Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge · 26 March 2017 at 10:54PM

NSD today (unless you count allowing DH to buy me a coffee).

No formal exercise but I walked to church & back (about 15-20 mins each way) and in the afternoon we took a picnic into this glorious spring weather and went for a very energetic walk. DD took her fitbit and we clocked up 10,000+ paces, some of it on a very steep slope - so while I'm still a bit ache-y from yesterday and tomorrow will have new aches in different muscles, I am loving feeling so healthy - apart from the muzzy head I had most of the day, which I've been trying to solve with a lot of hydration that has probably helped a bit.

I made a big pot of chilli for Sunday dinner this evening and it went down well though even on the low setting my slow cooker boils things as if it's going out of fashion.

We had been a bit concerned about my FiL who didn't seem well this morning but he's perked up after a good sleep this afternoon so maybe I can blame changing the clocks.

I'm going to have a look at a menu plan for the coming week, though as DD and I will be at the hen weekend from Friday, it won't be typical. I can't remember if I said but menu planning went astray when I started working shifts and for a long time these were unpredictable. Nowadays things have settled and it occurred to me that I could do a 6-week rotation which would cover the days I can cook for the family and some others where I can leave meals for them in the fridge or freezer. They can all cook for themselves but it costs less if I do it!

I think I'm going to increase my share of food money to £40 a week. Yes, that's £520 a year but maybe I won't spend it all, and it will be good if I can save up for special ingredients or good bargains from time to time as well as head DS2 off before he tells me yet again that we've no food in the house. (We have, he just doesn't fancy it).

This week's menu from my sketched-out 6-week plan looks like this:
Mon - pizza (we are going to a quiz with pizza buffet)
Tues - curry (make extra for freezer)
Weds - Breakfast for dinner (sausage, bacon, beans, mushrooms, mash or alternative)
Thurs - soup (make extra and leave for DH as I'll be at work)
Fri - don't know as I'll be away
Sat - meal out
Sun - don't know as travelling home.

That's about it for this week: I'm giving some thought to budgets but I haven't made any decisions apart from the food one..

Cherryfudge · 27 March 2017 at 6:14PM

Early shift today and been on my feet since it finished so I'm weary.

My tax refund arrived and I headed down to the bank straight away and got it paid in. I then checked how much I can overpay on the mortgage before incurring charges and to my surprise, as we are no longer on a fixed rate, I can pay as much as I want! Well, depending what I have available to pay in, of course, but it's nice to know I don't have that to worry about - though if we can't sell all or part of Mum's house in the reasonably near future, it may be worth considering a fixed rate again.

Spends today:
Food 7.72 (out of my new £40 share of the food budget)
Clothing £10 (Including the perfect top for Saturday's meal out for only £3!)
Toiletries 4.41
Medical 0.95
Book for DD's project 2.49
Due to spend 16.00 between me and DH for this quiz & pizza evening later.

MS stuff:
Wombled 17p
Took lunch to work
My garlic is starting to grow!

Think that's it for now, I'm off to browse the forums.

Cherryfudge · 28 March 2017 at 11:43PM

Oh dear, the spending bug is back. I've been to the solicitor's to sort out the next stage in the probate process and managed to get hoovered into a couple of shops.

I also logged into the various accounts and made an overpayment on the mortgage :j although we're not at the end of the month and there's a payment still to come from that account. I only paid over some that I knew we could afford. Then later I had a stroke of inspiration with the other bank and made a transfer to the neglected holiday savings account - our plans to go to Australia one day now have roots! It's still in savings so I'm not counting it as a spend. We could put it towards groceries if we wanted, which we can't do with a mortgage overpayment.

DH bought dinner so that doesn't fit in this diary.

Spends:
Solicitor 7.00
Bits for DD's project 10.53
seeds for the garden 3.04
Piano lesson 10.00
Mortgage 42.53

MS stuff:
Um... well the mortgage overpayment will save money in the long term. Other than that I can't think of anything.

Cherryfudge · 29 March 2017 at 11:55PM

My 100th post...

Supposedly a day off but I had to go to work for a 2 hour training session. I've fitted in a run and a meeting (non-work) this evening too but I'm still less tired than I have been recently.

Spendy weekend coming up as DD and I head off for the hen do, the DSes go to the stag and DH is hoping to go off on a long journey and come back with a new car (one he fell for a couple of weeks ago and has another chance to buy). Yes, we can afford it but the N account looks deflated! However I've been reading diaries and am inspired to make those small savings add up to something significant. I still want the mortgage paid off early, and beyond that, I want to make overpayments to my pension, which has suffered from far too many unpensioned years. It seems better than just letting the money accumulate in a current account, provided we keep a reserve for emergencies.

A couple of financial positives: Dh said to me the other day that he sees what I mean about it being worthwhile to overpay the mortgage! That's after years of 'I don't think it's worth it' which I think was because he doesn't like knowing how much we have, not helped by his online banking not working. The bank seems to have got mixed up about this - apparently they say they can't reinstate it till the Executors' Account goes live (i.e. once probate is granted), but it's currently nothing to do with that account - it's the day to day accounts he's been using for years. Incidentally my online banking for those same accounts continues to work just fine. Someone has their wires crossed somewhere, but while I can manage the accounts and it's hopefully only weeks now till the new account gets sorted, and DH has enough to stress him at the moment... I'm letting that one lie.

The other positive is the big insurance payment has gone out of the N account not the H one, where I'd kept the money back from overpaying the mortgage for this purpose. This is because the car money is already accounted for and the probate documents are winging their way to Leeds and we can see an end of this process on the horizon. It means I can think more about overpaying that there mortgage!

MS stuff:
cheap curry using basic sauce & store/freezer ingredients for tea
Wombled 7p

Spends:
Food 9.33 (had to get some basics but dinner was cheap).

Cherryfudge · 30 March 2017 at 12:06AM

Another mortgage overpayment made.

Just in case I can't get online banking for some reason in the next couple of days... at least I know I've made good progress this month!

Cherryfudge · 31 March 2017 at 12:26AM

NSD.

Managed a run. About to get paid - and my payslip is showing a backlog of things from a couple of months ago which for various reasons were claimed late: sleep-ins, Bank Hols, weekend working and standby over Christmas. It'll be a long time till I can claim so many extras again.

Nice feeling!

Well, I'm away the next few days and some of that extra money will get spent. I'm not likely to be able to log in to the forum either. I'll try to keep a count and catch up when I get home.

Bobarella · 31 March 2017 at 8:01AM

Have a nice break

Cherryfudge · 31 March 2017 at 9:27AM

So exciting! Pay has all gone through and overpayment made - also rounded up my regular mortgage payment to £300 (it was nearly there anyway).

I don't think I'll be able to do this on my wages again so for the record: Mortgage owed on 1/3/17: £19,024.76. Mortgage owed on 31/3/17: £17,982.23.

:j:j:j

I haven't worked out my April budget in detail so this was paid out of the tax refund, Christmas & January extra shifts and scrimping and saving. I don't think I have time today to work out the effect on the last mortgage payment but I can do that when I get back.

Hope you all have a good weekend and may the new financial year be one of positive steps for all.

Hillwalker17 · 1 April 2017 at 11:07AM

Well done on the mortgage payments :j

That's over £1k less in just one month, that's really really good. All those extra shifts etc were well worth it

Have a nice weekend away and enjoy. Remember you've already done well this month so no scrimping on the cocktails :rotfl:

HW17

Cherryfudge · 2 April 2017 at 7:09PM

Ha ha thanks! It won't happen very often but it's inspired me to put in more short term effort for long term benefits.

Hillwalker17 wrote: »

Remember you've already done well this month so no scrimping on the cocktails :rotfl:

HW17

:beer:

It was a great weekend, not too spendy as these things go though of course there were costs.

Friday:
Food shop - 11.01
Stuff for DD's weekend project - 7.25
Sandwich & coffee - 4.90 (despite having bought stuff to eat on the journey, I caved when we stopped at services

)
MS stuff: bought food in to avoid motorway services, but see above.
Exercise - short but energetic walk up a short steep hill and back via town: just enough to blow the cobwebs away.
Saturday:
Eating out - 27.00
Exercise - cheerleading class! Lots of fun and certainly pushes the heart rate up.
Today:
NSD
MS - avoided those motorway services coffees!
Exercise - 1 hr 40 mins moorland walk with DD leading (9,200 steps apparently, and 500 Kcal burned. Helps redress the rest of the weekend!)

The food & drinks bill for the weekend was otherwise largely self-catered and the organisers are going to total it up so there's a further cost to come.

This exercise thing is becoming self-perpetuating. One of the girls on the hen weekend turns out to be a runner - she went out this morning and did a run to a monument we'd admired in the distance, coming back spilling endorphins all over the place. The rest of us were at the coffee making stage. I looked at her and wanted to have done that run! Okay she's about half my age but to be out in the morning sunshine with the freedom of the road and flying through a stunning landscape on your own... wow.

I'm giving a bit more thought to the whole idea of a budget and decided I need to go back to the days of tracking spending so I can be realistic about what my needs are. I've also decided I want a credit card so I can have a decent credit rating. At the moment it will be worse than it should be because there's so little to track. It will also be useful for holidays, larger spends and Internet shopping.

Last but not least: this month I will have a MSE signature.

Cherry takes the reins

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