MFWW

A question about : MFWW

Hey Everyone/Anyone!

As we recently paid off my debts, I'm desperate for us to keep on track and carry on working towards our main goal of home ownership! So I'm hoping it's okay to post here, as I'm not an official MFW.. yet!

I live with my OH, and our goofy puppy, in a house that we currently rent but are aiming to buy. So over the next few years we will be saving up our deposit. And the smaller the mortgage the better, so we need to get crack-a-lackin'!

Our finances, on paper, are still split. As OH gets paid monthly, and on commission so it can vary massively, his surplus income is what gets filtered into secure savings. After a few months, this already stands at 4k and is our future deposit pot Only downside is the length of time inbetween updates!

My wages, however, get paid weekly and you can set your watch by them. I handle basically everything to do with running the house, I suppose. I get the joys of dealing with all the bills, as well as being head cook and bottle washer. I won't complain, as OH has a decent job it gives us (what is now a luxury!) of me being able to only work part time and keep my dog But due to the weekly wage and managing the bills, all of what is my surplus income will go into disposable savings. For annual and bi-annual bills, a home emergency fund, and awesome things like Christmas. I'm hoping that being prepared and a little bit savvy with our living expenses will also help with the rate that we can save from our monthly wage.

Hope all of this make sense! And fingers crossed this fresh diary brings fresh luck

Best answers:

• Found you
  All sounds like a good plan and look forward to following your journey on here
  *subscribes*
• Hi Cinny, exciting times I am looking forward to your home owning diary. Good luck with the deposit saving.
• Hi Ali and Tootallulah! And thanks for the well wishes.
  Payday this morning. So after I've put money to one side for bills, paid rent and I've managed to squirreled Ј91.70 into the savings pot. It's left me with a beautiful total of Ј56 for the week. Anything left by next Thursday will go into the savings account too.
  Dropped 6 ink cartridges for recycling into the post box when I was walking the puppy before work. The company only cashes out once you reach Ј20 credit, which I'm a while away from. But it all counts!
  Popped to the shops before work, we had a really busy weekend last weekend so we're having a classic lazy day tomorrow. Just needed to get bacon and bread for a beautimous breakfast. Had a APG for Ј1.61, so I was Ј1.22 out of pocket.
  Freezer is absolutely bursting at the moment. Added 3 pots of frozen yoghurt/ice cream for 0 cost yesterday, so we have puddings sorted for a while. I don't know about anyone else (and maybe it's because I'm greedy) but I feel like everything's okay, and I can cut our spending to the bone, as long as I have a little somethingsomething for pudding at the end of the day! We easily have a months worth of meat in there too, so we're pretty set
  We're becoming real adults on Sunday.. we're getting a tumble dryer! It's free from OH's Mum, who had it given to her from a friend along with a dishwasher. We don't need the latter, so we'll just try and find that a good home. Feeling on a bit of a roll at the moment, we were given a year old Dyson for zilch last week too (the vacuum of dreams!)
  On a sadder note, it's absolutely awful what happened at that dog rescue If there's anything that instantly gets my goat and/or feels, it's animals. So this morning I donated Ј15 to the justgiving page. Absolutely broke my heart, and Ryder might have received a few extra cuddles.
• Happy Monday!
  Hope everyone had a nice weekend. Had a perfectly lazy day on Saturday, bar taking the pooch on his walks. Worked our way through a season of Lost and a tub of ice cream (salted caramel, it's a problem!) Finished the day off with a veggie filled chilli, using all the verging-on-sad things at the bottom of the fridge. Will be using the left overs tonight to make burritos
  To counteract the lazy day, we had a very busy day yesterday. Got up at 5am to get Ryder sorted before we headed out to help clear some things from OH's Mums Friends house (awful grammar going on there) We were back by 10:30, but spent the rest of the day finding homes for things and having to completely empty the pantry and reorganise to make room for the dryer. Although, I really won't complain. We're now in possession of a lovely 60's table, gorgeous 30's mirror among other things (edwardian serving tray, wooden painters steps etc!) Popped some pictures of them in their new homes on Instagram
  Up early again this morning, found a home for the dishwasher with someone at work. But it meant getting a sack truck and trundling it here for her! Then I decided while I was moving stuff I'd bring the lawnmower to store in one of the garages (we don't have a shed at our new house, so it's just been under a porch at ours over summer) along with donating left over paint. Arms were aching by the time I'd done!
  Did lots of TT over the weekend. Had an accidental splurge at Mr A. They had all the Febreze products we spend Ј3/4 a pop on, on offer at 3 for Ј5 so I stocked up. They also had some non-bio 30 wash powder reduced to clear at Ј1.50.. whoops! It's all stuff we'll use, but I really don't need to buy anything for a while. Trying to atone and told OH I'm not spending a penny this week until Wednesday at the earliest. Even then it's only if we need some veggies!
  Got a big bag of cooking apples from a friend this morning. So it's crumbles and apple sauce for everyone! Been saving jars over the summer knowing that I wanted to do a little jarring (canning?!) this year. So I'm looking forward to some experiments!
  Lots of ironing to get on with this afternoon now we have the dryer. It's a whole new world, but I need to only use it when we need to after my first mad rush of loads last night (the excitement, really, it was just too much) as we have airers and once the heating is on we'll be able to put stuff on radiators (which, imho, makes the house smell lush anyways )
  Speaking of heating! It's absolutely freezing this morning, and last night from 5ish we had to bring Ryder in and close the garden door (we normally leave the backdoor to the garden open constantly so he can lope about) I hate putting the heating on before October so we're going to try and weather it. We have lots of blankets so we'll be fine. Great thing about the new house is we have a newer boiler than at the old place. And as the guy in there before us was a little.. imaginative, he ripped all the old radiators off the walls. So in turn we had new ones fitted before we moved in.
• Popping in to subscribe! You're so lucky with the Dyson and the tumble dryer. I just wish we had a washing machine of our own. And some stairs, I miss stairs. Sounds like you're off to a great start and I'm sure you'll be owning that house in no time!
• Morning!
  Was snoozing off at around 8 on the sofa last night, feel so awkwardly out of my routine in general. It's driving me batty!
  Oh Ruby, I couldn't cope without a washing machine. When we moved it took what felt like years to get it plumbed in, don't know how you manage! Although I'd happily manage without stairs.. but that's purely because whenever I come down them in a morning I'm still in snooze mode and fall over myself
  Small amount of Ј1.50 in this am. I bought some Nakd bars (when they were reduced to 25p) for someone last week, not expecting anything in return, but they forced a payback on me. So that's gone in my purse!
  Managed to snag some freebies too. 4 mini bottles of wine (free trial on a subscription service, will be perfect for hampers) a 14kg tailored bag of dog food for Ryder (again, subscription service!) then I finally had some swagbucks vouchers come through, so used 79p from there to get a cute washbag and a veggie peeler. The thrills! Again, will be good for pressies.
  If anyone wants the link to the dog food just PM me, the wine offer is sadly over subscribed!
  Left over chilli burritos went down a treat, also used a can of chilli beans over the top and baked them in the oven with a little cheese to give it an extra oomph Served with wedges (cooked in our heath halo using coconut oil and some spices) and a monster salad. Tonight I'm doing lemon and apricot chicken, with golden veggie rice (again, to use up some things in the fridge!) and will try my hand at making some pita bread.
  So much ironing to do this afternoon, I normally oddly enjoy it (wouldn't iron bedding if I didn't!) but it's just piled up so much with having the dryer. Thankfully have a few things recorded on the sky box so I can blitz through that
• Morning Everyone!
  I caved last night and was in bed a little before 9pm, felt great when I woke up this morning. And even more fantastic once I had my morning caffeine hit!
  Managed to get all the ironing done yesterday, and an episode of Our Zoo was deleted from the sky box in the process. Is anyone else watching it? Seems like a bizarre show to air mid-week, I'd have expected it have a Sunday tea-time time slot. I always forget that Autumn brings the period dramas!
  Kind of loving/loathing all of these Crimmus reminders. Excited it's less than 100 days away, as my Sister is coming home from America for the holidays with her Husband However, it's annoyingly reminded me I really need to get on with buying presents! I already have everything I want to buy for people in mind, and a few stashed away. I made a little list and Ј200 will see everyone bought for on my side (in terms of my side of the family and friends) Need to get cracking on saving for that, as a few orders will be from American websites and I want them here sooner rather than later. Added the savings challenge to my signature!
  Extremely gloomy day here, looks like it can/will rain at any second! Taking Ryder out for a long walk after work, to his favourite duck ponds Thankfully my new Autumn coat has a hood so the weather can do it's worst.
  Forgot to mention the apples made 2 jars of apple sauce and 2 crumbles. I did give some away to the woman who lives next door, and gifted some to my mum. Been told to expect more on Friday! Think I'll use this batch for apple butter, purely because it's a little easier to pass of as gifts!
  Freebies for today: filled form in for free Gillette razors (can use in hampers if they don't look too obviously free!)
• Quiet coffee moment at work, so I was playing with the mortgage calculator. Just to see what our monthly repayments will look like vs deposit size, as we're only wanting to take a 15 year term mortgage (so we'll be MF by the time I'm 40, as long as we're on the property ladder before my 25th birthday.) I've never been so excited to get into debt!
  Then I had an accidental wander down Fantasy Street, as while I love our home this isn't the "forever" place. It's a great house, and a good step on the ladder. And while we currently have no LO's, it will be perfect for when we do. There's a park barely 2 minutes away, the school gates are basically parallel to our drive. Plus it's in a pretty up-and-coming area that's steadily losing it's bad rep. Ideally, I'd want us to move to a bigger place eventually. Somewhere with space for a family, but also space that we'd be able to care for our parents/grandparents when the time comes. And the latter part of that just wouldn't be possible in our current home.
  Anyways, enough of the day dream post!
• Don't worry, I regularly peruse rightmove looking at houses I know I couldn't afford even if we did have a larger chunk of cash stashed away! As for the washing machine; luckily we live directly opposite a launderette which is handy but it's also a pain in the backside because you have to make sure you have the correct change etc. If we had the space in the kitchen, I would buy one but it's wall to wall cupboards / drawers and you can only have one person at a time in there anyway.
  I love how you always have a plan for everything! Haven't given Christmas much thought this year. We're going to Prague 2 weeks before so will probably just pick up little things in the markets for others and then we just have to get a present for each other.
• Ruby - I've got to admit.. I don't know if it's so much always having a plan, as much as it is being able to quickly bumble an idea together?! Prague in December sounds lovely, extremely jealous! OH and I were looking at a little trip somewhere in December for our 7 year ann, but decided the money was better saved instead. I don't know where all these sudden mature(/boring ) choices are coming from!
  On the vein of Christmas, ordered 3 presents this morning Trying to buy everyone one well thought out present this year, over lots of little ones. OH and I also agreed to a Ј20 budget for each other, and I managed to find the watch I was looking at buy him last Christmas for better than 50% off, which brought it just under our budget Also got my Grandparents a much needed, but extremely gorgeous, Emma Bridgewater tray (my Grandma has a tremor and was complaining how none of her serving trays have proper handles/edges. Voila!) and as I had a free del + 15% off code I got a 1/2 pint mug as a gift for a friend. Fearing over doing it, so that will be it for a few paydays!
  Woke up at 5am this morning, as OH had to set off a few hours early for a meeting. Was very good and didn't snooze away an hour on my ipad with a coffee all cosy in bed. Got off my tush and treated Ryder to a slightly longer morning stroll Was back from his walk at the normal time. Somehow I managed to tidy the house up, have a shower, get ready while watching tv/mulling over some recipe books.. and still be ready 30 minutes before I normally am when OH is home. And he says I'm the distraction!
  He won't be home until later tonight, but thankfully I'm going to my Grandparents for dinner so don't need to worry about cooking a solo meal Have somehow amassed another basket full of ironing (??? ) so that will keep me busy until he's home.
  Payday in the AM, so I can update some pots
• Happy Friday Everyone!
  Can't believe another week has gone so quickly. One thing my Grandma always told me on my Birthday was that you spend all your life wishing you were 21 (always sempt like a magical age to me!) but as soon as you are, the rest of your life goes in a flash. I just thought she was being a little wistful, but it's annoyingly true.
  After paying this weeks bills, I've updated the signature to allow for the pitiful amount I've put into savings/expenditure on Christmas presents. Have Ј40.66 exactly in my purse, so it's a mini challenge to see how far I can make this stretch. Ideally I'd like to push it through until the first payday of October.
  Next week, again, will be another low week for savings. Just because all the end of month bills are coming out and some are a little higher than normal. Plus the water bill will come along on the 1st to wipe them out completely! However, really going to put some ground work in for October and hopefully save Ј500 Probably should have started this diary then, as for now we're not really off to a flying start!
  Should look on the positives, as in the last 2 weeks I've been DF I've managed to save Ј200. Even if it all getting spent, it's all my own money in the black
  Busy day tomorrow, taking my parents across to OH's parents to pick up some things. Foolishly agreed to go to "the next" Ј10 football match with OH (thinking it would be a very long way away, and he'd forget our agreement.. but I'd still get some nice girlfriend points) then we're hoping we have time to pop to Makro, almost out of dishwasher tablets and they normally have a good bogo offer on
  Got myself a little payday treat yesterday, to keep in line with my out of control and just complete rebel reputation. One bottle of Lenor Unstoppables! Never been lucky enough to find them in stock when they're reduced to Ј2.50, but I've wanted to try them for months. Got the last bottle in Co-Op for Ј3 They also had loads of shampoos reduced to 50p so I got two of them for the wardrobe stash - I will post a picture of this someday. It's both my biggest pride and greatest shame
• Hi Cinny, congratulations on being debt-free, this is all very exciting being a MFW-W! I have been so bad on the financial front, I daren't even look at my bank accounts
  Quote:
• Hi cinny, I just wanted to pop in and say welcome and good luck with the new diary
• Hi Tete! Wondered where you'd been, but figured you were busy with school/running! The company I'm using is the same one that will recycle your cartridges for clubcard points, I think. Here's the link
  And thanks for stopping by Newgirly! I would lurk on your diary while I was clearing my debt for end game motivation Hope you're well!
  I did have a great weekend, I've got to say Football was a lot more exciting than I expected, and I told OH I'll happily go again if he wanted me to. Also managed to make it to Poundland for dishwasher tablets, called Makro and their normal deal wasn't on which didn't make buying in bulk worth it. Also got sugar and some much needed baking trays and utensils while we were in there.
  We were up early enough after Ryder's walk yesterday morning to go to the carboot too, mostly for the fresh air. Didn't buy anything bar a cheeky sausage sandwich for breakfast, and a cheekier bag of candyfloss Tucked into Lost when we got home, and OH decided it was cool enough for a roast dinner (no complaints here!) While he did that, I cracked on with mending some jeans and sorted a few loads of laundry.
  As OH went to play football last night, I had a quiet evening with Ryder. I did plan on catching up on Doctor Who snuggled up with a blanket and hot chocolate on tap.. but to be totally honest the shock of the season 3 Lost finale plagued my mind and I couldn't concentrate. Instead I had a nice bubble bath followed by an early night I did manage to pull myself together for long enough to put a bi-carb paste on the oven, so I have the joy of giving that a good clean after work (it's really hard to write that sentence without it coming across as sarcastic!)
  TT of Ј2.20 into the savings pot, it's brought me annoyingly close to Ј130 and I'm tempted to just nudge it over. But I'll resist until the next TT moment arises!!
• Thanks pet, hmm, for 5p per cartridge I'm not sure it's worth it, would take me a looong time to reach payout, even at my rate of use. Perhaps I'll keep donating to charity after all.
  You sound so motivated and together, I feel all inspired. Can't wait for payday (no idea when it is) so I can see how much I actually take home and can start making spreadsheets again
  What football did you see? I'm getting right into it again, I blame the world cup for starting some sort of mania in me :\
• 5p is a shame! I get around 90p per cartridge, which makes it a little easier. The price has dropped, was over Ј1 when I first sent them. Will keep donating them to charities in mind for if they dip anymore
  Always look forward to a good spreadsheet, colour coordinated of course I'm sure you'll start to feel a world better once you have a better grip on things. My biggest stress is money, or lack of control over money.
  Football was Sheffield Wednesday v Reading, at home so I got to see OH's stomping ground. Can't say it thrills me, but the atmosphere there was infectious!
  I somehow switched my alarm off completely yesterday, instead of just shutting it off, so no morning call for me! Woke with a start as it was starting to get light, thankfully I only overslept by 30 minutes but have a dreadful feeling I'll be spending the rest of today playing catch up with myself. Hate that feeling more than words can explain
  Need to go and get some potatoes after work today, but other than that it's a pretty chilled afternoon! Going to take Ryder to the park, and as I did all the housework and laundry yesterday I think I'll just do some baking. Been sneaking a look at apple pound cake recipes, mostly because it will kick a couple things off the shelves that need using up soon (eggs, milk, apples etc!) plus I get to add pumpkin spice and that basically rocks my world.
  Potatoes are free, but I'm hoping I don't get tempted by the shops along the way. Aiming for a NSD!
• Came out the other end of yesterday having not spent 1p Thinking I'm going to set a NSD goal for next month, along with the savings goal.
  Logged onto the banking this morning, just to move some money across for bills that come out tomorrow. With OH having my debit card it means no sneaky spends, so sadly(?) no TT's to be made Roll on Friday's wages is all I can say!
  Another pre-order for some Christmas presents, the money for this won't be taken until November so still counting it as a no spend, I just really didn't want to miss it.
  More cheeky looks at recipes too! We have a joint of beef in the fridge that will need using sooner rather than later, but I want to figure out the best way to stretch it. I'm thinking shredded might be the way to go. We can mix it up for tacos (have a pretty sweet coconut wrap recipe I want to try out!) have it in a sticky chinese chilli sauce, little filo parcels, even good ol' sloppy joes. On another coconut vein I really need to keep an eye out for cheap shrimp, not a seafood person at all but I had coconut fried shrimp on holiday that were gorgeous, and on my shredded beef adventure found an amazing sounding coconut shrimp curry recipe I really want to try!
  Tomorrow will be a spend day, we need to stock up on veggies and a couple baking things. Will crack on with a list of what we need this afternoon, alongside a little meal plan, so we don't get off track. I've said it a million times before on other threads, my OH hates meal plans. So I have to be sneaky with new recipes and he doesn't catch on Do notice a difference in both my mood and my bank account if I have everything organised food wise. Control freak.. moi?!
  Deposit news(kind of): OH has been attempting to forecast his wages for this month, never exactly goes to plan as his commission is a little wobbly at best. But we're hoping that we'll be able to fly by 25% of the deposit saved
• That's great news on the deposit front! I'm hoping we can be almost half way (if not more) in a years time as most of the wedding stuff is saved for now. And the recipe's sound amazing; I need to try and be a bit more adventurous I think!
• Fingers crossed you are, Ruby! But you've done such an awesome job with everything else, I don't think you need my well wishes AND A MAHOOSIVE CONGRATS ON BEING DEBT FREEEEE Can't wait for you to get your button!
  I'm sure you're plenty adventurous with your cooking I'm a huge fan of foodie blogs, and have a soft spot for Southern American style cooking. This is the blog that's been the source of my stomach grumbles this morning. Wish I was the kind of person who gets excited over making brownies from dates and sweet potatoes, but alas, my heart wants fatter things. My friend is a health nerd and sent me a link to this yesterday, I am the Blerch. With no shame.
  Thought I'd do a little to-do list for today:
• Do whatever needs to be done to le beef
• Meal Plan
• Shopping List (for said meal plan!)
• Bake new recipe cookies
• Walk Ryderoodle
• Sort laundry
• Clean: Kitchen
• Living Room
• Bedroom (plus change bedding and other fun stuff)
• Bathroom (yay!)
• Get Gramp's birthday present ready for tomorrow

Should keep me busy and away from grazing the cupboards