44 months to 40

Youthgonewild

:wave: Just dropping in to say hi and good luck on your journey.

starnac

Hi Youthgonewild. Thanks for popping in.

It's been pretty hectic around here the last couple of weeks. End of term is always so busy trying to fit everything in. Thankfully I can see the end of the tunnel now and the kids only have a week left in school. Can't wait for the holidays now.

Haven't managed to pay any extra off the mortgage but DH gets paid in the next couple of days. He's claimed for quite a bit of overtime so if that gets paid then I should have a decent overpayment there. I will make an OP anyway but the overtime will determine how big it will be.

DD sorted through her wardrobe last weekend so DH took some of it (that wasn't that good to pass on) to one of those cash for clothes places. He got £6 for them so that has gone into our savings. I'm also about to list DS's electronic drum kit on the tree of gum. We bought it when he first started learning but he never really took to it as he has his lessons on an actual drum kit (if that makes sense). So we ended up buying him a proper drum kit. Thankfully we don't have neighbours!

Once that sells I'll be putting the money to the mortgage.

starnac

Morning all. DH got paid yesterday as the 15th is Sunday (tomorrow). He got a nice bit of overtime in there too.

£200 into savings
£200 overpayment

I'm waiting to see if there's anything else that needs paid and if not I might add some more to these figures.

I worked out my expenses and got a cheque to repay them. Problem is our local building society branch has closed for refurbishment and are not likely to open again til the end of the month! Not very helpful I must say!

Just a quick update this morning as DD has a football tournament this morning so we need to get a wriggle on.

Thank you for reading

starnac

Back from the tournament. Boy was it hot! £2 for a "99" at the ice cream van too! They didn't win but they only lost one match so that's an improvement for them.


I forgot to add earlier that I requested a payout from TCB for £15.42 and when that comes through I will be paying it off the mortgage. Every little helps doesn't it?

Kittenkirst

starnac wrote: »

Thanks beanie and welcome.

It was my payday on friday and all bills went out today. We get paid twice a month as DH and I have different paydays. I get paid at the end of the month and most of our bills come out on the 1st. Then DH gets paid on the 15th when our mortgage and council tax goes out so the rest then goes for shopping and other things we need.

Last month I moved extra to our savings and made an OP so our joint account is looking rather pathetic at the moment. It doesn't matter as all bills have been paid but I have got into a habit of liking a healthy balance as I'm afraid of going into our overdraft again.
Not that that's likely to happen as there is still £200 in the account but after years of struggling with debt I get a bit twitchy!

I fully understand this and work in a similar way- we always have what we call our 'buffer' in the joint bills account just in case. So far we've never needed it but I feel like I NEED it for peace of mind

Your plans sound fab, really looking forward to reading and cheering you along your way!

starnac

Hi Kittenkirst glad it's not just me that has a buffer.

Today hasn't been a bad day. TCB money went into my account so that's £15.42 paid off the mortgage. I also had a look at my savings accounts. I've got a few accounts for things like annual bills, car fund that kind of thing. I've also got an emergency savings account and 2 ISA's that I don't use. I've moved some of the money around and I think I've got a better system going on now.

I've left the emergency savings into which I move bigger amounts that come in when I'm not expecting it (inc overtime)
I've got a car fund into which we save a set amount each month to cover things like MOT and insurance
And now we've got a "house costs" fund into which I will Tilly Tidy and put small unexpected amounts into and use when we are ready to move to help reduce the effect of the costs associated with moving or decorating this place ready to rent.

Problem is now I have to remind myself that this is a marathon not a sprint. I get so impatient. I just want it all done now! *sigh*

starnac

Morning. Just a quick one from me this morning. I got up early to do some work ready for a session I am delivering this morning. It was all in my head but I really needed to write it down as I have a terrible memory and risk forgetting it all if it's not written down. Anyway I get up, pull my file and lo and behold I had actually planned this week properly 2 weeks ago! And what was in my head was the exact same thing I'd written down #teamstarnac :rotfl:

I'm wondering if the fact I had already planned it was in my subconscious as I normally get really stressed if I'm not prepared but this time I was quite relaxed as I knew what I planned to do in my head! :rotfl:

I'm planning on trying out the new "pay cheques in by taking a picture of them" on my internet banking app today. As my local branch is closed for refurbishment, if this works then I won't need to wait til the end of the month. I'll come back later and let you know if it's as easy as it sounds.

Have a good day

starnac

One more day til the summer holidays start. Can't wait! The kids and I have already decided that we are doing nothing at all on Saturday! We don't plan to leave the house, just have a quiet and lazy day. Bliss!

I tried the new cheque paying in thing on my internet banking app yesterday and today it looks like the cheque has cleared? Is that normal? Normally it takes a few days but the balance is showing as "available" in my account. I'm a bit confused. I want to move the money into savings and the mortgage but I'm wary of doing so in case it hasn't yet cleared. I don't really know what to do?

In other news I got all the teacher presents sorted! What a fuss! Teachers, teaching assistants! DD has also had a regular supply teacher this year while her teacher was on long term sick. It all adds up. I know that teachers don't expect gifts but DD loves saying thank you and they have all worked exceptionally hard under difficult conditions this year so I don't mind. I did buy the headteacher a little something too as she has been so great with us and the kids having time off with family issues.

I didn't really spend a lot but I did end up going into 3 different shops which is unusual as I'm not the most enthusiastic shopper!

beanielou

Happy holidays

starnac

Thank you beanie.

It is the first official day of the school holidays today. The kids wanted to stay up late last night just for the novelty of staying up on a sunday night. So I let them. Why not? The bonus was that they both slept in past 9am this morning :eek: virtually unheard of!!

Today we have no plans. They can do whatever they want as they had a very busy end of term. DD is back in bed watching netflix on the ipad and DS is playing with his Pokemon cards in his bedroom. It's so quiet here I'm not entirely sure what to do :rotfl:

I've pottered in the kitchen, put a wash on, washed the dishes from breakfast and cleaned the unit tops. I've made a few phone calls that I'd been putting off and I've hung my new curtains in the front room. I splurged a little yesterday and bought them for £30 :eek: I don't think I have ever paid so much for curtains but since we redecorated it hasn't felt quite as homely as it did.

We bought a new sofa (on sale) and had a feature wall done but we kind of kept everything else so it didn't look right. Now I've put the new curtains up, we've swapped the bookcase with one from upstairs and it all actually looks much more "put together." It's amazing! £30 well spent!