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

pennyforthepot

A day off decorating today as I had to take DD for a blood test to see if they can find out what is causing the problems with her tummy. She is already gluten free so not sure what else it can be.

Had some good news last night in the form of an email from DSS2s mum. She has finally agreed, after 3 years of wrangling, to pay the correct level of maintenance for her son. After years of battling between her and DH I stepped in a few months ago and wrote her a very candid email laying out the exact costs on a monthly basis to which she has agreed and to top it off she has agreed to pay me directly rather than to DH who had a tendency to spend it :mad:

Other good news includes hitting my 20p fuel save for June, the only downside is I now have 360 rolls of toilet paper (having saved £20 on the purchase of those) and have run out of places to put it!

Downside of the day is after a trip to Mr T for some staples of fruit bread and veg for the week I now have a daily food budget of 50pfor the rest of May - could prove interesting particularly as its half term next week eek:

I am also slightly disgruntled after deciding to find out exactly how many washes my '83 wash' bottle of conditioner actually does. I am now up to 52 washes at a half lid measure and will be lucky to see another 4 washes out of it. Why do brands feel it's ok to con the consumer?

Off now -battery going ...

PFTP x

edinburgher

PFTP, I know that you're a whizz with these things, but is there any chance that your investing period is at odds with your investment choices? Perhaps you need to be thinking 'risk off' if the possibility of a drop scuppering your plans is a real one? :eek:

pennyforthepot

edinburgher wrote: »

PFTP, I know that you're a whizz with these things, but is there any chance that your investing period is at odds with your investment choices? Perhaps you need to be thinking 'risk off' if the possibility of a drop scuppering your plans is a real one? :eek:

Edinburgher - if only I was a whizz at these things then I would have the answer to my concerns. My investment fund was organised by my ex who is an expert in this industry. Me, I am only a risk adverse novice who likes to see pennies earning interest in the bank The fund performed at 10% last year and to date 5% this year - I need it to perform at 7% to match the cost of my monthly rental payments. This financial year will be up at the end of June when I will be having a heart to heart with the ex to see if he is happy with the returns I am getting -if not then maybe a switch is worth thinking about. In the mean time I will console myself with monitoring my daily gas and electricity usage and seeing if I can squeeze an extra couple of washes out of that bottle of lenor and reaping the rewards of the 20p fuel save :rotfl:

edinburgher

I had forgotten how complicated your setup was! :eek:

pennyforthepot

Low spend day for me yesterday just £3 on a couple of knocked down treats from Waitrose which didn't actually cost me anything as DH dad dropped some change on the sofa:D

Downside of the day was that my phone died on me last night (for some reason it won't charge) and I'm not due an upgrade for 18 months as I gave my latest iphone to DD. I will need to look at her contract as she never upgraded hers.Odd to be without a phone.

Decorating this morning but have agreed to do a 3 day week which suits me better.

Daily food budget up to a whopping 59p:eek:

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

NSD!

Phone will only charge on my radio but at least I don't need to get a new one

Got a loaf of bread from SIL

Nothing else to report

PFTP x

Dobbibill

Hi PFTP,




Just dropped by to wish you all the best with your goal. I have sat and read your diary from the start over the last couple of days and I must say you are doing fantastic, your lists are brilliant to keep focused and you are a true inspiration to those of us only just taking our first steps to putting our goal into action.
DB

pennyforthepot

Dobbibill wrote: »

Hi PFTP,




Just dropped by to wish you all the best with your goal. I have sat and read your diary from the start over the last couple of days and I must say you are doing fantastic, your lists are brilliant to keep focused and you are a true inspiration to those of us only just taking our first steps to putting our goal into action.
DB

:j you just made my day Dobbibill - thank you so much for your comments - such a lovely thing to read. Mind you my lists seem to have hit the back burner for a while - you have just inspired me to start them up again :j

Welcome and I will keep an eye out for a diary from you.Good luck to you in your journey. If anything can keep you on your journey keeping that diary on here will be the thing to do.

PFTP xxx

pennyforthepot

Can't believe I put the heating on today - I was doing so well up until today. My food budget has bombed out too. I have added the £15 that I am trying to put aside for the Christmas food shop which puts my daily food budget at £1.97 for the next 7 days - hmmm kids at home next week so it's not going to stretch very far. I do have a large stock of corned beef hot dogs and baked beans so I will have to work some magic from that. Roast pork out the freezer for dinner tomorrow but need to get some potatoes and veg.

Paid £2275 for the final payment of our holiday today - still need to pay for car hire, spending money, insurance and two passports.

We found out today that we have been invited to a family wedding in September. Lovely though that is I calculated that it will cost us around £500 to go :eek: Must put some money aside each month for that as it is outside my planned budget for the year.

I must start my to do lists again (thank you Dobbi for reminding me). I have been far too disorganised recently and need to get back on track.

TO DO LIST

• write my to do list :rotfl:

That will be tomorrow.

Expensive week coming up. I promised DD that I would take her into London on Monday as she wants to have some bonding girlie shopping time. She will be paying for her purchases but I have promised her a nice lunch and need to pay the trainfare. I have also promised to take her to have her eyelashes tinted during the week as she worked so hard revising for her exams which she has now finished. I'm also taking them over to see their auntie - another lunch there. Finally have to get the kids passports renewed next week to if they are to be back in time for the hols. I was doing quite well on the savings front this month but this last week could bring it crashing down around me.

Nearly finished on the decorating front for the time being. Only another couple of days to go. I won't be doing anything during half term so it will be nice to have a little more time at home.

DH is cooking dinner so I'm going to jump into the bath whilst he's doing that.

Happy days

PFTP x

Goldiegirl

Know what you mean about the heating, it somehow seems wrong to have the heating on at this time of year. I remember the Jubilee weekend two years ago, at the start of June. I was sooo cold on the Sunday. I was bundled up in layers of clothes and even had a blanket round me, because I refused to put the heating on in June. I gave in in the end, because my hands were like ice blocks!

Looks like you've got some nice things planned what with the trip to London and a holiday coming up. Enjoy!