Balancing not just the budget

beanielou

Clear the spare room :eek:
Hope it is not like mine.
Need to lie in a darkened room thinking about it.

RosaBernicia

kerri_gt wrote: »

Happy New Year Rosa, sounds like you're doing fab even with the extra expenses. The double good news about your friend coming, is saving the £ of petrol and now it gives you a time scale and motivation to sort the spare room - positive thinking there x

Yes it's definitely good motivation - I've just gone in and shifted three boxes that didn't need to be in there plus two that can be shoved through the loft hatch shortly :rotfl:. The rest is mostly DIY stuff that I could use on one project over the next few weekends and move in time, plus clothes that need sorting for charity shop and 3bay so could really be dealt with in an hour or so even if just bagged up. In fact I might try and sort a bag for Friday as will be in the office that's within walking distance of the charity shop.


Rosa xx

kerri_gt

RosaBernicia wrote: »

Yes it's definitely good motivation - I've just gone in and shifted three boxes that didn't need to be in there plus two that can be shoved through the loft hatch shortly :rotfl:. The rest is mostly DIY stuff that I could use on one project over the next few weekends and move in time, plus clothes that need sorting for charity shop and 3bay so could really be dealt with in an hour or so even if just bagged up. In fact I might try and sort a bag for Friday as will be in the office that's within walking distance of the charity shop.


Rosa xx

That's the spirit. I've just done ours after admitting defeat and getting 'a man' to put a blind up (highly recommend blinds2go btw) then clearing out the 'stuff' that had been shoved in there as OH wanted to use the space. Most of it ended up in the home office and finally making its way to homes (like 9 hangers I bought in the States that don't fit our current wardrobes but are too good to chuck...for when we do have proper sized wardrobes) so in the loft with a box of hangers they have gone (justified by the fact the box was already there so it's not actually extra stuff being put up there ) but slowly working through it all too on the basis that I can't stand sitting in the office looking at it all.

RosaBernicia

Hmmm.

I think I need to think through some advance planning for the year. Booked an osteopath appointment as decided it really is needed, and have adjusted the budget to allow for more appointments next month. It means the buffer fund really is going to have to be repaid slowly and that is ok even if annoying. I have a CC if necessary, family as fallback and when I first got here I owed about five times what I now want eventually in the buffer fund :rotfl:. How things change :rotfl:and how lucky I am :):T

I decided it's more important to get my health sorted. Finally getting round to dentist and osteopath, and am already paying for other appointments though am making progress there and hoping it won't go on indefinitely. Just have to remind myself it means I don't have the 'disposable' figure that's in my head from the monthly budget to actually spend for a while.

I'm beginning to think about holidays and realising that I do need to plan in money for that even if I'm taking the van - pet boarding, diesel, ferries etc. I only have one major thing that needs sorting for the house now and that's furniture - the garden work shouldn't be too much, I can do decorating myself, and other house things can wait til the winter. At this rate my Feb pay 'spare' is spent within the month, so I'm thinking I could use March 'spare' for the furniture and then that gives me April, May, June for a holiday in June and July, August, September for a holiday in September. Not very exact, there will be other things like van insurance due and other trips but it is the outline of a plan. (I haven't been saving for the van costs as I do for the car, just noting them when due for the year.)

I did sort through the clothes in the spare room so I now have a bag ready for the charity shop tomorrow, and an 3bay pile that I'm going to split into summer and winter. I think it's probably too late to sell the winter ones now, so they can just wait til autumn, but I really ought to start selling the others as they are worth more than I'm comfortable giving straight to the charity shop when I feel behind on my budget. That's a bit odd as I am quite happy to give furniture straight to charity, but it's partly because then I know they will collect it and I don't have to worry about strangers in the house whereas I can easily sort clothes myself. Off to put dinner in the oven and do that sorting into bags while it cooks!


Rosa xx

EssexHebridean

If there is health stuff that needs sorting Rosa then absolutely right to prioritise it I'd say - good plan. I think I might have to sort myself some sort of physio appointment for a shoulder that refuses to sort itself out - I over-stretched it when I did the climbing wall in November and it's not been right since, I need to find someone recommended locally I think.

Absolutely right to think about planning ahead for holiday spends too - remember also to allow more than you'd usually spend for food as it inevitably costs more than you expect in the sorts of locations I imagine you might be thinking of, even if you cook for yourself, and it's always nice to have at least the option of eating out here and there too. If you're looking at heading across to Uist at any stage let me know and I'll drop you the details of the campsite where we use the bunkhouse.

RosaBernicia

EssexHebridean wrote: »

If there is health stuff that needs sorting Rosa then absolutely right to prioritise it I'd say - good plan. I think I might have to sort myself some sort of physio appointment for a shoulder that refuses to sort itself out - I over-stretched it when I did the climbing wall in November and it's not been right since, I need to find someone recommended locally I think.

Absolutely right to think about planning ahead for holiday spends too - remember also to allow more than you'd usually spend for food as it inevitably costs more than you expect in the sorts of locations I imagine you might be thinking of, even if you cook for yourself, and it's always nice to have at least the option of eating out here and there too. If you're looking at heading across to Uist at any stage let me know and I'll drop you the details of the campsite where we use the bunkhouse.

Thanks EH :A


Plans are still vague at the moment, I think I'm going to wait to get past a couple of things next month and then think about it in more detail.

RosaBernicia

Definitely a spendy month but also organised.

Have cleared the spare room - quite astonished with myself. Sorted the clothes for fleabay, so they are still in the room but neatly bagged up in a corner. Took the charity shop bag into town today, so that's done. Bought plastic storage crates for the DIY stuff that has been laying around in the spare room, as this should keep it dry and means it can now be moved to the garage when not in use. And used a Christmas present voucher towards a proper storage box with inserts for Christmas baubles - expensive - but means these can also be moved to the garage without worrying about them (some of them do have sentimental value). I think I'll pick up a couple more general storage boxes as it will mean I can start to tidy the garage and shed. It is an extra cost but they are only £4 each and will really help me to feel things are getting decluttered and safely stored. The more I can put in the garage the better as it means the loft space can be kept for stuff that really needs to be there.

CC statement arrived today and confirmed that I did pay last month in time so no interest - phew :j . Groceries bill is insane :o but I have been buying prepped stuff in order to have time to do other things and also stocking up on some gluten free stuff in case of Brexit disasters. And, er, eating lots of expensive chocolate .

In the process of clearing the spare room I also found a couple of small Swedish shop bits that can be returned with the unnecessary furniture - so that's a few quid back in the bank. And a box of stuff that I had wondered where it got to . But having done it, that's the house nearly decluttered - there are a few boxes remaining but that's really the last hotspot apart from the garage. Of course the rest is by no means perfect, but at least it's corralled into fairly sensible places and can be weeded bit by bit. Planning some zone cleaning from next week .


Rosa xx

redofromstart

Sounds like good progress. Deeply envious of 'last hotspot cleared'!

doingitanyway

Well done on all the sorting and organising. Thanks for the garden reminder. I must get some use out of my garden this year.

RosaBernicia

Today's progress... collected storage box, it is bigger than I thought so didn't buy another one yet. I'd forgotten how good quality the RU boxes are so am going to put points towards buying some more of those. One strip of wallpaper removed in the next room I'm working on and much blushing at the state of light fittings and windowsill - zone cleaning is needed . Not-really-necessary spend on an 3bay dress and a more necessary spend on a book from my favourite poet as I only just found out it's been released.


Plans for the evening... diaries, lug hoover upstairs and do spare room (this is how much I am avoiding the extra contract work) while robot hoover works on downstairs, extra contract work, then Sunday shuffle