Friendly Frugaleers Festive Preparations and Financial Accountability

[Wolfcub]

New Fred

Productive day.

I found the mythical bottom of the laundry basket

Emptied and loaded dishwasher

Had a tidy up in the under bed storage

Sorted and shredded a ton of paperwork. Now we have 5 files in the dresser in the living room - kids and catface, house, appliances, dh and me. All paperwork filed in relevant files.

Dd has been lovely. Napped when I wanted her to. Has had all of her milks. Done some tummy time (holding her head up superbly now she’s so strong!!) and some lying on the mat and kicking about while I sorted paperwork. Such a good helper.

Gym later.

It is payday and I had my appointment at the breast clinic: it was just a cyst! I am so happy.

Great news plan!

Yay Plan! 🥂

Wow plan so so relieved for you!

Playgroup was ace today. Then I swam again.

Great news plan 👍

Fab news plan you must be so relieved!!

Spendy day but made progress with Christmas shopping I think.
So £12 in Poundland, they were handing out £3 off vouchers as I went round so got 15 items for that! Mostly stocking fillers.

£22 accessorize Christmas gifts x 3 (20% off in store)

£50 Boots x 5 gifts, did quite well buying items in the sale and used a £10 off voucher.

£1.50 aGreggs for lunch.

Only got my dad and brother to buy for now I think.

Christmas shopping spent squillions mostly on me. Not posting as you will be disgusted with my lack of frugalness

Great news Plan

Meh fuck it wolf you deserve a great Christmas

(I haven’t seen a in MN for ages! Now I feel all nostalgic.)

Forgot to say cute puppy pic girlie six months already?! How long have you had him?

Yay plan!

NSD

Great news plan

Went to see Last Christmas with DP. Plot holes the size of Russia, wouldn’t bother! 🤣
Got some new cosy slippers as our rental is freezing. Work tomorrow then a chilled weekend, planned a long walk on Saturday and a friend coming for lunch on Sunday.
My work has been affected by the ucu strikes but I can’t afford to strike as I’m the only one earning, I’ve had a lot of flak from colleagues most of whom earn twice what I do!
Hey ho, had a nice eve thanks everyone for the support, it means a huge amount x

Anyone else sick of Black Friday?

I’ve been to the gym this evening. 40kg deadlifts. Oooof.

Wolf I've also spent a bit on myself this last week I deserve it.

We've had him 4 months lap can't believe it!! He's such a lovely dog, we've been very lucky with him.

Just saw on another thread that fluffys cat died, he was run over. Feel sad for her, wish she was on this thread still, really miss her.

Just caught up. Great news plan.
I remember you starting to home school too lap
Thanks snuggly, I decided to take the bull by the horns today and emailed college regarding ds' exams & sent a copy of his physio letter. They have now said they will apply for extra time as well as rest breaks. I think I'm now understanding better the reality of an "invisible" condition.
So Christmas shopping is underway here, dh & I went to town on Monday & ticked quite a few boxes. I then came home & ordered a few things online so feel much more under control now. Making a real effort to minimise pointless presents (dh's family I'm looking at you). We've agreed with sil to have an adults night out instead of presents and just buy presents for the children. Dh & I have come up with lists of things we want/need for our parents to pick from. I would like some new quilting equipment (bigger cutting board & ruler). Not something I would prioritise at the moment so ideal for my mum to get for me. Our focus is now on Tobago and I'd rather save money now so that we don't have to scrimp & save when we're there.
I'm still not well, it's been 3 weeks now & I'm fed up. I've got a GP appointment on Wednesday but am hoping I'll be better by then. I'm mainly doing desk based work as I wouldn't want to put patients at risk of any bugs. Ds is the only one who has avoided the lurgy so far, hope it stays that way.

Spoke to Dm yesterday. Apparently It’s difficult to buy gifts for me so she’s asked that I choose things and she’ll give me the money. But I have to look surprised 😂

New jodhpurs for me then! She’s happy to do this so makes sense.

Home energy audit taking place here on Tuesday. £200. But this is covered by the grant we were awarded by government.

Wills are done just need to read through them and arrange a time to sign off.

Pension form to be completed and a nice big chunky payment to be made. I usually save up and pay in between 10-15% of my salary so will get this done today.

Ds slept through. Wahoooo. No idea what changed.

Ah poor fluffster.
Twitching on the Christmas thread. Dithering means I don't need it. Won't buy it

Poor Fluffy that's awful.

Pay day thank goodness. Paid myself first and overplayed credit cards - both are 0% anyway but the new aim is to clear them before extending the mortgage.

I have a bit of a financial dilemma. House has been valued and isn't as far in negative equity as it was. To sell would mean a small loss of original value and loss of all the work invested in it but moving is possible. So I could either take out a small additional mortgage and extend the borrowing term to get rid of h, I'd have smaller repayments than now but for longer. This would give me a better quality of life - a small amount more to save each month/chance of holidays occasionally but still with a money pit of a house that needed a heck of a lot of work. The extended mortgage might cover a bit of this.

Or I could sell, split profits with h and be left with a decent deposit for somewhere else. The bank will give me a new mortgage and the amount I could borrow (note could not will) would be significant. This would allow me to move somewhere that didn't (at least on face of it) need work. But would mean higher monthly payments than now - potentially up to double depending on House - and therefore considerably less to save than I do currently and less opportunity than now for occasional holidays etc

What would you do?

That's really tricky wolf my instinct would be to sell, pay off your ex and have a fresh start in a new house. A new build in theory should be more economical (mine has been, I've got an eco house so gas/electric costs are low as is the water bill.)

Dd has stropped off to school, she was in a foul mood this morning 😒 think she's probably tired as bedtime has been getting later.

Aw poor fluffy :( I miss her too, I was looking on an old thread the other day for something and there were so many names that no longer appear here :(

I’m off to the children’s centre this morning to discuss finding a nursery place, apply for 2 year funding etc. Nice lady is helping me as I’m a bit overwhelmed by that sort of thing.

No idea wolf I’m crap with stuff like that but how do you feel in your heart about staying there with all the memories? Does that sway you one way or the other? Is the negative equity issue likely to get worse so it would be better to sell now than decide in five years or something (disclaimer I have zero clue how that stuff works)

Good questions Lap. I'm not the sentimental sort so the memories have no real hold on me and mentally I've always seen the house as mine rather than ours (I am a terrible person)

Negative equity will probably improve as the market is rising - brexit could change that but no one knows and that would be when I'd be selling so would screw me either way

I'm currently lowest council tax band. Water rates are based on that so also low. Gas and elec is 100 a month.

I have lovely views and a peaceful location which I love and couldn't have elsewhere in the area but no parking and lots of house improvements badly needed ((and expensive) which drive me mad.

Total dilemma

Pension payment done. About half my savings. But a sensible spend.

Do you like the house and location Wolf?

Sorry, I hadn’t refreshed earlier to see your latest post Wolf.

I think it’s hard to weigh up the options when the other house is an abstract concept. Can you get this house into your name / under your own solo mortgage, and then you could have a look at the market at your leisure and see whether you feel there is a specific option that is better for you? It sounds as though you will be happy enough to stay there unless there is an option that is practically and financially better for you, so it’s just a ‘head’ decision. But I do get that doing work is daunting... and disruptive... and expensive...