MF Dreams...Take2!

Tartan_Mum

Sorry the last piece should say “menu” not another settings option

LauraWxx

Thanks tartan mum, I’ve had a go at it though not sure it’s ahowing correctly. Need to look again!

Minimal spends here this weekend, utilised our NT membership.
DS weekly classes need paying this weeek which is £50 I hasn’t budgeted for, however I might be able to make personal budget stretch for it by jiggling things around.
Tilly tidies done. Not much else to report - call next Friday with mortgage advisor, looking forward to getting that sorted (flat BTL) so I can start OP’ing the house mortgage a bit more.

Question regarding credit - I have 2 credit cards, one has about 800£ on it which is paid off £50 per month and is interest free.
The other has a zero balance, and is never used. Is it better for me (from a credit rating point of view) to keep it open and just not use it, or to close it?

LauraWxx

Balls.....just found out we have an OP limit of 10%. Realistically it is not going to be an issue on our overall OP amount, however it does mean that my target to clear the Mortgage Sub Account 2 this year is not possible. I will just have to roll up all OP's to be split between all accounts.
I will hit sub acc's 2 and 3 first as they are on the higher interest rates.

Also clocked that my fixed term on the main part of my mortgage is up in July this year, so i will have to remortgage it with them as the other 2 sub accounts are fixed till 2023.

LauraWxx

2nd OP today though, £96 to round my savings down to a clean number.

Total march OP - £106

LauraWxx

Car insurance renewed and managed to reduce the price £20 per month and earn £37 from TCB.

LauraWxx

Approaching the end of the month (payday - 1 week today).
We have had to top up our spends to cover dog vaccinations x 2 dogs (£80) and birthday cake for DS (£75). Cake in hindsight was unnecessary and quite high - I need more self control when it comes to buying DS things. Also considering setting up a monthly standing order to a seperate account to cover birthdays, Xmas, dog vaccinations etc. What other costs do people pay into such an account?

My personal spends (£300) for the month have again been spent predominantly on food and drinks whilst at work. It is covered within my budget but I really do need to cut down as I know it’s such a waste. I’m wondering weather to uninstall Apple Pay on my phone as it’s just too easy to keep adding things on. I’m also thinking about drawing £50 out at the beginning of the month and keeping the cash in my desk drawer and leaving my debit card in the car so I don’t just keep spending mindlessly.

I’m forecasting a surplus of around £1400 next month. Have a few things to pay out for in readiness for our holiday in the beginning of June (car hire, airport car parking and travel insurance). I am going to do all these through Top cashback.
Also need to get clothes, suncream etc.
Anticipating budgeting circa £400 for these and the sending the remaining £1k to mortgage overpayments.

LauraWxx

Small and last food shop for the month today - click and collect at Asda and really trying to keep it lean brings it home how much we spend unnecessarily. I have joined the Grocery challange for April. My budget is £500 which is high compared to everyone else’s, but we’re struggling to stick to that at the moment. Really hoping April is the month we manage it.

Keep playing with the numbers on my spreadsheet for next month, still unsure weather to focus on Mortgage OP’s or saving in anticipation of having to throw in a lump sum on the flat remortgage which would wipe out most of my savings.
Currently thinking of splitting £1k beteeen OP and savings fairly evenly, however there is still 6 days before pay day so plenty of time to change my mind a million times :eek:
Anyone else get bored mid month when there’s no new money coming in and limited savings / OP’ing to be done?!

msmoneypennyplease

LauraWxx wrote: »

That’s inspiring to know you have paid off the flat already!
Yes my little boy goes to nursery 3 days per week which sets us back around 500ish per month. We both take advantage of childcare vouchers to the max limit and then top up with cash.
How are you finding the bigger mortgage?
We have a lot of surplus money each month but for some reason I’m always nervous about actually committing It to something. I like the idea of op’ing enough that the mortgage on a bigger place shouldn’t change too much.
Then we have the question of another baby. DH would love a second, I’m not so sure and it will def delay things MF wise.

I’m finding the bigger mortgage quite stressful at the moment if I’m honest and the house is big and needs work so I’m feeling like I don’t want to spend on the work that needs done as I hate having a huge mortgage but I’m not happy in the house since a it’s not to my taste/is a bit cold/not homely. I’m the same as you re the surplace money. In the back of my mind I’d love to be a stay at home mum but that’s a pipe dream!! How do you find the juggle of work and nursery?

LauraWxx

I’m the same - I dream of being home with my little boy and if ever I was out of work we could make my DH’s salary stretch, but we will be in a much better financial position if I stay working. LB is also going through the terrible twos a bit early so tbh I’m quite happy working!!!!

LauraWxx

Productive weekend, no spends other than food shop at £37. Still annoyed at myself for spending £75 on a birthday cake that I hadn’t budgeted for, so I’ve decided to make that money back, listed a number of things on both eBay and FB Marketplace, so far make £22 via PayPal and £10 cash from someone collecting an item. Already transferred the £22 to savings and will do that until I’ve put £75 back in.
Then after that I will direct any money made from eBay sales to OP’ing the mortgage.

The £10 cash I’m going to keep out to cover the postage on the two items I sold via PayPal and potentially more items as they sell.