Diary of a home owner wannabe (my 6 year journey)

pennyforthepot

Long and busy day today but lots of things achieved so all in all not bad.

Bought all my easter eggs whilst they are on offer - 20 bought all in all just need to make sure I don't dig into them

Signed up for a couple more surveys and got my first £1.50 from VO. I need to fill in my profile so I get more offers to do them. Didn't get to do any ad points as I was too busy. Spent the afternoon working for DH. Taxied the kids around, bought mothers day cards, and birthday bits for DH. Cooked up the rest of the pancake batter and froze them for some savory pancakes.

DH is preparing dinner tonight - homemade steak and veg pie from the leftovers of last week's beef casserole

These posts are getting a little dull - I must dig deep to get some inspirational ideas on improving my money saving activities

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

Earned another 50p on VO this morning as well as 25 points on YouGov and 52 points on Ad Points - on a roll :rotfl:

Off out for my weekly lunch with the girlies this afternoon - something to look forward to and hoping for a cheapo one.

Daily food budget £6.97

Rather a humungous weekly spend so far this week - over £500 and still another day to go :eek:

Gas consumption is fairly steady but electricity appears to be going up - I think DD has been using the heater in her room as it gets so cold in there - hopefully this will come down now the weather is getting better.

Off for lunch
PFTP x

pennyforthepot

Quietly getting p*ssed on my own as everyone is out :beer:

Busy day again - housework all done, DH's pressies all bought - socks pants jeans shirt aftershave and pillow speakers to stop him from keeping me awake with the radio:rotfl: (very practical bday pressies). Mothers Day gardening vouchers purchased.

£653 spent this week :eek:

Daily Food budget £6.91

DH is out for a boys night to celebrate his birthday - dread to think what state he will be in when he gets back (if he gets back!)

Purchased a £3.99 bottle of rose for myself (Quantity not Quality is my motto )

No more videos left to watch on Ad Points, £2.50 earned to date on VO and £10.50 on YouGov, nothing yet from Ipsos.

Off to drink my cheapo wine :rotfl:

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

Tired and a little grumpy this morning - as I suspected DH missed his last train home last night and left it till 1am to let me know! Luckily for him he was with DSS1 so he went back to his house which is on the tube line.Think he is suffering a little this morning :rotfl: Also had to contend with a last minute teenage gathering which resulted in lots of not so muffled music and raucous laughter into the early hours.

Hoping for a day on the sofa reading and nothing spent

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

Off to see The Lego Movie for DHs bday (his choice!) - since when did you need a mortgage to go to the cinema :eek: then out for a late lunch.

Beautiful day -sun is shining. What more can we ask for

PFTP
x

pennyforthepot

Lovely day yesterday celebrating DH's birthday - enjoyed the film followed by watching the rugby in the pub and a pizza.

We have the lurgy in the house today as poor DS was very sick last night - there is a horrible bug going round which he has picked up. Poor thing - I can cope with most things but sick is just not one of them :eek:

Daily Food budget £7.53
Rather a big spend yesterday but it was worth it

TO DO LIST:

1. look after poorly son

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

Received a letter from Natwest today to say that my 2 year ISA at 3.9% is due to end at the beginning of April 3.9% :eek: those were the days. I told myself last year that I would not set up a new ISA if the rates were below 3% so I now have to think about where else to put it. I have £17,000 which will go into my Santander 123 account which will earn just shy of 3% until I can find somewhere better. Cash ISAs are such a bum deal at the moment - may need to look into a shares ISA - any suggestions would be helpful

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

Bored bored bored!

Haven't been able to get myself motivated today - DD was sent home from school so that's two down and I'm not feeling great. To keep myself preoccupied I have been reading some MS threads - the frugal living challenge 2014 kept my attention. So I have decided to alleviate my boredom and to have something else to post on here I'm going to have a week of super-frugality

To do this I am going to try and cut back to a bare minimum everything that costs money just for one week.This will include:

• reducing the number of washes I do
• see how many clothes can be folded rather than ironed
• try to keep my gas usage down to 3 units per day
• electricity down to 15 units a day
• wash up rather than use the dishwasher (this may be difficult as kids clear up and tend to stuff things in and turn it on even if there are only 2 cups in there!
• turn off the shower when washing
• ensure the kettle is only filled up to where it needs to be (I do this but DH tends to fill it up)
• use up all the food in the freezer and make do
• keep the lights off unless I really need them on.
• not drive unless essential (though typically do this anyway)

I will add anything else to the list that I can think of as the week goes by. It's just a bit of fun but it will be interesting to see the results

PFTP x

gallygirl

5 years is a bit short really for shares as you know you will probably/definitely want to cash in, so not really long term as you would need to start moving over in cash in 2 or 3 years max to preserve your capital in case there's a crash when you need to sell.

You could look at bonds and gilts but v low return unless you take a risk.

Peer to peer lending?

Premium bonds?

I'm probably going with the latter on the basis the average bank account pays around the same return and someone may go ahead and make my day :rotfl:.

pennyforthepot

gallygirl wrote: »

5 years is a bit short really for shares as you know you will probably/definitely want to cash in, so not really long term as you would need to start moving over in cash in 2 or 3 years max to preserve your capital in case there's a crash when you need to sell.

You could look at bonds and gilts but v low return unless you take a risk.

Peer to peer lending?

Premium bonds?

I'm probably going with the latter on the basis the average bank account pays around the same return and someone may go ahead and make my day :rotfl:.

Thanks Gallygirl - I had never considered premium bonds - I will have a look into them. I have done a bit of research into peer to peer lending and may well put a slice in there.

PFTP x