Our Patch of England

starnac

Well done on testing the bank. Glad it worked for you. I round down our accounts and send it to the mortgage now as well.

When you said you downgraded your netflix account, what do you mean? I didn't realise there were different levels. Maybe I need to look into ours??

Deep cleaning the house sounds great. I always say things like that but I'm never here on my own so it'll probably never happen lol!

Cinny91

It ranges from £5.99 to £9.99 - depends on how many people are watching it at once, what level of streaming you want (SD, HD, UHD etc) We were paying £9.99 as my parents were using it too but now they rarely do, so we're down to 2 screens and HD at £7.99. I'd have put it down to the £5.99 package but it's DH that mostly watches it, and he has a real bee in his bonnet about watching things in HD. I only really use it for the kids channels as LO likes watching an animated series about a horse (actually dreading him being old enough for horse riding lessons!)

It's very rare I'm home alone for a long stretch, sometimes I'll work from home in the afternoon if DH is away for work (so our dog isn't left alone for too long) and I do take the opportunity to scrub floors and use stronger chemicals in peace. What a wild life!

Cinny91

Haircut was only £10, so I'll be transferring the difference with what I should have paid along with rounding the bank down off the mortgage tomorrow. The person I spoke to from the bank assured me I can make as many payments as I like, it's just the amount that is capped, but I feel like one payment a day will keep me feeling motivated.

Slapped me in the face that the C day is only a couple days over 4 months away. Queue mild panic! We wound up going over board last year, with everything that happened with my Brother we went from frugal and intentional to carpe diem at warp speed. Currently our £50 will barely cover a roast dinner with trimmings so we that's another pot we need to fill. I want to say it never ends, but it isn't like Christmas day changes it's date all willy nilly. But I am already really looking forward to it this year, with a brand new niece and LO hopefully understanding a little more. We did buy him a nativity scene last year but the amount of times I had to say "No, take Baby Jesus out of your mouth" kind of ruined the twilight magic of it all

starnac

Cinny91 wrote: »

It ranges from £5.99 to £9.99

Ah! I see! We pay £7.99 for 2 screens (I think) which is handy for us as occasionally the kids will argue over who gets to chose the programme so they can both watch their own thing!

Cinny91

I think £2 is worth the peace, especially during the summer holidays!

Spent £11.01 today signing LO up for a fundraising challenge, the sign up fee was to make sure he gets a medal at the end It's to walk 30 miles in 30 days for a local children's hospice so it's time to start shaking down some relatives :A

£27.10 to the mortgage today :beer: DH's payday tomorrow along with my weekly wage. Very excited to see what we can do in September now I've finally set everything up. Only slightly embarrassed it's taken this long.

tootallulah

Well done Cinnie you can do brilliant TTing straight to the mortgage now. I am going to enjoy my sunny day today in 8 days time I 'should' be paying off my mortgage, but I am possibly going to move.........or maybe not it has been so beautiful in N Notts this year.

Cinny91

If I'm honest, I feel incredibly grown up and a bit of a pro sending little bits and bobs straight to the mortgage.

That is incredible you're so close to the end, Tootallulah! I agree wholeheartedly that N.Notts has just been something else this summer. Will you be doing anything to celebrate?

In the last week we've OP'd £61 on the mortgage :T That's around 8% of our normal monthly repayment. Our main payment came out this morning, and the balance should be updated tomorrow with the interest. Very happy with that!

Money has been flying out left right and center this morning, will be able to properly update the mortgage balance in the morning once our monthly interest has been added. The dreaded interest!!

We did have a pricey weekend too. I did one last swoop through LO's wardrobe to fill in any remaining gaps, we decided to add one more pair of dungarees and a handful of longer sleeved tops purely to eek out our washing days. We also had him try his old winter coats on (with much protesting) and had to buy him a new fleece jacket too. Hopefully, now, he is all set! I also bought a new winter coat, I went through last winter with just my rain coat as my thick coat mysteriously vanished in the move and I didn't much fancy the idea of doing that again this year so made the most of the good prices off season.

We also sat down and made a big house "To Do" list. New windows are, as always, sitting pretty at the top of the pile. But there are also nice easy jobs like putting coat hooks by the door, replacing our bedroom door, replacing the hallway lights etc so we can get things done and not feel so hopeless.

Really enjoying the cooler days, actually lit a fire yesterday which was lovely! DH used his noggin at the start of Summer when he was cutting back the hedges and filled a huge box with twigs that make excellent kindling and are nicely dried out after being in the shed during the heatwave. Put our clothes horses around it too so even had dried towels by this morning.

tootallulah

I lit a fire yesterday too, and have also booked the chimney sweep for next week, I am very sad to be leaving this amazing summer behind. You sound very organised, even overpaying £50 per month extra will take years off the mortgage so every £ counts!

Windows are the very devil of expense I had new sashes made with double glazing- one at a time every three months and cash flowed the lot. It took three or four years but in the end they all got done, it did make a big difference to the heating bill.

Cinny91

I had a look on an overpayment calculator, and I don't know how true it is but apparently we've saved ourselves £49 in interest :T We're under £120k now, made my heart leap when I saw we were into a new bracket. Interest will be added tomorrow so we'll see how long it lasts :rotfl:

Thanks for the reminder, Tootallulah - have our sweep booked too. Plumping for the top level clean this year as the everything is a little squeaky and creaky. Also need to call a joiner for rehanging our bedroom door, and a few carpet fitters for a quote for two rooms.

That was a brilliant idea to split things up to make it easier to cash flow, I did suggest something similar to DH but to do the front and then the back windows but he wasn't sold on the idea. Makes sense to me! I'm hoping new carpets will make the house feel warmer alone, we are planning to cover the floorboards in the front room (:() They're beautiful, just not practical no matter how many rugs we throw down.

DH is away today so my Sister is coming over. I used a voucher to get us a free lasagne for tea so I can just throw that in the oven and not need to be faffing in the kitchen while she's here. Will do a salad and some garlic bread with it too.

Cinny91

TT of £6.66 👹 this morning. Balance on our account still hasn't updated with the interest so I'm going to just go ahead and change my signature - let me be glorious in a new £ bracket while I can. We're also into the 4% paid now :T

Last night was low key traumatic - LO was extremely upset DH wasn't at home. Crying so hard he had hiccups kind of upset, wound up cuddling on the sofa "staying up to see Dad" until he finally dozed off. Bonus was we watched Hook so I'm feeling festive.

Yesterday was a NSD but I need to go to the shops on my way home from work today, making pancakes with LO for our tea so need flour, an anniversary card for my parents and a carrot cake. Would prefer to make one but the ingredients I need outweigh just buying a cake so I'll go that route this time.

While resigned to the sofa last night I had a long internal talk with myself, just resetting expectations. My head feels a lot less cluttered now we've taken the time to write up a physical list of things to tick off and I'm determined to be as savvy as I can to get things done, while still paying down the mortgage as well as the loan. It all is possible, but I know I hinder things just by existing when I'll pop into town on a Friday morning to get my Grandparents a treat from the bakery and the next thing I've spent £20 - all on useful stuff but things I don't really need to buy. It just seems to happen?! I think I might set September up to be operation No-Spend. Our holiday is in a few weeks, but I don't personally need anything than a little food in my belly so it should work. I already feel embarrassed over how much healthier our bank would look by the end of the month if I just didn't spend on anything other than essentials