The Smith Clan - Mortgage free in Germany

Egon76

An expensive month so far already. :eek:

Two birthday's (both boys) as well as occasional days out add up.
Off to Heidepark Soltau with friends tomorrow for DS1's birthday. Saving some money on 2for1 entrance deal with coca cola.

Also, DS2 had an acciddent whilst motocrossing. He is save and sound, but some of the plastic parts have to be replaced. As well as some wear and tear parts...

The boys are growing and I did a bigish order on clothing from sportsdirect. Better deals and including postage still cheaper then trying to buy in Germany.

Egon76

As predicted, July was a very expensive month. I still haven't looked at the paperwork to tally it all up. I am to scared to see the total. :eek: Denial in full force.

At the end of July, I also changed to a different budget app. I am so glad I did it. The new app is so much easier to use. Regular payment can be set up etc etc. I am happy with it. I have now used it for a few weeks.

We bought a camera this week for around 500 Euro. Mr Egon76 expressed a whish to take pictures with something better than his iphone. He does like taking pictures of DS2 when he is on the motocross track. We don't really buy each other presents (actually we do, something littel eg 5 pounds challenge for christmas etc). When we like to buy something, we do a lot of research first and then try to buy at reasonable/best possible price.

Mr. Egon76 gave up rugby coaching in favour for DS2's motocrossing. The dates always overlapped. It was not an easy decision for him at the time.
I am now looking into getting Mr Egon76 tickets for a rugby game back in the UK. The Worcester Warriors are his favourite team. So I am keeping an eye out for tickets at the beginning of next year as a treat for him. This is unfortunately the earliest possible time to make it. Flights etc will have to be sorted as well. :lipsrseal

I am changing jobs at the begining of next month. I will earn a little less than now. I am looking forward to changing back into more technical topics. It will be quiet an adjustement for us, as I was working from home a lot with my job now. This gave me great flexibility. I know the new company supports family life as well. But as I will be the "newbie", I don't want to be seen as taking advantage.
DS1 I worry about the most. He has had emotional issues over the years. He seem to prefer if someone is always at home and available to him. He is a teenager now, but still comments about how much he likes when someone is home. Doesn't mean he approaches us all the time. He actually likes to just know someone is in the house. Also, due to his emotional issues, he struggles in a regular school enviroment. He goes to a school for emotional and challenged children. For his emotinal well being it does him good. For his intellectual well being it is a different matter. He has a higher than average IQ. The school is set up for the children to learn subjects lots slower than in a regular school. This challenges us to keep him satisfied on an intellectual level. We find this very hard to cope with, as he really seem to have lost interest in everything. Anything that is just slightly challenging, he will give up as it is too much hard work... (There is a long history behind this, which I don't want to go into right now). He has been in treatment for years. But no diagnosis has been made. He has been checked for Asperger Syndrome/Autism. Even though the doctors are hinting he shows small traits of AS/Autism. Without a diagnose, it is hard to receive much help. This is one ongoing battle.

Yikes, it is now four o'clock in the morning here. Not my usual time to be up. I couldn't sleep though. Woke up around midnight and still wide awake now. I am sure I will "pay" for it later. Good thing it is Saturday tomorrow (today).
Mr. Egon76 and DS2 will be off to motocross at our local track. DS1 I will drive to golf later and then we plan to go to the library after. Somewhere in between I will have to catch up on some sleep.

Until next time
Egon76

julicorn

Hi Egon,

Nice to hear from you! So sorry to hear about your son, sounds like he is (and you are, by proxy) having a difficult time. I can see the balance being tricky between him having his emotional needs AND his intellectual needs catered for. Did he ever go to a 'regular' school? I just know that they can vary quite a lot in the level of support they are able to provide, but then again I went to school in a very small town, and I know the school system varies quite a lot depending on where you are anyway.

What budgeting app are you using, out of curiosity? There's one I keep preaching about, it's called YNAB. It's a bit more active/involved than most apps (I feel like most of the others are more like spending trackers than 'proper' budgeting apps), but it's completely turned around our finances, so I'll keep on mentioning until someone tells me to shut up :rotfl:

Either way, all the best :heart2:

Egon76

julicorn wrote: »

What budgeting app are you using, out of curiosity? There's one I keep preaching about, it's called YNAB. It's a bit more active/involved than most apps (I feel like most of the others are more like spending trackers than 'proper' budgeting apps), but it's completely turned around our finances, so I'll keep on mentioning until someone tells me to shut up :rotfl:

Hi julicorn,

I use Money Manager. It is never easy to find the "perfect" app for what you want :rotfl:
I don't like apps where you can also have your bank accounts filtered in. :eek:

Egon76

It is the end of the month ... again :eek:

A day off for me, as I am officially finishing my job with my current company today. They were generous enough to let me have the day off. Just in time to sort the finances. :rotfl:

This month, we had extra spending. To carry on finishing our wintergarden and terrace, we had to order some metal covers for the insulation. An inital quote was 5000 Euro for everything, including labour for fitting.
We have now decided to fit it all by ourselfs. The costs for the metal covers (including bending? to how we need them) comes to 892 Euro. We are just waiting for the covers to arrive so we can carry on with all the work. Weather forecast is predicting a good September :T.

I also had time to look into changing the gas supplier to a cheaper one. All done
Next discussion will be, changing the internet supplier. We have been with our current supplier since 2011. There was no need to change before. But as the kids are getting older and more services need internet, we will need a higher internet speed. When I looked into it before, the future costs were always higher. But now the costs are about the same as what we are paying already. Definitely worth looking into.

Overall finance wise, August was still a better month than July (can we say July didn't existed this year pretty please )

Also, the re-mortgage paperwork for 2021 is all finalised, signed and returned to the bank. :j

Off to the hairdressers in a moment. Going out with Mr Egon76 tonight, as it was our 15th wedding anniversary yesterday. Looking forward to the meal out:D

Egon76

Egon76

Another month is gone. Where does the time go? School holiday have started. The first month in my new job is over too

I just finished the monthly balance for September. Now that I am keeping a more eager eye on our budget, it all is going in the right direction again. There are still some tweegs to be done. But then, there are always tweegs that can be done me thinks.

One of my insurances will pay out a lump sum of over 6600 euro in two month. This means, the monthly payments will stop and we have 40 Euro more in our pockets per month. The lump sum will be allocated to the morgage overpayment and the 40 Euros will be alocated too. The more money is left over, the quicker we can save up the money for the mortgage overpayments. Happy us

Also, we have started the remortgage process for our flat, which we rent out. Again, three years in advance due to the low interest rates. In three years time, we will pay 200 Euro less per month towards it. All other conditions are staying the same. The contracts for the remortgage have been signed by us and dropped in the letterbox today. Again, progress in the right direction.

As on my new job, I am loving it. They are already pushing me towards more reponsibility and a job promotion. I am not so sure about this though, as there are aspects of the job promotion I don't enjoy at all. Right now I am concentrating on what I need to do.

julicorn

Great to hear you're enjoying your new job!

Egon76

Another month is over. I am a little behind on my monthly updates.:o

Again, October was another good month financially. Not as good as September, but close. Fuel costs have been high throughout the year. More than we budgeted. Also the fuel prices at petrol stations aren't really low either. We can't win in that respect.

Our renters handed their notice in. They will move out of our flat at the end of January. Best renters we had so far. We are sad to see them go. We are now starting the process of finding new renters. Some estate agents are trying to get us to sign up with them without knowing the costs to us. Annoys the hell out of me.

Week before Friday, we spend the night at the hospital. Our DS1 had an unfortunate accident at school that night. A table dropped on his big toe. He had to have an emergency operation, as his big toes was broken (open wound), the nail was ripped off and the nail bed was destroyed. He is on crutches for now. He should be able to return to school in a weeks time.
It will be a challenge, as we have to drop him off and pick him up after school. As he is only on half days, it clashes with our working hours. I have to see if I can ask some of our neighbours to help picking him up.

Motorbike season for DS2 has now come to an end too. Over the winter, we will strip his bike and replace all wear and tear parts etc. I have to search the internet soon, to find the best posssible prices for the parts.

Right now, we are able to use the still good weather to put in the terrace. Mr. Egon76 and a neighbour have already worked hard this weekend to lay the ground work. Materials are on site too. It has cost us 2350 Euros. This neighbour is working for the company who we bought the materials from. Without him, we would paid over 1500 Euros more :eek:

Also, we have to have some trees cut. Again, another 900 Euros. The chap who will be doing it, is from New Zealand. He is a proper arborist/ tree surgeon. He even won a few world championships. Price wise, he is competitive too. The German companies either wanted more or weren't interested!

The insurance money has been paid out as well. As said before, 6000Euro will go towards the morgage overpayment for January. The 40Euro's we are supposed to have extra every month is already been swallowed up by increased school fees

We also have changed car insurances for the next year already. There is savings of around 150Euros there.

Egon76

The year is drawing to an end.

Budget for 2018 is up to date. Overall, we spend less in most categories we budgeted for.
Summer looked way high. But throughout the year, it leveled out. I am pleased about htis. I was worried that we g way above budget.

We also already have set the budget for 2019. Motocross budget for DS2 had to go up. He is growing fast and needs new clothing and the bike needs repairs throughout. For this winter season it is serviced and repaired though.

Today, we also booked a week holiday in the UK, to see the inlaws. As it happens, the Worcester Warriors have a home game at the time. I just have to ask my boys if they want to join their dad at a game (As mentioned before, my DH is a fan of the Worcester Warriors). I have to be sneaky about it though, as he will be receiving the tickets for his birthday.

We also set up the transfer of the mortgage overpayment for January. The maximum overpayment of 2019 is going out on the 8th of January. Also, the maximum overpayment for the renovation credit for 2019 will go out the same day. :T So happy about this.

On the home front, things aren't as easy.
DS1 was kicked out of school. He has an emotional challenge. It does turn him aggressive when he feels cornered or out of depth in a situation. As there is no home schooling aloud in Germany, the school authorities need to find a new school for him. It isn't easy going, as they are trying to "include" him into a mainstream school, but this will not work for him. We are fighting for him to get what he needs.

My new job is going well. I love the challenge, but not the hours. I am thinking of going self employed or find something that gives me more flexibility. Not sure if it is an easy challenge in Germany, as they aren't as open about home office etc. It is not the first time that I am thinking about it. For the next few month, it will mean research, research and research as well as maybe building up business whilest still employed. It is actually the first time I am voicing it loud (even if it is just in writing).
I like to be able to work from home , be more flexible and travel more with the kids throughout the holidays. My DH and I want to travel more extensively when the kids are grown and have their own lives. But I keep asking myself, why wait this long. I rather do some of the traveling with the boys and DH now. I am sure there will be lots of challenges on the way. I am looking forward to them though. Actually, now voicing it and thinking about it, I am looking forward to it!!!! I really want to be able to work from anywhere and be able to do the travelling with the kids and DH. :shocked:

On this note, I am finishing my last post for 2018.

I wish everyone a happy new year!

Egon76

Ha, I had to set up the mortgage overpayment and overpayment for renovation credit again. Somehow the transfer hadn't happen.

Worcester Warriors Tickets are also bought.