The Last Leg; 6 years later, debt free in 2021

swfcfan

Love the cupboard surprise idea!

greensalad

It's a great idea! Of course you need a certain amount of food in the cupboards to make it work. Last night we had a cannelini bean and veggie sausage stew with mashed potatoes. We bought potatoes and celery but had everything else (chopped tomatoes, beans, veggie sausages in the freezer, garlic, onions etc). 

Tonight is fish fingers and oven chips... not the healthiest but they've knocked about in the freezer for a while!

greensalad

Used my Amazon voucher to buy a book I've wanted for ages, plus cases, box and decorations to make cupcakes for my friend's baby shower in a few weeks. Needed to get them anyway so nice to use a voucher instead of it coming out of my balance!

greensalad

Another payment made this month to pay off our mattress. Only 2 more to go. Then we'll have no furniture on monthly payments anymore! (It was 0% but still).

WinterWarrior

Well done. It’s lovely to see them coming down. 

greensalad

I feel like my world has been turned upside down. Two days ago we found out that our beloved cat had been hit by a car. He's dead. I can't believe it.

In the past two days I have been in one of the worst depressions of my life. It's been so tough. I have never seen my boyfriend shed more than a single tear before in the ten years we've been together (a single tear, when discussing his grandfather) but the night we found it we both wailed in anguish. I feel like my heart has been ripped out. I know some people don't understand what it can be like to have this sort of relationship with a pet, but for us he was our child. He was everything to us.

All of this has made me even more determined for us to buy a house so we can get away from this horrible road. I will never be able to bring a cat into this home again knowing that they could be taken away from us like this. We are determined even more to buy next year and buy somewhere quiet and pretty where we can eventually adopt another cat. It'll never fill this hole though.

I'm so grateful for our emergency fund, we were able to use it to have a private cremation and will have his ashes in a lovely oak casket we have picked out. We're also hoping to commission a drawing of him so we can put it up in our new home, whenever we get there.

southern_chick

I am so incredibly sorry. Pets are a huge part of the family and the grief is a real. Look after yourselves xx

WinterWarrior

I’m so very sorry. My pets are also my children and I have been there too. My cats are house cats, but many years ago one escaped and was also hit by a car. The grief and guilt was indescribable. 

He will have known how much he was loved and you gave him a wonderful life. He can never be replaced, but you will make another cats life better in the future, they will be different, but no less loved x 

Kakiste

One of my cats was run over last May. It was horrible and I completely understand your pain, I don't think I've ever cried over anything harder. 
Look after yourselves. X

greensalad

Still carrying on with the money saving this month. We just did our next grocery shop on Ocado and managed to keep it within budget. Next month we're not going to be able to put aside as much as I hoped because we have to pay a friend for the portion of our holiday she's put on her credit card. Luckily the trip is all the way in October 2021 so we have plenty of time to save, and the accommodation will be fully paid for by the end of the month.

We are also a bit excited regarding house possibilities because we have widened our possible search area and discovered a place that we think will work for us but is significantly cheaper than our previous search area. We were planning to move back to the town I grew up in which is a decent commuter town, but we realised there is a very small rural town only 15 minutes away that would suit us well. I am not bothered about being somewhere that is really fun with lots to do... we're very much homebodies unless we're in London, and working there means restaurants and bars are always easier found in London. For us our hometown is just a home. It could be in a field for all I care really, as long as it's got a train station!

Anyway, we were looking at houses in our original place and what we could get for £425k there, we could get for £385 in the smaller town. It means we would probably be able to buy a fair bit sooner (like 4-6 months) and for cheaper. Plus there seems to be more opportunities for extensions and such in the new town as all the houses have significantly more space around them. Our hope was to find a house that would make a good candidate for a loft conversion in the future when we want to expand where we live, and there are lots of houses on the market with that sort of space. Or link-detached garages that could be converted into an upper extension for example. Once we buy we intend to start a plan to saving for such an extension within about 5 or so years. 

We're still looking at next year to buy though and I don't think we'll beat the March stamp duty relief deadline. Oh well. It'll be a few grand extra which isn't too much considering how much we intend to save per month. 

It's BF's birthday early next month and I am trying to decide that to buy him. He wants a new playstation when they come out, and we've agreed it can be his Christmas / Birthday present (I think it'll come out in October) but I still want to get him something fun.