A question about : Building The Burrow!
Hello lovely MFWs!
I thought it was about time I joined you all! Erm, technically I'm still a mortgage wannabe (despite coming agonisingly close to buying several months ago), life's changed a bit since then (will get to that in a moment!), but I hope it's ok to join in with all the fun and games as I head in the same direction as your lovely selves. 
At the moment it's just myself and Mr Merle living in a one bed flat (no room for even a little kitten, alas!) and since Mr Merle is looking for a new job (which is now highly likely to involve relocation to some far flung corner of the country), it seems best to hold off on buying until we know where we're at. My parents were kindly going to lend us money to help us with a deposit, but the more I can save in the mean time to reduce anything we need to borrow etc the better, so that's going to be my plan of action for now. Ultimately we'd love to build our own house one day, but that's a long way away... so I may be here some time! *gets comfy/tries to resist temptation to pick our curtains & save the pennies instead 
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So, a bit more about moi - I've had some quite rubbish health issues over the years, and have also done the whole debt thing, all of this was scary enough to make me realise that budgeting/being in control of my finances can/does make such a difference. Also knowing that I have a roof over my head that no one can take away from me is the major motivating factor for kicking a mortgage into orbit. My health tripped me up again this year in a pretty major way, so now I feel ultra focussed to get things going - the sooner I can get myself into a better financial position the calmer I'll be about any other nonsense occurring in future. Needless to say, things being rubbish over the years also means I don't have any sort of retirement provisions, so I would also like to look into working towards taking on a BTL (or three 
) in the future.
At the moment I'm self-employed, but I've been reviewing things this year and I've decided that I'm going to change the nature of my business somewhat in the new year. I'm cutting off the dead wood and getting more focussed on how I can bring more money into the household. Things are definitely going to get interesting in a few weeks.. I just need to remember (or rather, cling to the thought!) that life is an adventure and is there for living etc! I'd like to look into returning to college/university and finding a new career path, but I probably need some time to ruminate on this and have a good long think about what I want to do.
Oh, I should say, in regards to my diary title... it's not just a little motivation to myself to focus on getting to the glorious self build stage, but also about making a happy home (aww, I love the Weasleys, I want my home/life in general to be as joyful as it is in The Burrow, it is the quintessence of a homely home!). I'm quite used to not buying things, but I can see that I've developed a bit of a poverty/fear mentality about it, so I need to ease myself out of this a give myself & Mr Merle the odd little treat! When I really think about it, I realise that I'm actually surrounded by lovely, happy things - if only I would make the most of them! So part of the plan with this diary is also to get myself into the way of taking advantage of the wonderful (and free to me!) things life has to offer as well.
We're pretty clued up here when it comes to making our money stretch. Mr Merle is insanely good at finding the best deals, basically doesn't buy anything unless it's on offer (I'm not even allowed to buy chocolate unless it's on offer... but I waaaant some dairy milk, ahhh!), and we tend to buy things we know will last/get our moneys worth out of; (when we moved into our new place it was entirely unfurnished, so a lot of my savings went onto high quality fridge/washing machine/bed/sofa bed etc, so at least we won't have to worry about furnishings when finally get our own place, and nothing should break down any time soon - if it does, we have long warranties, whew). I do surveys etc to build up the pennies. Mr Merle's Christmas was completely offset with vouchers this year, so that's the aim for next year as well, it's made such a difference. Hmm, what other good stuff have we done? Oh yes, entire flat is now LED lighting (considering there were six lights in a teeny kitchen it's made an insane difference to our energy bills! It paid for our heating during winter last year, madness!).
My main aim at the moment is to build up my emergency savings again (first get up to Ј1,500 then up to Ј3,000), and also save as much as possible for the house deposit - having a larger fund won't mean getting a bigger place than we intended, as we're both quite sure we don't want to look after something huge, or have something that we'd have trouble affording to run, it'll be more like OPing in advance 
Blinking heck, I bet this post is long! I'd best meander and go find some pennies to adopt!
Best answers:
- I thought I'd use this post to keep track of a few odds and ends, mostly for when the going gets tough and I need spurred on.
Things that work!
Piggybanking, making my priorities a priority, buying local/in bulk, batch cooking, growing herbs/veg, keeping organised & the house tidy so I remember/make the most of what I've got, charity shops for presents/clothes, moving with the seasons and bringing gift exchange down to a more human level, yoga/exercise/meditate to keep my body & mind healthy (can then work & make more monies!)
Ooh, totals!
OnePoll Ј200
Valued Opinions Ј65
Ipsos Ј40
Found Pennies Ј0.71
I'll keep track of various money making schemes next year, mostly so I can try and beat the time it takes me to do them ie. I got 2 extra OnePoll payments this year, made another lot of VO as well, just by being a little more disciplined. - Hey you! Glad to see you have started a thread.
Seems like you are on a good path already, and hope you find somewhere soon.
How far are you off your deposit target? - Welcome! Looking forward to following your progress
And make sure you take the LED lamps with you when you move! - BlueMoo, we've pretty much got our target together, but could probably do with another 5k at least as that'd open things up a bit and give us some more options eg. tip us over into something more akin to a small family home rather than flat (which we had been focussing on before) which would be much better in the long run really. Though of course that's all based on house prices here (which are rather steep!), so it depends where we end up... hence gathering as much cash together as possible just in case.
Beckyy, thank you! And yes, the LEDs will be the first thing that gets packed! - I know we've got some Phillips ones, but not entirely sure as we've got a bit of a mix (took advantage of various offers!), will consult the other half as he'll remember what's from where and report back! So far all of ours have been ok, but maybe we've just been lucky?
Quote: - Good luck on your journey. It sounds like you are off to a great start
- Go Pearla*Merle! All the best on your adventure. Am subscribing so I can keep up with your progress. Hope your dh gets a great job in a lovely - cheap - location, and that your health settles down for you.
- Good luck building The Burrow.
Love the Weasley's too.
Just finished reading Harry Potter books again I loveeeeeeeeee them. Will start watching the movies again too.
I am gonna start saving for a home in the new year too.
Dxxx - Thank you XSpender & apple muncher! Dolly Rocker - I adore HP too, I probably read the whole lot of them once a year, they're the comfort blanket on my bookshelves. Good luck with your saving, it's so exciting isn't it? Let us know how it goes
I should probably chatter about some of today's MSE-related activities. Plumber came round and fixed the leaking money, erm, I mean pipe. Did a fair amount of domestic goddess duties (three loads of washing & then some) and a fair amount of general decluttering (found a box of toffees in the process, win!). Mr Merle is off out this evening, so I'm having a Me Party with Belgian beer and some nibbly rocky road while making good use of the Netflix subscription; watched Little Women (wonderfully sentimental and Christmassy), now onto Thor... ha, a bit of an eclectic evening.
Now off to chase up some freecycle people & list some more bits I came across in the declutter.
Note to self: tomorrow sort out the languishing veg in the fridge! - Yay new dairy Great start Pearla, you sound super organised already, but how on earth did you get to Ј120 on one poll I have just quit again at about Ј5.50
Its so exciting stating the new year with a plan, have you thought of joining any mfw challenges? The mfw 2014 is a good one and you can include debt repayments/ savings as well or instead of op's.
I hope you had a good me party, and I Like the new dairy name. We are all big HP fans here, not sure what part of the country you are in but have you visited the studio tour, not very mse but Fantastic
Best of luck will keep popping in! - I work from home a lot of the time (and mostly on the computer), so I've got into the habit of checking it every time I finish a task (or want to put off doing something, ha!). Most of the polls show up during the day so I can imagine it must be such a drag if it's not easily accessible 9-5, they do disappear quickly. To be fair Ј120 is since I started about 2 and half years ago, it took me forever to get to the first couple of payments but I've forced myself to constantly check it this year and have cut the payout times to around 6 months, it's just so nice getting a big wad of cash(!) Only Ј1.20 to go for the next payment... hope I manage to finish it off this week, what a nice Christmas present that would be!
I've just been thinking about mfw 2014 Once I figure out a vaguely realistic savings target I'll jump on board, I'll probably be super slow and behind target to begin with but hopefully things will perk up by the middle of next year.
I've not been on the studio tour yet! We almost went down earlier this year but for some reason I forget it didn't work out (I'm in the shire of York, by the way). Definitely still on the list though! Mr Merle has been to the HP world thingy at Disneyworld, which he never lets me forget about. He did bring me back Hermione's wand though, I haven't practised many spells with it yet, now I come to think about it... - Rightio, today...
Main plan of action is to get to the post office - no rush, must remember to avoid the mad queues lunchtime will bring (which I usually manage to subject myself to), I need to finish packaging some bits up and writing quick letters to go with them anyway so that should work out nicely. I always think I'm on top of these things but end up sending stuff late anyway, everything was meant to be posted last week, oops. Ah well, if it means everyone gets an extended Christmas, so be it!
What else? Need to keep checking OnePoll like a demon. Make attempts to clear all the random odds and ends that are lying about, at least in the living room so we can crash out and well & truly get into the Christmas spirit this evening. My parents gave us a big box of festive munchies/drinks so I think I might crack that open otherwise we'll still be trying to work our way through it during some ridiculously far off spring-like month. Really need to polish off a piece of awkward work before the weekend, vaguely can't face it but just need to grit my teeth and do it.
Oh flip, I've just realised I can't post all the parcels as some are too big and the PO will charge me the earth for them, need to investigate cheaper courier service and then work out if people will be in to receive them. Why have Royal Mail done this to themselves? It's so inconvenient.
Generally at some point...
* Change beds
* Loads more washing as pile is at ridiculous levels
* Bathroom swish
* Use up veg (oh drats, forgot to more plastic tubs the other day)
* Sort out all the Zite articles I emailed myself to follow up
* Work out Christmas present for neighbours
* Declutter last two chocolate biscuits - Ha! Just realised OnePoll will pay you 50p for linking your Facebook account... but also pays you when you reach certain milestones which they then post on FB. Don't mind if I do.... 70p until payout now!
PS. if anyone out there wants a referral to join, just give me a shout. You get Ј2.50 straight off for signing up. - I think start with the last item first! You can tell I wasn't in work yesterday - the choc biccie box someone brought in is still half full.
Just wanted to say thanks for the tip on OnePoll releasing surveys during the day. I usually log in at lunch time and do some but I'll try checking back at random points of the day and see if that boosts my earning rate. Have been on there for over 3 years and still at Ј27.80! - Sounds like you have plenty to do today!
Argh! The Royal Mail - they are so annoying! Somehow they have teh most illogical, ridiculous process for things. - Hi pearla*merle, great diary, I will subscribe to get loads more inspiration and tips. We're all massive HP fans here too and I can definitely recommend the studio tour, it's definitely not very MSE though!
It might be a bit late now for you but royal mail have adjusted their parcel sizes for Christmas so you can send a a larger parcel for Ј2.60 2nd class.
How did the decluttering of the biscuits go?
Crumpets x - Mouche, Crumpets - the biscuits were absolutely the first thing ticked off my list
Mouche, good luck with OnePoll, you'll be at Ј40 in no time now!
Crumpets, I wish I'd seen your post before I went out, it would have saved me standing in line with a very anxious, furrowed brow, everything ended up coming up at Ј2.60, hurrah! I had no idea they'd been sensible about parcels for Christmas. Still shelled out about Ј15 though, argh. Next year I'm giving everyone their presents when I see them, even if it is July! Only two people in the queue at the PO, though I somehow forgot to write an address on one of my parcels then couldn't find it again on my phone, ah well. Almost 100% result, I'll take what I can.
I've ended up having a rather remarkable day. On my way back from the PO I was about to cross a dual carriageway and what do I see but this little terrier trotting along in a cosy winter jacket but no owner to be see. He merrily walked straight out into the traffic (with me practically falling into the paths of the cars to try and stop them from running him over, complete heart in mouth moment, I still feel shivery thinking about it!) somehow he survived and I whisked him off the road before he could dance with death again. Thankfully he had a tag, I called and called the number but to no avail. Managed to make him to walk back towards my neck of the woods while holding his collar (I looked like Quasimodo! I had to hobble along bent double holding his collar so he wouldn't take off again). The Fates must have been looking after this little fellow as I met my Neighbour With A Dog who lent me a lead (she was about to drive off home for Christmas, what great timing), so I had a wander around trying to see if I could find anyone who owned him, but no one was to be found. He trotted along wagging his tail and being generally charming, it was very tempting to keep him! Ended up taking him to the animal shelter who found his chip (Mr Merle came up with that great suggestion, I never even thought about it!), turns out my little terrier is actually from Portugal and had been picked up in Kent as a stray last month! What an adventurous life he's led! The owner hasn't phoned me back/sent me a text or anything, it's so bizarre. Animal shelter are going to let me know what happens to him... think I might pick up some food and such and drop it round some time for them though, they were lovely.
Came home to a mountain of Christmas cards all from people who I hadn't sent cards to - cue frantically writing some and phone calls to get addresses and going back out to the post box.
I'm down to 10p needed on OnePoll! Agonising! I only got that far thanks to the FB posts/possibly also from convincing someone to sign up (I've no idea). There were hardly any surveys all day, I think the staff were all at Christmas parties or something... totally unacceptable at a time like this!
Heaven knows what I else I said I'd do today, I've not done any of it. It's all been Pet Rescue and Post Offices! Impromptu trip to Asda this evening, we did need to stock up on essentials for next week or so, mostly picked up carrots and parsnips (roast veg, yummy!). Might have splurged on a pretty Ј1.50 (half price) paper lantern... a Christmas present to myself! To be fair, I've been on the lookout for one for ages, so don't feel too bad about snapping it up.
Oh gosh, so many other background moneysaving shenanigans went on as well. Mr Merle discovered that Amazon Local are doing a deal on some Fantasia concert, half price tickets a few days after Christmas, so duly bought - we've not done anything for Christmas really so that'll be something nice to look forward to. My family tradition is to do something on Christmas Eve, but Mr Merle technically has to be in work despite probably being told to go home at 10am if last year is anything to go by, argh!, so we can't really organise anything for then as you never know how it'll play out.
Mr M also managed to pick up some fancy Lord of the Rings boxset of books in a charity shop today, looked them up out of interest as they had a CD missing and apparently they're worth about Ј100! Pretty much double if they had the CD! (You've no idea how much this happens to him, it's infuriating! )
A few rumblings in the background about job stuff, but it's all wait and see type things. Some chatter about holidays (Mr Mr has a lot of airmiles to use up), so we might be able to organise something nice for next year pretty cheaply *crossing all fingers & toes*
Flipping heck, I'm knackered now. I wanted to catch up on everyone else's shenanigans but that might have to wait until tomorrow morning(!) - OH! edinburgher LEDs: we've mostly got Homebase TCP LED GU10 Non-Dim - 4W - 2 Pack. They're Ј9.99 at the moment. I don't recommend the dimming ones that are 5w though. (can you tell I've just copy & pasted this? lol)
Ikea ones are ok too, but are fractionally too big (at least for our typical-modern-flat inset lights) so might not to work with some fittings. We do have some Philips ones, they've always been ok for us and we like having the long warranties. But I guess if they keep breaking for you then a long warranty is hardly much use, eh?!
(Oh dear lord, wrote an absolute novel in that last post, oops. Will struggle finding much to report in future, I promise )
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