Our forever home

bellevie

Thank you mfdreamer. 
I think we are going to go with a fixed amount small to start.
Good luck to you too, not long to go at all!! 

savingholmes

Good luck - I wish I'd been more like you earlier in life. You're off to a great start

bellevie

No extra overpayments this week, set up our standing order initially for £30 a month - that alone if we done nothing else and interest rate didn't change too much would save over £4k in interest and take 9 months off our term. 
We plan to save £300 pm towards IVF - approx. 2 years, £50 pm rolling towards christmas/birthdays

Between us that leaves around £600 spare after bills and our own personal spends. We have a joint account for bills and the split is roughly 60/40
The £600  isn't going to be there forever - if IVF is successful that pot will increase to £900 but essentially for the next 2-4 years be covering childcare costs. We are both in agreement we will only try IVF once, if it fails we will look at adoption. We considered it for quite some time after the second ectopic but never went forward because we were in a 2 bed terraced. To be honest now that we have the space its not off the table even if IVF is successful, we both come from big families and would love to see our family grow in time.

Really that means in the next 2 ish years we need to get through as much of our list as possible, as after that there will not be much to spare for a while! 

We have already completed the rewire - £1500 mostly in parts due to the help of a good friend who essentially worked for fuel money and lunches - DH has some really great friends

Things to do in the house:
1)Paint - 4 double bedrooms, kitchen, hall and stairs, lounge - Estimating £400 - £183 spent to date.
2)Flooring carpet upstairs, wood floors downstairs, lino or tiles kitchen - still undecided....carpets we expect to come in around £1500-1800 depending how MSE we decide to be. I've had two different quotes - I much preferred the carpets with the more expensive quote so will be looking to see if we can get some savings in january sales. Downstairs anywhere between £500-1200 - DH had been set on wooden floors, he is a carpenter but he spotted a really good laminate in a house he worked in that got him to rethink....so I'm hoping we are towards the lower end of that budget!
3) Front and back doors - This is going to be quite expensive, there are two front doors and a large glass pane in addition to the back door....I'm hoping to keep it below £2000
4)Windows - I have no clue quite honestly - £5k? Less I hope!
5)Kitchen - Im hoping to keep this under £3k - despite DH aiming for top of the range kitchens every time we enter a store
6) Bathroom - £1500 - max, its a small bathroom, I do like simple things, white bath, clean lines nothing fancy.

DH is confident he can fit everything, he is a carpenter by trade but in his current role has also had do fit bathrooms tile. My only concern with this his him burning out working all week then coming home and working all weekend - so I'm expecting there will be times we pay a little extra to pay for fitting to reduce the pressure on him...I haven't told him that yet as he says I'm pessimistic....I think I'm a realist... I plan to build a buffer pot i my account ready just incase

bellevie

It was a great surprise to find out our local Aldi has started offering click and collect. By some luck managed to get the last remaining slot late last night and picked up today. All in all an easy experience and came away with shopping a fair bit cheaper than it has been the past few months. Really hope it carries on as the faster we save and get through our list the sooner serious overpayments can start 

Savings account started:
Joint Ivf £676 (target £8000)

My house esavings: £500 - my esavings will be a fluctuating target, depending what we agree is next - first target £1200 for the front door - its double width due to a large front glass pane.
DH will be saving for the flooring - £2200 - if needed Ill chip into this when I've saved for the door, otherwise I'll move onto other doors. The next targets will be joint as we move onto bigger jobs.

My personal / rainy savings: £300 - DH has his own. These are for each-others presents, unexpected car/van issues, little treats or when he wants to replace ridiculously expensive toys - like his xbox

All accounts will be topped up end of December a good start to the next year

savingholmes

Good goals. We are debating moving but if we stay front door is on the list for replacing

bellevie

Gutted about the tier 4 announcement as we were due to have MiL from Wales, that now isn't going to happen it's just going yo be the three of us. Not sure why I'm upset,  Dd and I spent most years alone at Christmas before I met DH so it's not exactly alien to us. I think perhaps we just got a little over excited.

Heyho, more time to strip walls and paint I guess. We decided to continue on with the room MiL was to stay in so it's ready as soon as we can have guests, first coat on this morning will aim for a second coat later today. Office is done expecting desk to arrive tomorrow. 
Next room will be DDs, she's very excited.

bellevie

Holidays are finally here, not the expected way but still time with family to count our blessings. 

We've had such a strange year, ectopic  in January had me hating the year before covid even kicked off, dreaded because of how crappy I felt and storm Dennis but in the end a beautiful wedding in February.
I found out I got a new job in February (transferring department) which was pushed back to May due to covid. 
DH was almost jobless by April, saved by furlough but forced to a permanent £10k cut. Honeymoon cancelled in May then all of a sudden not going out, not spending, holiday refund and more saving we had our deposit and found our house in August. 

The uni course that I applied to get on through my new job I was successful internally by August, by September /October the uni had declined me due to the age of qualifications.
An appeal in October proved eventually successful and a formal offer was received in November! 
Adding into the mix, occasions of running low on food, sheer terror in the first few months of catching covid - still fearful now but in a less panic stricken way! 

It's a year that like others I want to forget for the pain, worry and anxiety it caused. But it's also the year our dreams came true with the wedding, house and my career change. 

Such a topsy turvey year, never loved and hated something so much at the same time! 

I'm hoping for a calmer 2021, small steps in the right direction for everything! 

FtbDreaming

I empathise with everything you’ve said @bellevie it has been such a horrible up and down year for us too and I just want to think positive for 2021! 

Fingers crossed for health, happiness, financial stability and eventual Mortgage Freedom (not anytime soon but hopefully be able to plod along on that journey!) 

all the best for you and your family xx

bellevie

Thank you @FtbDreaming I hope you had a lovely Christmas 😊

bellevie

Well that flew by! Two days of game filled family fun rounded off with a Skype quiz last night. We enjoyed it as much as we could have, but we do hope to be able to see family soon

Made a start on dds room, aiming to have it stripped and sanded today, painted tomorrow all being well. 

Money wise, once the bank had updated my name an old esavings account with the grand total of 1p turned up alongside the mortgage account. I was told it would be shut down when I closed my current account a few years back not too sure what happened. Anyway I'm pleased as I think we could build up our emergency mortgage payments in there, we do have income protection but they don't cover our full wages so it would be good not to have to worry about the biggest bill! 

I'll be aiming to start a new spreadsheet for 1st Jan so will work out a plan to build that up.