SLLM (Single Lady Large Mortgage)

LadyWithAPlan

@Felicityfandangle
I think I need to set some manageable goals the whole 64k feels very daunting. 
There is a 1% mortgage annual OP thread were everyone tracks  each month you might find inspirational.

The monthly grocery challenge is good as well - I joined it for half the month last month and then what I did not spend on groceries I swept to my house savings account. It makes you accountable as you pop on the thread as you spend. This month I have reduced my target to £170 groceries only from my normal £200pm - I have a separate pot for household stuff like bulbs, cleaning materials etc 

Plus I have not seen if you have a diary but since I started my deposit saving diary just under a month ago I am way more focused. I have also stared ebaying again

Felicityfandangle

Thank you @LadyWithAPlan. I'll definitly try the diary I can see how that would introduce some affirmation to the process which has to be helpful. I don't have a grocery budget. I'm frugal but I tend to just get what I need when I need it. I just started slimming world so that has required more than my usual level of planning, I think the first step will be to work what I'm actually spending. Everything else I track on a spreadsheet which is quite satisfying when I look back. I had some debts up to this year which I've cleared and I'm working through reducing my bills. I'm tied into my phone and broadband until October and April respectively and I haven't got around to getting a water meter yet but my disposable income has gradually crept up month by month from quite literally nothing! . Now I'm working through a backlog of house repairs alongside my mortgage overpayments but there is a light at the end of a very long tunel that probably isn't a train! 

Sistergold

Thoughts for today
Hello SLLMs. Hope your week is going well? Mine has been good. Work has been great and youngest child is settling in well in new school and he is looking forward to starting proper lessons today. He has been complaining that they are not learning anything but I reassured him that they probably wanted them to settle and also orient them before going all out. Last night he brought his planner with his lessons/classes all laid out. 

Youngest son started Monday, second youngest then started on Wednesday so all are now in school. 

At home I have some gardening pending. I can not draft in or force oldest son to do some of it as he has hurt his wrist! I need to mow the lawn and trim the hedge before winter. After winter I will see if I can get a Gardner once or twice a month but for now I am just taking a laid back approach. I do miss a lovely garden though but hey I need to get to a £100k before I add more expenses? Maybe I can get a gardener once I reach that £100k? 🧐 

On the money front everything is going well. Had a cheque come in which I am waiting to clear. Hope to save £400 out of that as I want to pay off my credit card which I used some days ago to pay for some purchases. 

Spending wise I have been quite okay. I don’t necessarily plan to do no spend days as I find that causes a bit of pressure on me. What I try to do is not to spend in general if I can avoid it. 

Mortgage will go out 14th of September, that will have an OP of £50 only I think. Over a thousand is going towards capital repayment anyway as interests rates are low, so one way or another I feel I am chipping away at the mortgage! 

Still reading some house purchase horror stories though! Has any of you ladies read one here on MSE where someone bought a house and now they want to sell and discover that they don’t own the garden or something? What a palaver? When buying please we really need to see the deeds, make sure you see what is marked in red and that it’s what you saw you are supposed to be buying. We need to remember that the solicitor does not do the viewing and they rely on you to raise questions and tell them where things are not tying up! Also remember that some solicitors are not thorough or not good or not experienced etc! Well the garden issue sent my head spinning! 

Well I hope we all own what we think we own as it were? 

Have a wonderful day! Love to you all!!

LadyWithAPlan

@Felicityfandangle well done on clearing the debts and being so on your outgoings.
I have budgeted at the beginning of the month for well over a decade avd it gives me a sense of peace as I know what I can spend. 
I also save Lots of saving  pots or sinking funds  such as future tech so when suddenly my macbook Pro adaptor finally died yesterday I just bought the £79! Replacement immediately without killing my budget.

So like @Sistergoldyou you could have a home improvements fund and work out what split you are saving towards mortgage overpayment and the house.

@Sistergoldyou no garden! Wow. That's a nightmare and I don't suppose there is much recourse.

I have found 2 flats I am thinking of offering for. A further out freehold flat with a small garden and office in the garden but is at the very top of - and beyond my budget   by 25k asking 

.. Or something that is much more central  which needs everything updating but does have a conservatory - which looks scraggy but liveable , period features and a space for table and chairs outside  as well before steps to a shared garden. This is much cheaper and ex HA so low service charge. 

Or I keep looking 

They both great but have disadvantages. I also think in the expensive conversion one that the corridor is so narrow I might have issues getting my expensive on off pieces of furniture in! 

Felicityfandangle

@LadyWithAPlan I'd probably go for the doer upper. But I'm a bit of a glutton for punishment! I really like doing my own renovations but I'm perfectly content to live with the chaos while it's going on and I don't mind so much if it isn't perfect, I prefer the satisfaction that I did it myself.... All my shelves are just a little bit wonky and I really don't care, it does baffle me though because I use a spirit level.🤔 I realise wonky shelves aren't for everyone. 🙄

Sistergold

@LadyWithAPlan, it looks like the search is going well indeed with a bit of choice coming along? I went for a doer upper as that reduced competition a bit. When I bought I exchanged 2 days apart with someone 2 houses down in my close. It’s under 10 house all exactly same original plan but just different in position and garden size. The man who bought at same time as me after we moved in we met for a party in our neighbour’s house and he said he had viewed my house but chose the one he bought as the one I finally bought needed too much renovations although with an advantage of much bigger garden. The house he bought also has an extension done at the front so he really got a better deal. A renovation is easier to buy most of the time. His house was £670k(extended)  mine was £640k(not extended pulse everything falling apart), my house was overpriced I know but I just loved  the location and everything else. Always remember it’s a home, paying a bit extra is fine sometimes. I have spent more than £60k so far and still need to do kitchen but rest of house is done. Do I regret? Sometimes when it gets on top of me I wish I bought a house in better condition but honestly the competition would have been too stiff. 

@Felicityfandangle, I am like you, I don’t mind my diy results not being perfect as I know I did it myself. There are many jobs I have had to pay for and they are still not done perfectly! 

Felicityfandangle

@Sistergold very true about disappointing trades. I recently had my gutters fixed and they leaked worse than they did before. They came back and fixed the leaks but I noticed afterwards that it's now about 4" short at the gable end! But it's availability at the minute that's the biggest issue. I waited 4 months for a plumber recently and I've had 4 different builders let me down on some repairs to my garden wall. I googled bricklaying and it really doesn't look that difficult!?! I need a pillar knocked down and rebuilding and about 3m of wall 1.2m high. My daughter says she'll help dig the footings (she's a little chip off the old block, she's recently ripped out her old kitchen and fitted another one she bought off Facebook) and I have a concrete mixer. So... Do I give it a go? I feel like if it doesn't work out I'll be no worse off. 

slm6002

It is definitely the availability of trades people that I have been having issues with.  There is a lot of waiting for quotes and then waiting for them to fit us in - that's if they answer emails sent and telephone messages left.  I am trying to get over it by thinking that i have more time to save for it all although i am not very patient lol

Felicityfandangle

Drives you mad doesn't it. Then once you've booked them in there's always an excuse as to why they can't come this week but they'll 'definitely' come next week, then by the time you're 6 weeks down the line you've lost the will to live, never mind to start again with another contractor! 

slm6002

I currently waiting on a quote for the girls bedroom.  It was supposed to be with me last fri, chased and then said definitely by then end of this week - still waiting.  When he came to look he said he could fit us in between jobs in oct, but if not even quoted yet is it likely he can still fit us in?