New Year. New House. New Budget

Lurker1972

Yikes. I nearly made a big boo-boo!

Had missed off accidental damage from insurance quote... When added on, that bumped up the premium to higher than renewal....more research required.... Rats!

Lurker1972

Too much playing on Internet......MIL bed done, sauce for spag Bol made using dodgy looking onions n mushrooms, now cooling before going into freezer.

House insurance sorted, thanks to MrL being extra grown up and found acceptable cover including accidental damage for £163 less than renewal. Not sure he overly happy about being an official saga customer, but its all money in the bank.

Off to MrT now, not looking forward to it, tea and cake needed before and after I think!!!

Lurker1972

Ok, am in post overload today..... Making up for list time....

Shop done. Spent too much but that's what I expected. Also filled my car up with petrol. Wasn't essential but shouldn't need any now until February...at the earliest - I do very little mileage in my car and we have debated whether or not we need her and always decide that yes, we do! While we share transport to work and try to combine journeys, there are always times that it just doesn't work. So 2 cars it remains!

Feeling like a zzzzzzzz right now, but should probably do a bit more housework first......zzzzzzz

Lurker1972

Mmmm pleasant nap, joined by a fluff ball which was very nice but have now lost my oomph. Need to walk Dyson round the house, sort out the guest bed and locate dining room table.....and shower before going out....and clean litter tray ........and house feels cold......which is even more reason to move my butt....

Lurker1972

Final post for the day as need to get showered & am only halfway through walking Dyson. Had to stop as am now meltin!!

All beds ready, was very impressed with my vacuum space bag things - guest bedding came out and puffed up to normal size instantly. Kind of cool!
MSE overview of day
Tumble drier has been on:o but its either that or no clean bedding.
Spent too much at MrT but saved lots on house insurance and eating out tonight at a buy one get one free place.

I'm taking that as 3-2 to me.

Lurker1972

And I now have a peaceful house as MrL is taking the offspring and his ma home. No arguments which was a bonus.

Am contemplating New Years resolutions. I don't normally bother. It's almost setting yourself up to fail. Yet I feel the need to have a target, other than debt reduction.

We need to lose weight. Generally speaking we don't eat unhealthily, cook from scratch more than I ever thought I would be able to. We do however spend too much time on the sofa.

The house needs TLC. But we are now on the pricey jobs. Typical. Boiler replacement is high on the list, but has been delayed as we seem to have a problem with a leaky roof which is causing a problem in the bathroom. And possibly now the hallway! Then there is the garden and getting MrL to agree with me.

I would also like to make more of the time we spend together. We play games together, but mostly on iPhones etc which reduces conversation..... We try and do date night (not the jiggly kind) every couple of weeks. But it doesn't always work. We are also trying to make the most of orange Wednesdays...another way to reduce conversation!

Maybe some days out. 2012 has shown the world that the UK has so much to offer, seems silly not to experience our own country more.

Mmmm, so many thoughts, need a plan......

Lurker1972

& halfway through the month & we have taken a number of steps backwards. :mad::mad::mad: doesnt cover it.

It all started when we decided to wait for the sales to buy each other Christmas presents......& ended up buying a new fridge freezer!!!! our existing one is 11 years old & although its not dead, dying or even poorly, we found one in the sale that is very pretty, cheaper to run than the current one & has almost double the space... BUT its wider than we have space for, so we need to move some cupboards, replace others with narrower ones.....which means new doors.....the list goes on.

ok, so now the plus side. Bigger freezer means more space for yellow stickers. There has always been a plan to give the kitchen a facelift, and the doors we had chosen are currently 25% off.....so kitchen will have last traces of previous wife beating owner removed. Thats definately a plus!!

The weather is preventing proper diagnosis of the leaky roof, but the suggested one is apparently fairly easy to fix & not too expensive - according to our neighbour the previous owner had issues in the same area for years & in his opinion never fixed it properly....poor neglected house!!

Meal planning is going well. Mostly. Have taken lunches to work everyday this year, and not ventured to the chocolate machine (helped by the fact it isnt working) or had any work sweets. but we've not done any exercise. not even played on the wii. baby steps i suppose, we are still getting back into routine after christmas break - although it seems so long ago!!

I now have a fluffball trying to sit on my lap (or more likely the warm laptop) which is making it very difficult to type......must be feeding time.....

Lurker1972

No alarm clock this morning, but a fluffball thought I was supposed to be getting up for work so did her best to wake me by using the new scratching post at 6.50.....it didnt work, and I was able to doze for a further very pleasant 40 minutes.

weekly weigh shows a loss than is hardly measurable, but it'll do me. We have eaten the last of the Christmas goodies now so there is less temptation in the house.

I don't think we have had any extra snow overnight, which means I am probably off shopping with me ma, hopefully to buy her Christmas present - her 'budget' has been safely tucked away in my purse so its not really spending...

i probably have an hour before she will be ready to leave and in that time i need to shower, dress, load dishwasher, washing machine, iron jeans, tidy round living room and get sausages out for MrL to cook my tea!!

& most importantly, make sure i have my discount card for additional 10% off and spends and a free cuppa!!

Lurker1972

Review of the week:

Went out with me ma, spent some of her Xmasbudget, but still have some left over in case anything grabs me.
Remembered the discount voucher, so got further 10 % off sale prices and free tea.
It was also a good day to go - the snow kept most people away, roads were fine although car park a little dicey. meant no crowds, no queues for anything.

I was sort of good. wanted a pair of shoes. actually, could say needed - i currently go from boots straight to toes out which means overheating or cold feet until the weather is right. Found a pair that was me, couldnt decide between blue & pink. both were reduced so that wasnt an aiding factor. as i couldnt decide, i didnt buy either. still need shoes. will keep looking.

Work has been ok, busy & creating much brain ache - and will continue to do so as we get our heads round all the welfare changes. one trip to the chocolate machine this week which was not good, but it was needed. bit of a spendy week as we had meal out for a leaving do, plus present contribution etc, and needed stamps, but stayed within the weekly spend budget, just!!

Today was supposed to be mass cleaning session, but got hindered by MrL not going out as early as expected & then i changed my planned time for the supermarket run to collect a money off voucher from my mum - £7 off £50 spend.

Now, I didnt intend to spend that much, £30 to £40 was the original idea. However, we are almost out of coffee pods and although they are cheaper to buy online, there is a minimum spend for free delivery of £35 .... so with the voucher in mind I adapted the shopping list and off I went adding it up as i went along. in my head i was at £49, so added a 3rd box of porridge sachets (16 box, half price, 9p per sachet!!) ....got to the checkout & was £48.88 (must have been my guestimates for bananas & pears), being that close, I had to top up the shop.....with chocolate.mmmmm thank you Mr T, weekly shop £43, & MrL has stocks of his special coffee.

I have to say I have never taken so long to eat a curly wurly.....it was very broken so disappeared bit by bit, instead of in 4/5 bites. strangely much more enjoyable too.

Have tweaked my spreadsheets a bit, sent MrL to get the BS passbooks updated with the peanuts they call interest 7 to pay in £2 in coppers. his other errand was also moneywise - post off my simply health claim for dentist check up. only 3 weeks after the appointment.

Now have to
Make bed
walk dyson....ideally a long walk all around the house, realistically, lounge, our bedroom and landing. stairs if am really good.
iron clothes to go out in tonight (Burns Night @ a friends) and for work for Monday & Tuesday as I doubt I will get chance tomorrow & then am out on Monday evening.

Plans for the kitchen are causing me stress. I miss the oven in our old house. it was eye level & so much easier to use. This one is slow to heat, has no timer, is built under, and I just am not getting on well with it. I am trying to find a way of putting in an eyelevel one, but so far am failing. the compromise would be to replace the current one with a more user friendly one. but it would still be positioned wrong so i am reluctant. need to decide as the fridge freezer arrives in 10 days & kitchen needs to be ready by then!!!!! budget is limited too of course, so I have to accept that I cant have my ideal. hmmm can feel myself going into spoilt brat mode, so best get on with tidying, that should snap me out of it!!

wow that was a mega post....copied incase it disappears.....

Lurker1972

Yikes, seemed to have skipped February!!!

Kitchen facelift stage 1 is complete, looks good and came in under budget.
Unfortunately, something went wrong somewhere else and we had to use the money left in kitchen budget plug the gap. There were tears. MrL did all the reassuring at it would work out, then last weekend I had to pull him out of the money downer! Team work eh?!

It would have been nice to have the start of a budget for stage 2 but given that it would be a time consuming job and we are both hellishly busy at work at the moment maybe it's as well that it waits until we have more time....time that we need to rebuild the budget.

Pennies are being watched much more carefully. Hope to be back on track by end of April. Scrap that. WILL be back on track by end of April.

Experimented with whole meal pasta in an attempt to be healthier. It was not a success so the compromise is to buy the 50/50 stuff made for sainsbugs. Had a result for a low fat pasta meal so that's another to add to the list.

Weightloss isn't really happening. Might get easier if the weather ever improves. Not sure why, just the mindset maybe!

Time to check the cupboards and create the meal plan.....or just have an early one.....