And so it begins....

misscousinitt

Hi Pixie

Just a few things I picked up on...its generally ok as if you take your annual spends off in monthly chunks ie £250, then you still have £116 left over at the end of the month!

Groceries seem a bit high for 2 + 2 pud cats - have a trip over to Old Style where they will give you loads of tips to cut this down (we are 2 + 1 pud cat and we spend on average £200/month including wine!).

Spends (for 2) - what do you spend this money on? Could this be cut down to allow a small OP while you are building up your Emergency Fund?? If you don't know what this is spent on, maybe keep a spending diary and see if you are spending it on things you need (I realise that the odd treat is in order) but can this money be directed elsewhere?

You really need to add your annual spends to your SOA pro-rata over 12 months to give you a clear idea of what you have left.

It might be an idea to put something in for Clothes even if its £10/month - you are bound to need a pair of shoes or some underwear sometime in the year - if you don't spend it! OP it at the end of the year!

Emergency Fund - I think you need to build a bit up before you start to OP too much - maybe the £500 you were talking about? If you can cut your groceries and save your surplus you will get there in a couple of months. I don't think its wise to use your savings for annual bills as an emergency fund.

Bank Account - at first I looked at this and thought 'do you use all the benefits?' but I see you get your preferential mortgage rate throught this. Still, it might be worth looking at ditching it when you come off the fixed rate.

I think there is scope for you to to make some good savings on your SOA, build up an emergency fund and keep up small OPs.

Hope this helps.

JimmyTheWig

PixieFace wrote: »

I found an unnecessary amount of sheets and pillow cases, which are all hideous and the wrong size. Am wondering what to do with them.

You seem to be doing a lot of decorating. Can you use the sheets as dust sheets?

PixieFace wrote: »

Spends I guess is the last thing. That, my friends, is for baccy. (I know, so please don't waste your valuable time, one day.......;))

I know you said don't bother, but can I just say this...
Find out how many minutes a cigarette takes off your life.
Work out how many minutes making an overpayment of the cost of cigarette would take off your mortgage.
Add these together and it will give you then length of time mortgage-free that you could have if you don't have a cigarette.

Is that enough to make it worthwhile at least cutting down?

PixieFace

Thanks misscousinitt, might have a rethink about the emergency fund. Groceries usually come in below £300, so any that is left over can be moved to savings/mortgage, I am now keeping a close track on this and transferring money each week when we don't spend the full £60 awaiting OP, but accessible if we find we overspend at a later point. I will also have a look at budgeting for everything on a monthly basis and see how it goes, I think it will give me some peace of mind that I've got money tucked away ready when I need it.

Hi JimmyTheWig. We already have a couple of sheets for dust sheets, and though some bits could go in the garage for lying on the floor type jobs (OH idea this one - not sure exactly how many mucky things he does whilst lying on the floor, but I'd put money on it not being enough to have special sheets for ) I certainly like your thinking on the smoking cost v mortgage freedom theory. Annoyingly, it's not so much me that needs convincing to cut down. I decided one day in August last year not to smoke at work during the day anymore, and have managed with relative ease (except in summer when the window is open now that everyone hangs out round the front whilst having apuff). I smoke quite a bit more at weekends, which annoys me, so need to look at cutting back then, but I think OH probably goes through two thirds of the baccy. I have suggested quitting/cutting down before and, oh, if looks could kill, damn sure I'd be stone dead.

I find with OH though that it's subtle infiltration that makes all the difference. I realised this the day I came home to find he had made too much white sauce for the top of the lasagne, and (wait for it) had put the rest IN THE FREEZER :T Not something he'd have considered other than my 'geek' behaviour obviously rubbing off on him. Now he's talking about a chest freezer for increased storage capacity for stocks and soups and buying meat at the rate of half an animal at a time. He even seemed marginally impressed by my mortgage calculations for OPing the other day (not the spreadsheet itself though, that is just nerdy).

Today I made £40 on work mileage (for about £10 of fuel used), which I will be putting in the car in the form of diesel on the way home and moving from my work float into my OP savings. I have also decided to do surveys during my lunch break, rather than leaving them all until the weekend, by which time half of them are no longer available, so have made 50 points on Ipsos. Long way off yet as I've only just had a voucher from them. Am stuck at £7 on Valued Opinions and never seem to qualify these days, and am at about 1300 points in YouGov.

I have been giving serious thought to stoozing, or cashback/rewards credit cards recently, but don't feel quite ready for this yet.

PixieFace

Good news - work are getting us corporate gym membership for the one I already use.
Bad news - it's not going to happen until the start of the new tax year.


Still, only five more payments for me and then I can turn my gym membership money into an OP:j

Other bad news, the alarm clock broke this morning. Not that it bothers me, but OH needs the most obnoxious noise in the world as loud as possible in order to get out of bed, so £12 going on that. However, I ordered via TCB (my first purchase that way) on a reserve and collect at a shop I can drive past on my way home, so no real hassle. I just hope the alarm is loud enough!

But I did go swimming again this morning. Am thinking this needs to be in my signature in some way, maybe plan to swim so many times per month. Problem is, when I'm away with work, as I am next week, I don't swim at all. Shall look at adding a signature at the weekend I think.

JimmyTheWig

PixieFace wrote: »

[OH] had made ... white sauce for the top of the lasagne

I'm impressed with this, if nothing else!

baffcat

PixieFace wrote: »

Other bad news, the alarm clock broke this morning. Not that it bothers me, but OH needs the most obnoxious noise in the world as loud as possible in order to get out of bed, so £12 going on that. However, I ordered via TCB (my first purchase that way) on a reserve and collect at a shop I can drive past on my way home, so no real hassle. I just hope the alarm is loud enough!

You couldn't cancel the order & just use the alarms in your mobile phones instead? My whole family, even my mobile-phobic wife, do this now.

PixieFace

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I'm impressed with this, if nothing else!

:rotfl:Fortunately, he's really quite good in the kitchen, specialises in stew and pie. Not so good with portion control, but I'm getting really good at using up leftovers .

PixieFace

baffcat wrote: »

You couldn't cancel the order & just use the alarms in your mobile phones instead? My whole family, even my mobile-phobic wife, do this now.

Baffcat, if only, the alarm on the phones simply isn't loud enough (the guy slept through an earthquake once), and I've ususally left for work before he gets up. What we really need is a foghorn on a timer with a snooze option .

baffcat

PixieFace wrote: »

Baffcat, if only, the alarm on the phones simply isn't loud enough (the guy slept through an earthquake once), and I've ususally left for work before he gets up. What we really need is a fogorn on a timer with a snooze option .

I bet there's an app for that

PixieFace

baffcat wrote: »

I bet there's an app for that

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

*Sneaks off to try and work out how to use a smart phone*