The Big Adventure

Goldiegirl

After feeling concerned that Christmas was somehow different, I needn't have worried, when the 25th dawned, it felt just like a 'normal' Christmas Day.

My favourite ever version of Christmas Carol was on Channel 5 (the Albert Finney version from 1970), so we had that as a backdrop to preparing Christmas lunch.

Our lunch itself was excellent, and we have leftovers, but not so much as we'll be eating turkey forever.

There had been one thing I'd been anticipating - the last ever Downton Abbey - and it was pretty much perfect.

We've been out to the M&S sale this morning, with our £200 worth of gift cards from our current account switch to M&S.

If I'm honest, there wasn't really a lot of decent stuff there, and most of the nicest things were very large or very small sizes, rather than the average sizes that we take.

But we got £276 worth of nice things for £156, which was 'free' anyway with our gift cards.

A few years ago, virtually the whole of the season's remaining stock was in the sales after Christmas, in all sizes. But, now they seem to have sales all the time, the January sales aren't nearly so interesting.

But, as we were there early, we managed to bag some of the few things in our sizes. This is at our local shopping centre - I wouldn't go near Bluewater today!

Watty1

The furthest I ventured was the local C0sta for a coffee and mince pie. Totally frivolous but it is Christmas glad you found some great shopping. I was remember the days the January sales had hordes of people outside by Christmas day. Not like that now!

greent

I love my virtual MSE family - even when I'm not posting I try and keep up with what people are doing, if I can.


Our modem is in the office - furthest west corner of our house. My side of the bed is the furthest East corner, 2 floors up - wifi is really poor there. We were talking about getting the wifi extended - I will have that as a project for later in the year


x

Goldiegirl

greent wrote: »

We were talking about getting the wifi extended - I will have that as a project for later in the year

When it was working the extender was great. We had the modem upstairs in the 'study' next to the computer, and the extender was plugged in our bedroom, in the most central point of the house, so we could get a signal all over the house.


Out of the clothes I bought the other day, I'm thinking of taking back a pair of jeans, as they feel too tight.


This has made us think about fitness in general, as weight creeps on easily. There is no way I want to go up another dress size - I just want to stay the same size I am, and not worry that things I buy might be tight


We eat sensibly, so I don't want to diet as such, so exercise is the key. Although we try and get out for a walk most days, we've fallen into the habit of doing the most easy walk we can - about 30 minutes round the local streets, but on very level ground. Today we did 35 minutes but a different route, so it was up and down hill, so a bit more challenging. We're really going to have to make more effort with our walking programme from now on.


Plus, we've gone and ordered a rowing machine from Argos:eek:


It's not one of these really expensive ones - this one cost £90, including a mat to put it on. But still a tidy sum to spend. I'm taking the money from the 'bills' account, where we've built up a surplus


Mr Goldie has wanted one of these for ages, but I haven't been keen, as I didn't want to reclutter the house. But, I think I need a bit of extra help to keep in shape. It had very good reviews - for that sort of money, we''ll make sure we keep using it


It was a bit of a kerfuffle doing the order, as Argos had forgotten my login details so I had to re-register, then when I was paying MasterCard wanted to register me for the SecureCode scheme, but finally I got an email to say that the order had been accepted, due for delivery on Tuesday.


I remembered to use Quidco, and found that I had £27.98 to claim so I requested the money.

Goldiegirl

I've decided to keep those trousers.... I think the problem I tried them on on Boxing night..... after the two biggest dinners of the year! I tried them on again this morning and they fitted much better.


Still going ahead with the rowing machine, though. I do have quite a few reservations about this purchase, as several items of 'fitness equipment' came out of our loft last year to be dumped, after gathering dust for many years. There's always a big risk that it'll lie idle after a few months - we shall see.


We went out for a 40 minute walk this morning - including hills.


This afternoon I've applied for my 2nd Tesco Bank account. It was quite easy, as all the fields were pre-populated. But, when I submitted it, there was a 'problem' and I had to call them. After a short phone call, they were able to submit the application and I've been approved.


But, because of this little bit of trouble, Mr Goldie is now refusing to open his 2nd Tesco account :mad::mad:


I feel quite cross, to be honest. I put quite a lot of effort into doing the best for us financially and I get fed up when he won't make a small effort when needed. Or, in the case of last months TSB joint account, make the small effort, but constantly complain about it!


Next week, the intention is that we'll open a Kent Reliance monthly saver each. It involves visiting a branch, but it's at a location we enjoy visiting, and no doubt we'll have a coffee afterwards, so there won't be as much moaning


But after this, I'm just going my own way with the finances, and just open accounts in my name. We might lose a bit of interest, but at least I won't feel angry all the time!!


Thank God for my diary, so I can have a vent!

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

I share your pain, Goldie. My oh only has high interest accounts if I open them for him. So lazy.

Karmacat

Ouch, Goldie - we hear you, we're here for you!

Goldiegirl

Secret_Saving_Squirrel wrote: »

I share your pain, Goldie. My oh only has high interest accounts if I open them for him. So lazy.

That's exactly what happens here. I'll probably still open savings accounts for him, but no more current accounts. Any more current accounts be mine - although I'm not planning any more in the near future.

Karmacat wrote: »

Ouch, Goldie - we hear you, we're here for you!

It's great to share with our little family of like minded people. I could have phoned my friend and had a rant, but she wouldn't really understand why I wanted multiple current accounts anyway!


Today, we've been waiting around for our delivery of The Rowing Machine


When it arrived I went out for a short walk (25 minutes on our easiest route) and Mr Goldie set it all up. It's just as well we're not using the 'computer room' so much, as this machine takes up a lot of floor space! I've already had a go - the seat is a bit hard, but the general idea is to jump on when we have a few spare minutes!


The £27.98 I requested from Quidco has been paid:jbut the Argos purchase hasn't tracked yet - will have to keep an eye out, and make a claim if needed.


I've been reviewing my 2015 plan. It was madness to have a 26 point plan, but I'll post the results anyway, for posterity!


I'm putting together something for 2016, which I'll post in a day or two, but it'll be much shorter

Goldiegirl

2015 - Yearly review




1 - Mostimportant of all – ENJOY RETIREMENT

DONE – no regrets at all

2 - Learn how to be retired.Remember that it’s not like being on two weeks holiday from work. We have time to do things, and some days we might not do anything at all.

DONE – but it takes time. At first, I felt as if I had lots of things to get ‘sorted’, both practical and admin, and my nature is to push on with things. It wasn’t until May, that I felt I had time to be properly retired!

3 - Budgets.I’ll divide the budget into four areas – bills (a set amount is paid to the bill account each month to cover all bills), petrol, groceries and everything else.But the budget is going to be a loose one.As long as the total monthly expenditure is less than our total income, that’ll be fine.If we are over one month, but under the next month, that will also be fine.This will allow us flexibility.

DONE – Our monthly income this year has been £1541, or £18492 for the year. I divided the budget into 4 areas, as mentioned above, and our average monthly expenditure has been £1233.68 (or £14804.18 for the year).That is a surplus of £3687.82, which I’m delighted with.

We had additional planned expenditure of £2475.39, for the freezer, new glasses each, new fencing and some garden work. We had originally planned to take this from savings, but we’ve been able to pay for it from our monthly income.That left £1212.43 which has been put into savings.

I should add that holidays and the new car are completely separate from the monthly budgeting. Also, we bought some clothes outside of the monthly budget, using the ‘Little Xtra Fund, which is there for, well, little extras.



4 - Shopping.We’ll try a different approach this year, by trying out different supermarkets, now that we have time to shop around.I envisage one shop a week when we visit the store, with periodic big re-stocksdone online, or possibility by visiting the store. Although this is not a target, I’d like to see the monthly grocery figure fall below £246, which was 2014’s average

DONE – but with a bit missed off. When it came to it, we didn’t really try new supermarkets.The other supermarkets are in places which are too inconvenient or in places we just don’t want to go to.So, in the end we stuck to our old favourite Sainsburys, in a location which is convenient to home.We did a weekly shop there, and periodic bigger online orders at Asda.The monthly average supermarket bill was £227.25, so we reduced our bill, as hoped.

Goldiegirl

5 - Consider joining C0stC0 for the re-stock shopping.
NOT DONE – Distance to travel to nearest store, petrol and Dartford Crossings tolls made us feel this wasn’t worthwhile.

6 - Do proper meal planning, so our one shop a week will include everything we need.
DONE – I plan 2 – 3 weeks in advance, and grocery shop once a week

7 - Remember to look for offers and use vouchers as appropriate.But don’t get too caught up in offers so that I end up buying things that I already hold a large stock.
DONE – we are good about waiting for offers and sales, and I use vouchers when I can, whether it’s money off or for added points. We’ve also managed to avoid stockpiling.We have a store cupboard, but not a pile!

8 - Remember to use £Co
MOSTLY DONE – but there were a few times when I kicked myself when I forgot!

9 - Carry on doing spending diary – This will help me know exactly how we stand as the month progresses
DONE – this is a way of life now. It’s the cornerstone of how we work out our budget

10 - Carry on with household diary – all appointments, things to do, things to remember, meal plans will go in here.This helps me feel in control of my life
DONE – although a desk diary was too big, I’ve bought a handbag sized one for 2016

11 - Carry on with freezer inventory, so I feel in control of my freezer!
DONE – we bought a new freezer this year, which is the right size for our requirements.

12 - Grow our own – increase the amount of home grown vegetables/fruit
DONE – although not a massive increase, and the courgettes were an epic fail this year

13 - Go down to one car – this will be one of the first things we do
DONE – One of the first things we did in early January. We also replaced the remaining car with a new one in the summer, and this should now last us for many years