misscousinitt's MF Diary

misscousinitt · 16 January 2014 at 2:54PM

gallygirl wrote: »

Oh dear, that did make me laugh. I thought you were going to 'fess up to a Mulberry handbag or something :rotfl:.

Hope you enjoyed it .

:rotfl:last of the big spenders me:)

I think I really should treat myself to something a bit more exciting.

MCI

misscousinitt · 17 January 2014 at 2:08PM

Treat No2 for Thursday was dinner out.

Got back from work about 7pm and couldn't be bothered - so went out - so now we have used the £20 we had left in the pot (plus DH paid for the remainder).

Bits of cooked meat have been frozen for a risotto another time and tonights tea is Chicken and Mushroon Fajitas with avocado salad and wedges.

Looks like I have busted the January food budget - but as I didn't use all of Decembers I think it will pan out just fine.

February should be down on budget as we still have plenty in the freezers etc...

Happy Friday all.

MCI

misscousinitt · 19 January 2014 at 2:47PM

If I could get rid of this blocked nose then all would be well.

Feeling like I should kick myself into being a little more exciting. Need to do more things with DH and get some jobs done.

Next week the plan is (after avoiding Hurricane <boss's name> as he comes back from holiday tomorrow!!!! eeekkk)

- Get Gift Aid schedule sent off (till end of March 2013)
- Write Directors Report, scan accounts and get things filed with Charity Commission
- Go to Cinema with DH on Tuesday to see The H0bbit (voucher given us for Christmas - cheap day, plus 10% discount booked online)
- Freezer inventory; need to get the bones of next month's plan sorted - used to be really good at this and now it seems like a chore. Will get the cookbooks out Tilly style me thinks.
- Job description for new driver needs to be done <sat job>
- Personal accounts and new spreadsheets

At least there is one exciting thing included in the week's activities - the others will just make me feel better once they are done.

Jobs for today:

- Failed on No1 as didn't get up in time; need new bulb for rear passenger side of car!
- Plant bulbs that Mum gave me in pots. Also doing a trough to take up family friend's grave.
- Get to MILs early as we are doing Tax Return, House insurance search and persuade her to apply for a bus pass (she's 66 and missing out and spending money she doesn't have!)

Mum is much better, saw her yesterday - such a relief. She must be better as she's given me a job to do - type a letter to cancel a policy.

Last night's tea was tuna steaks (and prawns) in sweet chilli glaze with stirfy purple sprouting broccoli and jacket spud with coriander crème fraiche.

We ended up eating a whole pack of tuna steaks as twit here forgot to put the bag back in the freezer! DH did not complain! lol

Hope everyone's weekend is going well - enjoy the sunshine if you have it.

MCI

misscousinitt · 20 January 2014 at 2:49PM

Tax return nearly done. Need to tweak as put the wrong figure in for the PPI she got back (didn't realise it was just the interest you had to pay tax on - phew! but feel a bit of a clot!)

Going back to MILs tonight to finish off - hoping I won't need the helpline.

DH keeps worrying about money - wonder why, but I suppose when I control all the finances I think he's not aware of exactly what we've got.

I need to restructure how I record our savings (joint and house fund) and then I can just show DH exactly what is going on and how much we've got. Neither of our sets of parents had any money when we were growing up and the main cause of arguments was lack of cash and if any cash they did have was spent willy nilly. I know that he is desperate that we don't get into this situation - but I can't see how we will - it would take alot of sillyness to get us to that point.

I also feel the need to try harder with the savings - I know that we are nearly at our target and it seems that we have got here far too easily - we have been lucky. Bonus', dividends, DH being paid back for money he lent out, not paying a mortgage...but I feel we can do better - especially with the spends on food.

I have been thinking about the target and really, this was a first stage target - the absolute minimum I would want to save before moving house; this would rely on DH and I adding some of our own individual savings to the pot to give our potential 15% deposit and £4k for renovations/moving in costs/decorating etc... So I think the stage 2 target it to get the whole 15% deposit together ie £21k and then at least we have the option to either spend more on doing a new house up or putting more of a deposit down in the first place. The third stage target (if we get that far) would be £31k taking care of deposit and 'doing up' fund. But lets just go one step at a time.

The next couple of months should see us hit £15k and then on to the next - I need a re-newed sense of enthusiasm to take us further and to once and for all put DHs mind at rest re money.

Tonights tea will be the fridgeraiders rissotto we didn't have on Thursday (meat is in the freezer and there are still bits in the fridge).

Quite proud of myself that I managed to catch up on the washing this weekend (2 weeks worth). Need to keep this focus going...

Hope everyone is having a good Monday - at least the sun is shining here.

MCI

PS Bulbs planted and trays prepared for strawberry seeds.

Alchemilla · 20 January 2014 at 6:25PM

Missdynamiccousinitt.

misscousinitt · 21 January 2014 at 2:15PM

Alchemilla wrote: »

Missdynamiccousinitt.

Woooo...never been called that before:rotfl:

misscousinitt · 21 January 2014 at 2:28PM

In other news...

MILs tax return is done and they owe her £185 as they didn't increase her tax allowance when she hit 65! Spoke to a very nice (if somewhat serious) chap at HMRC and we went through it all and made sure everything was right! She's really pleased and so are we as we know we would have had to lend her the money (which isn't a problem - its just that she insists on paying her debts and I don't want to hurt her pride).

Bad news is there is a good chance I'll have to do one next year (boo) depends on whether we get a dividend or not - the way they keep bringing the thresholds down mean that I may have to do one!

Anyway, enough talk of tax and stuff...

Been thinking about the groceries and I'm thinking that February will be a low spend month. I was thinking I might be able to cut my budget in half??, but I think that will be un-realistic (especially before I've done a proper freezer inventory) - so I am going to go for a £50 reduction (this month onl) ie £150 and see how I get on. I reckon it could go lower than that, but we will see.

We still have 8 bottles of wine from Christmas which should see us through February easily as I am still drinking next to nothing (although I did reward myself with a spritzer last night!). The freezers are also still pretty full - but really need to know what I've got.

Have booked the cinema tickets for the h0bbit tonight, got my 10% discount, but forgot our voucher - whoops! Anyway, looking forward to our 'date' tonight.

DH said we could eat out tonight, but I said that I would do something quick from the freezer as the showing isn't until 8pm.

So, tonight's tea is LO Venison Casserole (from the freezer) with pasta.

Hope today is being kind to you all - fog cleared and sun shining (sort of) here!

MCI

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS · 21 January 2014 at 2:30PM

MCI , if I lived near to you I'd come and help you sort the freezers. I love that type of activity - makes me sound a little sad but who cares :rotfl:

Tilly x

misscousinitt · 21 January 2014 at 5:26PM

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS wrote: »

MCI , if I lived near to you I'd come and help you sort the freezers. I love that type of activity - makes me sound a little sad but who cares :rotfl:

Tilly x

Thanks Tilly. I know you are bored of resting, but....:)

MCI

edinburgher · 21 January 2014 at 10:01PM

Bad news is there is a good chance I'll have to do one next year (boo) depends on whether we get a dividend or not - the way they keep bringing the thresholds down mean that I may have to do one!

Can't you move some of the assets into an ISA, or no room?

misscousinitt's MF Diary

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