Lois_E begins a long MFW journey

Peonie

I seriously want one of them, and not just because you have one, but I've wanted one for years. And soon we will have the utility room to put one in. If only I can convince DH...

Lois_E

Today has been not too bad for spending. I had to fill the car up with petrol, but apart from that my only spend was 49p.

I checked my most recent email from the petrolprices website, though, and got the petrol from one of the many options on the lowest price for my area. I notice that petrol is about 3p a litre cheaper in my parents' town than it is here. Note to self - must fill up with petrol whenever I go to see my parents.

Lois_E

Just read summerday's diary - she's another teacher on school holidays and said she was feeling guilty for having unproductive days. I'm not going to go as far as feeling guilty for the unproductive times - I am knackered and need the rest - but I do want to get my act in gear today. So here's my list of things to get done:

[STRIKE]Do a load of washing and hang it up[/STRIKE]
Sort out enormous pile of clean dry washing and put it all away in the right places Well, I've done the stuff from the airing cupboard and utility room. Haven't sorted out the pile that got shoved in my wardrobe last time the cleaner came though
Go through DD's clothes and put the outgrown ones in a sack for passing on to my friend with a younger DD Will have to do this tomorrow
[STRIKE]Clear the mound of random stuff on the dining table
Talk to next door neighbour and bring him up to date with plans for finishing off building work
Make kids tidy up their mess[/STRIKE] They did quite a good job of this in the morning, but sadly had created just as much mess again by bedtime. :wall:
Have also consolidated a couple of boxes of stuff in the spare room, and cleared a lot of space in there by moving all the empty suitcases up to the loft - why didn't I think of that before?

There, I've written it all down instead of having it in my head. The probability that I will actually do it all has just risen from zero to very small.

Off to put the washing machine on....

Just to add to the (admittedly limited) success: NSD today!

gratefulforhelp_2

Unproductive days are a necessity in the summer holiday, and nothing to feel guilty about. I have been messing about with the family and a wheelbarrow.

Lois_E

Yay! Checked my online banking, and found a surprise extra payment in of £15. Turns out it's the cashback from switching gas/leccy. I'd forgotten it was supposed to be coming.

Lois_E

Just had a sneak peek at how my net money is shaping up. I think it's because the rest of you are starting to post end of month summaries for July. My financial month doesn't end until 6th August, so I'm getting impatient!

Anyway, as long as I spend less than £141.79 over the next week then I've improved things since last month. All planned spending (for bills etc) has already been included in that calculation, and the house is already reasonably full of food, so I shouldn't need to buy much except fresh stuff, and it should be easy to keep below the £141.79.

I'm particularly pleased because I've paid £336 towards my house this month - £300 to the builder and £36 for the airing rack - so by the time I get to 6/8/11 and do my end of month calculations I should be over £400 closer to a house that's how I want it and MF.

CathT

That's great going. How much building work do you have left to do? I really need to save for a new boiler but get drawn into sending all my spare cash as OP's! I get impatient with working out my money too, DH and I get paid the 20th and 23rd of each month and by the 1st of each month I want to be working out what spare cash we have! My mortgage debits on the 1st of the month though so those figures keep me going for a day or 2!

Lois_E

CathT wrote: »

That's great going. How much building work do you have left to do? I really need to save for a new boiler but get drawn into sending all my spare cash as OP's! I get impatient with working out my money too, DH and I get paid the 20th and 23rd of each month and by the 1st of each month I want to be working out what spare cash we have! My mortgage debits on the 1st of the month though so those figures keep me going for a day or 2!

Not much left now. The builder's on holiday at the moment, but should only have a week or less of work to finish off when he comes back, and it's perfectly livable at the moment. I'm fed up of only having baths, though, and looking forward to having the shower fitted, not to mention my new clothes drying/airing rack. Then there will be somebody else coming to do some electric stuff, and it'll all be over. The extra stuff should only take a few days but the electrician's booked up until Sept-ish.

Lois_E

Oh dear. Succumbed to the temptation of a take-away last night.
I did keep the cost down by deliberately only taking £10 with me, and managed to feed all 3 of us for £9, with a little extra rice done quickly in the microwave when I got home. And I do have to say that the nearest Chinese to my new house does a fantastic crispy chicken in lemon sauce.

Today I've been pretty good so far. I got some strawberries - £2.25 a punnet, or 2 for £3, so I got 2, which is 1 for us for this evening, and one as a gift for the friend I took my kids to play with today. She's always giving me little food-related gifts because she's that kind of person, so I like to do the same for her.

I've had more people expressing an interest in some of my spreadsheet stuff, so I've now put the one I made for Froggy on Google Docs (only with made up numbers instead of his actual mortgage). It's here.

The weather is gorgeous here but I mustn't go out and enjoy it until I've got through to mastercard about a payment I don't recognise on my statement.

Hope everyone's having a good start to the new month. My personal financial month doesn't end until the 6th, so I'll do a proper update at the weekend.

Radish72

I had a take-away on Friday, we share a meal to make it cheaper, less calories. We were supposed to be having jacket potato and beans but sometimes you just need Chinese