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

Baileys_Babe

Wow, @greensalad that is some saving, you also won't need to pay mortgage interest on the difference either

greensalad

I just plugged it into the affordability calculator. £1,550 based on 85% LTV + 2.75 interest rate. 
Of course this is all contingent on how the market goes and whether the mortgage product we intend to use will even be available. We'll just have to keep saving and see.

greensalad

Just upped our Ocado order yet again, oops, we're definitely not going to make budget this month. Our friends asked if they can come round on Friday for a cheese & wine night (they are moving house, so everything in boxes, so can't host at theirs). Added wine, cheese, crackers, bread, olives... the whole shebang. Plus bits for breakfast the following morning. Oh well, it isn't too much more and I haven't done anything social for a long time so so be it! 

Baileys_Babe

@greensalad do you have a socialising/entertainment budget that should be covering some of the cost?

greensalad

Not this month! Normally I do but this month (and March/April/May/June too!) I didn't bother as we had zero social plans. Well, I did when we went to visit the castle with my Mum, but it was a tiny amount as I only had one social visit planned in July!

greensalad

Just got my pay posted to my account as a pending transaction so I know how much I'm working with (it's been a bit difficult to predict with furlough). So I've been able to shuffle some money and have paid a small bit of credit card, woo! £187.21 paid off Virgin card, with another £40 set to come out on Monday via direct debit which I left alone for now. 

We also got our first LISA bonus so that was nice! Our total fund is now £1,066.63 (we put in £851.51, so we've gained £215.12 in bonuses and interest).

Updated signature to include the £187.21. Virgin Money CC    £1,695.94 / £4,427.73 = £2,731.79 left / 38.3%

We should be able to set a lot aside this month:

1) £1,500 in the house buying fund
2) £116 in the Christmas fund
3) £500 in our US holiday fund
4) £384.55 off my Virgin credit card
5) £56 off partner's credit card
6) £42.12 off our mattress finance (penultimate payment!)
7) £42 in the emergency fund (we pulled from it to have the cat cremated privately, as our insurance didn't cover it, and we aim to have refilled it by Christmas)
8) £234 paid to our friend to cover our accommodation for Italy next year

May the good times continue

astrocytic_kitten

Hi @greensalad, just found your diary and you’re doing so well! We’re quite similar in some ways - I had a similar experience of debt spiralling once I started to earn decent money (and stopped coming on MSE) and I also love sewing (haven’t been well enough to do it for a while, have been eyeing some of my fabric stash considering selling), reading, and lost a much loved cat recently. You’re doing MUCH more than me in making additional income, and paying debt down faster, though!

greensalad

If you love cats I genuinely recommend looking up doing local pet sitting. It's quite a simple, flexible job. It took me a while to build up clients but now I have a fairly steady stream. Unfortunately corona knocked out nearly all my summer bookings but they're starting to come back now, and I foresee a lot more bookings later in the year if things ease up. I think I earnt £600 over just the last August bank holiday weekend because I was doing so many. And you get to meet lovely kitties and other benefits! One lady even asked me if I would stay overnight in her beautiful home (I declined because I had to be elsewhere, but I would've considered it). Just yesterday I popped in to see two people I'm cat sitting for the next two weeks and they have a full vegetable garden. They gave me piles of tomatoes and told me to pick anything I liked while they're away. I definitely spied some rhubarb, OH's favourite, so next weekend I'll make rhubarb crumble! 

Just did our Ocado order coming on Thursday. Came to £72 which includes all the bits I need to make a huuuge amount of cupcakes for a baby shower I'm attending next weekend. It's in my friend's garden, and there are only 6 of us, but I want everyone to be able to take home some cakes too! I'm doing standard cupcakes with white chocolate dipped strawberries on top.

Next week is OH's birthday. We are going out for dinner so we need to make our grocery budget a little better for the rest of August to cover the expense. 

Also we are getting a takeaway on Tuesday and I'm so excited for it. It's courtesy of the boys because my  OH won the fantasy football pool. 

And finally, he just returned a new game he bought for the Playstation which he's completed, and got £40 for it at CEX (he only paid £48). That plus some other cash he had stashed from last year's birthday (that's meant to be for golf lessons) I'm going to pay into the bank so we should hopefully be able to put an extra £200 in the house fund this month. (I've promised he can have the golf lessons next year at some point out of pocket, but if he's not having them this year I'd rather have the money earning interest!)

Kakiste

How did you start getting the cat sitting clients in the first place @greensalad? Was it word of mouth or did you post adverts? How much do you charge?

Considering it for another sideline for myself.

greensalad

@Kakiste There are two apps, Cat In A Flat & Pawshake. Both are services that you can add yourself to as a "sitter". Both take 19% cut from everything you earn, but they do offer public indemnity insurance and pet insurance which is pretty good.

I advertised on there after I used the service myself to look after my own cat. I didn't get a bite for a long time, but eventually someone asked me to look after their cat. I then waited another 6 months for a booking and once I got past that and had two positive reviews it just started to steamroll from there. I now have many repeat clients.

In terms of what I charge, £10 per day for one visit or £16 for two. I aligned myself with the local market and what the going rate was when I signed up.