Peonie's journey to smart money management

Peonie

Thanks for the advice; I have always been a bit concerned about refrosting, cooking and refreezing food. I will certainly remember your advice the next time my freezer defrosts, LOL. About 6 years ago we left the freezer door open and the food started to defrost; I can't remember how much was uncooked meat but our parents suddenly had an invitation for dinner at ours; and the buffet was large and strangely varied. 'Would you like a meat pie with your pasta and mascarpone?'

Peonie

I had a lovely evening seeing friends; I've convinced them to start a book club; we'll probably read the classics like Dickens and Austin. And last night I visited my parents.

Tomorrow the concrete for the garage and toilet/utility floor is being poured. By Monday we should have our garage back and the cats will move out of the house and into the utility area. This means we can start to move tools and furniture around the house to where they should be. :T

Also this weekend we have visitors staying; luckily they enjoy walking so we'll probably take them to a National Trust park then on Sunday we'll go to a bargainous carvery for dinner.

Money wise I found this month to be a bit tight before I got paid this week so I'm only going to move over £100 from my account into the ISA; the £150 I do not transfer will help to build a bigger money cushion. I will also credit the ISA with £150 from the joint account. And the £300 monthly saver money has left my account and will credited early next week.

We did a small shop during the week to keep us going so tomorrow I'll do the big one to last a few weeks.

Peonie

Peonie wrote: »

Tomorrow the concrete for the garage and toilet/utility floor is being poured. By Monday we should have our garage back and the cats will move out of the house and into the utility area. This means we can start to move tools and furniture around the house to where they should be. :T

The concrete is down and cost £230. Having my house back by Monday was a bit optimistic; it's likely to be next Friday before we can move heavy goods onto it. We will move the cats into the garage on Monday as they are light, and will not leave cat footprints by then, and so they have access to the cat flap again.

The 3 weekly food shop is complete; I shopped at Mr A**i and Mr T; altogether it cost about £165.

Peonie

Peonie wrote: »

The concrete is down and cost £230. Having my house back by Monday was a bit optimistic; it's likely to be next Friday before we can move heavy goods onto it. We will move the cats into the garage on Monday as they are light, and will not leave cat footprints by then, and so they have access to the cat flap again.

I was wrong again; we moved the majority of the equipment back into the garage yesterday morning. I was beaming from ear to ear. We now have the garden room back and have moved the chairs to their rightful place.

Then we cleaned the whole house in preparation of our visitors. It was lovely to see them we went for a walk and to the park with their toddler. I did try cutting up a whole chicken as I read on here it's more economical. It was a pain and I do not think I will do it again. There was meat left on the carcus; I threw it in the oven then picked it cleaned. We had a lovely meal in; then today we had a humungous carvery at a local pub; I feel so fat I think I'll swap a normal evening meal for soup.

Peonie

Hi folks,
The FD standing orders have been set up; I checked; the fund transfers only need to start in April but I've set them up to start in March so I can check they are working properly.
I hope everyone is well.
Px

Peonie

Well, I'm applying for a new job; I don't think I'll get it as I do not have all the experience required but as I have more experience interviewing people and reading good application forms I want to put into practice what I've learnt. Plus I'll see how good my blagging is and if I don't get an interview or the job at least I'll get some feedback.

The closing date is supposed to be tomorrow but I phoned and they will accept application until 10am Monday morning. Lovely.

Next a confession, I have ordered a cheeky Chinese takeaway for dinner. We've not had a takeaway in months. But I did take a packed lunch into work.

The mortgage has been paid today; I expect it to be around the £150,330 mark. Next month it will be below £150K; we will have passed the first milestone.

shala_moo

Good luck with the job application..

It'll be great to see your mortgage dropping below the £150K mark next month! A good milestone to achieve.. :T

Peonie

Thanks, the application has been emailed; I will phone them soon to make sure they have received it. It's been 40 minutes since I sent it and they have not received it. Edited to add: They received it before the deadline - phew.

Fingers crossed I will get to the interview stage; if I get the job I actually think I'll pee myself.

Last night we chopped a massive gammon in half; we now have honey roasted and boiled gammon ready to be cut up and froze.

We had a great weekend; we went to see a war ship. Mr P helped my dad on Saturday and I went to the garden centre with mum and spent £27 on plants - oops. Two of the plants were discounted so I made a savings.

I also had to stop myself from transferring money into the ISA; I need to wait until I get paid later in the month.

Peonie

Hello,

The kitchen, utility and cloakroom renovations really look like they are starting to move. We've had two walls built (£120 for labour) and next week the electrician is coming, following that the plumber and finally the plasterer. And whilst all of the other trades are in and out the joiner will be in. Here are the estimated costs:

Electrician £650
Plumber £1050
Plasterer £400
Joiner £500
Radiators £200
Sink and washbasin £300
Doors £283
Door frame and stud walls £120
Total £3,503

We have £1,227 left in the renovation fund; clearly that's not going to cover the costs.

I can take £900 from the joint account and I will have to use this month's ISA money of £350

That means we need to find an extra £1,026 (at least).

So I'm not sure where to pull the money from. Do I reduce my 8% saver from £300 to the minimum payment of £25 and take some money from the ISA? I'll have to look at the interest rates and compare.

I think we will get the majority of the work completed this month; if only I could pay after the 20th this and next month then I could draw the extra money from my wages.

Unfortunately I still need to have enough money in the accounts to transfer cash in and out of the accounts each month to get the £5 Halifax bonus and to not pay the £10 FD charge each month. I would prefer not to get another credit card or a loan.

Lois_E

Peonie wrote: »

Hello,

The kitchen, utility and cloakroom renovations really look like they are starting to move. We've had two walls built (£120 for labour) and next week the electrician is coming, following that the plumber and finally the plasterer. And whilst all of the other trades are in and out the joiner will be in. Here are the estimated costs:

Electrician £650
Plumber £1050
Plasterer £400
Joiner £500
Radiators £200
Sink and washbasin £300
Doors £283
Door frame and stud walls £120
Total £3,503

We have £1,227 left in the renovation fund; clearly that's not going to cover the costs.

I can take £900 from the joint account and I will have to use this month's ISA money of £350

That means we need to find an extra £1,026 (at least).

So I'm not sure where to pull the money from. Do I reduce my 8% saver from £300 to the minimum payment of £25 and take some money from the ISA? I'll have to look at the interest rates and compare.

I think we will get the majority of the work completed this month; if only I could pay after the 20th this and next month then I could draw the extra money from my wages.

Unfortunately I still need to have enough money in the accounts to transfer cash in and out of the accounts each month to get the £5 Halifax bonus and to not pay the £10 FD charge each month. I would prefer not to get another credit card or a loan.

Don't worry about having a big lump to transfer in and out of Halifax and FD. As long as you pay in the right total, it can be in lots of little instalments. So suppose you need £1000 and you've only got £100. Well, send the £100 from Halifax to FD by faster payments. Take it out of your FD account at a cashpoint and put it back in Halifax. Repeat ten times, and you will have payments into each account totalling £1000, so job's a good 'un.