Can definitely do better!

new_mortgageeee · 20 February 2016 at 7:53PM

Seemingly like many newbies, I've been lurking for a while - finally thought I'd take the plunge and start a new diary. Mainly for motivation I suppose - hope to get and share some great ideas too!

I bought a shared-ownership flat back in 2012 (hence the "new mortgageeee" name!) - I know there's much debate over their usefulness (and value for money), but it's worked out well for me so far. To date I've paid off 70% of my 25% share (OP £250-350 a month) - leaving me with approx. £35k equity for a "real" deposit when I'm ready to move. If I'd have stayed renting that amount would have been an impossible dream!!

MFiT - T4 #65 hoping to clear the remaining £16,550 mortgage on my share (may be a bit of a stretch, but worth aiming for!).

I know my savings are lower than I'd like (for emergencies) - currently splitting spare money at end of month 2/3 OP 1/3 saving, but I'm sure there's more I can do to budget through the month and find extra bits and pieces - I've only just cottoned on to Swagbucks for example! Will sort out a budget spreadsheet to better plan - any suggestions or examples very welcome!

All for now, thanks for reading! May do a SB survey then will be trying to relax this evening... fingers crossed

!!

ourcornercottage · 20 February 2016 at 9:26PM

Good luck

you can do it!!!

new_mortgageeee · 21 February 2016 at 8:49PM

Lesson learnt from today - it's easy to become obsessed with this!!

Interestingly, I've done a couple of spreadsheets and a detailed SOA calculation, and these tell me I should have in the region of £650 leftover at the end of the month - for OP/saving. I know for a fact that this is a lie! My suspicion is that I'm underestimating general groceries shopping.

I've been well aware for a while that I waste a lot of money on food during the day; I work in town and it's so easy to pop out and buy some lunch. As I'm coeliac, that lunch isn't cheap, and I can easily get through £5 a day. I'm determined to curb that - making my own lunches could save me up to £100 a month!!

A quick look over the last couple of months statements and I've spent £250-350 a month on groceries (food, cat food/supplies, household/cleaning items) :eek:. This feels like a lot for one person (and one cat); it wasn't that long ago I budgeted £20 a week!! So I'm going to focus on this area of spending first.

I feel that £40 a week (£160 a month) is achievable; planning and making my own lunches will go a long way towards this.

So, £40 starts tomorrow! I spent nothing today - great start! Enjoyed a nice (if murky) walk in between spreadsheets, had a clear out of old paperwork, did a couple of surveys and cooked a pile of leftover veg to have for lunch tomorrow! Now to get some ironing done in front of Countryfile

turtlemoose · 22 February 2016 at 3:07PM

Hello. I'm NCGI and lunch out is luckily no temptation for me, as locally it's mostly McD, KFC, Burger King, chips shop (with battered chips!!!). But Asda and Tesco on the other hand.....easy to get spendy.

Have you seen the new Schar range? (Previously DS) I like the white ciabatta rolls for homemade work lunches, they taste like "proper" bread. Their loaves aren't too bad either, I'm yet to get a holey one, and they come with a little plastic bottom in the packet which protects them from getting bashed about and ripped apart like Genius et al. I saw recently that they've started selling panini rolls .... haven't spotted them in a shop yet but will definitely be trying those as a lunch item

new_mortgageeee · 22 February 2016 at 7:48PM

turtlemoose wrote: »

Have you seen the new Schar range? (Previously DS) I like the white ciabatta rolls for homemade work lunches, they taste like "proper" bread. Their loaves aren't too bad either, I'm yet to get a holey one, and they come with a little plastic bottom in the packet which protects them from getting bashed about and ripped apart like Genius et al. I saw recently that they've started selling panini rolls .... haven't spotted them in a shop yet but will definitely be trying those as a lunch item

Hello, thanks! I've seen them but not tried; got rather disheartened by a few brands being mostly holes or disintegrating... Will give them a go - I'm sure I've seen them in Tesco

new_mortgageeee · 22 February 2016 at 7:55PM

Pretty good day today - total spend, 90p! And that was a bar of chocolate (couldn't resist), and some bananas (I was out of them, and these will last a few days). I also (in an idle moment at work) downloaded a simple spending diary app, which should hopefully help me avoid inattentive spending. I enjoyed inputting my 90p anyway!

I do need to do a supermarket shop tomorrow though - will definitely be making a meal plan and shopping list this evening; could easily blow my planned £40 weekly budget in one shop...

turtlemoose · 22 February 2016 at 9:19PM

If you join schar's mailing list online they'll send you a £2 voucher in the post

new_mortgageeee · 22 February 2016 at 9:23PM

turtlemoose wrote: »

If you join schar's mailing list online they'll send you a £2 voucher in the post

Fab! Thank you

ourcornercottage · 22 February 2016 at 9:23PM

turtlemoose wrote: »

Hello. I'm NCGI and lunch out is luckily no temptation for me, as locally it's mostly McD, KFC, Burger King, chips shop (with battered chips!!!). But Asda and Tesco on the other hand.....easy to get spendy.

Have you seen the new Schar range? (Previously DS) I like the white ciabatta rolls for homemade work lunches, they taste like "proper" bread. Their loaves aren't too bad either, I'm yet to get a holey one, and they come with a little plastic bottom in the packet which protects them from getting bashed about and ripped apart like Genius et al. I saw recently that they've started selling panini rolls .... haven't spotted them in a shop yet but will definitely be trying those as a lunch item

This range is BF's fave new GF bread choice. He is raving about it. He has had the loaves brown and white and has been eating it non stop!

new_mortgageeee · 24 February 2016 at 8:28PM

I've tried and am delighted with Schar GF range - will definitely use them for lunches in the future

thanks for the recommendation.

Interesting couple of days working within my £40 weekly budget - I've £14.43 left, but a fridge full of food after a supermarket trip (with a list!). Not sure what I'll need to buy before the weekend; a couple of parking tickets maybe. BUT, just goes to show that I was spending c.£75 on... What?!

Looking forward to the end of the month (14th for me) so that I can make a larger than usual OP with leftovers.

Little bonus this evening with some private work; should be another £100 to go straight on the mortgage :j

Weekly food/general spending: £25.57/£40.00

new_mortgageeee · 25 February 2016 at 9:36PM

Another pretty good day - just £1 spent. And some excellent willpower as I had to go into town to get work supplies.

I'd actually appreciate any thoughts others have on my current (one of many!) predicament...

I've been offered and accepted a new job recently (more money, hurrah!), but had put off officially giving my notice at my current workplace until my new contract arrived. So today it did, and I was somewhat dismayed to find that the notice period to be given by the new employer to terminate the contract (fire me!) was just one week. As far back as I can remember I've been on at least one months notice, and am currently on 3 months.

Am I just used to things being cushy? Is one week standard elsewhere? It goes up to two weeks after two years employment (and one week per year after that), but that still seems like no time at all.

I'll have a much larger mortgage by then (c.£140k), and my salary will be the sole income to cover that. My current thinking is that, whilst the likelihood of me getting fired is, I hope, low; the risks associated with being completely without income in one week's time are just too high. It looks like a great job, but I feel that I'm going to have to turn it down on those terms

:(

Any thoughts very welcome!

Can definitely do better!

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