Adventures and Overpayments

chicker

savingholmes said:

savingholmes said:

6 years off is still really good news. 

Sorry I appreciate you say you were playing with the OP calculator... Still there are people not on the ladder at all. You have equity. You have a lot to celebrate. 

You are absolutely right! Some completely s**** things have happened to us since we bought our first house but we have worked incredibly hard to get where we are now and we have also been lucky in many ways 😊

I must remember this!

savingholmes

The longer I live the more I realise that s**t happens to most people at some time or another. If we're still going after all that - we're doing well.

South_coast

chicker said:

The overpayment is now showing in my mortgage account and the December direct debit has been taken so I've updated my signature. According to the OP calculator, every £540 I overpay takes a month off the term of the mortgage so we're now 1 month closer!

Don't forget your direct debit took a month off too! So you're actually two months closer 😀!

If it helps, I always felt a bit sheepish that my mortgage was so small, when everyone else seemed to be slaying giant beasts!

chicker

SH - you're absolutly right! And we are still going 😁

*I just hope that we can have less !!!!!! for a few years* 


South_coast I hadn't thought of that! 

chicker

So I'm currently on hold to the big European furniture store because we noticed one of the pieces of DD's play kitchen is damaged 😒 and their online chat and e-mail are not available at the moment. Grrr.

Yesterday was DD was at the childminder's and I mainly just tidied all the carp that has built up in random places over the last few weeks. Did a bit of admin too but the day never seems long enough to do even half of what I need to do.

Money news: 

• Our first win on the premium bonds £25 😃
• Childminder is putting prices up which I anticipated but it will mean an extra £22.50 on a 4 week month.
• My Prolific balance is up to over £18 already which is great!
• A few more presents bought and I've written a list of what else I need
• Small item sold on bay of e and £6.41 transferred to my savings pot

chicker

Woo! Ik£a are replacing the kitchen and don't want the damaged one back! Will be popping the damaged on on FB marketplace for someone else's little one to enjoy for Christmas!

savingholmes

Great news on the kitchen set and the PB win.

Sorry your childcare costs are rising - worth it though I'm sure.

 

chicker

Wow! What a weekend 

Life update:
We had planned to do our first Christmassy things this weekend including going to a Christmas market, going to a nearby village lights switch on, decorating the tree with Christmas music and having a party food buffet...

However DD was NOT in the mood for any of this and it was a really tough weekend with many many tantrums and no sleep. We eventually worked out it was her teeth bothering her when we found two had come through at the side while we were looking out for the rest of her front teeth. 

Money update:
On the plus side we didn't spend too much as we didn't go anywhere. I've bought a few more presents which have cost more than I wanted to spend though which is annoying but it seems difficult to avoid the price rises at the moment. 

I've put my name down for more work in January to hopefully cancel out the rise in childminder fees. I was on hold but have said I will now take on more. It's tricky as I don't have a lot of time away from DD but the work comes in so sporadically that I could manage more most weeks, I've just had a few weeks where I've struggled to keep up with the deadlines.

Personal update:
Feeling a bit depleted after the weekend but not unhappy. It's a relief knowing the holidays are coming up! DH worked Friday night and was exhausted and grumpy after DD had us awake from 4am on Sunday morning.

I've continued with the 24 days of pilates which is great. I can't do the hard stuff but I'm keeping up with the pace. 

Looking at holidays, we've realised we can get much better prices with another company if we fly a day earlier so DH is going to try to book the extra day holiday. Fingers crossed as the ones we were looking at originally have jumped in price.

I'm definitely not getting enough fresh air so will walk DD over to the postbox later if its not raining. 

I'm going to try to catch up with some other diaries this evening 😊

savingholmes

Sounds a tough weekend. Lack of sleep can really take it out of you. Hope the rest of your week gets better from here.

Hope you manage to get extra work when it suits.

Good luck with your flights too.

chicker

Sorry I've been a bit MIA 

It's mainly due to DD going through some kind of sleep regression. We've had many sleepless nights (and the arguments you have when you're tired)... But DD is currently having her first nap in her cot for over a week 🎉🎉🎉 So obviously I'm using my time wisely on here rather than cleaning the bathrooms as I should be...

Anyway, money update:

Most Christmas presents have been bought now and I've had to borrow £50 from the present pot to get the last few. Next year we will have been paying into the Christmas sinking fund for the full year so hopefully should cover it. However, it's our turn to host next year so it might not. 

I've just made a spreadsheet of all our Christmas spends so I can see where it's gone. We've spent a lot (£161) on DD but £33 was on making her advent calendar which we will reuse every year and £17 on Christmas books which we will read for many years too. Her kitchen has come to £87 and we also spent £24 on a fabric doll and water colouring book.

As predicted, our joint account is taking a real hammering as both me and DH have had three physio appointments each. I think my back is in the 'worse before it gets better' phase so might need another one too. It's so bad at the moment because I haven't seen anyone since I was pregnant and it's really tightened up around my problem areas. I used to keep on top of it pre-pregnancy with regular pilates and occasional sports massages so hopefully I can get things under control again.

Saving the best 'til last... we've booked our holiday!!! DH managed to get the extra day holiday so we've booked a nicer hotel with the other company for over £1000 less. It's all inclusive and DD goes free so we can keep spends low while we're there. We always used to eat out on holidays and pay for lots of sightseeing and boat trips etc but never went shopping or drinking. I now need to write a long list of all the things we need to organise and pay for.

Any tips for saving money on holiday with a toddler are most welcome!

As well as how to survive the airport, plane journey, hire car shenanigans and all sleeping in one room... and all the other things I'm worried about!