My Diary v3.0

natsplatnat

redofromstart wrote: »

Even half an hour a week is better than none at all surely?

Indeed it is! Like a lot of things I think once you see the difference you can make in the odd 20mins or half hour you feel more motivated to do a bit more.


I have found de-cluttering a real challenge before - mainly because we live in a small 2 bed house and there has never been the room needed to sort through things and put them temporarily (even for a few days) before they get re-homed (somewhere in the house / charity shop / tip). With DSS currently residing at his sisters his room is the room I've needed. Anything that is sorted but needs somewhere for a few days is parked in there and then cleared at the weekend. So far this plan seems to be working - long may it continue!


Last night all the clean clothes were put away and my nieces present wrapped and card written. I wrote 2 thank you cards for Christmas presents and we started compiling a shopping list for OH's aunts tea party we are doing for her next week.


Tonight we are going on a scout for items for OH's aunts tea party and delivering nieces present. This means we won't get home until later than usual, but I aim to try and do something in the house to keep the momentum going!


OH did cook a curry last night - and it was lush... However, he did decide he needed to buy more rice, sauce, a naan bread and samosas! I do despair! But at least the things we already had won't spoil and can be used next time.


Have a great day everyone - happy tidying and debt-busting! xxx

natsplatnat

Got home much later than anticipated last night as OH was insistent on stopping at the pub "for a quick one!" My only bit of "doing" was sorting through the shelves in the bathroom that hold the shower gels, shampoos and conditioner... managed that whilst actually in the shower! lol. I have removed all the nearly-full shower gels bottles (now stored back in the airing cupboard) and left all the ones that need using up. Why OH thinks he needs 8 different bottles on the go at one time is beyond me!


Circuits tonight, so wont be home until gone half eight. OH will do dinner, but I need to find 'something' quick to do too. Maybe put some washing on?!


Have a great day everyone - I am on snow watch... there is a tiny chance of some sleet tomorrow. I'm hoping next week will be more interesting!

natsplatnat

Ok, so it would seem that my brain is in financial overdrive today. Don't get me wrong, random money things quite often pop into my head... to be fair most of my 'plans' have started with a random musing (and you all know how I love a plan!).
But today my brain has been whirring at warp-speed. My thoughts so far...

1. I (should) receive my payrise at the end of this month (amount currently unknown)
2. I can't play with my spreadsheet until I know point 1 above.
3. OH had a payrise of £500 this year
4. Rent increase of +£200 in March
5. Need more 'pots' for allocating money to - as much as I like seeing 1 or 2 larger amounts.
6. I currently earn more than OH - but I think he puts more into his pension than I do, leaving him with an even lower net monthly income
7. Do I up my pension contribution to match OHs based on % of wage? I was late starting a pension and need to play catch-up a bit.
8. Is it time to pro-rata the money we pay into the house account based on wage (especially thinking about point 4 above!)?
9. We didn't when I earned less than OH, but is that my own fault?

I don't feel anxious about any of the above, but I definitely don't like unknowns and a lot of the above are intertwined. I guess I know the answers to some already. I will park these thoughts here in black and white, ready to re-visit when I know what point 1 is. I will also ask what OH pays pension-wise so I have that to hand ready to roll at the end of Jan.

Lucifa73

Hi Nat.

With all those financial tweaks it does sound like a good time to do a review of finances.

Hubs and I prorate based on net pay and pay into the joint account accordingly. It has worked well for us for 13 years other than the times I was on mat leave or not working, but we reviewed before and after each of those changes to work out what would be best. When we started I was the larger earner but when I had to do a career change he became the larger earner and I'm only just catching back up now. We have rolled quite easily through all those changes. We will review again once I know what my net pay will be at the new job.

natsplatnat

Hi Lucifa, thanks for dropping by - you are right, it is the best and fairest way forward. I am going to get everything together when we both have our Jan payslips and staple OH to a chair until we work it out!!


Was totally shattered after last nights class, so unfortunately nothing got done. It was just home, shower, eat, watch a bit of TV then Zzzz. There is always tonight!


Waiting patiently for snow - but being right down in the SE doesn't bode well!

natsplatnat

So there were a few rogue flakes around 10 miles away yesterday and it doesn't look any more snowy here for at least the next 3 days!


Managed a quick tidy at home last night. A load of washing was put on, so that will need drying this evening. Picked up some flea-spray on the way home. Both our cats are treated monthly with drops but they seem to have picked up some little guests. Eurgh! They literally make my skin crawl!! Tonight it will be a case of washing all the fleeces etc, hoovering and dowsing everywhere and the cats with spray! They are going to hate me! Needs must though!


If you have been reading over the years, you might recall my OH having some heart issues. Following his last procedure almost 2 years ago, all has been well. But last night he announced things were not quite 'normal'. Fingers crossed this is just a blip (it can fix itself) and doesn't become persistant as last time it was 13 days in hospital and a procedure in London! We will monitor carefully.


Sooo, this weekend.... I should be at work but have swapped so I can go to OH's family meal tomorrow (I have downloaded a voucher to put toward the meal!). I think there is 8 of us which will be nice, but it is a 125 mile round journey. A journey we will do again next Weds for his aunts actual b'day to host a tea party at her house.
We will be out for pretty much all of tomorrow, so it looks like Sunday will be the major 'doing' day! I am only going for a small list though as we need to go out and get things for the tea party!


Can't wait for payday to come around - I want to play with my spreadsheet!


Have a great weekend all! xxx

natsplatnat

Just had notification of my new pay, effective in this months pay!!


I have run the figures through an online calculator & I should see a monthly increase of £75 (give or take a few pennies).
Based on this info I have been happily playing with my spreadsheet (although I will require my new payslip to see exactly how it pans out).
Not getting too excited though as this increase is wiped out by the rent increase & based on our current arrangement of splitting the house account contributions 50/50 I will be down by £25 a month; realistically I expect this amount to increase when I see OH's Jan payslip to see where he is at with a view to splitting out contributions according to our net wage.
My current pension (government workplace one) contribution is 5% (3% compulsory and 2% voluntary). This is due to increase to 7% in April / May when the compulsory element is increased to 5%. I can change or stop my voluntary contribution at any time.


Right, I am heading home from work now. Have a fabulous weekend all! xxx

natsplatnat

Morning All!

What a perfect winters morning. It's gone 10am and there is still a thick frost on the ground, but the sun is shining... the only thing to improve on this would be snow!


Weekend round up...
OH's Aunt insisted on paying for lunch on Sat. Very kind of her. We used a 40% voucher and added in our reward £10 voucher so for 7 of us the total bill was £106, which I didn't think was too bad at all (2 course + 1 round of drinks). We were out from 10:30 until around 7pm. We were a bit peckish (lunch was early for us) so I cleared a few more of the Christmas snacky-bits from the freezer! I will make space in there... I will!


Things achieved... my car washed (thanks to OH!), 2 loads washed and dried + folded ready to be put away tonight, house hoovered, cats sprayed and combed, sofas wiped, bathroom cleaned, bins emptied and a lush roast lamb dinner cooked.


On the topic of roast dinner, I was really impressed with A5das garlic butter lamb! £4.50 gave us a nice chunk of meat with very little fat - more than enough for 2 of us and a bit left to go in a OH 'special curry' later in the week.


A few bits picked up for the tea party Weds... I have a bit of cake decorating to do tonight!


Managed to locate OH's Dec payslip, but haven't looked at it yet.


Catch you all later! xxx

natsplatnat

Just a tad warmer here this morning - at least there was no frost to scrape from the car!

Managed to put all the clean clothes away last night and we went shopping for bits for the tea party tomorrow! Cake decorating is a priority for tonight... mainly as it has to be ready for tomorrow!
Payday in 6 days! Whoop whoop! Looking forward to putting my latest plan in to action and updating my spreadsheet!

Forgot to pick OH's payslip up again this morning - was pre-occupied with the whereabouts of our smaller cat - very unlike her not to be around for breakfast... thankfully she appeared just as I got in the car! I will make sure I pick it up and have a look at it on Thursday.


Dinner will have to be something quick tonight and OH will have to sort it. I have to finish the cake for tomorrow, wash and straighten my hair so I don't look like a scarecrow and then off to bed as early as poss as tomorrow is going to be a long day. Nothing 'housey' will get done tonight! Oh well!


Have a great Tuesday all! xxx

natsplatnat

Just been having a look at the bank account switch offers available and I think I will switch one of my accounts to Nwest to pick up a switch bonus of £150.00.
The account I will close only has 1 DD set up & is mainly used to as our holiday pot and a small permanent balance of mine. I currently move some money through it to meet the pay-in criteria & boost the balance to try and maximise the interest we earn... this is about £4 a month, so only £48 a year … 1/3rd of the switch reward.
The Nwest account doesn't pay interest so I can continue to move some money through it (to meet pay in criteria) and on to somewhere that does and then move my balance to somewhere else too!


Off to look through the application and see what dates work best!