£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

zcrat41 · 10 August 2018 at 6:54AM

Hi Treading.

Just discovered your diary - a fab read. Well done for all you've achieved so far.

Just a note about your online shopping - I used Tesco for ages as it's reliable and I end up with a lot of Clubcard points towards days out. Then I had a browse on Ocado and created an account. Didn't order. Lo and behold a few days later I'm offered 30% off a first shop and £60 off the following 4. I'm hoping Tesco are going to come back to me with offers to tempt me back!

Re wellies. Have you got an agricultural wholesaler near you? They do kids wellies too, much much cheaper than anything you buy online or in shops. They last forever as well. Don't think they're that eco though.

Good luck

Honeysucklelou2 · 10 August 2018 at 8:33AM

Good idea to chat through with the estate agents.:) A big garden will mean there's space for that pod should you need it at a later date.

Tropically · 10 August 2018 at 9:54AM

When I was considering buying a flat, I fell in love with Clei furniture. You might like it for inventive small spaces!

Starmummy · 10 August 2018 at 10:02AM

Morning TOPM
nice to see you so positive on all fronts today.

Some of the memories from sharing a room with my little sister are mys favourite. The jumping in each others bed during a thunder storm, the late night gossiping as teenagers, Always having a friend (even if she did steal my clothes and shoes)

The garden pod sounds super fun.
It's actually something on my 'list' for when we move, an out building or the potential, so I can have an office and somewhere to store the tonne of sports equipment we have in a 'cool' scandi way hopefully.

wishingthemortgaheaway · 10 August 2018 at 11:05AM

TOPM would you not be best keeping the new study area for yourself? Working from home does require some space, the few time's hubby and I both work at home on the same day is usually a disaster as one of us has to work in the dining room, nothing is to hand, and nothing can be left out if a meal interrupts the flow of work.

mfmaybe · 10 August 2018 at 7:26PM

Just been catching up. A few random thoughts from me, in no particular order:

I mentioned a contingency budget for your build in an earlier post. Don't think you replied (apologies if I missed it) but do please factor this in before you commit to the project. We are about to build our own home, which I've been researching for years, and it's the number one piece of advice I see in magazines, books, seminars etc! I have a friend who is a director of a housebuilding company and even they factor in 2-3%, but he recommends at least 10% for a self build project. You should consider this a real cost, until proven otherwise; so you need to know where it's coming from.

Do you pay yourself your salary at the start of the month? Just thinking that most "employees" get paid at the end of a month. In some ways it makes no difference as a true "employer" would have to pay you regardless of the other surprise bills they had, but perhaps it would make it easier to see whether you were truly covering costs each month?

Online shopping - I've started doing this (we now live a long way from our nearest Sainsbugs) and they have £1 delivery slots if you plan it right. However I've found you do need to write a shopping list first

. If I do end up at the dreaded Te$co I use the scan and shop which is actually great for controlling spend. I wish all supermarkets did it.

Beauty products. I'm another who baulked at the cost. Have you tried Steam Cream? Comes in a tin, made in UK as far as I'm aware and is cheap as chips from Amaz0n. I would also strongly advocate vouchers for presents to put towards your beauty spends.

Planning. That is very frustrating. We had to make some compromises with our plans too, but one thing that kept me going was reading that many of the best designs end up coming from compromises. The truth is, our house will look and work better than our original submission. Hopefully this ends up being the case for you too.

I'm sure I had some other thoughts but I do want to say how well you are doing. I found it refreshing to see what you had posted about food - ie it should cost what it costs, and it should always be ethical and that poor quality, poor welfare stuff just shouldn't be sold. I feel this way too but I'm always worried that it is easy to say this from a position of "privilege". You have articulated it way better than I could have, and it felt very real, too. You have a huge debt mountain still to climb but I'm truly in awe of you sticking to your principles.

Oh and I've also made a switch to a shampoo bar - for some reason I had procrastinated, but your posts encouraged me. For anyone hesitant, it works exactly like a bottle of shampoo, I have long, coloured hair, and you would have no idea I've changed products. I also think they seem pretty cheap in comparison to many brands.

Must go and cook tea, but thanks again for your honest and articulate posting

Edit - I remembered the other two things. If you end up with no car, how will this effect your own client facing business? The second thing was the garden - do you grow any veg at all, you said you have a big garden? Currently all I have is some rocket and salad leaves in pots, but this alone reduces my plastic use quite alarmingly. We have also found a friend who has a huge productive veg garden and gluts are coming our way

. Keep your ear to the ground for this - maybe you could trade home baking for fresh fruit or veg, for example?

Treadingonplaymobil · 12 August 2018 at 8:22AM

Week 78: Day 7

Morning! First day in weeks when we've (a) been at home and (b) DH has been around to do some childcare so I can get on with work/chores/batch cooking. Our house is a total disaster area!

DH applied, and was accepted, for a 0% card with a 0% fee on Friday (Santander I think). What wasn't clear was what the limit would be on it, so we have no idea whether it's going to absorb some or all of the barclaycard balance, which starts accruing interest in September - waiting for the letter to come through next week. He did get an email saying his balance transfer was approved, so fingers crossed it's gone through for the full amount. That would be awesome, and would save trying to shuffle some onto the Virgin and paying off the remainder asap. The 0% period isn't that long (24 months, maybe 27 months), but the next 18 months are going to carry so much change anyway in terms of our borrowing/debt that I think that's ok.

I have a mega epic list of doom for today - I'm going to my mum's with the children tomorrow, and won't be back home for a fortnight! DH will be here until Friday, as he's working this week before coming to meet us for camping. So I have batch cooking, packing, cleaning, laundry, ironing AND work to do. Argh. Even for me it's all a bit epic. And I treated myself to a lie in until a whopping 7:15am today

, so my whole day is running two hours later than usual.

Slightly stressed about money now for this month, not least because of the mad overpayment :eek: . It seems like every day brings more need to spend - more clothes I'd forgotten about (yesterday's realisation was that DC1 needs new waterproof trousers, and the next two can inherit the next size up, we are spending a fortune on diesel with all the schlepping around so that seems to need refilling every few days, DC2 needs loads more uniform than I thought because DC1 wore out so much stuff in the previous size, etc etc). It's starting to wear thin!

I know we'll be ok next month because DH has done a fair bit of overtime (some of which won't get paid till end of Sept, but some will be paid this month), and I have plenty of contract work this month, but we'll only be ok if we keep a lid on things this month.

I made a good sale in my smaller business last week, so the salary pot for September is inching up. It's not impressive, but anything I can make now means some of my bumper contract work income at the end of this month can go towards October's income too.

Today's list (with this week's list stuff left on too)
1. DH to phone next handful of builders on the shortlist. We are going to re-engage with two tomorrow now we have a clearer idea on how we're moving forwards.
2. Create full list of all the 'extra' jobs that we want done alongside the extension before the first builder visits on Thursday.
3. Check in with the people servicing my Kenwood Chef whether it's ready/needs open heart surgery. DH is picking it up today.
4. Order DCs' uniform. I will actually do this one day instead of just moving it onto the next week's list

.
5. DH research new 0% deal for the one expiring in September.
6. Invite the other guest to DC1's party so we can book the campsite.
7. Make a start on tax return.
8. Menu plan for coming weekend/next week and update shopping delivery.
9. Get a stock of social media posts ready for when we're away over the rest of the summer.
10. Get some website content up.
11. Write packing list.
12. Pack for the next fortnight :eek: :eek: :eek:
13. Finish contract work for the next fortnight.
14. Pack orders for smaller business.
15. Get as much laundry done as possible in the rain - urgh to drying on airers again. Will have to take some dirty laundry to my mum's. As long as it's all clean before we go camping that's ok.
16. make reusable wraps to take camping (in place of clingfilm).
17. Order waterproofs for DC1.
18. Life coaching update for last week.
19. Patch my shorts (refuse to buy a new pair at this stage in the summer!).
20. Refill our camping candles (for the tealight chandelier

- we have little glass containers).
21. Clear emails.
22. Make big batch of curry to eat for lunch/freeze.
23. Chase architect for updated plans.
24. Update my smaller business to reflect the fact I won't be able to pack orders for a fortnight (I usually offer a small discount for the inconvenience of not posting for a while, but leave my shop open).
25. Make flapjacks and freeze (will take frozen to my mum's for camping snacks).
26. Spend 15 minutes doing a mad clean in each of the following rooms:
(a) DCs' room
(b) Our room
(c) Hallway and stairs
(d) Kitchen
(e) Sitting room
(f) Dining room
(g) Utility room and back toilet
(h) Bathroom

There is actually more I want to get done today, but I'm going to plough through that little lot first and then worry about anything further.

August money goals:
- £15.04/31 August rounding down pot. Um. I might not add to this much more this month after the accidental £422 overpayment

.
- £3,657.20/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £382/£932 extension pre-build costs predicted shortfall.
- £214/864 income needed for September :eek: :eek: :eek: .

Honeysucklelou2 · 12 August 2018 at 8:58AM

Best of luck with that list...I had one with about 20 points on this week and got about 8 done. Enjoy the time away with your mum and the camping trip.

Treadingonplaymobil · 12 August 2018 at 9:04AM

Tropically wrote: »

When I was considering buying a flat, I fell in love with Clei furniture. You might like it for inventive small spaces!

That looks like a great site, thanks so much! Have added to my list of places to browse once we are further down the line.

Treadingonplaymobil · 12 August 2018 at 9:06AM

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

TOPM would you not be best keeping the new study area for yourself? Working from home does require some space, the few time's hubby and I both work at home on the same day is usually a disaster as one of us has to work in the dining room, nothing is to hand, and nothing can be left out if a meal interrupts the flow of work.

I actually already have a study area planned in the extended downstairs space (our current dining room will adjoin the kitchen/diner, but be separate enough to work in I think, and will be a working/quieter area). I already work at home in the midst of the chaos, and I prefer it to being alone in a study, which i've had in previous houses.

£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

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