Light the fire...

pinkypig

Hello WF, I’ve just caught up on your diary and you have been so busy!  

The extension sounds fabulous and will be a good investment in your family’s quality of life as well as  financially.
I read somewhere that when you’ve spent money on something, particularly when it’s large amounts, you should ask yourself if you would get your money back and go back to the way things were if you could.  I bet your answer would be no, it’s money well spent!
I had major renovations done recently and ended up doing much more than originally planned and the cost mounted up.  I wouldn’t change if for anything as we just love living here and I still look around sometimes and can’t believe it’s ours.  Worth every penny 😀

LadyWithAPlan

Just caught up with the diary and between the dream house move and the fabulous extension you are proof of living the MSE lifestyle gets you where you want 

Your food sounds fabulous too - I am already nesting for winter and been pressure cooking squash and started making big hearty soups 

woodfired

Hello Diary,

Thank you folks for your lovely comments and apologies for being MIA once again.  Perhaps I should commit to just updating a few times a year as a regular diary is clearly not working out for me! Ha.

A few things to report financially since I was last here.  We have sold our caravan and the fancy van with seats that towed it. We have taken out a loan and upgraded to a 7 berth motorhome which had been DHs dream for a long time now and we are all very excited about TBH.  We are planning lots of weekend breaks as we feel that family life has really suffered over the past year with us being so busy with the building work.  The poor kids were neglected (not literally obvs) whilst we spent every spare moment working on the house and we are conscious that we wont have too many family holidays left as DD is year 9 already and will be off to Uni before we know it.  So, Father Christmas brought 2 x two-man kayaks and we are planning some adventures this year.  

We now just need to replace the van with a cheap runaround one for work purposes.  Currently watching a couple on our local vehicle auction website so fingers crossed.

As a side note - we have enjoyed our new space so much, especially over Christmas.  We have large families on both sides and it is so nice to have the room to host everybody.  Our NYE party was for over 50 people, the children were playing elsewhere in the house but almost 30 adults in our main living area didn't feel crowded.  We are very lucky and I tell myself so every single day.

I have done my yearly count up/financial review and we have set a few financial goals.  I'm still waiting for the accountants to prepare our tax bill so that always makes it difficult, however, I do know that we have started to rebuild our savings nicely and I have re-instated my S&S ISA DD to start regularly investing in that once again. We have a 5 year plan to pay off the advance amount of £27k that we borrowed on the mortgage for the renovations.  Its on a 5 year fix at 1.99% so we are OPing the max yearly and saving alongside to clear it once the fix ends.  

Our home finances are OK (touch wood) but one of our businesses needs some attention.  This has a business loan that was used to buy the property, the balance is around £86k but it is at 8.37% currently!!!! As it is a business loan it cant be fixed and so is tracking at almost 4.9% above base eek!!  In light of this ever rising cost I've redirected the rent we earn from the flat above into it as an OP of £550 each month, which should see it paid off in about 6 years but we are also looking into DH's business lending it a lump to pay off in order to clear it faster.  Obviously DH would charge me a lot less interest .  Its something we are investigating but seems to us to be the best option.

In light of the above, we have a long term goal to have only our original residential mortgage still running in 5 years time.  I need to set some shorter term goals to keep us on track and it will be a bit of a stretch (and will also depend on how our incomes fair through the cost of living crisis) but we must aim high as always!

woodfired

Quick financial round up so I can look back next year and compare:

Original Mortgage:                         Start Feb 20 £241 000         Now £210 199

Mortgage advance for extension:  Start Feb 22 £27000             Now  £24 520

Family Loan                                   Start Aug 22 £10 000            Now £8750

0%  CC                                           Start May 22  £4200             Now £2800

Motorhome Loan                            Start Dec 22  £15 000

Goals for Jan 24

Credit card should be cleared.
Extension advance I aim to get to under £20k 
Family loan reduce by at least £3000

I would love to see the main mortgage under £200k but this may be a bit ambitious with all the other commitments. We'll see!

lucielle

All sounding good Woody and great to have an update. I gave motorhome envy!  

L

savingholmes

Sounds busy as ever. Sounds like you are shaping your life just how you want it.

woodfired

Ah Thanks Lucielle & Savingholmes, lovely comments, bless you.  I'm feeling quite positive and excited for the coming year, last year wasn't great with stressful building work and then a month after we completed the work DH broke his leg quite badly, needing surgery to plate and pin it all back together followed by several weeks off work.  That wasn't much fun but he's almost back to full fitness and we can get on with life which I'm very much looking forward to.

I have bought a van for work at an auction this morning at almost 20% less than the top budget we had set for it so that is good news.  Fingers crossed it will be ok, we've veiwed it a couple of times and it seemed tidy and the milage isn't too high. Need to book it in with our garage for service and MOT for next week.

Besides that, my morning has been productive, a couple of hours at work then home to more admin jobs whilst the online auction ran. Need to make leek & pot soup with a pan of leftover mash for lunches and also make a bean fajita mix for a meat-free dinner tonight.  I've had leftover chicken & bacon pie for lunch which I made with a suet pastry topping as I found several packets of OOD suet at the back of the cupboard the other day.  I made a basic dumpling mix and just slapped it on top of my pie mix and baked, it was surprisingly good but i might cover with a lid next time for part of the cooking to keep it slightly more moist. 

I have lit the woodburner which is warming up this room nicely, we had a big dump of snow overnight and it is beautifully sunny but very chilly outside.  We were worried about so much glass in the extension meaning it would be cold in winter but are finding that the stove keeps it nice and warm which is a pleasant surprise - we did go very over the top with the insulation though, double the building regs amount in some areas. This was costly at the time but I was obsessed with the room being warm as its our main living space - we haven't used the other lounge at all despite it being a classic 'winter room' - much smaller with low ceilings, beams and a woodburner.  I suppose the novelty of this room will wear off eventually lol.    
I really need to leave the fire now though and go and walk the dog, bless her she is desperate to go and play in the snow, it's just so warm here I'm finding it difficult to move!

Keep warm everybody, WF x

LeighofMar

woodfired said:

 I suppose the novelty of this room will wear off eventually lol.    
I really need to leave the fire now though and go and walk the dog, bless her she is desperate to go and play in the snow, it's just so warm here I'm finding it difficult to move!

Keep warm everybody, WF x

Oh, I doubt the novelty will wear off. It sounds heavenly and exactly the feeling I want for my future sunroom addition.

Glad to hear your DH is on the mend. That break sounds awful. I hope he is healing well with no further complications. 

lucielle

Ouch to the leg. Hope he does his physio. Room sounds lovely. 

L

savingholmes

Leg sounds like a tough injury. Glad he is on the mend