Flying solo

twiggy86

Thanks for your suggestions! However the difficulty being that it's all automated by Monzo! I saw the challenge at the start of the year and thought I'd give it a try and have done well so far, but this month it's £67 worth of savings over the month and will be more again next month! I think part of my issue is that I save specific amounts to various pots and this is effectively "unassigned" and eats into my spending money each month and now feels at a point where I'll have to allocate more to "fun" money (and less to specific savings) to account for it! 

This morning I have updated my spreadsheet and shuffled all money to the correct accounts as was feeling a bit lost as I wasn't on top of it! Instantly feel better! 

I do have a few things on this week, including a boat party with a friend on Thursday night - although I've already bought the ticket. Last night me and OH went to see a wedding venue, but don't think it's the one for us! Would be lovely if the weather is right, but we live in England and I don't think I can rely on the weather! However, we still love the first place we visited! So wedding planning is slowly continuing in the background! However, no offers on either my house or OH's flat, so something else that is slowly continuing in the background! No bad thing as allows us extra time to save up money! 

twiggy86

Oh dear! It's been almost a month since I posted last!!!

Ok the big update... wedding plans are well underway!!! Venue (first venue), registrar, band all booked and invites in the process of being delivered!!! The money aspect to this is - we plan to pay for the wedding from the sale of OH's dad's house, which is still in probate. So I spoke to my parents and asked for a "bridging loan" if anything needs paying for prior to the sale going through - as whilst we have enough for deposits etc, we may become unstuck if things are delayed! Anyway this lead to my parents informing us that they are giving us £5k towards the wedding!!! I didn't expect anything as they helped me out massively (new boiler, front door, few windows etc) when I was first doing up my house and told me at the time that it was instead of anything for any future wedding... maybe what they really meant was that they didn't want me to marry ex!!! 

Speaking of the house... things have all gone a bit quiet at the moment! However, as we need OH's flat to sell as well, we aren't lowering the price or anything at this stage. 

In general life, money etc has all been ticking away! Had my weekend away at the festival (amazing fun!) which all came from a dedicated savings pot with money left over which I will use this weekend, as I'm going away with OH to Poland for a couple of nights. My car and home insurances are both due this month and have saved enough throughout the year to pay for both in full! I can't recall if I said but I cleared one of the smallest credit card! I am now just paying the minimum off the other as OH is insisting that he clears the balance when his dad's house sells. It does feel very strange/ unproductive to have only paid £60 off it this month - although I have saved towards wedding/ house sale. Again OH insists that he pays back anything I pay towards wedding deposits! 

In case I haven't said the reason wedding/ debts will be covered by OH is that I have much more equity in my house than he has in his flat - so this is his way of re-dressing the difference. 

I will try and come back sooner and post - although as I've eased off on my debt-busting efforts at the moment, I feel like a bit of a fraud on here! 

badmemory

There are many on here who  no longer have either debts or mortgage.  It is about keeping that sort of focus, perhaps early retirement is the next target!!

twiggy86

Grrr! Just typed a big long post to FINALLY check in and then pressed the wrong button!

Gist was that financially things are good and I'm excited to go wedding dress shopping with my bridesmaids tomorrow!!!

dawnybabes

Aargh so annoy8ng when that happens ! 

Happy bridal shopping 😁😁😁😁

twiggy86

Ok so as it's been a while, what is worth mentioning?!

The sad news is that it looks like OH is about to lose his mum and is currently at the stage of waiting for the phone call to come. It's incredibly sad, and so soon after he lost his dad. On the face of things, he is coping quite well but then he doesn't sleep well and it's no surprise. 

So this weekend was quite mixed as that was going on in the background, but then I bought my wedding dress which is super exciting but feels so insignificant. Wedding plans are well underway and there is an open day at the venue on Saturday which we are going to. Just all feels over-shadowed at the moment and I did have a bit of a meltdown yesterday which was seemingly about colours but I think was the way my stress/ worry about OH was coming out. 

Financially, things are going well! I am still just paying the minimum off my remaining CC - and then trying to stack up savings for wedding costs. I have currently spent about £1,500 on wedding related things, including half the cost of my dress. Also need to consider saving towards house move related costs - although there hasn't been any interest in either house yet! If we don't sell OH's flat before we purchase, there is a big stamp duty implication but we will be able to reclaim it when we sell. There is a lot to balance though and with everything up in the air, I'm kind of parking thinking about all the "ifs" until we get an offer. Obviously (unfortunately) OH will be inheriting a share of two properties now once everything is finalised, so it's difficult to gauge exactly what the entire financial picture will look like at the moment.

I don't think there's anything else worth mentioning at the moment.

twiggy86

I need to get back into the habit of posting regularly so not sure I have much to say (she says!!) but I'm here anyway!

I have recently renewed the car and home insurance - I'd saved enough throughout the year to pay for them in full and have some left over! Actually it was £86 left over! As I'm not overpaying on my debts at the moment, I have shuffled it off to savings. Between my EF, various savings and sinking funds I currently have £5.5k in my accounts! So even though I'm not overpaying it feels good to know that if I drained everything I could completely clear my debts! Not that I intend to do that but it makes me feel in a fairly good financial position! 

Plans today are to sort out the energy tariff as mine has now come to an end! I just get so confused by it all! So job for today is to wrap my head around it all and switch tariff! Also want to book a hair cut as I'm off work next Friday - have a small tattoo booked already on that day! OH's plans for today include sorting out the spare room/ daughter's bedroom and switching some furniture around - it's her birthday in a couple of weeks so he's having a bit of a clear out at the same time. He started it this morning so our bedroom is in slight carnage but also gives him no choice but to finish what he started! Although of course, he is still waiting for the call about his mum so I may have to step in. 

Right best get cracking with some work! 

twiggy86

So the sad (but expected) news is that OH's mum passed away last night. Currently trying to navigate how best to support him - he goes into "project manager" mode and hates me treading on eggshells around him. He's gone off already to clear out his mum's room at the care home with his sister. 

But on to more positive, money-related things. So I went online and did a switch for the energy bill yesterday, only for my current supplier to entice me back with a better deal and £200 credit in my account! Bedroom clear out/ furniture shuffle was successful and the two rooms are looking better! I also finally cleaned out the tortoises which was overdue as I'd had the new woodchips for ages but was being lazy! So a productive day on both money and house fronts!

Baileys_Babe

Congratulations on being debt neutral, it does lift a mental load ☺️

Sorry to hear about OH's Mum.

badmemory

Clearing out a care room is quite upsetting.  My mother had been in one for over 3 years & yes they had done a mostly good job.  But then it was well she died just before noon - if you could clear all her stuff out by teatime.  Left me with a very nasty taste.