Light the fire...

lucielle

That sounds very cosy!
L

woodfired

lucielle said:

That sounds very cosy!
L

It was very cosy and a much needed gentle start to the day. Thanks Lucielle x

I've been slow all day really and I wonder if im coming down with something, DS is full of a cold so wouldn't be a surprise.  I have got some jobs ticked off though, lots of work admin completed and have done my errands.  Stopped in at Mum's for a coffee and chatted with Dad about his cows lol.  Wandered the dog round the village en route to the post office and the weather was beautiful, heavy dew and golden sunshine, the best of Autumn.

Back home in front of the fire now, change of dinner plans as I had a chicken at work on it's last day so I've brought it home to roast, will have with stuffing, gravy and lots of winter veggies.  Free chicken and cheap veg - the best kind of dinner.

lucielle

Not done a roast for yonks. Got me fancying one now. 

L

woodfired

Sunday again already.
We've had a nice weekend with DH taking me out for dinner on Friday to a nice pub in a really picturesque village near to us.  We both had starters and fries and shared a bottle of house wine so fairly reasonable too.
Saturday morning we visited our (soon to be) new business premises armed with tape measures and pencils to plot the layout then headed to the cafe just up the street for a lovely breakfast and debrief.  Exciting times ahead and I'm busy with spreadsheets plotting cash flows and various scenarios.  It should cut costs considerably and will be 'ours' which will be nice and a good investment for the future.

In other news I have used savings to pay off most of the CC, despite an excellent credit score I didn't seem to have any decent offers for a replacement card so the decision was made for me and I will clear the final bit this week from my wages.  I also finally got round to ringing Capital One and closing the account for my previous card that I haven't used in 2 years.  That may have had some bearing on my card offers but who knows.  It will be good to be free of credit cards - I only ever used them for house renovations and am not really a fan. I will ring and close my current one as soon as the final payment clears.

lucielle

Wow!  That is very exciting.  Looking forwards to lots of updates and plans. 

L

woodfired

Happy new year! Financial update - this is my post from Jan 2023:


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

Original Mortgage:                         Start Feb 20 £241 000         Now £210 199   - Now 201 584

Mortgage advance for extension:  Start Feb 22 £27000             Now  £24 520  - Now 21 370

Family Loan                                   Start Aug 22 £10 000            Now £8750     - Now 5500

0%  CC                                           Start May 22  £4200             Now £2800    - Now £0

Motorhome Loan                            Start Dec 22  £15 000                                - Now £12 720

Goals for Jan 24

Credit card should be cleared.  Done   
Extension advance I aim to get to under £20k  Not Quite
Family loan reduce by at least £3000  Done!

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!

2024:

All in, we haven't done too badly.  This doesn't show the shop business loan that we reduced from almost £90k to £43k this year, the rising interest rates on an unfixed loan meant this became a priority.  If I knuckle down on the OPs I could clear this loan in 3 years quite comfortably.

Reductions: 
Main mortgage reduced by 8615, extension fund down by 3150, family loan down by 3250, CC 2800 and motorhome loan reduced by 2280 so a total debt reduction of just over £20 000.  I'm happy with that.

Also, we completed on the purchase of a new business premises for DH just before Christmas which was a quick and unexpected decision made late in the year.  We have paid £80k for it and my Dad kindly leant us £50k towards it, even more kindly, he 'gifted' us a £10k reduction for Christmas so just £40 000 to repay which is a great boost, we are very lucky.
The new place will reduce his monthly outgoings hugely for various reasons and although it needs quite a bit of work before we can relocate, I don't think we'll regret it.

In other news, we have had a very quiet, relaxing Christmas.  We are in the middle of planning a fairly big party for my big 4-0 birthday on Valentine's Day and also plotting our financial goals for the next year and beyond. 

We are both feeling it may be time to start rowing back a little on the aggressive OPing and enjoying our lives a little more before our children start getting ready to fly the nest.  We haven't travelled much with them as we are always allocating cash to other financial goals. Maybe this is the year we could relax a bit and make some memories, we are always focused on where we'll be in 5 or 10 years financially, sometimes at the detriment of enjoying the present moments. 
On this note, we have calculated our net worth in the last few days and it has almost doubled in the 4 years since we bought this house and is very close to 7 figures.  This seems amazing and almost unbelievable as we don't live extravagantly but also highlights the fact that we are so fortunate and perhaps can now loosen up and enjoy our money a bit more than we have been doing.

Something to think about I suppose x

lucielle

That’s brilliant, what you’ve both achieved.  I hope you have a fab 2024. 

woodfired

lucielle said:

That’s brilliant, what you’ve both achieved.  I hope you have a fab 2024. 

Thanks L, same to you - happy new year!

Not a lot to report over here.  Stretching out the food shopping by using lots of OOD stock from the shop that has been frozen, I haven't been to a supermarket this year, in fact, this side of Christmas!  Pretty impressed with that.  Last night was some out of date ham with mushrooms and some leftover cream and cheese to make ham & mushroom pasta, it was very nice too if I do say so myself.  Leftovers for lunch today.

Good news from the accountants yesterday, DH due a tax refund.  We will add this to some savings and use to pay a chunk off the loan on the motorhome, the interest rate is bonkers at 12.9% so we need to get rid of that asap.

We are trying to reduce the amount of time the heating is on in the house, it was on waaay too much over Christmas so trying to cut back to just an hour in the mornings then use the woodburner to warm just one room in the afternoon/evenings (the house is too big for it to have much impact throughout, even with the doors left open).  Typically, the cold snap is making this a bit more challenging at the moment. DD got an electric throw for Christmas that she is using in her bedroom, she spends 99% of her time there being a teenager but at least she's stopped moaning that its cold!

lucielle

Our multi fuel stove is a bit too good and we end up leaving all the doors open but it does heat the house. 

L

woodfired

I wish ours would Lucielle, it used to in our last house and it made such a difference.  These are new and efficient burners but the house is too big and with a draughty uninsulated front porch that the children insist on leaving the door open too half the time, it doesn't have much effect at all.  Self closers on the doors is next on the list of DIY incidentally!

We've had a lovely weekend over here.  Friday was a quick drink in our local that turned into an impromptu catch up with some friends and lots of laughing.  The best kind of night and we were home and tucked up in bed by 10pm. 

On Saturday I took DS to football then cleaned downstairs in the house whilst DH was at work.  We then had a lazy afternoon in front of the fire and TV followed by a takeaway curry and a glass or two of wine in the evening.

Finally, DH took DS to his Sunday match whilst I blitzed our bedroom and DS' and sorted all the laundry.  Later we tackled some outside jobs, clearing the last of the leaves, giving the lawn a quick trim to tidy it and clearing a couple of borders that I didn't finish in the Autumn.  It has been so nice to finally have some dry weather this last week to get on with jobs and just be outside for a change.   

Dinner last night was a yellow stickered tomahawk steak that I picked up from our wholesalers and froze.  It was enormous and I had to google how to cook it but it was fabulous, so tender and tasty, we all enjoyed it and for £8 it didnt break the bank, I'll keep and eye out for another next time I'm there - oh and the cat and dog were overjoyed too with the fatty bits and enormous bone.  I think it was the best day of the dog's life haha. Bless her.