Twinklie returns to the property ladder

twinklie

So we've managed to get through half term with entertainment spends of less than £65!  I'm pretty happy with that considering a cinema trip was thrown in there. We've managed a nice balance of staying home, going out and catching up with friends. I find it easier to do things cheaper over summer because we play out in the garden more, but we've done well. And the food bill has been cheaper and no commuting so win win. 

We lucked out this week by the youngest being offered a free 1:1 swimming lesson because someone had cancelled. He loved it. I'm mildly anxious that's were we are heading with him too. His brother has 1:1 lessons because he can't cope with the other children in the pool. The little one likes being with the other children, but he's hard work at times and struggles to follow the instructions.  

Hope everyone else has managed a nice half term, if you've been off. I'm slightly upset about the return to work next week, but such is life. It's nearly payday, so nearly time to update my totals. I'm hoping to see a bigger reduction in my debt total this week. 

We have a 5 year mortgage - 3.5 years left. At the end of it we will only have 14 years left (ignoring any OP's). We are debating if we want the security of knowing what are payments are for the next 10 years (10 year fix - 4 years left at the end of the deal) and try and pay off within the 10 years, or whether we stick with the 5 year and see where we are then (7 years left at the end of the deal). I guess we won't know until nearer the time, but if we went for the 10 year fix and aimed to pay it off by the end, we'd knock 4 years off the mortgage - pay it off by 2034. I'd be 54 and DH would be 65. It's something to think about anyway given the current economic climate. 

twinklie

DEBT
DH's CC -  Was £326.33 - Now £316.86

 My CC - Was £1,338.94 - Now £1,175.28

 Car Loan - Was £8,602 - Now £8,294

My Loan - Was £125 - Now £0. :j

 DH's Phone - Was £194 - Now £170.

 My Phone -  Was £27 - Now £23.18

Total debt at the start of 2020 = £10,613.27 - Now = £9,979.32
Total reduction this month =  £311.46 

Total % of 4K reduction =15.85%

  

MORTGAGE

Current daily interest is £15.54

 We now own 15.5% of the house. 

2 rooms owned.

Paid off 5.5% of the mortgage. 

 Current MF date - Oct 2037.

SURVEY sites

 YouGov - Feb £2.75 - March £3.80 - increase £1.05

 OnePoll - Feb £19.45- March £19.55 - increase £0.10

 OnePulse - Feb $3.31 - March £1.71 - increase £13.40 (cashed out £5 x 2 this month)

 Swagbucks - Feb 690 SB - March 509 SB - increase cashed out £5 voucher

 AirTimeRewards - Feb £0.67 - March £2.33 - increase £1.66
SweatCoin - Feb - SC 472.46 - March - SC 484.66  - increase SC 12.2

 Shoppix - Feb 6655 - March 7730- increase 1075

 ZIPZERO - Feb £1.05 - March £2.68 - increase £4.92 (cashed out £3.29).

Total cashed out in February- £18.29

I will update any outstanding figures as soon as I have them.

I'm pretty pleased with those figured tbh. Considering we've also paid out the deposit for our summer holiday and the short trip to Thomas Land. We've managed to do it all without dipping into our savings AND I've increased the amount I'm paying into childcare vouchers. 
My water rates have decreased by £2 per month as well so that's quite nice. I'm building a nest egg of money to be able to pay for the travel insurance (May), car insurance (July), house insurance (Oct) without having to dip into savings. As well as saving the remaining £900 that still needs to be paid off our summer holiday. 

twinklie

I’ve been off work ill this week, so not much money saving work has gone on. 

The weekly shop cost me a fortune because I bought quite a few bits we don’t technically need right now, but I’ve been after a balance board to help with my core so got one of those. And bought 2 birthday presents for future parties they haven’t been invited too because they were going cheap. Lots of stuff like that so spent over £100 all told! Still it will hopefully save me money in the long run. 

twinklie

I've just done my monthly finances and looked at the progress throughout this year. We were in the black last month which is comforting (we weren't after paying for Christmas in Jan). Hoping for another couple of in the black months prior to big money months of May, July and October when we have big annual bills to pay out. 

twinklie

Well the world has gone mad! It's like the plot of a weird movie. Luckily the kids aren't really aware of anything which is nice, I've just got to remember to change the channel on the radio in the car if the news comes on, or start asking them lots of questions. 

I'm wondering when they'll close schools, I'm pretty convinced they'll tag it on to the beginning or the end of the Easter holidays. I'm not too fussed because I'm one of the lucky ones that can work from home. As long as they get the opportunity for a runabout in the day, they'd be happy enough at home. 

Either way we've finally stocked up the freezer we bought at the start of the year, so I'm feeling a bit happier about the food situation. I'm essentially in hiding and not really going anywhere. I have a lung disease so if I catch it I'll be super ill. I get my flu jab religiously every year because flu makes me incredibly poorly and takes me such a long time to recover from. There is also the worry that it might do additional damage to my lungs. So I'm being super cautious.

Hope it's not affecting any of you guys too badly.  

We have quite a few things planned over the coming weeks, which I'm now expecting to be cancelled. DS1 has a school trip to a farm, then a week later DS2 has the same. There's Easter Bingo at school for DS1 too and he has 2 birthday parties. I'm kinda hoping decisions are taken out of my hands,  we also have tickets to a comedy gig at the end of March but I'm pretty sure that will be cancelled any day now. 

twinklie

Hope everyone is safe and managing in this strange time. This week has seen us both working from home whilst trying to manage the kids. It's been interesting. Not quite managing to get the massive amount of stuff done around the house that all my friends are boasting about on FB! But I've altered my working hours to enable me to spend more time with the kids and my work have acknowledged that I might not be as productive as I would normally be.

That said, yesterday I spread 50 litres of manure on my raised bed and recovered ready for planting in the not too distant. Hoping to plant my seeds and clean the greenhouse today. I might even be able to actually do some tidying in the garden...thats the hope anyway. 

DS2's sleeps gone a bit to pot, but the upshot of him getting me up at 4.30 am was that I was able to bag myself a Tesco delivery for Monday, so DH doesn't have to go anywhere now. Also, we've managed to sort out the milkman (which we've been meaning to do for ages). So woke up to fresh milk and eggs this morning! Happy days!

twinklie

So I'm hoping to plant my my seeds today so I can finally start growing some veg. It's my first year proper growing in this garden since we moved. I didn't really have the time last year. So fingers crossed it goes ok. I have a raised bed and a greenhouse (came with the house excitingly), 

We are quite lucky tbh, we aren't really financially affected by the pandemic as we are both key workers and both still working. But we don't have to pay out for wrap around childcare, commuting costs or DS2's lunches. My kids don't appear the same as other peoples kids and aren't hassling me for food all the time, so we are probably saving money on food and snacks. 

I''m trying to convince DH to let us buy a treehouse/slide for the kids to keep them happy during lockdown. But he's convinced they'll push each other off and then we'll end up at the hospital. I think the climbing and sliding might tire them out a bit, they appear to have become immune to the trampolines powers. We've been doing the Joe Wick's thing too but I think it's a bit much for them to follow really - although they do keep trying. 

twinklie

Also I have Amazon Prime - does anyone have any recommendations of series to watch? I've got fairly varied tastes. I recently finished The Man in the High Castle, which was weird, but good. I love Greys Anatomy, Mr Robot, The Good Wife, The Good Fight, Scandal etc. I've also just finished Homecoming, which I stuck with but really didn't grab me. 
I'll give most things a try. 

twinklie

Pay day! Woo hoo and I got £44 cashback from the home insurance policy we took out in October.
And in a parenting win I accidentally got my eldest to do a load of school work without even realising it by making it fun! I didn't actually realise how much he'd done!

V8D

Sounds like a good day. 😀

I've never bothered with the cash back websites, have you always got the money back eventually from them or are they very hit & miss?