Cheery's buttling diary: tea in one hand, plant pot in the other, running shoes on

Cheery_Daff

I think willow is lovely I just think this particular willow is trapped in too small a space My fault, of course But I do so much love to hear it swaying in the breeze. Just a shame that I'm not too good at keeping on top of it and it reaches perilously close to the phone lines :eek: All lopped down now :j until about 3 weeks time when it will have grown another 10 feet :rotfl:

Been out poking around houses and cheery areas again today Different place this time, out east :rotfl: Most jolly, saw some gorgeous houses (some sadly only anywhere near our price range cos they're pretty much on top of a noisy main road). But some potential, and realised it's only about 30 mins drive to our currently-favoured little towny/villagey place :j :j

Just made some more chocolate nests to take to family do tomorrow - we *may* have polished off slightly too many of the ones I made yesterday... :rotfl: :rotfl:

Also treated myself to a new wallpaper scraper so as soon as I've made a curry for tomorrow I'm going to try it out

Cheery_Daff

Evening cheerful MSE chums :hello:

Had a slight grump earlier about how long it's taking to get the house ready (mostly because I was wibbling at being on a ladder over the stairs :eek: :rotfl: ) so have spent much of the day reading and pondering.

(and don't worry, it's a proper stairs ladder and perfectly safe, I'm just not used to it!)

Anyway, been pondering simple living stuff and feeling sorry for myself cos I've decided not to make soap or jam or cushions or anything til we move :rotfl:

but after lots of reading I've decided to focus on what we *are* doing - learning new skills, saving etc :j :j

In that spirit, I decided to re-examine our budget... :eek: So... current budget:

£336.29 - monthly bills
£107.84 - saving for annual bills
£443.00 - 'true expenses' (includes dentist, Christmas, birthdays, plus £100 a month each for me and Mr Daffs, based on YNAB's average that we've spent each month this year)
£150 - quality of life goals (no quibble, holidays, gym membership)
£160 - household/odd pints of milk/diesel/treats budget (this is on top of the main food shop which Mr Cheery pays for)

= £1197.13

on top of that :eek: is my own spending yes, on top of all bills, household stuff, gym membership, holidays, joint treats, it turns out that in the last 3 months I've spent an average of £174.78 a month just on myself :eek:

£38.37 - socialising
£48.39 - clothes
£7.50 - travel (hmm not sure that'll break the bank )
£80.52 - 'other'
= £174.48

:eek: :eek:

hang on, back after a lie down :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

Just out of interest, sneaked a peek at my old budget on my first MSE diary from 2010, when I'd just got my first 'proper' job after the PhD and was earning a grand total of £780 a month

Bills and van etc took up £330, then there was a bit for work travel and food, but for my own spends I had:

£50 - unnecessary spends
£5 - slimming world

Er, that was it :eek:

So how, in 5 years, have I expanded to spending more than three times that, in addition to having holidays, gym, PLUS AN EXTRA £100 a month (which goes on slimming world, individual weekends away etc)?! :eek: :eek:

We're still putting £700 ish a month into the patchwork fund :j :j but it just strikes me that I'm being a little frivolous and unnecessarily wasteful and think how much we could save if I wasn't

So a little challenge for me, I think... Not sure what yet... Should I start small and reduce to £150? or go straight for reducing to £100?? Maybe a mid point of £125...

Oh dear

Cheery_Daff

Rejigged next month's YNAB - £600 to Patchwork (plus I'll get just under £100 in expenses which will go to it too) - but that's *with* the reduction of my spending to £100 - which means I've already poached some dosh that was allocated for April to spend in March :eek: NOT impressed with myself :mad:

Line drawn, silly excessive spending stops! :eek:

Karmacat

Focussing on new skills being learned is a great idea! Erm, it sounds like its also given you new insight into where your money's going at the moment, and you don't actually like what you've found? It's all pleasant, there's no doubt, it all just sounds very, dunno, short term?

£700 a month is still a big wodge of savings, of course - perhaps looking at it as a percentage would give you insight too? £700p.m. when you're taking home £2k is quite different from someone saving £700p.m. who earns £4k ...

Your last post about poaching is interesting! Juggling categories has real world effects, and I suppose what you're finding now is one of them. To be honest, its wonderful to see the process - you could give yourself a lot more "wage freedom" if you carry on with it

Pippilongstocking

I think finding a mid way with it all is a good idea - you work hard and deserve some treats me dear.

I'm not adding up what I spend on plants, nope you can't make me do it.




Waves to KC -- hope those winds down south weren't too pesky for you.. And there's no damage.

Cheery_Daff

Thanks you lovely ladies :kisses3:

You're right KC, as a percentage it's not too bad, especially considering my job provides most of our income at the minute. Good to focus on that but yes, pesky YNAB making me juggle categories is very revealing :eek: :rotfl:

Tickled me that you won't add up spending on plants pippi Quite right too so yes, some treats :j and I won't be stopping meeting up with pals for lunch, or grabbing a charity shop bargain when I see one :j This month's been a bit of an abberation too as I've been off for a fortnight.

However, i've slipped a bit in terms of taking lunch to work, buying chocolate while I'm out wandering on my own etc... so those things can be addressed at least.

Got a bit gloomy yesterday so met a pal for lunch :rotfl: :rotfl: It was very nice Then I wandered round town but didn't spend anything, just went to the library like the old days, and one of the books I got was about sock knitting, so I used some more of my John Lewis voucher from old job to buy some new wool and mde a start on a new pair last night Love knitting socks!

Sun's shining today and I think swimming first, then taking a load of stuff to the tip, a bit of wallpaper scraping, and some more knitting :j :j

Karmacat

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

Waves to KC -- hope those winds down south weren't too pesky for you.. And there's no damage.

A fair bit of damage I'm afraid, Pippi.

Cheery_Daff

Hope you're sorted soon KC x

Went swimming yesterday (and sneaked in at the off peak price jist five mins before it switched to peak price - completely unintentional!) Ended up rushing as I wasn't sure what time the plasterer was coming to quote but could have stayed for longer, there were only about 4 of us in there so it was lovely and quiet. Might go again tomorrow

Also took a car full of stuff to the tip :j so garden looking a lot better now :j And did some more knitting

Just had quote from plasterer to do the really high bedroom ceiling - £450. Needs scaffolding and will take a couple of days so more than happy with that. Annoying really - someone quoted over £1000 a few years back so we never bothered but this is quite reasonable :money: will ring and arrange. Will mean moving to sleep in the attic for a couple of days so we can dismantle the bed so will take a bit of planning but will make SUCH a difference - it's just plasterboard with bits of insulation sticking out now! :eek:

Also got him to quote for the attic stairs which i've been stripping and planning to do myself while perched precariously on that mad ladder :eek: said £150 for that, which is pretty good actually (also a pain in the !!!! job) - although now i know someone else would potentially do it I'm far more inclined to try again myself :rotfl:

So today's plan....

* Drive out to somewhere near Bakewell for a bike ride for an hour
* get on the ladders and see if I can finish stripping attic stairs
* make decision about plastering and let bloke know
* visit friend at 2pm
* spend an hour on diploma stuff while mr cheery is out this evening

Nice plan :j Will be easier to fit it all in if I get out of bed pretty soon i suppose... :rotfl:

Karmacat

Thanks Cheery - no movement yet, I didn't really expect...

Sounds good! I wonder if you can bring your bike *into* bed so you can kill two birds with one stone