinner Done, they were lovely
-collect children from school Done
-help Mum with sheeps Done, very busy up at the farm, the weather isn't helping.
- go for a run (may scrap this one, weather is foul!) Nope, didn't bother
-ring CNC manufacturer to arrange service Done
-email potential new supplier Ooops, forgot about that!
-eat dinner, drink large glass of wine Yep. Managed that one too

A very productive afternoon, children and I are all tired out now. Laid in front of the fire relaxing. Bliss.

woodfired

I have just gone through my budget spreadsheets and discovered that I first started to budget and track our spending in April 2015. By August 15 I had discovered the benefits of overpaying your mortgage and set up a regular OP of £200 per month. I have continued to OP monthly pretty much ever since. The regular OPs to date total £11 490 and the ad hoc payments £4811.83. This is a grand total OP of £16 301.83 in 42 months. Not bad going.

I would really like to compare to where we would have been had we not OP'd but the OP calculator on the MSE site is down, seems to have been upgraded but currently not working at all :mad:

try_harder

You always make me feel exhausted reading your to do lists , i think i am just very lazy.

Great numbers . Well done

woodfired

Hi Try Harder, nice to see you :j

Slowly plodding on over here. Not a lot to report.

MSE OP calculator is STILL not working. :mad: Its quite alarming how much I rely on this tool. :rotfl: I do have spreadsheet but its not looking right and I need the calculator to double check the figures and work out where I'm going wrong! :mad: I wonder if it could be my settings on my laptop?

Work is good. DH's machine broke down on Monday but the manufacturer had an engineer on site with a replacement part by 11am Tuesday so can't complain about that. All covered under the warranty too which was a relief. Little shop is ticking over, still providing lots of near use-by bits to help keep my grocery spends down.

I'm currently trying to get back on top of the house work, it has got away from me a little bit with being at the farm so much but we have entered the lull now between the early lambers and the main lambing time. Next lot are due 5/4/19 and there are 5 x as many of them so then the fun and games really begin!

So I have been trying really hard to get up to speed with the washing/ironing/cleaning. I was up earlier than usual this morning so managed to peg out a load of washing on the line, hoover downstairs, pack and start the dishwasher, empty bins, make DD's packed lunch and then get children up/dressed/washed and out of the door by 7.20am. Came to work for a rest after that! :rotfl: I do like a productive morning though, sets me up nicely for the day. It's also good for me as I had done 3000 steps by 7.30am. I will be collapsed in bed by 9pm tonight though!

Right, back to work. WF.x

BachSoon

I have been reading your diary from start to finish over the last few days Woodfired and it's fascinating - I shall keep you company on the journey if that's okay?! You really are going great guns at getting the figures down.

Your house renovations sound stunning - I am envious of your Esse/heating system and your veggie growing prowess!!

Your time on your parents farm sounds interesting, I can understand why your DC were upset, I would be if some lambs didn't make it but then, I am a non hardy city dweller

You definitely win the award for using up odds and ends in cooking... The most creative I get is a fridge gravel risotto!:o