Keeping our options open

savingholmes

Sounds a tough situation to be in with the childminder. Hope you get the rest of the holidays sorted.

Great you have flexible employers, that really helps. 

If you can get decent interest I'd be tempted to save the money unless you already have a decent EF.

becky170

That's a good point savingsholmes. The interest rate on our savings is higher than the interest on our mortgage so does make more sense to save. 

Cornish_mum

Sorry to hear about your childcare situation that is really tough. I hope you find a good solution soon CM

savingholmes

Good that gives you more options if you need them then.

becky170

Well happy July everyone. I can't believe half of 2023 is already done. As it's the first of July I've been to make our overpayment for the month...£325 that brings our overpayments for 2023 to £2242. Our mortgage is now below £120000 so it finally feels like we're making progress, although I'll feel much happier when it's below £100000! 

My husband and I both had good appraisals at work. Unfortunately mine isn't linked to anything but hopefully I can start working towards a promotion next year. I'm really proud of that as the past couple of years have been a struggle balancing work and home and at times I have thought that I can't carry on. 

Home life is ok although DS broke his arm so now I'm trying to think of activities to do with him which don't involve running around, climbing or anything where he risks hurting it. Unfortunately they are his favorite activities so if anyone has any suggestions I'd be grateful! We might give geocaching a go but other than baking I'm out of ideas! 

I now think we have the summer holidays sorted with annual leave and holiday clubs booked and paid for. It should give the kids a good mix of down time and busier days so hoping they have a good holiday. We are also away for a week and we've now finished booking hotels for that. Now we just have to hope for good weather between hotel bookings and holiday clubs our current account balance is looking less healthy but hopefully that's our major expenses for the summer out the way. Well fingers crossed anyway

savingholmes

Hope your DS recovers quickly 

becky170

Yay the summer holidays are finally here it's such a shame the weather is so wet though! We've done a mix of days out, lazy days at home and holiday clubs so far and so far the kids seem happy. We have a holiday wish list and so far we haven't managed to complete any of them apart from my DS suggestion of a TV day  my suggestions were afternoon tea in the garden and a beach day and so far the weather hasn't played ball to do those. Oh well if we get desperate it will be the beach in wellies and coats again 

Anyway I have made an overpayment of £341 to our mortgage. I feel like I should up my overpayment to get us used to having less money when it comes to remortgage. Our fix rate on our energy bills is due to come to an end so our gas and electricity is going up to £150 from September so things are slowly going to catch up with us. We are away for a week in August so we'll have to make the rest of the month cheap and cheerful.

savingholmes

The weather is hugely disappointing. Good luck with summer entertainment!

Well done on the OP.

becky170

Well it's the last day of August which means it's nearly back to school time. We managed to knock another copy of items off our holiday wish list, we had a nice time at the beach whilst in Scotland (would have liked it to have been a bit warmer, but you can't have everything!) and the kids got to go swimming at the local pool which they were keen to do. They looked really happy at the pool so we'll have to make more of an effort to go. I think it's their happy place! 

As well as the last day of August it's payday which is great. We'll be making our mortgage overpayment tomorrow as well as transferring some money to savings. We have decided that September is going to be low spend as we have lots of money to go out (I need some private dental work again) so we want to start replenishing the savings. I have also got slightly addicted to buying off vinted so I need to step away from it...oops! 

Hope everyone has had a good summer xx

savingholmes

I invested in dental work last year to the tune of over £1K which was a wrench at the time but long term investment and I didn't realise until I had the work done how limiting it had been and how much shame I felt about my teeth. Good investment.

LOL at the Vinted. Are you at least selling on there too?