Pavlovs_dog starting as she means to go on...

katsu

Good luck on getting one from Cardiff - they are definitely worth trying out

pavlovs_dog

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

Priorities for the month ahead

*get estimates for having new aerial and socket points installed.
had two quotes which varied wildly. going to try and line some more up for half term because OH is useless at talking to tradespeople

*[STRIKE]find out if it is possible to view mortgage balance online[/STRIKE]

*join and attempt to keep up with flylady - i've been a bit lax on the cleaning front
about to start 3rd week. have yet to manage a full week of flying but it's helping me to keep on top of the basics. looking forward to having a good clean next weekend.

*choose and apply for new ISA accounts as rates on current ones are rubbish.
work in progress - started ISA application, need to send in I.D

* set up savings account to drip feed the money for larger annual purchases (eg insurance policies)

*create standing orders to automatically pay into new savings accounts

*plan rough budget and present list for christmas.
what i'd planned to spend per person and how much I want to spend in total are currently two very different sums :eek: still under condsideration

*reduce J's mobile contract down to £10/month contract - he doesn't need any more and we get free weekend calls with our phone package

*track expenditure on food and ensure we stay within budget. we've been successfully mealplanning and shopping from the cupboards following a big shop when we first moved in so it shouldn't be too difficult

*maintain organisation level regarding school work

* make inclusive calls to avoid being charged by BT for not making enough calls :cool:
been quite easy due to phoning for quotes etc.

meandering through the to-do list.

eyeing up the current account and there is more spare money floating around than anticipated. Considering a small overpayment of say £25 to get into the habit and test the water of how easy it is to process OPs for when we start properly in January. As things stand at the moment we could pay more but I'm reticent to part with too much at the moment because there are still so many jobs to do and thing to buy.

fixed our washing line this weekend. Much easier to dry things on the high line than the clothes airer.

going to bleed all the radiators next weekend to make the GCH more efficient. bought a nice big fleecey blanket in primark for £12 this weekend for the bed - very cosy!

paid our first council tax bill yesterday using tesco credit card to get clubcard points. Was very impressed with the 24 hour automated telephone system to process the payments (assuming that it has worked properly that is)! Am trying to decide whether to go for 12 monthly payments next year to have less going out each month, or pay it over 10 months and use the 2 'free' months to finance something else (possibly OPs). Any thoughts on this?

SmlSave

Cor, you've been busy

LilacPixie

very busy. I need your drive

*Jellie*

You're doing really well with your plans- putting me to shame!
Must sign up for flylady for a bit and give house a good clean!

cha97michelle

Earlier this year i used the 2 council tax free months to overpay, but it depends on you and your budget really. Worth it if you can afford to do it. It's also just handy to have spare cash to go back to savings after christmas or if a big bill for gas/elec comes in.

pavlovs_dog

well tonight the reality of home ownership has really hit home. Mum and stepdad came over to help bleed the radiators to make the CH more efficient, and whilst in the attic tending to the boiler we discovered some rather scary holes in an external wall. I've posted on In my home for advice, just hoping and praying it's something we can fix reasonably cheaply ourselves, because if we have to get scaffolding up and a professional out it will probably wipe out just about every last penny we have to our name.

half term has finally arrived (yay) and i have a MOUNTAIN of work that needs doing (boo). Got an incredibly busy term ahead, with three INSET courses and two school trips on top of all the normal pressures such as getting 3 GCSE classes through their coursework and preparing a year 12 class for January exams. I've been asked to go on the skiing trip to Austria which I was just starting to get excited about, but if the house problems prove to be serious I'm going to have to pull out as i simply won't be able to justify spending on all the ski gear I'll need if the house is in need of TLC.

it seems kind of ironic that i set up a new savings account with the post office this morning to drip feed our regular monthly savings to (eg big bills paid annually such as insurances, wedding fund (he has to make an honest woman of me ONE day), new car fund etc). I'm paranoid karma is having a mighty big laugh at my expense right now

uzubairu

katsu wrote: »

2 - Have you thought of a water meter? We have one and use less than £20 pcm for 2 adults, no kids. Have a washing machine but shower not take baths.

Hope these ideas are some help.

We too have a water meter (new house - no choice in the matter),
a washing machine and a dishwasher (couldn't give it up).
2 adults and no kids.

We went from me having baths every day and OH having 20 minute showers, to 4 minute showers, changed the shower heads, stopped leaving the tap running when brushing teeth, filling dishwwasher before using it, water butt in the garden, amongst other things.

We've gone from an annual water bill of nearly £400 to one of about £265.
We were extremely wasteful, but didn't realise it.
The house is clean and we don't smell awful, but we have added an extra £100+ to the overpayments each year since we started being more sensible with our water usage.

SmlSave

Hope the external wall is ok hun and doesn't need too much work

pavlovs_dog

can't believe how quickly the weeks are whizzing around.

Sofas should be here within next fortnight, which will make life more comfortable. Based on the dimensions it's hard to tell whether they are actually going to fit in through the living room door :eek: there's so much going on at the moment that i don't have the time or the energy to even worry about it, we'll cross that bridge if and when we get to it. Trying to find furniture for the living room is proving to be a nightmare. Things are either too big for the space we have, or i can't get everything i need within the range so that stuff matches. OH really doesn't seem to understand why it's such an issue. We're also going to have to decorate the front room as i've found that the paint work done by the previous owner has cracked in several places. It's not hugely noticeable but now that i know about it it will drive me potty

been a busy old week on the money front. my golden hello money came through (£2500) and i got my second £50 cheque from yougov. Need to decide how they will be used. I suspect the bulk of it will pay for living room furniture so that the money currently floating around in the current account can be used to pay to sort the aerial, get the chimneys capped and sort out the re-pointing. I'm trying not to get too alarmed at all the jobs that i keep finding.

i want to phone the mortgage co to sort out our first OP but we only get free calls on the weekend. I didn't get chance to do it last weekend and next weekend we're off to Surrey for my aunties 40th so it's going to have to wait a while longer. I desperately need to pull my finger out and sort out the aerial and chimney works, think i will make that my target for the next fortnight.