Life in our forever family home and the mortgage that came with it

MissRikkiC

Typical. The 3rd chicken starts laying just as we go into flock down. She’s now grumpy and we’ve had another egg or 2 since but that’s it. Never mind. I know it’s just temporary. Speaking of temporary, we covered the chickens run with a tarp but today it’s come off one of the corners in the wind so I think we will have to have another go with a new one. 

They really hate it anyway so maybe a thinner one would be less noisy. 

I had my mobile stolen at the weekend from a trampolining park. It was full of little kids parties so can only assume it was an adult. I got the phone back, thank goodness for find my phone but it was 10 miles away from where it was taken (middle of a country lane) and was smashed to bits. I’ve salvaged my SIM card and tbh the phone was 6 years old, everything was backed up but things like banking apps and email and passwords all stored is the worst bit of dealing with it. 

Anyway, I’ve ordered a dual sim phone via work which I’ll use and save myself having to buy a new one. I’ve been out of contract for 4 years now (if not longer) and the idea of spending hundreds on a new phone is scary. My phone bill is £1.50 a month. I’m so reluctant to spend at all. 

The dishwater already finally gave in at the weekend too so we ordered a new one which was delivered today. 

Why is it when you finally get some money saved, it has to come out again for unexpected costs almost straight away. I’m glad we now have a small buffer but I just wasn’t expecting to use it so soon. 

Greenhouse is up, fence and gate are both complete. There is some general tidying up to do but it’s 99% complete. I’m thrilled 

beanielou

Some people are just horrid. 

MissRikkiC

So the phone I was using was old and also cracked however I purchased a few one through work (which is also dual sim) and means I can use that. Everything is stored on the cloud anyway which means nothing would be lost if I had to give this phone back. I’m finally back to having everything in the right place, apps, banking, passwords. How awful when you realise your phone holds literally everything from your life you require on a daily basis. 

The garden has had no additional time spent on it this week but I’m really hoping tomorrow that I can get and sort all the left over bits into their various homes. Gardening tools away, old cement bags, big logs, a ridiculous sized crate which I thought I needed but don’t.

This week I’ve done a lot of MS things as well as some spending. However, my absolute favourite things this week, which brought me a lot of joy, was find wild garlic. I was so excited, like a kid in a sweet shop. I was a 15 minute walk from my house and now I know it’s there, I have a regular spot. I’m thrilled. 

Tonight I read 1 page of @blu@Bluegreen143s new diary and it inspired me to check a few things over. I have since cancelled my big river prime subscription, I last used it in December and before that November. That means that for the last 4.5 months I’ve paid £36 for something which would have likely cost me £3 delivery. Never mind. I’ll pop that extra £9 in the savings fund. 

I really need to do a check in with my road map, do a bit of a refresh. Nothing has likely changed other then the £400 we saved this month having been spent instead on a new dishwasher but I need to reasses mentally where that means we are. Part of our mortgage fix rate ends this month too and unfortunately we secured it when rates were really low. 

Anyway, lots more to update when i have more time but for now, im just content with my wild garlic. 🧄 

Bluegreen143

Well done on your money saving and glad my diary inspired you!

Subscriptions are so easy to forget about/allow to build up as they are everywhere nowadays! I’m not sure that particular subscription is worth it for us… we do use it enough but I think having it discourages us from shopping around and buying more local. Red doesn’t want to cancel it though. 

Enjoy your wild garlic! 

LadyWithAPlan

Well done on Your Jan challenge and the GH 
sorry to hear re your phone - mine got snatched 2 years ago as I came off a long haul flight so wasn’t as focused as normal but you never forget 

I switched from Monzo pots and a written budget to YNAB Nov 23 and never looked back - I love it and fact you get up to date reports easily means you can see all your spends /overspends as you go through the month 
YNAB has really been a leveller up for me 

it’s also great for spying new subscriptions etc - found one yesterday 

MissRikkiC

Thanks Bluegreen, i have another which i signed up for last week (only £5 for Disney for the children) but its not been used so ill get and cancel that too. I realised yesterday that there is a slow on prime (not sure if your monkey ever watched Tractor Ted) which my son is in love with so it’ll be YouTube for the foreseeable. 

@LadyWithAPlan it’s so intuitive however I’ve yet to complete a month so I’ll know how the round up is once Feb is complete. Well done on finding a subs to do away with. 

MissRikkiC

On to this week. 

We are considerably better off using the EV tariff for our electricity I just wish I’d do that sooner. It’s still costing more than the average house hold but I think we will likely save £100 a month vs the original rates. They’ve still not fixed the bug for adding a device to the app so I can use it ‘smartly’ however I’ve found a work around.

I am tired. My son has a bad cough so isnt sleeping well and Sunday night we had friends and their littles over who never sleep very well so yesterday being the first day of half term, i was exhausted. I was so tired, i let the loaf i was making over prove and forgot to switch my car on charge at bed time. 

However im trying today to be a bit less useless.

Ive fed the sourdough starter - i figure if i can have a sourdough and a sandwich loaf going at the same time, im less likely to need to bake a sandwich loaf every day to keep up with demand. 

I cooked the over risen loaf anyway and whilst it doesnt resemble our usual loaf, its still very delicious. 

Ive called Octo, advising them that, no,  i do not wish to switch to a more expensive rate just because their app has a bug which they cant fix meaning i cant 'charge smartly'. Instead ill do so manually (when im not so tired to remember) and benefit from the rate.

There is a pork loin join awaiting going into the slow cooker. Just need to find a recipe.

At the weekend i started off some peppers and chilis, as well as some aubergines, peas and mizuna. I have some onions which i absolutely must get in to the ground too! 77

Its so nice that the sun is out - i am so longing after spring this year. 

MissRikkiC

I’ve traveled for work today and got home just before 7. I forgot how tiring it is/irritating it is to commute, the time is so unproductive! 

Anyway.  MS things 
Cancelled another subscription. Another £5 to add to the savings pot. 

Took my own lunch for work however with not leaving until late I did grab something on the way home. 

£1.50 porridge pot and a hot water from the machine at the garage to have porridge. Cheap option that’s filling (ish…) 
Dinner was freezer turkey pie, left over roast potatoes and left over jacket potato 
Arranged a couple of seeds packs for sowing tomorrow 
Arranged my potatoes for chitting 
Yesterday I picked up 5 bags manure for the veg patch 
Messaged the woman about the bags of compost 
applied for a chase cash back card 
Walked the dog at 630am
Got black beans from the freezer for tomorrows chili 
Prepped veg for chili 

Glad I’m back doing my work at home tomorrow. 

MissRikkiC

The temperature today has brought me so much joy. I took the dog out this morning at 7:15 without a coat! Found another patch of wild garlic on my travels which was a lovely surprise. Got back and have done 2 hours in the garden before starting work. It’s obviously half term and my husband has the children at home today so it’s not a normal routine we can have but I really needed it today. 

MissRikkiC

It’s the end of the month here (25th-24th) so I reconciled YNAB today and it felt relatively simply. I can usually tell how much I’ve spent using Monzo by what I’ve got left in the pots but it’s just not been as clear before on what I’ve had to add to pots when there wasn’t enough. I was surprised to see that I’d spent considerably less on certain areas this month and more on other (namely gardening stuff!). The free trial ends in the next few days I think and I’m a bit irked by paying for something even though I like it. I run spreadsheets all day long and I wish I could build something which I didn’t have to pay for. 

Anyway, i might pause for a month, see how I go and then if I miss it (already think I will) then I’ll go back to it and sign up. 

Over the weekend I’ve started off seeds in propagators on a few occasions on account on meddling fingers, planted the asparagus in the garden, chucked more muck down and purchased a water butt, started a few seeds off outdoors and reattached the tarp to the chickens run. They’re still not very happy in there, eggs have reduced to each of the 3 laying every 2 or 3 days so we get 1 a day at best. I can’t wait until they’re allowed back outside again, I miss seeing them on the lawn. 

In the house we’re at a month of having not purchased supermarket bread. I’ve been making a sandwich loaf every day or every other and even tried my hand at bagels on Friday afternoon with the children.  I made 8 and they were gone by Sunday! 

I’ve cancelled Amazon prime, not renewed Disney plus (there’s me thinking already that’s £14 towards YNAB) and managed to reduce our energy costs by switching tariffs and moving stuff to the cheap hours. I even signed up to Octo plus to see if I could save electricity in their peak periods (another 12p towards the pot). I can see by YNAB that our grocery shopping bill had reduced this month but the savings went on a bulk fund instead so just need to see how regularly I need that fund. 

I feel like I’m in full money saving mode and regularly checking In is keeping me on track. But I’m also managing stuff that needs doing like the house and garden alongside. I’m sure if anyone knew the ins and outs of my whole life they wouldn’t think were very MSE at all however we’re fortunate enough to have been able to work hard in the years gone by and now are finally financially comfortable that we can both save and spend where necessary. We’re frugal in ways that our family and friends don’t understand. They think because we are earning good salary’s then why bother making our own laundry liquid and baking our own bread, buying things second hand, making good of what we have or in some cases mending stuff instead of replacing it. They think that we have the money so why bother. 

However, it’s only because of how we are now, and that for sometime we’ve been doing these things that we’re feeling so good these days. 

Back In June of 2021 when I started my original diary, between my husband and I then, we had £26,160 of debt and a PCP car with a balloon payment of £5.5k.   It’s taken 4.5 years to get to this point but we have now got £2,000 of debt and we own the car outright. We’ve had 2 babies during this time, managed on maternity pay both times and still aren’t at the point where childcare costs are free. The 2k is on a very long 0% which will be almost done by the time it ends and we have more money now to be even more frugal with than we did before. I’m not bragging at all, I’m just reflecting on the progress we’ve made and feeling grateful. 

And sometimes reminding my husband of all of the above. 

I do not wish to be working until retirement age however we are still a very very long way off being able to stop working. We have a large mortgage to pay and are only just starting to build our emergency fund and our savings now that we’re not paying off debts any more. But, we have a plan, a loose one, for this year at least, of saving that EF and for an overpayment on the mortgage. 

Inspired by another diary around these parts, progress is; being able to reflect on what you’ve achieved and give yourself a pat on the back when it’s due.