Starting Afresh Back Home

Jessy103

Day 4: We had a lazy day! It was Sunday after all. 

We finished season 2 of The Last Ship. I caught up with Gardeners World and also read another one of the magazines, 2 down, 2 to go.
We had cheese and onion toasties for lunch and veggie sausages, mash and mushy peas for tea.
We then watched a couple of films on netflix, Otherhood which was about three middle aged women trying to reconnect with their sons, was alright but I didn't find the characters very likeable. We then finished the evening off with The Highwaymen, Woody Harrelson and Kevin Costner. Now this I loved! It was based on the true story of two retired Texas rangers, reinstated to go after Bonnie and Clyde. Very gritty and the acting was great. Was a bit disgusted with BF when he told me he'd never seen Kevin Costner in Dances With Wolves! That's now on the list! 

I also did something naughty and spent some money, which I probably shouldn't have done in this current climate! I miss having a garden, so looked for a window box which I can fix to the wall under the kitchen window, I measured up and found one, it'll be here in a couple of days and I'm excited to order some plants for it! While I was typing 'window' into the search, something else popped up, a window bird feeder! This is a bird feeder with built in suction cups to stick to a window, perfect for me to feed the birds without having a garden! I ordered that with a bag of sunflower hearts. £45 spent in total, so not huge but in the grand scheme of things unnecessary, but then again, not if it's good for my mental health. That's how I'm going to justify it anyway

Take care and stay safe x

MD0903

Jessy103 said:

Hi Everyone. It's been over a year since I posted on the forum and a lot has changed since then so I thought I'd start a fresh new diary to go with my fresh new chapter in life.

Last year my marriage broke down and I left Yorkshire and moved back to my home village in Lincolnshire. I'm currently living with my parents but have just started the process of buying my own place. It's only a small one bedroom, semi-detached bungalow and it doesn't have a garden but it is enough for me and my two dogs and the bf if he decides he'd like to move in too! It was on the market for £85K but I got it for £78K and I have a £6K deposit so my mortgage will be for £72K. To enable me to get a mortgage I had to sign over the mortgage on my Yorkshire house to my soon to be ex husband, with the condition that when he sells it I get half of the equity in it (I'm hoping this will be about £10K), if he doesn't want to sell it, he has to give me my half then.

I basically left Yorkshire with nothing apart from my clothes, my two dogs and my slow cooker! I have slowly been buying things for my bottom drawer so when I do come to move into the new house, I'll have the essentials. Before I can move in and start overpaying my mortgage (I made sure I got one where I could over pay 10% of the mortgage value each year) I'm hoping to use this diary to encourage me to save, so that I can pay off the bill for my divorce when it arrives, buy things for the new house, build up my savings again and hopefully start an 'Overpayment Pot' so I can start overpaying straight away.

I went for a 5 year fixed rate mortgage and the payments will be £363.55 a month. As I say, the mortgage is for £72,000 and I can overpay 10% of the mortgage value each year. I was lucky enough to get a job in the village I live so I don't have to worry about travelling costs. With the job also came my first pension (at the age of 32 I'm a bit ashamed I don't already have one but better later than never!). I just need to get back into the swing of scrimping now!

The last year has been a struggle but I'm also proud of what I have achieved. I got a new job and was able to save enough for a deposit on a house. It might not be my dream house but it's a start and it will be mine.

Thanks for reading and I hope to catch up with all the diaries I used to read and that I miss reading and some new ones too!

This is the link to my previous thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5542187/i-want-to-be-mortgage-free

Jessy103 said:

Hi Everyone. It's been over a year since I posted on the forum and a lot has changed since then so I thought I'd start a fresh new diary to go with my fresh new chapter in life.

Last year my marriage broke down and I left Yorkshire and moved back to my home village in Lincolnshire. I'm currently living with my parents but have just started the process of buying my own place. It's only a small one bedroom, semi-detached bungalow and it doesn't have a garden but it is enough for me and my two dogs and the bf if he decides he'd like to move in too! It was on the market for £85K but I got it for £78K and I have a £6K deposit so my mortgage will be for £72K. To enable me to get a mortgage I had to sign over the mortgage on my Yorkshire house to my soon to be ex husband, with the condition that when he sells it I get half of the equity in it (I'm hoping this will be about £10K), if he doesn't want to sell it, he has to give me my half then.

I basically left Yorkshire with nothing apart from my clothes, my two dogs and my slow cooker! I have slowly been buying things for my bottom drawer so when I do come to move into the new house, I'll have the essentials. Before I can move in and start overpaying my mortgage (I made sure I got one where I could over pay 10% of the mortgage value each year) I'm hoping to use this diary to encourage me to save, so that I can pay off the bill for my divorce when it arrives, buy things for the new house, build up my savings again and hopefully start an 'Overpayment Pot' so I can start overpaying straight away.

I went for a 5 year fixed rate mortgage and the payments will be £363.55 a month. As I say, the mortgage is for £72,000 and I can overpay 10% of the mortgage value each year. I was lucky enough to get a job in the village I live so I don't have to worry about travelling costs. With the job also came my first pension (at the age of 32 I'm a bit ashamed I don't already have one but better later than never!). I just need to get back into the swing of scrimping now!

The last year has been a struggle but I'm also proud of what I have achieved. I got a new job and was able to save enough for a deposit on a house. It might not be my dream house but it's a start and it will be mine.

Thanks for reading and I hope to catch up with all the diaries I used to read and that I miss reading and some new ones too!

This is the link to my previous thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5542187/i-want-to-be-mortgage-free

This is awesome. I split up with my girlfriend and literally have nothing as everything I had was all spent on her house and would love to be able to afford my own mortgage deposit. You did good. 

themadvix

I think the spends sound reasonable Jess - as you say, good for your mental health!

MD0903 - Jessy has done brilliantly well, but I’m sure you can too. It must be very hard starting from nothing, but loads of support round these parts. Good luck!

Jessy103

@MD0903 Thank you for the kind words. It was difficult and felt like I would never get there but I did and am now living in my own home, so trust me when I say you can do it and I wish you all the best! This forum is great and full of very supportive people so keep us posted. 

Thanks vix, I'm really looking forward to planting it up

longway2go

The bird feeder sounds lovely, I think if it helps you get through a time like this then definitely worth it. 

Jessy103

longway2go said:

The bird feeder sounds lovely, I think if it helps you get through a time like this then definitely worth it. 

Thanks @longway2go. I used to love feeding the birds in Yorkshire and even bought a camera to take photos. I'm hoping I'll get some on it! I don't think I'll ever get anything as interesting as the ringed neck parrots I used to get though! 

longway2go

Ohhh wow, what a lovely pic 😊

themadvix

My mum gets the parakeets in her garden  - they’re just amazing, aren’t they?! But did you get them in Yorkshire? Didn’t think they made it that far north yet! (There must be another population up here - the ones from the release in the south east haven’t made it as far as north Herts yet!)

 Inspired by you, I’ve ordered a tub of mealworms and a dish to hang them in the feeding pole to keep my visiting robin happy 😊 

Jessy103

themadvix said:

My mum gets the parakeets in her garden  - they’re just amazing, aren’t they?! But did you get them in Yorkshire? Didn’t think they made it that far north yet! (There must be another population up here - the ones from the release in the south east haven’t made it as far as north Herts yet!)

 Inspired by you, I’ve ordered a tub of mealworms and a dish to hang them in the feeding pole to keep my visiting robin happy 😊 

Yep, that was in Yorkshire! I first saw one and thought it was an escaped pet. Then before I knew it, there was 2 and then 5 altogether! They were lovely to see but they ate everything I put out and boy were they noisy little things! 

Aww I'm sure he will appreciate it and he might even bring some friends! 😀

themadvix

Amazing! 5 is very impressive, but you're right, they eat rather a lot - Mum's garden is like Piccadilly Circus with all the comings and goings (very jealous!) but the parakeets do top things off! And they're one of the first birds my niece could name!