Up for a laugh? A 23 year old's guide on how (not) to be mortgage free

Tropically

Well I said it would be controversial! I am not saying to be wasteful, but that the goal of a wedding isn't to be as cheap as possible and you shouldn't feel anxious about having a wedding that you feel happy about.

Blibble

themadvix wrote: »

Oh, don't you just love the uninvited advice when anyone mentions a wedding Do what you want - as you say, you haven't really decided what that is yet!

I'm actually quite glad for the various points of view - it's reassuring in many ways to know it can be done cheaper. We had a fairly in depth discussion last night about it (inspired by people's comments) and are thinking that it is important to us to have a larger event. Not that we'll be spending frivolously, but we would like it to be on the larger side as a family get-together.

We think that we'll keep on saving £500 a month each towards it for now, as that'll give us a headstart on things, but we've agreed for it to be more lenient. We probably could do the wedding how we want it for £300p/m each (back of fag-packet calculations again!), so there's no pressure on us really. :j

bugslet wrote: »

Whatever makes you happy, all I'll add is that I've been to big posh weddings and ones done on the cheap, neither were better or worse, neither were more memorable or less memorable. Your wedding, be selfish.

I think this is the crux of it. It will be selfish, but only in the sense that it's important for us that we have as many of each of our families & close friends there as possible. It won't be selfish in so much as it's pretentious or showy-offy; it's not really our style and doesn't really suit us :rotfl:

Quick MFW update (back to the very boring stuff) - 2 big bags of kale, mushrooms, and sausages picked up in the week. All were YS at half price, so that'll be 2 extra meals at least. Given some meter readings to NPower tonight - that's looking verrrrrry pricy when compared to the same period last year. Deal with them runs out in August (I think) - will be glad when that's over as they've been a bit of an expensive nightmare since we've been with them.

And finally, thanks for the recommendation Suki - will be sure to check that one out . We do have a Curry Bible already (various recipes from Asia, Africa, and Europe) & it's organised by country - it's awesome. I do like the Hairy Bikers though, they just seem like they'd be swell chaps up the pub, having a natter over a pint. Will be sure to seek it out.

Pay day for me tomorrow. There is finally light at the end of the Cry January tunnel. :beer:

Blibble

Good day today :dance: Decided we'll loosen up on the grocery budget this month (so allowing £50 p/w, which should be plenty). OH wanted to make some cocktails, so we managed to get the food shop done for £35 - the £15 difference has gone on ingredients for enough pina coladas to sink a battleship. Still better value than a night out in town :beer:

Tomorrow I need to get some stuff listed online - been putting that off for far too long. Also have a small extra outlay this month as we've been eyeing up an armchair in Next for quite a while - most of our Christmas presents were vouchers to help us buy it., but we'll need to contribute another £50. Should be a good long-term investment though, so don't begrudge it really.

Having said that, it's still spending money so might have to have a few pinas to help me do it :rotfl:

Kittenkirst

I have images of you sat there, giddy on Pina Coladas and hitting the ‘add to basket’ button merrily on the Next website!

Blibble

Kittenkirst, that really was the plan. Unfortunately, it never happened as we were too giddy on pina coladas and might've forgotten ... does that count as money saving? Anyways, the armchair was bought this afternoon - only 10 weeks until delivery :eek: But will be well worth it when it comes.

Hopefully checked online banking this evening to see if OH had been paid (it's due to come in tomorrow), however it seems to have come in a day earlier :T So, money divided up for the month - £650 to each of us for spends / wedding fund, and a cheeky £140 overtime payment into the OP fund.

The OP fund is now over £250 since we started (and the wedding fund at nearly £2000!!). I'm thinking I'll move the OP fund along with cashing out some surveys this week - there's a £50 Populus cheque on its way, I've over a £100 stored up in OnePoll (been saving it up, but never knowing what for!), and another £40 or so across Prolific and a couple of others.

themadvix

Be careful with saving up in survey accounts Blibble - if they were to go under, you'd never see that very hard earned money. Martin recommends taking it out as soon as possible.

What a wait for the armchair.... you'll just have to keep drinking pina coladas in the meantime!

Blibble

Feeling good this evening :dance: Veggie curry's on and a glass of wine sat here for OH when she comes in.

Today's the first day in 3 weeks I've not worked overtime, and I'm loving it

And what's more, promotion interview is booked in for next week. :T

It's all lookin' rosy o'er 'ere.

FTBdreaming_2

Hi Blibble!

Exciting to see someone of a similar age wanting to become mortgage free, i'm 23 myself and just in the process of the mortgage application with Barclays! Planning to overpay once we have it in the bag!

Good luck with the over payments!

Blibble

Hi FTBdreaming :wave: It's great to set your sights on getting going ASAP, but you might find you'll need to give yourself a few months to settle in (particularly if you're just moving out). Even when you think you've budgeted for everything, there's always something overlooked in my experience! We spent a year settling in to our house (after a year and a half renting beforehand) before we were in a position to overpay, and that was with a new build!

Thanks for the advice themadvix - I think you're probably right, so have cashed out £100 from OnePoll, £19.74 from Prolific, £7.92 from Crowdology, and £8 from Research Opinions totalling £135.66. And £50 more on the way from Populus end of the month. Most of that is since the new year, so very happy with that

Blibble

Most of the survey cashout money has now made its way over to Paypal (with the exception of OnePoll, but I think hat takes 28 days to process).

It's been a pretty NSD week over at Blibble HQ; only spends were Tuesday as OH is under the weather, so had to pick up some cough syrup and decongestants for £8.

Tomorrow we're out for dinner with some couple-friends for a Chinese - it's all budgeted for and Chinese tends to be quite cheap. It'll be our first meal out or takeaway since the new year, so I think we can stand that one .

I've a sneaky feeling that this month & next month are free from Council tax - if so that's another £169 going over to the OP fund straight away :j

Over 'n' out :beer: