Finally I have a mortgage I can start to pay off!

South_coast

Well done on the Sainsbury's shop 😀! I seem to have had loads of Nectar points this month with very little spending, but I think that's because they're giving me bonus Count Up To Christmas points for hitting certain points targets - and as I'm only buying the items I've got offers on I'm racking up points for little outlay! I also had a 300 points when you spend £10 on Tu coupon which I used to stock up on tights, which then caused me to hit another Count Up To Christmas target and earn more points 🤣!

themadvix

Morning all,

Thanks SC! I'm not sure I count as enough of a Sainsbury's shopper to be invited to their bonus point things - not heard of that! You do so well with them though.

More number crunching at the weekend and a bit of a 'discussion' with DH about money. Largely my fault and I think I may have miscalculated something, which made everything seem worse than it was. Below is my new budget for all the non-bills spends I have to cover (my contributions still add up to less than DH's - he pays mortgage, life assurance, basic cat costs (i.e. there are some bits that I cover too):

* £150 food budget (at the moment I've asked DH to continue to pay for a monthly delivery, but my aim is to take this back off him asap). I've changed my veg box to a larger one every other week. This means I've have to buy milk on the weeks we don't have a box, but it will definitely work out cheaper (currently we tend to get a small box 3-4 times a month). Milk is about £22/month from the milkman. I won't be getting the extra from him, but from the Coop in all probability. So milk + veg = £55. £30-35 zero-waste shop top up. That leaves £60 - a supermarket delivery + a top-up from supermarket probably. It's tight, but should be doable - this doesn't include alcohol and I think that works better. Of course, we'll continue to be supplemented food wise by Olio and the garden, both of which help. At the beginning of the pandemic I became a bit of a hoarder in terms of making sure we didn't run out of stuff, and that wasn't me previously, so I'd like to get back to holding less stock and making sure we use every last bit. As I said at the weekend, I intend to use more pulses and legumes in our diet, which will also help with the cost.
* £75 personal spends - for socialising/personal spends (the very rare book)
* £40 petrol (this is the average of what I've spent in the last 3 months - it may go up, but the EV helps hugely)
* £50 toiletries (that aren't bought in bulk or from supermarket), household, garden bits 

I've never had budgeted pots for these sorts of spends, and while I've looked at the last three months' spending, it's all a bit finger in the air, so record-keeping and regular reviews will be needed. If it's not feasible, it's not feasible.

I've also tweaked my money put aside for tax/pension. I have been putting 40% of everything I earn (i.e. no allowance for personal allowance) away to cover tax, NI and pension, but I've caught up hugely with where I should be pension-wise over the last few years and if I tweak this to 38% this frees up about £60/month. This should allow me to put more money in my ISA (where I can access it now or later), rather than locking it away until I'm 60+ (some goes in my LISA). I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but I think I'm doing pretty well with pension savings now and this small difference should mean I can invest in my ISA more regularly.

Work has been quiet again and DH pointed out that I need to earn more rather than cut back more. So I'll be submitting my CV and details to some agencies (in my field, not for employment). I haven't done this in a long time because it never really brought any results, but I realised that I've now got 14 years of experience and I don't need to scrape around to find examples of projects I've worked on - so maybe things will be different now.

I've also been in touch with my friend at Cambridge who I used to do work for as she said to ask if I needed any work - and she's got something for me, but has to sort the paperwork first. So that's another positive.

All of the above, of course, assumes we're not moving. We've been looking but still not seen anything that excites us.

MS things:
* Clicks done (won 15p on HW)
* Comps entered 
* PB winners list checked - no big prize for me this month
* Meal plan going well
* Free breakfast (pastry) this morning
* Dad brought me some narcissi bulbs he'd got leftover - will keep a few, but plan on potting 3 pots up for friends for Christmas (saving on present budget for them!)

Gratitudes:
* Badminton yesterday morning
* Totally lazy day with DH, playing 'build a city'-type game on Playstation yesterday
* Saw Dad and partner in afternoon

Have a good afternoon all!

themadvix

Morning all,

Some money news to update:
* 17p TCB transferred to Reward Wallet (saving up for a giftcard - nearly at £15, which is when I'll stop) - larger amounts come out as cash
* Have been told refund from BP pulse has been processed (I had to chase yesterday - spoke to another uncharismatic and unapologetic CS representative) - 5-10 working days for it to arrive though. I've a good mind to write and complain.
* PA surveys - at last! Including a decent sized one that has just tipped me over the payout threshold for the first time in two months!
* Have cancelled milk order for Friday as we won't be here on Sunday. Will need to buy 4 pts from Coop today, but that should see us through until Monday. Have set up Coop card with 25p off voucher.

Apart from faffing with milk order, NSD yesterday (will wait until milk is all sorted before reporting spend).

Have struck a gold mine on work platform - a customer specifically wants me to do the work and has quite a few bits for me to do. So work is sorted for today.

Submitted CV and applications to 6 agencies yesterday, so we'll see if anything comes back from them. Not expecting it to be immediate though. If I have time, I'll apply to a few more today.

Gratitudes:
* Sun is shining and the golden trees look stunning against the bright blue sky
* New client is lovely and communicative
* Work

Have a good day all!

Suffolk_lass

That all sounds good to me TMV. I'm guessing your search area is quite specific in Norfolk. If it were me, now, I would be looking for something reasonably close to amenities, a plot of land or a small property on a reasonably large plot that I could demolish or extend

themadvix

Thanks SL. Yes, it wasn’t really that we were looking in Norfolk but that property came up (near the Suffolk border, west Norfolk) and it all looked like it would work perfectly. Now we’re looking in a much wider area mainly closer to home but nada. We have a long list of criteria!

 Yes, I think land or something we can knock down is the answer, but financially we need some cash for that and a lot more researching! BM gave me some good advice this time last year, so I think I need to have another read. 

ETA: £25 JL/WR voucher arrived in the post from Maximiles. 2 shirts relisted on eBay as they haven’t sold on Vinted. Suspect Vinted is good for mainstream stuff that sells quickly - unless you’re prepared to pay to bump it, there’s no way to push listings back to the top, so visibility disappears quickly. 

themadvix

Morning all,

A few bits of work this morning and some adminny stuff. The work for the new client via the platform has stopped for now but she says there'll be more in a few days. This will really make a difference to my income this month as it will be paid on the 2nd Tuesday (so counts at the moment towards November's pay).

Did my Olio collection this morning and there were a few use by bits I couldn't list - a wrap and two salads that DH and I will probably have for lunch and two bags of prepped veg which can go in the freezer. Also kept back some naughty bits in my 10% allocation. There were flowers too, which I kept, and then the Olioer I'd requested some from yesterday got back to me (she'd ended up going to hospital yesterday), so I've just collected another two bunches! Will give one to SIL as she's nearby and I need to pop over to collect some apples FIL has left with them.

DH is away tonight with work, so I have the pleasure of (his) family quiz on my own. Once I've completed the work I've got at the minute I plan to do some decluttering - there's some bits for the rag bin, the charity shop and a small amount for the dump - will try to get there this afternoon between taking DH to the station and dusk!

Spends yesterday:
* £1.50 milk 

MS things:
* Comps entered, clicks done (no HW win today)
* £1 Populous survey completed
* RM survey item posted
* Free lunch!
* Frozen leftovers for my dinner
* More PA surveys yesterday afternoon

Gratitudes:
* Many lovely Olioers (we'll gloss over the ones who can't be bothered to be polite)
* Beautiful flowers
* It's cold but dry out, so fine for walking

Have a good afternoon all!

Karmacat

Sounds like you're really keeping it together on your present day spends while reassessing the basics of the move, and your finances too.  Love that!

themadvix

Morning all,

Thanks Karma. I think I can attribute the close analysis/new way forward to Cheery's suggestion of an uber frugal November and her close analysis of spending. I've just got to stick to it now! 

So far, so good though. Meal plan has been stuck to rigidly and without any issues. Tonight is the very lazy eggs, potato waffles (leftover from friends' son's visit last week!) and beans. Maybe followed by apple-based dessert if I get round to stewing the huge bag from FIL today. 

Off to Mum's town this morning for a quick trip to John Lewis - in the app they're offering £10 of free chocolate to us, no minimum spend, so will cash that in! Also signed up to Curry's perks (via a competition) and they've offered 3 months of Apple TV for free... There was something we wanted to watch on there, so that'll be good!

Only a tiny bit of work this morning, so will pop out while I can. I have a face-to-face Drs appointment this afternoon, so need to be back for that - will get caught up on work and other bits later. Have sourced two terracotta pots I'm willing to gift with narcissi bulbs in, so just need one more. Will also buy some compost as I had awful compost in the summer and nothing grew (Westland New Horizon organic stuff - it seems there was a problem with it. Plants did not do at all well - which for me was glossed over by the selling the house/moving process, but I have acouple of perennials that need putting into better soil.)

themadvix

Evening all,

Had a successful shop this morning. Picked up some free chocs courtesy of JL (spent £2.50 more than the allowance, but used the £25 JL voucher I had to cover this) - spent ages deciding which were the best value for money and least plasticky! Also got a baby card for our friends' newly arrived baby and found a bargainous gift for him too that is just right. £5.69 real money spent.

Had lunch at Mum's whilst I was down there. This afternoon I seemed to be in and out the house a lot, but managed to get my steps in, see doctor (all OK) and shift old ironing board to an Olioer. In between, a job became available on the platform, so I claimed it and am working on it now (well, you know, when I'm not prattling on on here). Makes me feel better about my income for today. Also have a small bit to do in the morning for my main client too.

Considering buying some sparklers for tomorrow night - possibly for Niece to visit, but equally just for us. If Mum, Niece and Sis come (have invited but Niece has a cold, so may not come), or we invite BIL and fiancee, I'll have a go at some mulled apple juice or cider or something - will try to be as frugal as poss but spends would come from personal funds, rather than groceries. I just enjoy having people over and celebrating stuff/marking the passing of the year - I can't be so frugal that we don't do such things!

Gratitudes:
* Lunch with Mum
* Freebie chocolates
* DH is home from his work trip

Have a good evening all!

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Another terrible night's sleep, so I don't really know how I'm functioning! Working for my main client today - finishing up the big project this morning and doing another bit for him this afternoon, which will continue into next week. Have also made bread pudding with some of the stale bread from my collection (DH and I have a very stale baguette for lunch - putting it in the oven didn't really do much to refresh it!), popped out for sparklers and bits for mulled cider, apple juice and a few bits to do soup for Mum and Sis (had stuff for Niece in freezer) - and I'll make an apple crumble with some of the stewed apples from FIL. Spent £15, although not all of this was for today's entertaining (and that included the sparklers). The fire in the chimenea is laid and used stuff we already had in. Will analyse spends separately.

MS things:
* £25 claimed from 1Poll!
* Clicks and comps done
* Braved A$DA for some of the stuff (but they didn't have everything I needed, so ended up at Sainsbury's too) - it's a zoo in there, I don't know how anyone shops there! (Sparklers were 10p each though!)
* Bread turned into bread pud (which very sadly, DH isn't that keen on!)

Gratitudes:
* Tea - it's keeping me awake (but may also have contributed to keeping me awake last night - will have one more cup soon and then decaff it is)
* Bread pud (and using my Nan's recipe )
* Work - this new project wasn't expected (although I often don't expect stuff, it just arrives)

Have a good Guy Fawkes' night everyone! (Did I mention I got marshmallows for niece to toast?! It's so much fun now she's old enough to do stuff a bit more )