Paying the car tax via EBay, and other shenanigans.

mfmaybe

Well excitingly the hoover got a good clear out and is working brilliantly again. So much so I had to empty it twice whilst doing the house . House looks better for it though. Next up get the soup on and then I'm about to rip off a bit of the bathroom wall

Whilst [STRIKE]wasting time[/STRIKE] researching stuff on the internet today I decided it was time we started to think seriously about doing our extension. Our house is odd - looks massive but has only 2 bedrooms, and very little storage. Selling at some point is not out of the question but for a rural property on a very large plot it's odd that it has two bedrooms. It's a long story but now we've had trees removed, we can get our gas tank re-sited, which means there is room to extend properly. I am thinking perhaps I could re-mortgage my rental flat to fund it (that cost is tax deductable after all). Very early days but the house just doesn't work the way it is and that's why we've always resented doing anything major to it. We've done some cosmetic decorating but nothing else, and it really needs it.

Hmmm not very MSE is it! But I find recording things on here useful in terms of reading back and reminding myself of my promises. Right better go, that soup won't make itself.

in_need_of_direction

my mum always used gin to clean her jewellery so strictly speaking, you did buy some cleaning products!

mfmaybe

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

my mum always used gin to clean her jewellery so strictly speaking, you did buy some cleaning products!

I'm not sure how I feel about that :eek:

Signed up to swagbucks today, not sure it's the easiest or quickest money I'll ever make. I'll give it a month or so and see how it's going.

Yesterday was a NSD. Today I'm hoping for more of the same. Hurray for bank holidays, boo to being too skint to have proper fun. And the weather's a bit miserable still, so I'm sulking a little. I do have a fun horse activity planned this evening at least. Meanwhile I'm pottering and boring even myself

mfmaybe

Well it cleared up into a beautiful evening last night and I had a huge HOMD which was an incredibly fun jumping lesson on my horse. We both had a blast :j Even better it's already paid for.

Bank balance hasn't moved today. So far it's not raining and semi-warm. Working at home so NSD hopefully. Tomorrow's lunch already sorted so fingers crossed that can be a NSD as well.

Got a fair bit of work to get through today. Also want to

[STRIKE]Ride after work[/STRIKE] DONE
Spend 30 minutes in the garden
Sort issue in my flat
[STRIKE]Change sheets[/STRIKE] DONE
[STRIKE]Check one poll[/STRIKE] DONE NOW £29.10
[STRIKE]Swagbucks[/STRIKE] DONE
Fleabay - haha!

mfmaybe

Had a few NSD in a row, which is great. Replacement credit card arrived today though, which might mean today is spendy - need to start booking some holiday things.

In less good news, next month's credit card bill (the one we pay off in full) is horrendous, although I knew it would be. So need to work out how much money I need to put aside this month for it.

Still unsure about swagbucks. I've got a fair few points now but it's quite slow. I think my mistake was worrying about the daily targets, might have to rethink that strategy.

Today I have a lot of work to do and am feeling quite distracted. As well I want to get a quick half hour in the garden but realistically this won't happen. Might aim for 10 minutes if it's dry later. Weeds are starting to gain the upper hand.

My life is quite lacking in excitement really isn't it :rotfl:

mfmaybe

Feels like it's been a few days since I posted on here. I was doing well with NSD last weeks, although the neds needed new shoes and that was over budget, as they'd had a shoe replaced each 2 weeks before as well. Saturday then ended up quite spendy as I went on a day out with my Mum, but it was her birthday treat, and I spent on things like plants for the garden, not "clutter". What could have been an even more expensive day turned out not so bad, as a friend I was meant to be meeting for dinner came to stay at ours instead, so that was just out of regular food budget.

I've just withdrawn £49 from TCB. Once that clears it is going straight against the boiler account. That will take me to 45.9% so I'll round it up to £50 to make it an even 46%

Didn't get to the supermarket this weekend, had enough food to see us through the weekend. But shopping needs done today, will try to be quite frugal after last week's pricey trip, so better get a list started. It also means I don't have lunch today so will be spending more money. It's amazing how annoyed this makes me, definitely feel my attitude changing.

Swagbucks - didn't get looked at during the weekend. I think weekly targets will be a struggle for me. Onepoll hasn't moved in a few days either. Fleabay, no surprises I've not listed anything in ages

In other news, I had a bit of a "5-year plan" moment last week. No details yet, it's still early days, but hopefully it will help keep me focussed beyond the debt repayment!

So summary – a fun weekend, spent a little over budget (although technically it was in budget, I'd just hoped to put it against the debt instead!), quality time with friends, family and pets, and it was dry and sunny. Hurrah :T

Now for the week ahead. I need to:

[STRIKE]Sort issue with flat[/STRIKE] DONE
Make a start on fence cleaning and painting
[STRIKE]Ride 3 days during the week[/STRIKE][STRIKE][/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Weedkill drive[/STRIKE] DONE
[STRIKE]Plant new plants[/STRIKE] DONE
[STRIKE]Food shopping[/STRIKE] DONE
[STRIKE]HM Lunch every day this week (except today!)[/STRIKE] CALL THIS A DRAW
[STRIKE]No coffees at work[/STRIKE] DONE :T
List 5 things on fleabay
Wash horse's rug ready for repairing
Book flights
Research holiday hotels
Start researching replacement coat for winter

OK that's enough to be going on with

mfmaybe

I've done really badly on my week. Have been very busy at work and not managed to ride my horse at all – maybe tomorrow night, tonight definitely won't be possible. I also ended up buying lunch on Tuesday, though not yesterday. Today I spent 90p topping up my lunch and I'm still hungry . I have so far avoided buying any coffees though, and today is last day in the office so I might get off with that one if I'm strong today (tiredness and bad weather not helping though!). Said busy-ness with work means I've not got the weed spraying done. Or any of the other stuff really.

In better news, I transferred another £50 to the boiler account (TCB payout) so I'm now at 46%. And the final £23 I was waiting for is now confirmed, that was for changing electricity supplier. It took a while to track but at least it's on the list. I got my first clicksnap from this week's shopping (and didn't fall into the trap of paying more for something just because it had cashback available!) and that will be paid in the next payment run. It's very small but will again go against the boiler. Of course I've not listed anything for sale, and I used an MSE offer to order some plants yesterday, but it was a good offer.

Ho hum, not feeling very in control this week. But budget has not been derailed at least.

mfmaybe

OK have just weed sprayed the drive (hate using weedkiller but it's way too hard to do it by hand and there is a huge field of buttercups right next door ). Now off to plant the new plants as it's dry and sunny today. Budget still looking ok.

in_need_of_direction

Time for the reality check. You're doing really well. If you'd had the same outgoings a year ago, how would you have dealt with them. It wouldn't have been tcb, it'd have been cc all the way.

mfmaybe

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

Time for the reality check. You're doing really well. If you'd had the same outgoings a year ago, how would you have dealt with them. It wouldn't have been tcb, it'd have been cc all the way.

Thanks INOD, perfect timing for a reminder! Hope you're doing ok.

So food shopping continues to defeat me. Today was £60. Only £5 went on wine, and another £3 on tonic. There was no meat or fish, no cleaning products, no expensive condiments. And even worse OH is away for 3 nights this week :eek: I literally can't work out where it all went.

In better news we finally decided on the bathroom floor, and it should be under £100 as we appear to have cheap tastes :rotfl:. I did spend a few £ in the orange DIY place on a bolster chisel so I can start ripping tiles off soon.

Our strategy for paying for food might change soon. OH has an offer from his work for a prepay MasterCard that offers very generous cashback, 4% at Sainsburys, 8% at B&Q etc. We currently use a BA Amex for all our spend but this is a better deal, and the cashback goes straight back on the card. We just need to figure out how to use it so we don't end up just having to top it up all the time. However it might help us stick to budget if we only load £50/week on to it