We are finally in our own home!

Just a quick post to say we finally completed last Friday!! It seems money is being sucked from our bank accounts from all angles at the moment, from the three months’ worth of service charges upfront (£370) (we thought we could pay this monthly) to paying for the second hand washing machine and fridge freezer (£100) council tax which has been wrongly taken for the old flat (£138- still waiting for the old housemates to transfer what they owe) to TV licenses, contents insurance, other insurances, the sofa and finally not forgetting household items. We had £850 (approx.) worth of vouchers which has almost depleted now by half, but has come in ridiculously handy.  Luckily our first mortgage payment isn't due until next month (thank god!) and we had a small buffer of £100 or so.

It’s been such a busy few days so far, the spare room is still covered in boxes but I LOVE having my own home. I have lots of ideas of how I want to furnish and decorate- if you are interested please check out my Pintrest boards which can be found here.

I'm back!

I've been kind of awol on the blogging front, despite following my favourite blogs on a regular basis. Looking back, it has been two months since I last posted. During this time a few things have happened:

1. We had an offer accepted on a flat, with the condition the lease was extended in time for completion. 

2. The lease came back 5K more than expected, prompting the seller to want to pull out of the transaction.

3. We ended up paying an increased purchase price to cover the lease extension costs + an extra £1000 on top (to cover the loan the seller had to take out?) who knows.

4. Our mortgage lender was only prepared to lend us x amount, leaving us 10k short. Cue tears and my M&D coming to the rescue with the offer of lending us money. 

5. I joined the gym! Only a frugal £20 per month; so far I have been to spinning and zumba classes.

6. My car is back on the road and is now registered to my parents address (It was registered to a flat I had lived at two and a half years ago!) 

7. I got a £200 tax rebate and £200 interest payment on my ISAs which covered the cost of my annual insurance. 

8. The building survey & all searches are almost complete on our flat, and we have given our two months’ notice to break our rental contract. 

9. The glasses I bought plus car costs (MOT, repairs & tax) have all been paid for (hefty credit card bill last month).

10. Have been trying to save as much as possible, so lots of home cooking and cutting down on waste has been taking place. 

However, I have been carrying on with the packed lunches to work every day, and even at weekends if I go to the pub I have been driving so the cost is minimal. 

One thing I have discovered though is http://www.nectaradpoints.com/nectar/ad where if you have a nectar card you can earn points just for watching adverts and rating them. It’s been helping to build my nectar nest egg which pays for my diet coke habit at work. 

By the way, has anyone else been having a problem with what I think are spam comments? I keep getting them on one post. I'm not sure what to do with them, or even whether they are actually spam.