The Four D's

mark55man

its good to think some time to think what you want out of the new property - more of the same, or something a bit different.  Then when you are ready to pull the trigger you know where to start looking.  Although you might not be able to get all you want - only what's available.  I would imagine schools will be a big deal - kids are very portable in junior school although they don't like moving - so you need to plan to rent where you are looking to buy as well if your timescale takes you over your LO getting to secondary (it will happen and very quickly), and IMHO it's best for kids to be left at one school at that age

you know all that, but I do remember when I started my 5 year diary that I gad a lot of comments about not knowing how to look that far ahead.  You can't plan everything but having some idea of what your ideal big picture would be will help with the day to day decisions.  if you end up with little choice or different choices then you can adapt and let a new picture emerge but its unlikely you will be worse off for having had a think about what the future looks like

FootyFanDan

mark55man said:

its good to think some time to think what you want out of the new property - more of the same, or something a bit different.  Then when you are ready to pull the trigger you know where to start looking.  Although you might not be able to get all you want - only what's available.  I would imagine schools will be a big deal - kids are very portable in junior school although they don't like moving - so you need to plan to rent where you are looking to buy as well if your timescale takes you over your LO getting to secondary (it will happen and very quickly), and IMHO it's best for kids to be left at one school at that age

you know all that, but I do remember when I started my 5 year diary that I gad a lot of comments about not knowing how to look that far ahead.  You can't plan everything but having some idea of what your ideal big picture would be will help with the day to day decisions.  if you end up with little choice or different choices then you can adapt and let a new picture emerge but its unlikely you will be worse off for having had a think about what the future looks like

This is exactly where we are at right now to be honest Mark, we are trying to decide whether we unsettle her now and move out to where our comfort zone is if we can't find anything here but ensure we rent where we would eventually like to settle or do we stick around here for renting purposes and then when we are ready to buy we then uproot everything. Schools are the major factor for us right now - work I can travel I don't mind but ultimately it has taken us a long time to get a care plan in place with school and get little one settle properly so to now undo all that feels like a tough step. Ideally we would like to find a decent rental here with a view of buying in this area...the downside of that is right now alot of what we see brings the strings on budget tighter

mark55man

if you have existing arrangements at your primary school then you are right to want to preserve them.  sounds like you will be staying around where you are now. Every major change (eg your LL) comes with challenges and opportunities.  Choosing to remain in the area you chose last time is always going to be the top pick, but doesn't have to be the only pick 

FootyFanDan

mark55man said:

if you have existing arrangements at your primary school then you are right to want to preserve them.  sounds like you will be staying around where you are now. Every major change (eg your LL) comes with challenges and opportunities.  Choosing to remain in the area you chose last time is always going to be the top pick, but doesn't have to be the only pick 

If possible I want to ensure the minimum disruption to the little one as I can, although I accept that it may become inevitable that we may need to move out of the area. We are really settled here, there is other areas we would be happy to move to if it was buying an house that would be long term. I think it is just a case of keeping options open, as it stands we still don't have a definite date that we need to be out. The main focus at the moment is to keep looking and preparing for when the time does come and ensuring financially we are in the best possible place for that.

FootyFanDan

Well that was the longest short week ever! haha. Monday I had some time off work to do some house stuff, then Tuesday & Wednesday training. I have quite a few work projects coming up that are going to take up a lot of time and I am not sure how I am going to juggle all my own jobs as well as now covering a site manager (again) for a few months. The training just means more responsibility for no more money, but all experience I guess. I have kinda had my eyes open a little bit over the few days in terms of the direction work is going in and how they don't appreciate staff but for now sitting tight is all i can do. The two days out of work as put me behind in terms of other projects so that means maybe having to do a few hours over the bank holiday weekend at home to catch up, although feel reluctant to do this, maybe taking a total break is the right course of action

House hunting is still going on, however kind of not really applying for as many until I have got some money behind us, most places we are looking at are around £575-£650 so bond is my main thing to save for right now so that if we find somewhere we have some funds there. 

Budget is all looking okay at the moment despite the recent increases in bills - our electric is due to go up a fair bit but at the moment I have increased direct debit slightly for now. The council tax hasn't increased surprisingly so good news in that dept, the extra travel I am doing hasn't helped the travel spends but eventually they will come back into my pocket. I also have got 18 hours extra wages to come this month so that will be going away as well

Short Term Savings

- £700 - House Bond - Ideally I would like this for the end of June, I will ensure any extra money that isn't allocated anywhere goes in here. I will also be funding this at £250 per month, so hopefully I can hit this.

- Seaside Break - We do have a a break booked for the end of May, which was planned way before the housing issue became apparent. It is only in my mum's caravan so not really any outgoing other than flowers and a bottle of wine but from previous experience it is quite spendy time.

- London - The little one is performing in the West End early June so this is another expense that needs factoring in, although tickets / travel / hotel is already paid and there won't actually be much time for sightseeing but we will need to factor food in.

Ouch could be an expensive few months! I have updated all my goals/targets into YNAB. We have managed to cut down on the eating out although we do have the odd meal out as a family. Food shopping is still a concern as this is just getting more expensive.

FootyFanDan

I am still finding it quite difficult to stick to a budget now I know there isn't debts to pay so I end up over budget in category and just brushing it off and not really addressing the issue so my focus over the next few months is to really meal plan. Due to how busy work is the taking lunch to work as stopped and the coffees / treats are sneaking back in so need to get control of these again

DancingInTheRain

At least you are aware of the issue and are putting controls in place and it's definitely a different mindset being strict on saving as opposed to paying down debt for some reason! I can't remember if you keep a spreadsheet or use YNAB but would it be an idea to list the house bond/may trip/London trip costs as 'debts' on your budget and allocate accordingly? It might help you to keep control on variable spends seeing as you did so well on paying down debt? 

FootyFanDan

DancingInTheRain said:

At least you are aware of the issue and are putting controls in place and it's definitely a different mindset being strict on saving as opposed to paying down debt for some reason! I can't remember if you keep a spreadsheet or use YNAB but would it be an idea to list the house bond/may trip/London trip costs as 'debts' on your budget and allocate accordingly? It might help you to keep control on variable spends seeing as you did so well on paying down debt? 

I am currently using YNAB but since been debt free I am just not utilising it enough I don't think. I aim to and then lose track through the month. I love the idea of using the trips as debts though I think this could work

FootyFanDan

Nearly the end of another week. It's been a pretty good week to be honest I have managed to really focus at work and catch up so haven't really had to do too much additional stuff outside of my normal hours which is always a bonus. I really enjoyed the extra long weekend although my dad was taken back into hospital. Long term care of my dad is something that is going to need to be assessed at some point too, as he clearly shouldn't be in house alone and not as capable as taking care of himself which makes me upset thinking of this but its a challenge for another day. We did get to enjoy some really nice family time though so that was good. Yesterday a old friend visited on her way back from a conference, its been 11 years since we last caught up as she lives in the south so always hard to cross paths. We had a really good catch up. The last week as kinda brought some things into perspective in terms of work life balance, I really need to find a way to switch off and enjoy some family time.

Budget wise everything still going well and still on track to end the month in the positive so that is good. 

I have spoken to the landlord with regards to the plans for moving and timeframes, he is currently advising he would like to be in for end of September/early October so that gives us something to work with, he did say if at that point we are struggling to let him know and we can work round it. He also reminded me that I paid a month up front for rent so if we time it right then there's a month I won't give him a rent payment, as well as my bond to come back. The will give us a little spare so hopefully we can now focus on just saving for a few months and then start taking a serious look at some places.

Hope everyone has had a good week

FootyFanDan

Payday = New budget day - I have had to tweak a few figures as I have been given a slight pay increase (happy dance!) although no doubt it won't feel like a pay increase as my tax will probably increase as well as the other general life costs going up but its a small win I guess. I also had some overtime this month as well so that will help.

I have done all the moving around pots that I need to so was nice to get that payday routine done. My budget was stretched a little bit this month as I had to put in a bit more fuel than I normally would as I had to do two days in York, although it will hopefully work out once I get it paid back in mileage allowance. Everything else was pretty much in budget but also managed to have a few extra meals out and days out than normal so that was nice to not have to wallet watch too much

Savings Progress

House - £162.50 / £650 - I have decreased this slightly after discussions with landlord gives a little bit more wiggle room. I have calculated this is the amount we need to get to target by end of Juiy so I will reassess then

Other targets have had £50 each put into the pots. Although the break away may now be toned down abit so we will see how we go.

Our main focus needs to be putting ourselves in a position where we can be comfortable when the time does come to move so every extra penny we have will go into the house savings so this will likely get topped up through the month by rounding up.

Food costs have been pretty steady for a while and I have found it really useful to start looking at meal planning again so if we can really work on that then we should be in a good place there - although cooking from scratch has just gone off course a bit, so i need to get into gear with that.

I am going to try post here every week and make sure I keep on top of my goals and checking my spreadsheets.