DD's accountability thread

DD265

Thanks beanielou!

I've just painted my finger nails as I have a works event tomorrow with a party afterwards. Still need to do my toenails and pack as it's going to be an early start, so I'm looking forward to the next one when I'll live a lot nearer. Must remember to take those jeans so I can return them on the way home on Saturday. :rotfl:

Managed another no spend day today. I was tempted to go to Tesco, but stopped myself because I didn't need anything. Tomorrow will be a no spend day (food/drink is all provided) but Saturday is another weekly shop day, and as we're out for my birthday on Sunday I expect I'll spend something then too. I'm still well on track for my 20 this month though (7 so far), and the more I do - or rather the less I spend - the easier it is to stick with it.

Given the works event I'm going to do the meal plan and shopping list tonight - we've got a few bits in the freezer that want using up so I'll try and do a few cheap leftovers meals!

DD265

This weekend hasn't really gone to plan and yesterday was a write off in terms of getting anything done; I didn't get home until 7pm. Long story which I won't go into, but the person in question is fine thankfully. I did manage a NSD on Friday (8/20), and got the food shop done yesterday. However I also ended up buying lunch (unexpected) and then a McDonalds for tea, then having paid for my lunch today I've wiped out my fun money for the month.

I do have £30 of birthday money to pay in, but as it's potentially as few as 2 weekends left before we move, I don't think we'll have time for much that isn't packing so I'd like to put it in the credit card over payment pot. Planning to pay that in (via the Post Office) at lunch time tomorrow.

The jeans were returned yesterday - but they had a sale on so I was able to exchange them for another pair (in the correct size/style etc) and still get a £4.50 refund. As some of mine are a few years old now they're starting to wear through at the thighs and the first pair died a death a couple of months ago. The replacements I got for those are great with heels but too long for flats really, so I can now just wear the pair with the right length for my shoes.

I'm very glad that there are just two weekends left in the month. I'd like to fill up the car once (not sure how feasible that is) and then that means two food shops as well, so the budget feels OK. Anything I don't need from the fuel budget is going to the credit card over payment pot.

Aiming for NSD Mon-Fri, spend day on Saturday and NSD on Sunday. It feels doable!

DD265

Managed NSD yesterday and today so feeling good about that. 16 days left in the month and only 'need' 10 of those to be NSDs.

I did only pay £20 in, which I've put in the credit card over payment pot. I kept the rest out so I could have a small treat, and I got an extra £50 from family that I wasn't expecting, so that's in the credit card pot too which is currently sat at £80.

We went to the solicitor today, and have signed all the paperwork. We aren't quite ready to exchange yet as there are a couple of outstanding enquiries but hopefully that will be this week. The help to buy ISA is closed (one less account in my budget!) and the funds have been transferred into the savings account. The withdrawal from the lifetime ISA is set to go ahead as well. All being well, the notice will be handed in for our rental over the weekend.

I need to check, but I think we might be making our first mortgage payment a double one. I couldn't see anywhere in the documentation about paying pro-rata (or anything else) for the period between completion and the first payment date though. It's too late to contact Skipton tonight but I'll find out this week. The plan is to prepare to pay it and then if we have the choice, we can use the money for appliances/into savings or make our first over payment.

I have started packing, but will try to pick up momentum this weekend. Ideally I'd like to do a box an evening but it's not going to happen tonight. :rotfl:

DD265

Checked with Skipton and our first mortgage payment will just be the normal amount - no pro rata increase. However the interest will be calculated from the day of completion, so we need to do some maths to decide whether to pay it. The temptation is obviously not to, so that we have a bit more cash in hand - whether this goes towards appliances, emergency fund or credit cards.

I've been working out the credit cards and budget again. No matter how many times I go over it the numbers obviously don't really change, and it briefly reassures me that I will be able to afford what I'm planning, albeit not as comfortably as I'd like. But the thought of starting 2020 credit card debt free is definitely appealing, and my spreadsheet doesn't take into account the extra money I can make from selling things or bonuses from work etc.

My credit card over payment pot currently sits at £150. I'm tempted to pay £100 of it but holding back just in case. We should get the bonus sheets for December soon, and depending on what that says I may have the confidence to just make that payment Come the end of the month, anything left in fun money, fuel and gym will go towards over payments too. This is just that mid-month limbo period stretching on!

DD265

Well, it may come back to bite me, but luckily I think the chances of that happening are very slim. We have given notice on the apartment. We'll have it for just over a month, so a reasonable overlap to get things cleaned. We haven't managed to exchange; it's looking like Monday or Tuesday. The funds are set to go over on Monday morning and our solicitor just has to email the responses to a couple of queries back to us. We've agreed a completion date of the 1st Feb and all are happy with this. If things do go south then I'm confident that our landlord would let us hang on for a bit.

I set up my car insurance to switch next month too (I actually only wanted a quote, but got sick of waiting on the phone so just put the request through online) and was blown away to get an email promising me a £150 refund. I guess my mileage is going to drop by 2/3, we're theoretically moving to a lower risk area and we'll be homeowners.

The solicitor fees were higher than we expected (though I had set aside more for the deposit than I needed so they were covered) which means the refund is really appreciated. At the moment I'm going to hang on to it - not sure whether it's best going into the emergency fund, towards appliances or off the credit cards. Oh and there's the dental fund too. :rotfl:

I'm pleased that I can start slimming my budget down a little bit; I've closed the H2B ISA and changed my LISA to be a tracking (non-budget) account. I've also hidden a couple of categories relating to the purchase as we won't be paying out any more on those. I'd like to be able to report on how much it cost us in the end, hence splitting them out in the first place, but there comes a point where there are just too many categories.

Not a no spend day today as had to do the food shop, but managed one yesterday. I'm definitely feeling the urge to shop this evening so I'm resisting hard!

DD265

NSD today - 13/20 for the month and well on track.

We picked up a microwave we bought yesterday (that was me giving in to the shopping urges!), it's a Samsung one which we got for £65 (brand new) when it's still £130 on a lot of the high street retailer sites. The microwave we use currently must've been left behind by a previous tenant - we were told it wasn't included on the inventory/provided by the landlord - but we know it's not ours so are not taking it with us.

I've shortlisted a few fridge/freezers and washer/dryers. We've agreed a max spend of £700 on the fridge (though I shortlisted one at £879 because I'm naughty, and may be able to find it cheaper in a couple of weeks!) and thinking under £600 for the washing machine. There are quite a few around the £400 mark but there's another Samsung at £560 with a 5 year warranty and the warranty is tempting. We won't be ordering anything until we have the keys though and can measure up, but I'd like to be able to decide quickly so we can hopefully get deliveries over that weekend.

Can't quite bring ourselves to go used on the appliances as I really like to look after my stuff so the dents/scratches that the ones we've seen seem to have would make me sad. That said, I think I've mentioned previously that our corner sofa is not a good fit in the new house; the configuration is the wrong way around. I found one on Facebook for £350 (bearing in mind it starts from £1350 new) in the configuration that we would want. I've saved the advert, and if ours really doesn't work/this one is still available, we'll go for it. In theory we could break even if we get a good price for ours and if not, well we've saved £1k.

We've done a bit of packing but haven't managed nearly as much as I'd hoped. We have another big pile of stuff to go to the charity shop so I might take a long lunch one day just to get it gone - as there's circa 100kg of weights, it'll be the loading/unloading that takes the time! We did take some cardboard to the tip though; one of the cats chews it (literally takes a bite, spits it out, takes another bite) so we're having to implement a no-cardboard-lying-around rule.

I've got one last bit of decluttering to do under the stairs - this also involves seeing what we have in terms of cleaning stuff. I have a list (of course ) but then I'll know what we have enough of and what we might need more of. The new house isn't as convenient for the supermarkets as where we are now (not a bad thing!) so it means my organisational skills will be put to the test!

beanielou

I would go for the best WM you can.
A five year warranty is good

DD265

Thanks Beanielou. It feels like a toss up between going cheap and accepting that you'll replace it fairly frequently, and buying something more expensive to theoretically last a longer period of time. I think I will have another look at second hand though - there must be some out there that aren't dented!

I'm feeling a bit twitchy tonight. Had hoped to exchange contracts today, but we're waiting for Skipton to confirm that they'll process the LISA withdrawal in time; it's over half our deposit. They told me that it's possible over the phone, but it needs to be confirmed in writing to the solicitor before he's willing to let us exchange. I've been looking to see whether we could get that £5k from elsewhere temporarily and we can get most of it from our current/savings accounts but we'd need a sub from family too. Still, if we don't appear to be making progress tomorrow I'll look into it a bit more seriously.

The refund from my car insurance is in my account already; so far it's just sat to one side until I decide exactly what to do with it. I spent a little cash earlier (doesn't count as a spend day because I'm a cheat ) so I have change for parking on Friday now. I will need to go into town to get that dental refund.

I finally got the shredding done. The next job is to pack the spare bedroom - which probably sounds like a bigger task than it actually is.

beanielou

A dent doesent matter as long as it works well.
Hope you get the deposit sorted out.

DD265

After signing another set of documents and physically taking them to a Skipton branch this morning, the release of the funds is now approved. We should be able to exchange tomorrow. All those people saying house buying is stressful; I didn't agree until this week!

I feel like I can breathe a bit better now though.

Up to 15 NSD for the month, which means 5 to go. I went into the dentist today and got the refund. It's just sat in the budget for now to see how things go. Also got confirmation of bonuses due in my pay next week (£750, before tax/student loan). Again, all my disposable income is going to be set aside until I know what we're doing.

Still a lot - OK virtually all - of the packing is still to be done. Best get a shift on :rotfl: