There goes the first payment!

shangaijimmy

You think council tax winds you up now, just wait till the 4.99% rise for April. After they announce a cut in services and provisions...grrr!

It's all worth it in the end. When you get your home just how you want it and your bills have settled down it's great! Well done on the OP obsession so early. At 26 we were on a ridiculously irresponsible interest only mortgage!! 

killerpeaty

What in the world? Why did they sneak in a prepayment? I mainly ignore my gas as well, so can't blame you.

How are the renovations coming?

Bennettxoxo

Hi twinklie, thanks for popping by. Buying a house at any age is an amazing achievement. 
My parents advice was always spend a little, save a lot. I think I had satisfaction in seeing the numbers go up in my bank account so when I got my job I just carried on doing it. The advice worked though. My siblings don't share that idea of saving. The moment they get any money, they feel the need to spend it. My OH used to have that mentality too but he seems to be coming round to spending a little and saving a lot since we thought of buying a house.
I'm still not fully sure what I want as a career, I just kind of fell onto this path. Started as an admin apprentice and then managers seem to think I'm capable of so much more so despite moving to different hubs, they've steered me to the direction I'm going now. 

themadvix, the water bill ran from 4 Dec - 13 Feb. We did have a leak to start with but that has now being fixed, looking at the bill, most of it appears to be standing charges so there won't be anything we can do about those. According to the bill we have used enough water to make the equivalent of 176 cups of tea. We do drink a lot of tea but I'm about 90% sure we haven't made that many cups during the renovations 😉😂

Knowing my luck shangaijimmy, it'll be my service they cut to save money again. I think in my 7 years working here I'm on my 4th or 5th service restructure to save money 🙄 The obsession is because I spend way too much time on this forum! 😂 Plus I don't want us to be paying a mortgage when we're 61 (where's the eek emoji when you need it). It'll all be worth it in the end it's just a lot of hard work in the mean time. 

killerpeaty, they sneakily fitted it because the previous owner didn't pay the bill. According to the letters they fitted in on 29 October and we completed on the 4 December. I'm not sure how they got into the property to change it. The gas meter is in the garage but it was locked and the estate agent says they didn't give anyone access to the property. I did question British Gas on their chat asking how they got in but they disconnected 🙄 I didn't have the energy to start another chat and go through all the details ago so I've moved on and it remains a mystery 🤷‍♀️ I think I have now sorted out the debt collector for this and they shouldn't bother me again. Fingers crossed 🤞
Renovations are going slow. Snail pace slow. The chimney at the back of the property is a bit precarious and the pointing has gone on it so means water is coming down the chimney and soaking the landing wall and bathroom wall every time it rains. We're going to take it down and replace the roof tiles however, we need to hire a tower to get it down and we can't hire one if wind speeds are above 12mph so with all these storms and bad weather its a no go. Once that has gone the house will be watertight and I feel like we will properly be able to crack on. We can also sort the pots out on the other chimney when we have the tower then we can fit the bedroom fireplaces. There are other things we are doing in the mean time but they are small jobs in comparison to making the house completely watertight but need to be done. We have a skip being delivered this weekend so all the carpets and rubble we're been storing in the garage can be cleared out. 
Our builder pal will be giving us a quote to put a steel in the kitchen and then we can knock down the wall ourselves and he has put us in touch with someone who we can talk to about moving the boiler and pipes so he should be popping by this weekend an
It's taking a long time but we're saving a fair bit of money by doing as much as possible ourselves. We will get there eventually.

Bennettxoxo

Whoops forgot to add to the bottom.

Positive money bits:
- Done a few studies on prolific, just waiting for them to be approved. Studies seemed to have slowed down a little this week though 😕
- Nearly ready to cash out on OnePulse and PollPass again. Should be there by the weekend.
- Scanned any receipts I could find.
- Just heard back from HR, job adverts will be out on Friday!!🎉 will get my application prepared tonight and tomorrow and then I should be able to apply as soon as they've been put up. Fingers crossed will be short listed for an interview! 🤞

themadvix

Hadn’t realised that wasn’t a monthly amount - that’s pretty good then! 

Eek to the water coming in and it must very frustrating not being able to do anything about it just yet. DIY does save a fortune though - apart from plastering and rewiring the kitchen we did all of ours ourself. Watch out for the shock though when you do need to get someone in - the costs are so high! 

Grogged

Sounds more like a rebuild than a renovation! 😁
Sorry to hear about the indoor water feature but it sounds like you have some fabulous plans.
Is this a long term house or a project on the way to bigger things?

South_coast

Being paid by the council and then having to pay them back council tax would definitely rankle!

Thanks for the tip on the assessed charge Vix, but that's what I'm already on 😦 Water bills are just generally high in this area due to the authority needing to keep our lovely beaches clean and not full of sewage. I must make it my duty to go to the beach more often and enjoy what I've paid for! 

Good luck with the job application 🍀

themadvix

I wondered if that might be the case with your water SC. Definitely make sure you enjoy your beaches - if I lived near the coast you’d never get me (and my litter picker) off them! 

Bennettxoxo

Hi all, 

Happy pancake day! 🥞 I am way more excited for pancake day than I probably should be but other than Halloween, it is my favourite day of the year! 

Thanks south_coast. The job adverts came out Friday (finally). I split the weekend between house renovations and getting my application sorted. Submitted it this morning 🎉 Closing date is today and shortlisting will be tomorrow so still have my fingers crossed.

Renovations are still on the go slow. The weather just doesn't seem to want to give us a break. The skip was delivered Saturday morning and by Saturday dinner time was full. No doubt it will probably be the first of many, many skips. It should be collected later today.  
We are trying to get as much done ourselves as possible to save money, themadvix. I am very much a "have a go" kind of gal so am not at all scared to get stuck in. We have already rewired the whole property ourselves and just had to pay a man just sign it off. My dad used to be an electrician way back when so we had some idea of what we were doing. Basically saved us around £2000. We have boarded the walls and ceilings ourselves, and I'm very tempted to have a go at plastering myself. I know there is an art to it but can't hurt to have a little go and if it doesn't look half bad, it will save us some serious money. 

A rebuild probably would be easier grogged 😂 hopefully it will be along term house. We saved for a 3 bed house so that when we do decide to start a family, we don't have the hassle of having to find a bigger property. At least doing the renovations like this we have a complete blank canvas to make it what we want. 

Positive money bits:
- Tilly tidy is done for this week £2.38 split between the OP and savings.
- Ordered our skip from the company we use at work so got a little discount from them which was nice.
- Yesterday and today have been really good for studies on Prolific. I have £7.10 ready to cash out and £7.50 waiting for approval. Will cash out on Friday.
- Had left over chilli and rice for dinner today, very tasty 😊
- and obviously, applying for a higher paying job, fairly money positive. 

Negative money bits:
- Been so busy and distracted I have fallen behind on PollPass and OnePulse so despite been so close to cashing out, I still haven't. Will get back on it properly now the application has been submitted and I don't have to worry/focus on that. 

The rest of the week is pretty quiet for me. I have the day off work on Friday and am going to see The Script with my friend which I am very excited about . Will have a little bit of a spend then but will only be a few pounds for travel and food. 

Friday is payday 🙌 finally! I feel like it's been a really long month.

OP will be made on the 28th and then we can start all over again! 

Overpayment pot currently stands at £79.84.

Bennettxoxo

Happy Friday all! 

It's overpayment day. 

Just done my last little bit of money moving and I think I'm ready. 

Positive money bits: 
- Just cashed out on Prolific, £12.27.
- Cashed out on OnePulse £3.77
- Earned a whopping 6p interest on my Tesco account. 
- OH has sent his £30 over for the gift pot so have moved both mine and his over. Gift pot is looking healthy at £139.41. Have two presents to buy in March but that's it. 

February overpayment £87.89 🎉

House update..... nothing. I haven't even been there since the weekend. Tomorrow we will go and crack on though.

Job update... I have an interview!! 🙌 Very pleased with myself. They told me my application read really well so I am so relieved. Interview is on Thursday. 

Will update my signature now and then I'm off to meet my friend for a catch up before we go see The Script. 

Have a good day all.