The Cottage Dream

Runders · 4 January 2018 at 6:07PM

Hello All,

I used to post way back in 2015, and my old diary is here: Clicky
I disappeared because my Mum became unwell with cancer and so spending time with her became much more important. My wonderful Mum unfortunately passed away in October, and this has really brought it home to me that life is just too damn short! I've always had the long term goal of moving back to the countryside and having my own horse, but I have decided I'd rather work hard for this now rather than later, hence the new thread and title.

My spending has been out of control over the last year or so, so I'd like to get it back in check and really knuckle down again. My plan is to try and pay as much as my mortgage off as possible, in order to facilitate being able to move back to 'The Shire' as I call it, where house prices are more expensive than where I currently live.

My mortgage currently stands at £96,407. I started with £110,884 in Sep 2014. I have an offset mortgage which I really like. I originally had the benefit set to reduce my monthly payments, but I have just contacted the bank asking if they can change it to a term reduction. This way I can't spend the savings each month!

I'll pop back later with a SOA .

SWSEGirl · 4 January 2018 at 6:23PM

Hello & Good luck on your journey!

I'm very sorry to hear you lost your Mum, losing a parent can really put things in perspective - life is just too short at the end of the day.

Your dream sounds very similar to ours - we have the cottage in the country dream too. I'll follow your diary with interest and wish you well!

x

wishingthemortgaheaway · 4 January 2018 at 8:50PM

Ooooh new diary. Hello :wave:

Sorry to hear about your mum. Make sure you continue to take care of yourself.

Happy Saving.

Wish.

Runders · 5 January 2018 at 12:49PM

Okay my SOA, I keep track of all the spending I do and I have taken the averages over the last 12 months from here. I have dipped into my savings a lot recently and that isn't necessarily reflected on the SOA (house works etc), so this is more just a breakdown of monthly spends over the last 12 months.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2000
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2040

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 448
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 68
Electricity............................. 15.01
Gas..................................... 15.01
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 11
TV Licence.............................. 12.25
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 28.25
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 185
Road tax................................ 14
Car Insurance........................... 37
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 20
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 400
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1618.52

Assets
Cash.................................... 1600
House value (Gross)..................... 175000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 7000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 183600

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 96407....(448)......1.85
Total secured & HP debts...... 96407.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Stoozing/car purchase..........12000.....300.......0
Total unsecured debts..........12000.....300.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,000 ish (this varies for me)
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,618.52
Available for debt repayments........... 381.48
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 300
Amount left after debt repayments....... 81.48

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 183,600
Total HP & Secured debt................. -96,407
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,000
Net Assets.............................. 75,193

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

I realise my entertainment and groceries are high, I am a sucker for lunches and coffees out and I am also not good ion the kitchen. Must do better!

wishingthemortgaheaway · 5 January 2018 at 3:53PM

There are people far more experienced than I at looking at these things but...

We 3, me hubby & toddler are spending about £50 a week on food max, including some hideously expensive baby food products, because they are organic this, and sugar free and added vitamin this oh, and toddler loves them and he gets hangry and these stop the hangryness.

Eating out: do you make use of offers? Loyalty cards? Meal deals? Supermarket points?

I would think your entertainment budget would & should be a bit higher than ours, I get the impression (apologies if I'm wrong) that you are single? And with the bereavement you suffered last year you should be taking every opportunity to get out and about. Again, supermarket points deals, vouchers, money off coupons. Once, in a queue for a famous theme park we had 2 for 1 vouchers and an odd number of people. We did actually hustle down the line to find someone else to be our queue and payment buddy.

Keep smiling.

Wish.

beanielou · 8 January 2018 at 11:11PM

Your food budget seems high for just one person.
Anyway, happy shiny new diary

Blibble · 9 January 2018 at 7:54AM

Happy new diary!

Couple of quick points on the SOA - groceries seems a tad high for one person, over £60p/w. Where are you doing your shopping currently? Are you buying ready-made food, or cooking from scratch?

Entertainment is also more than we'd spend, but everyone's different. Given your circumstances, I don't think it reasonable to suggest cutting back straight away here, but it may be something to consider when you really knuckle down.

Also, £185 fuel is a touch high. Is this all for work? If so, can you car share etc. to perhaps reduce this?

There's lots of good points as well, though - I wish our bills were that good value! You've got a great goal in my which is personal to you. Best of luck :T

michelle09 · 9 January 2018 at 12:50PM

I'm with the others - can you find ways to bring the entertainment budget down without sacrificing your lifestyle? Groupon is a great way of getting restaurant vouchers - we got one for my OH's birthday last year. Restaurant price was £21, Groupon was £16 and I got 8% cashback on the purchase. Knowing you got such a good deal helps you enjoy it a little more.

This website is wonderful for finding deals and coupons to get the costs of entertainment down.

Runders · 11 April 2018 at 4:44PM

Hello all!

Thanks for the replies way back in Jan, I've been sailing the high seas for a few months and only just back.

I've managed to add £2.5k to my offset whilst I've been away which is great.

I got back to a mountain of post which had helpfully been sorted into junk and non-junk by my friends. In there were some gems, £20 JL Vouchers from my credit card, £2 Tesco Voucher and a £5 love to shop voucher form a survey. I've put the equivalent into savings and will use these instead. I already used the Love to shop voucher for tooth paste today....how glam

A lot of my bills have gone up whilst I've been away, so I need tosit down and have a good look at these. I actually rang up Virigin media and asked to cancel yesterday, I'm hoping that their retention team may call me back with a good offer *Fingers Crossed*

Thanks for all the suggestions above, I will start scouring Groupon for eating out etc. I'm going to try and make the most of the free outdoors now that the days are getting lighter, and the National Trust houses will be open again soon.

My petrol costs should come right down now, they were so high last year because I was driving 260 miles (round trip) to visit my Mum most weeks, and my old car was also a GUZZLER!!!! I have noticed a big diffrerence since I bought my recent car last summer.

I've been out today and bought a load of veg to do some batch cooking. A big pot of soup is done and I have the slow cooker on doing a veg lasagne... I hope it's good, I am not the best of cooks. But I am going to strive to get the food budget down, especially after hearing that some of you are spending a lot less and with families.

Right little catch up from me, I am off to go and get reading on diaries and see how you are all going.

Toodles

Runders · 12 April 2018 at 12:39PM

Hello, two post in as many days!

Today has been a good one so far, with some little wins.

Virgin rang me back and I am now paying £6.25 a month less for my broadband. I am wondering if I should have held out for more, but it's still a good saving.

My friend suggested Lunch today, but instead I am going over with two pots of soup from the big batch I made yesterday. This is easily saving me £15-20 on eating out.

AND..... My mortgage is now below £95k. It might only be 3p below, but I am counting it

Once I am back from my friends I plan to sort out some boxes in my box room and list a few things on the bay and selling sites. Hoping I can net a few more pennies for the offset.

Toodles

Runders · 13 April 2018 at 9:13AM

Hello everyone,

I've woken up really quite sad today. I dreamt of my Mum last night and it's just hit me all over again this morning and I've basically just cried into my coffee all morning. I guess I just have to accept that this is how life is going to be now: Mostly fine with patches of sadness.

Anywho, I thought I'd come and ramble on here about some MSE things I've done to cheer me up.

Last night was another cooking win, I made homemade pizza!! It was delicious - Mushroom, Mozzarella and caramelised onion - take that pizza delivery places! I've also got 5 other balls of dough in the freezer and I got clever with my left over tomato sauce, I froze it in ice cube trays and now I can just defrost a couple of cubes at a time. Old me would have just bought a £5 pizza from the shop or even worse, a £15 take away one.

I'm also trying to up my green credentials as I save money. I already use a green washing powder, but I used to use what I call 'naughty softener'. It's not great for the environment, and it's got quite a few nasties in it health wise. A friend recommended I try a couple of tablespoons of distilled vinegar with a few drops of essential oil in it's place, and I have to say it's utterly fab! The vinegar is 39p a bottle and you get a good amount of washes from it, you only need a few drops of oil so it lasts for ages, plus the vinegar is great for clearing out the gunk and buildup in your machine. I 'detoxed' my machine first by using a cup of bicarb of soda and two cups of vinegar on a 90 degree wash, and it smelt fresh as a daisy after.

In other MSE and green ways, I've stopped buying the compostable bags for the food caddies and instead use the free newspapers to wrap up food waste to go into them, so I'm saving a few pennies there. I'm not sure all councils allow you to use newspaper, but it's great that mine does.

I've decided that I need a mini target, I always go big and then get bored/distracted when I don't make any real progress. I'm going to try to save £600 a month into my savings for the rest of the year, which gives me a total of £4800. To make it interesting I am going to round that up to £7000 - I like odd numbers - and try to have that amount stashed away into my offset by the end of December

Right I must clean, clean, clean. It's amazing how much dust builds up when you are away! haha.

The Cottage Dream

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