Family home on the (distant) horizon - savings diary

*little.squirrel*

I got a phone call last week to say there had been a cancellation for a water meter appointment so they bumped us up the list from the 14th May. We got a meter fitted successfully and just received our DD mandate. Instead of £125 a month we will be paying £44! I can't believe the difference! Seriously annoyed with myself for not looking into it sooner. Still, better late than never.

It has, however, been an otherwise speedy month. My DH's work trips cost us more money than expected. He still isn't quite getting the hang of remembering all his receipts either (!) so we won't be able to claim some things that we would otherwise have been recompensed for. I also didn't manage to stick to my grocery budget which was frustrating. We spent a bit extra on the allotment too, mainly just picking up bits that we didn't realise we needed. It turns out we have a wonderful allotment neighbour though and he has helped us quite a bit and given us lots of strawberry plants for free. Hopefully they will bear some fruit - the children are incredibly excited about it.

Off to have a look at next month's budget. We have a long weekend away towards the end of May and I want to make sure we can afford it and still save.

greenglide

Instead of £125 a month we will be paying £44!

Providing that the estimated consumption turns out to be correct!

Did you use one of the web sites to estimate your consumption based on number and ages in family, number of baths / showers / toilet flushes a week etc?

Read the meter after a month or so.

*little.squirrel*

greenglide wrote: »

Providing that the estimated consumption turns out to be correct!

Did you use one of the web sites to estimate your consumption based on number and ages in family, number of baths / showers / toilet flushes a week etc?

Read the meter after a month or so.

Yes, I put all our details into a website. I also noticed the letter confirming the direct debit stated that it was based on last year's consumption so I'm hoping it's pretty accurate. Either way I am saving the difference so the money will be there if it turns out to be a little short.

*little.squirrel*

Sitting down to plan next month's budget. A couple of relatively large outgoings plus a long weekend at the end of the month. Just remembered it's my BIL's 30th birthday so I'll need to have a chat with DH about a gift. He is an incredibly generous Uncle to our kiddos so we will want to get him something decent, within reason! Going to try harder to stick to the grocery budget for May and see if we can make any extra savings that way. Reading lots of other inspiring diaries and feeling like I'm not quite making enough effort to save as much as I could.

greenglide

. I also noticed the letter confirming the direct debit stated that it was based on last year's consumption so I'm hoping it's pretty accurate

If you didn't have a meter last year then your charges could not be based on "last year's consumption"!

*little.squirrel*

Ugh, a pretty awful week or so with more than the usual amount of bad news coming our way. I've had to book a couple of expensive last minute train tickets to get to a funeral on Friday. It also means missing a night's work but cannot be helped. I'm trying to squeeze the budget in other areas to make up for it.

Reading some really inspiring diaries and feeling like I need to make more effort to stretch our ££. I'm definitely not being as careful with the grocery budget as I could be. Scrutinising this morning's Tesco order that will be delivered tomorrow to see what I don't really need. Me being away for a couple of nights and then coming straight back to work means I need 3 relatively easy dinners for DH to do. Usually I would have some sort of batch cooking in the freezer but I haven't done any for ages. The nice weather has meant we are having salads and picnic type dinners but I'm buying a lot of remade stuff that I should really be making myself.

Expenses from April starting to trickle in. Hopefully everything will balance out and we can exceed our £500 savings target.

MooLakes

how did getting your savings put in one account work out? My wife and I (newly weds) were thinking the same thing and when we talked to our mortgage people they told us about offset mortgages but I couldn't quite get my head around it. We already have a mortgage but it's up for renewal (or whatever the right word is) and we were looking for how to get the best value. It's a minefield! I'm still a little confused by it all. I couldn't work out if we lose the interest on savings but they go into getting the overall monthly repayments down or if we still get them but they use them against it or whatever. Also, I think you need quite a bit of savings, we only have nearly 4k between us approx. Is this why your merging savings?

xyz123

MooLakes wrote: »

how did getting your savings put in one account work out? My wife and I (newly weds) were thinking the same thing and when we talked to our mortgage people they told us about offset mortgages but I couldn't quite get my head around it. We already have a mortgage but it's up for renewal (or whatever the right word is) and we were looking for how to get the best value. It's a minefield! I'm still a little confused by it all. I couldn't work out if we lose the interest on savings but they go into getting the overall monthly repayments down or if we still get them but they use them against it or whatever. Also, I think you need quite a bit of savings, we only have nearly 4k between us approx. Is this why your merging savings?

Try to create a new post in mortgage forum and it's more likely to get responses... Good luck.

MooLakes

Ooops, sorry. I'm new to this forum and I was replying to an older post. I'll try the mortgage one, thank you!

*little.squirrel*

Managed £613.57 for May. June isn't looking so hot. DH is travelling abroad and we have a long weekend booked with friends. It's also my son's birthday right at the end of the month so I'll have to plan carefully for that. The overall budget will take some careful controlling this month to make sure things don't spiral. I think that tends to happen when we are out of routine. We are weighing up making a couple of large purchases too - just the kind of thing you buy once and it lasts 10 years so we are trying to decide what we can afford versus what it good value for money and what will last.

I will admit to feeling a little deflated with our savings attempts, but need to keep reminding myself that it works out over the whole year. May and June are always the most spendy I think.