Lulabelle's MFW Diary

lulabelle1

March seems to be getting more expensive by the day

lulabelle1

Energy swap seems to have gone through, but left me with a bill of £269 to pay to the old supplier.

New energy is set at £90 per month, will keep an eye as it could well be too low (given the final balance on my last one).

Been feeling really lazy and a bit achey the last few weeks and I can only put it down to the fact that I really need to get back in to the swing of exercising. (I was never actually in the swing of it, ever, from what I recall but hey ho). So, with that on mind, I dropped DS2 at school and then went for a quick speedy walk. didn't really go that far, but it blew off the cobwebs and I feel great for it. Will go further tomorrow morning....

lulabelle1

Started the day with another walk... drove DS2 to school (it's in the next Village, around 4 miles so can't walk) and then left the car there and went walking around the village. A nice fast walk, I can't run!

Discovered enroute that we'd totally forgotten about the Church Service (Little church right next to school and they do an assembly on the last day of each term where the children sign, read poems, prayers etc etc), so we continued our walking and then snook in to the church just in time for it to start.

Still super chilly and was pretty grey.... but saw lots of lambs and Spring flowers. Hoping for a sunny spring morning walk soon!

TT'd the accounts and checked that everything is in order

Raining now.... pretty miserable - just in time for the long Bank holiday Easter weekend!

lulabelle1

School holidays are now over and they'll be back at school tomorrow I will miss them, but it'll be good to get back to some normality.

March was stupidly spendy, we're doing better for April so far. We had some nice days out during the holiday but nothing too extravagant.

We've booked a 3 night trip away to Ireland for the beginning of August. Not sure whether we'll book anything else. Considering America trip for next year, but I'll have to mess round with the spreadsheets to see whether it's feasible as I don't want to compromise on planned reg saves etc.

Bit of batch cooking this week - vegetable/bean soup yesterday and a chilli - good few portions from each. Also have a chicken curry to make which will be good for a few meals and some pork which will be turned in to pulled pork via the slow cooker - again good for a few meals.

Weather seems to be getting a little better and it's starting to warm up. Planted some bare root climbing roses in the garden last week - they just look like little sticks at the moment so I'm intrigued to see how that works out as we've never planted roses before. The garden to do with some more attention really, but we haven't a clue what we're doing....

lulabelle1

Gosh ages since the last post...

Still doing run/walks but am terribly lazy so they do not happen as often as they should.

Approaching another school holidays so need to think of a few bits and pieces to keep the little and not to little one amused.

Booked flights for next years holiday.... checked every day so that we could book the moment they were released (for Easter). Something to look forward to.

We managed to cut back on spends in April and with the exception of the flights this month (which we'd saved for), it looks like another relative low spend month. Now to keep it going EVERY month!

Loving the warmer weather and being able to spend some time pottering in the garden... makes such a difference

lulabelle1

Wow, what a Summer we've had!

I can't remember the last time we had such a lovely Summer. Still warm and feels rather strange to see the leaves turning and still wearing shorts and flip flops.

It's been a spendy time (nothing new there), with the children needing all of their back to school uniform, coats, new shoes etc etc - they grow too fast!

o/s Mortgage now stands at £115k.

Have been using the Nationwide Reg Savers @5% each for around 10 months now, so they will mature at some point soon - need to decide whether to put the proceeds off the mortgage or perhaps in an ISA - but the rates are shockingly low. Ideally need to access the money at some point as would like to fund another B2L in a year or 2.

Have also opened additional Nationwide Reg Savers @ 2% for any spare savings.

The children's JISA's, S&S ISA and SIPP all seem to be doing quite well at the moment, but I expect this could change all to soon. Whether to hold tight or sell some funds and hope to buy in again if the prices drop? Sounds easier than it is in practise I guess and I'm sure to end up getting it all wrong and being out of pocket.

lulabelle1

I clearly spoke too soon on my last post - the stock market seemed to have a mini seizure right after I posted and the values on the investments have dropped accordingly. Never mind, they're long term so i need to learn to ignore the peaks and troughs. (Easier said than done).

Been rather thrifty for the last few weeks although I'm getting twitchy now and since the weather has changed I keep having the urge to buy new clothes (and shoes). I've resisted so far, but my resistance is faltering!

Away with work for the rest of the week so that might provide some distraction.

Well - after opening the additional 2% Nationwide reg savers, (1 in my name and one in DH's) -one of them has been closed! Apparently Ts and Cs state can't have it if have the flexclusive reg saver (although the Ts and Cs do contradict each other). BUT - DH's is open and functioning (so far) without any problems. Just weird. No biggy - I'm planning to pay in my S&S ISA instead and max that out (hopefully).

CathT

Not checked mine for a while,don't think I'll bother now if they've dropped. Its getting harder to find decent savings account isn't it. We've got a FD regular saver at 6% and also been offered one with m&swho also have a good account transfer offer at the moment!

lulabelle1

CathT wrote: »

Not checked mine for a while,don't think I'll bother now if they've dropped. Its getting harder to find decent savings account isn't it. We've got a FD regular saver at 6% and also been offered one with m&swho also have a good account transfer offer at the moment!

They're up again, lol - so should be safe to check in on them without needing to sit down first

It's really hard Cath.... and quite time consuming/faffy to make the most of some of the available rates that are available...

lulabelle1

Picked up a couple of share tips yesterday and googling around a bit - so have shifted some money from my pittance paying Cash ISA in to my S&S Isa and bought some shares. I'm sure to have given it the kiss of death in doing so, but I have my fingers crossed that it wasn't a bad decision!