EyesOnThePrize's Overpayment Diary

EyesOnThePrize

South_coast said:

Loving the idea of sending the surprise dessert - knowing my luck, I'd have it arriving at the same time as the starter though 😂

Thanks south! Some other friends sent him a glass of milk and a pack of biscuits so I guess the dessert was pretty good by comparison

EyesOnThePrize

Bought another crepe (crepe purveyors insist it's pancake week and who am I to doubt them ) using a 15% off voucher. No movement on my totals over the last few days and the holiday fund will start going down once we're off on our hols on Monday, I'm sure! I'll try to keep the damage to a minimum though. Have a good weekend everyone! 

EyesOnThePrize

Had the afternoon to myself in Central London and the damage was pretty bad... 

* a very good but very pricey lunch at The Barbary (highly recommend it) (£40)
* cupcakes for me, DW and MIL (£9.65)
* ice cream from Chin Chin Dessert Club (my favourite ice cream in the world, highly highly recommend, been ages since I had any) (£4.55)
* bubble tea (£4.45)
* I also cracked and bought a ride on toy bus for DS's 1st birthday in April. I got staff discount which made it more affordable (£55.99)
* wrapping paper and bow for present wrapping (£5.80. Ridiculous but couldn't resist, YOOO (you're only one once)) 
* Chin Chin also do amazing cakes to order (I had one for my 30th and DS's baby shower) so we've ordered one for his birthday party ("only" £55 as we had a £20 gift card)

Needless to say I've snapped all my receipts on my various apps! I'm not going to properly calculate the damage from this weekend and our holiday until we're back but needless to say I'm feeling a bit tender in the wallet now...

EyesOnThePrize

Had a lovely time at Centerparcs, so much so that we've booked to go to a different one with my parents next March!

Also had a quote of £700 to do our outdoor painting and grouting jobs, which seems reasonable so he starts on Monday. That'll come out of next month's overpayment monies but we're still in a very good position.

Running totals for 2020 as at 06/03
Mortgage £120,448.26
2021 10% overpayment: £3,500 of approx £12,000 saved
£205 "extra" savings
£230 holiday funds

EyesOnThePrize

Was planning to visit a friend's new baby today but sadly DS has a sniffle so we thought it best to give it a miss. Instead, we went to the most magical place on earth (in my opinion): W1mpy. Really nice but a shame about the hailstorm we got caught in! 

Running totals for 2020 as at 08/03
Mortgage £120,448.26
2021 10% overpayment: £3,500 of approx £12,000 saved
£235 "extra" savings
£230 holiday funds

EyesOnThePrize

Now working from home at least two days a week in light of Pangolin Flu. Upside is I'm limited in how much I can spend, downside is I'm going stir crazy! Unsurprisingly a no spend day today as a result. 

EyesOnThePrize

Cracked and bought a new phonecase (£16.98) as mine is knackered thanks to baby boy pulling my cards out over and over (the final straw was losing my bubble tea "credit card" which is presumably flung on the floor somewhere in Bedford! Luckily replaced now). I've gotten £6.54 in cashback so that offsets that a bit.

Bought a bubble tea with cash (£1.95), two work lunches (£2) and mother's day cards and stamps (£9.45). Free lunch today using gift card credit, then using a Gr£ggs voucher for a free lunch later in the week so no more work lunch money necessary this week. My maths failed miserably the other day so savings figure was incorrect in my second to last post, corrected now in both posts. 

Running totals for 2020 as at 10/03
Mortgage £120,448.26
2021 10% overpayment: £3,500 of approx £12,000 saved
£235 "extra" savings
£230 holiday funds

EyesOnThePrize

What a difference a month makes, eh?

I'm now WFH and DW goes "back to work" in less than two weeks. We're both classed as "key workers" (though I dispute that, especially for me) but we're keeping baby boy at home. We're very lucky that MIL is still here and can stay until late summer if needed so she can look after baby boy while DW works three days a week. As a result, we'll keep paying full nursery fees while we can - it's a good nursery so we want to support them. Touch wood, I think our jobs are pretty secure - I'm certainly busy and I suspect DW will be too.

My finances have taken a slight hit because I've had to buy a new laptop, bigger food shops, a new coffee table with toy storage and a replacement birthday cake for baby boy (not vital but I wanted to). I also used my extra savings to buy a freezer, which I would never have predicted a month ago. We don't have a car so I thought it was wise to buy us extra capacity to save having to go out to the shops, especially as MIL is elderly and DW has asthma. 

I've rejigged my finances as holidays and "entertainment" pots are looking pretty redundant currently. Stay safe everyone! 

Running totals for 2020 as at 07/04
Mortgage £119,792.16
2021 10% overpayment: £5,527 of approx £12,000 saved
£230 holiday funds