DD's accountability thread

DD265

As expected, I've gotta go back to Debenhams! Going with somebody else though and they're driving so just an issue of time rather than fuel. I'll be glad to get it sorted today even if it is a faff.

I'm still really pleased with the window 'fix', and now thinking of other small gains. I think I mentioned about potentially replacing the carpet in the downstairs toilet with laminate and then we'd put the cat litter trays in that room. That will mean keeping the door open and there's an extractor fan (none of our bathrooms have windows) which means that the room is always cool - and freezing in winter - despite the radiator. The other two bathrooms are similarly cold. I've found out that you can get back draught shutters for extractor fans which stop air coming in, so I'm going to look into that. It doesn't look as though it'll be expensive.

Because we're renting I'm conscious of not wanting to do too much, but at the same time we're lucky to have a great landlord and I hope they think that they are lucky with us as tenants!

DD265

Sorted things out with Debenhams, and got another dress that I didn't see out the day before so that's the rest of the gift card balance used up. I have also bought a few bits on eBay so that's my holiday gear all sorted! I am making a (reasonable) assumption that my swimwear still fits...

The other thing I've found this week is some flat shoes that I might actually like. Usually find them boring, 'not me' and almost always ill fitting. I have been shopping for flat shoes for the past 3-4 years and always end up trying on 3-4" heels. Give me a glam pair of Irregular Choice heels any day. However I'm sick of having to change from heels to trainers to walk at lunch time and lets be honest heels aren't always the most comfortable. I picked up a £20 pair of Butterfly Twists and so far so good!

On Monday night I booked an airbnb for our anniversary in March. It's the same one we stayed in for a few days after our wedding this year, but the dates were unavailable so I messaged the host to check. I figured it's pay day next week plus a bonus so I'd look at booking something right away, but she got back to me immediately and made the dates available for us (just too far in advance for the website) so I've gone for it. I think I'm more excited for that than I am our honeymoon in September. :rotfl:

Oh, and I had to get a new tyre yesterday; picked up a screw and it was too close to the sidewall to repair. £75 so not the end of the world, and luckily they were all new enough that I only had to get one done and not the pair.

DD265

We had our day out this weekend, and predictably spent a fortune. OH covered most of it, but I spent £6.40 on.. not sure what, and £63 on two hoodies. I'd taken a raincoat but it wasn't enough to keep me warm whilst we were queuing, and OH had insisted on leaving his in the car which was of course a trek away. Still, he'll get a lot of use out of the thinner hoodie and I'm claiming the thicker one. :rotfl:

At Alton Towers we did get a free NowTV SmartStick so that's going on the spare TV in our bedroom - means we can watch live TV in bed as the box in there at the moment doesn't allow it. Quite pleased with that. Also got a month's free movies pass. I did the food shop this weekend and almost came in under the gift card balance, except OH's coffee was on offer so I spent £6 stocking up on that. Yesterday my plans for a night out with a friend were cancelled, so although I got a takeaway it was still cheaper than going out. We've come in at £277 for the month on the food/household budget. I'd love to get it down to £250 in August!

My sunglasses arrived (I'm not sure if I said..) and I got the invoice so submitted the claim for the last £63 of that. I also claimed both physio appointments (£100) but only one has hit my bank account so far. These combine to make me very glad it's pay day tomorrow!

In other news I am absolutely exhausted. The weekend didn't help - there was a lot of driving on Saturday, and out of the four of us in my car, only muggins here has a driving license - but I've been run down for a while. I did a Thriva blood test recently (like 3 weeks ago and my finger still hurts if I knock it!) which said I have slightly low levels of Vit D and B12. My back is still sore and stiffened up with all the driving/standing around at the weekend. We dog-sat for a friend yesterday but didn't take the dog for a walk unfortunately so although I got a lot of steps in on Saturday the whole weekend felt pretty sedentary. Honestly though I think I just need a break - and it's 5 weeks until our honeymoon.

August was going to be pretty chilled, but we have visitors mid month potentially so that's always a bit stressful even if they are family. I 'sorted' all the stuff in the spare room on Friday (having gotten fed up with work and taken the afternoon off :rotfl: ) but that pretty much just means separating out what we're keeping vs what we're not. There's so much to do before October so I'm going to need to find some time and energy from somewhere!

DD265

Got paid - I love getting paid. Don't we all? :rotfl: Made a nice overpayment on the MBNA credit card, so the direct debit still has to go out but then it'll be a round £6k. The Barclaycard will drop to £2900 this month - nice to be in the lower bracket. I'd borrowed a bit out of savings so put that back, and have budgeted for everything including some pre-honeymoon beauty treatments on and the day after next pay-day. I'm going to do my best not to borrow from that pot.

A friend showed me a property for sale that OH and I both really like - and it could be a perfect home for us - but it's probably at the very top end (if not slightly out of) our budget and would need a lot of modernisation. I'm definitely in the 'as long as we can live with it initially that's fine' camp, but if we're maxing out on the mortgage how would we save to do it up? It's not the only one anyway and there are some cheaper properties that could be promising plus other areas we can look at.

A family member has previously offered to gift us a deposit, but we've always thought we'd have to pay everything off first etc. That doesn't seem to be the case so we've started a ball rolling and I have a call with a mortgage broker on Monday.

For that reason, I'm leaning towards shifting away from debt overpayments to savings - but it's too late for August. I have a lifetime ISA (with the minimum in it) and I gather that it takes 4-8 weeks to get the 25% bonus. So I'll save in my online saver, then the money can either be moved to the ISA or paid off the credit cards, depending on what helps us the most with our application.

beanielou

Great news on the payments
Do you just have the two cards?

DD265

We have three between us, but OH's is just used for his travel costs and paid off in full so he can build some credit history. I get balance transfer offers on both cards regularly so my plan is to bounce balances around to keep them interest free if I have to.

My husband doesn't spend as much and lives within his means yet for some reason he lets me run the budget and has very little input. That said, he often gets surprised by his balance towards the end of the month (which is always still in four figures, I can get down to under £10!) because he doesn't keep an eye on it whereas I check mine most days.

I think a lot of it is different financial backgrounds; my parents had a high income but utilised a lot of credit, whereas his are more of a moderate income but very little credit. I'm not sure that either of us learnt to budget early on, and I've picked it up from this site.

We're going to need to establish what our outgoings will be if we buy, and then if the increase is significant, what each of us is willing to sacrifice to make that work. I'm prepared to give up a what feels like a lot, and as I both earn and spend more that makes sense, but it still needs to feel somewhat proportionate so we don't end up resenting each other.

DD265

The first of the sacrifices was made this morning; I've cut the personal training down to 2x a week, saving £25 a week. I have already accepted that it'll go completely when we move (whether buying or rented), but if I have to give it up beforehand.. well there are other areas I'd prefer to cut first.

I'm looking at my hair and beauty treatments like 'how much do I actually want these?'. I won't change the hair appointment, but I may ditch some of the beauty stuff that I have booked for the honeymoon. I can do most of it at home, I just can't be bothered or end up not leaving enough time etc. I'm trying to decide how badly I want the individual eyelashes; there's upkeep too if I want to keep them going (I didn't after the wedding, and wished I had) but £ per wear they're more cost effective than a manicure. I think it'll depend how the call goes with the mortgage broker on Monday.

We have a spa treat this afternoon which was a wedding present. I'm still not sure exactly what we get out of it, but we'll find out when we get there. I'll be driving and it's not local, though I think I would've had to fill up the car mid next week anyway so I'll just suck it up and fill up tonight/tomorrow. OH paid to fill the car up last weekend so I can't complain.

DD265

I can confirm that spas are not my thing but OH enjoyed it. Annoyingly we used an NCP car park and the charge was meant to be £10.50 for 3 hours but it charged us £14.50 - that's not even the price for the next time bracket! I took photos of everything and have submitted a complaint to NCP online requesting a refund.

I have moved the payment due date on my MBNA card to be on or after the 1st. I find it so frustrating that this currently goes out mid-month. This means that they won't take a direct debit in September, but I'll probably make the payment manually anyway.

I am looking at my other direct debits too. I can't bring myself to cancel the charity ones (£25 a month) but I pay £17 per month for my hygienist appointments - I have 3x a year and I think they're normally charged at £72 each so I'm getting a small discount. If I paid as I went, I could claim it back from the cashplan but I only have £180 to claim against so if I needed dental work as well I'd run out of budget. Something to think about and tomorrow I'm going to check what the discount is or whether there's a cheaper service that will meet my needs.

I have started the prep for the convention in October. I need to get some cleaning supplies as mine are all long gone so I'm going to nip to B&M in a few minutes. Our local one (within walking distance) is a reasonable size and should have everything I need barring the acetone (for stubborn marks) which I'll have to get over a pharmacy counter. Then it's just a lot of time to get them cleaned up!

DD265

I had the chat with the broker and it all seems feasible. Between OH and I we agreed maximum repayments of £750pcm, and a 95% mortgage for a total budget of £150k fits nicely below that - in theory as it wasn't based on us specifically - with a 5yr fixed rate of 3.45%. I'm happy with the idea of £750pcm and whilst it'd stretch us a little, particularly whilst replenishing savings/paying off credit cards/having work done on a house, I think we can still be nicely comfortable paying that amount.

We're going to wait until late September (if not a bit later) to do an application however; predominantly due to holidays as the broker goes on holiday this week then the week he's back, we're off, then he's off again (he's getting married/honeymooning so we can't complain!). However, it gives us a bit of time which is good because:
- OH got his credit card at the beginning of July, feels a bit soon for another credit check
- I paid off my loan and updated my name on the electoral roll but neither of these are on my credit file yet
- We can save up some more
- I can sort out the deposit with family and get it in our bank account
- We can do more research into the area(s) we want to live

Resisting the urge to run full steam ahead, particularly as there's a property we like, but it's been listed a month already. If it's meant to be, it'll be.

Today I have cancelled the direct debit for the hygienist, though I'll still need to budget for it initially, then I'll get into the loop of claiming it back and putting the money back in the pot, and a direct debit for a mindfulness coach subscription. I'm not getting the most out of the coach right now but maybe I'll pick it up again in the future. In the mean time, I have the skills I learnt on her course a couple of years ago to fall back on.

Mom offered to pay for me to get my eyelashes done for our honeymoon, and she'll do the fake tan for me too, so that's £80 saved. If I do my own manicure, pedicure, threading and tinting then that's even more saved. Mom's also taking us to the airport, so we just have to arrange the taxi back (£50) which is a similar cost to parking but we land in the early hours of the morning and I point blank refused to drive it. Normally I would and I hate it.

DD265

Over £600 in my savings account - feels good. That's the highest balance I've had in the account since June 2017, with it getting down as low as 24.15 in October 2017! Having cancelled the mindfulness coach subscription, I moved the money I'd budgeted for that across.

I've got my eye on a few other things to reduce down the line but for now I think the focus will shift to selling things; decluttering is going to make a move much easier! Still got some wedding bits (including my dress), some horse bits and some random stuff. The pony cleaning for the convention in October has started but it's a big task so realistically some will just have to go as they are. I also have some gym kit which the personal trainer has at his currently, and we've talked about trading it for gym sessions. I need to do some research on what I think I could sell it for, then we can agree what seems reasonable.

Hubby is away on Saturday overnight, so I'm hoping to make some more headway then!