Climbing hills

Hazelnutty

@Every_penny My last house had integrated panels. I never signed up to feed into the grid as the panels were so small I didn't think it was worth it but it definitely had a major impact on our bills. I can't remember the exact figure but for a 4-bed detached I think the electricity bill was £300 for the year

Every_penny

Hazelnutty said:

@Every_penny My last house had integrated panels. I never signed up to feed into the grid as the panels were so small I didn't think it was worth it but it definitely had a major impact on our bills. I can't remember the exact figure but for a 4-bed detached I think the electricity bill was £300 for the year

Thanks @Hazelnutty -  £300 is great for the size of house! The vendor said that they had a cheque for £250 last quarter so they are getting some money back (at least in spring/summer time). The solar panels are a decent size so I'm hoping we can cut costs on our energy bills. The house is equipped with electric showers and an electric hob to make the most of the free supply. I work from home so can manage laundry during daylight hours quite easily. 

Every_penny

longway2go said:

Just wanted to pop on and wish you luck. We are similar ages with small children and a slightly smaller mortgage (not counting our BTL mortgage).  We would like the residential paid off in the next 10 years ideally.
I now do alot of batch cooking which saves so much time and money, its worth looking at the batch l*dy if you haven't heard of her.
Good luck and what an exciting move ahead. 

Thanks @longway2go I'll hop over to your diary for a nosey. Husband is in charge of cooking and he does a mega batch cook session about once per month but I'll mention your suggestion - we def need some variety. His recipes are mainly based around minced beef and leftover veg!

RobM99

I have solar, I use a small fan heater during the day in winter, and on typical British weather days, use the tumble  dryer during the day.
Edited - "day", not "say"!

Every_penny

RobM99 said:

I have solar, I use a small fan heater during the say in winter, and on typical British weather days, use the tumble  dryer during the day.

 @RobM99 Thanks - good points. The house is open plan so if we heat the one large room with elec, it should save on the gas bill. I'm thinking about getting an electric fire in this room but a fan or oil heater would be great for my office space. Will have to think about the noise due to work calls. 

Every_penny

Update: Tidied up my current small mortgage by overpaying an extra £74.75 so it's nice round £68,000 for when we complete/exchange - hopefully in a couple of weeks. Lower end of chain is all sorted, now just need HSBC to move their butts and do the valuation. It's been a week since mortgage was approved STV. Come on.....

therocket_2

Hi! Just read your diary and realized you're in similar situation to us! We're also porting our current mortgage and taking out another to cover the remaining purchase price of the dream house we've just bought. However, the buying process is taking forever!! Look forward to reading how you get on. R

Every_penny

therocket_2 said:

Hi! Just read your diary and realized you're in similar situation to us! We're also porting our current mortgage and taking out another to cover the remaining purchase price of the dream house we've just bought. However, the buying process is taking forever!! Look forward to reading how you get on. R

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll hop over to your diary for a nosey. We’ve been really lucky in that our vendors are keen to move so have been chasing up my surveyor to see if they can get an earlier cancellation appointment. It might even happen tomorrow. Things seem to be going smoothly so far, but I don’t want to jinx it!
_EP

bit_by_bit

Hi, You are doing fantastically well.
We have solar panels that don't feed into the grid and have no battery. We had them put in last year. Our bill has dropped by £30.00  a month and we do most of our washing and dishwashing in the morning. DH works from home right now so easy to do. Winter is not so great with grey days. 
All the best on your MFW journey. Give yourself a break every now and again otherwise it is 'all work and no play'. I always when we have the summer holidays and Christmas.

Every_penny

Here I am sitting in a house of chaos waiting for the move date to be confirmed. Our buyer is holding up the process but should hear by Monday. Fingers crossed nothing else pops up. We were originally aiming for a move date of Aug 24th-ish so i don't feel too bad that it's run on just a few weeks. We're lucky to be in a position where we're not desperate to move and can be flexible as I work from home and my company lets me take vacation with short notice. 

We went up to visit the house at the weekend and took a van with a load of stuff to the nearby storage unit. the owner is lovely and gave us some damsons from their (soon to be our) garden. I also just got some Bramley apples from the MIL garden and I took the boys blackberry picking yesterday. Going to make up a load of crumble this evening and send one back to the In-laws. Ended up having to buy both custard and ice-cream as husband likes it with ice-cream but I prefer it all hot!

I overpaid our current small mortgage by £146 so far this month to keep it to a nice round £67,500. I may funnel in a bit more once I get a moving date confirmed. 

_EP