Finally have a mortgage now to try and get rid of it asap

egoode

Well I had an ok week money wise. I did end up getting a cab home on Friday however it was 1am and the night bus was about 20 mins away and I need to be up at 8:30am on Saturday.

However when catching up with friends on the weekend I managed to limit my costs to £30 which is pretty good for me and other than meals out with friends and the muffin I got on the way to work on Thursday I managed to eat the rest of the time out of my fridge/cupboards with no trips or calls to the local take aways

I've spoken to my neighbour about buying the freehold to our building and she suggested I read the Leasehold Advisory Service website about how to buy your freehold. So I'm hoping to read the site today and then talk to my neighbour. I've also got the name of the person at the council that looks after selling the freeholds the council owns so hopefully after speaking to my neighbour we can kick off the process.

I'm hoping to have a nice quiet week this week as I don't currently have any social plans but that does sometimes change at the last minute.

egoode

I've ended up working at home everyday this week and tomorrow I always work from home so have managed to avoid the temptation to buy little snacks during the day.

Last night my flat mate and I were so cold we put the heating on for the first time for this winter. It's reminded me I better check if my winter coat is good enough to last another winter or if I need to go shopping for a new coat. Also hoping my new timer on the boiler will lower my gas bill as last winter I often forgot to turn it off and would leave it on all day when no one was home. I also need to look at changing my gas and electricity suppliers currently they are with different suppliers and I don't have a direct debit set up so need to really get it sorted out and see if I can find a cheaper deal.

Had one big expense this week. I booked my flights to Canada and the US. I'm visiting a couple of friends in January however I forgot to factor those costs in when I transferred money to my offset account the other weeks so will have to move some money back in about 6 weeks as I'll run out of money before my next dividend otherwise. Also will need money to shop for clothes in the US as they have one of my favourite stores there and it's super cheap
I always buy lots of clothes while I'm in the US but then I tend not to buy any clothes again unless they fall to pieces for about 3 years! It's been about 3 or 4 years since my last trip so my wardrobe definitely needs a refresh and some items are looking a lot worse for wear!

egoode

Back in the office today for the first time in about 2 weeks and just been told no one else is in for the rest of the week so it will be the only day in the office this week. Definitely saves me on travel costs and means I get an extra 30 mins in bed in the morning. Although if the weather is as good as it is today maybe I should get up at my normal time and get some exercise in by walking to the park nearby.

Although one bad thing is I forgot to bring my lunch in today so I need to buy lunch. However it is made up in the fridge at home so will either be my lunch tomorrow or maybe my dinner if my dinner plans with my friend tonight fall through which may be a possibility it depends if her husband returns home in time from a trip to look after the kids.

I had a really productive Friday as I've been meaning to look for a better deal for my Gas and Electricity as they had been with two different suppliers and I wasn't set up to pay by direct debit so I finally organised to change my gas to my current electricity supplier and set up a direct debit. Based on last years consumption they estimate I'll be saving myself almost £100 over the year. However given I now have a flat mate I imagine I'll be using a bit more gas and electricity so won't save quite that much but at least I'm on a cheaper deal than I was on previously Apparently it will take about 3-5 weeks for the gas to be moved across so hopefully that will go smoothly. This is the first time I've ever tried to change suppliers as I've always been really lazy about things like that!

Must get back to work.

London18

Hi egoode, wish I could work from home more, am feeling very negative about work right now and would love to just not be there. Though do you miss the people contact? I think I was at home every day - despite the current attack of the glums.

Interesting about your utility switching - hope it goes smoothly. I have always been terrible/lazy at doing that sort of thing and just seem jinxed when I do try. Recent attempts at bank account change has been an unmitigated disaster and Utility switch via a cashback site simply fell into an internet black hole and hasn't happened.

Who are you changing to BTW? If I ever do get around to it I will have to check again to see what the best option is at the time but good to know what worked for you - £100 ish is not to be sniffed at.

I am off to bed - insufficient sleep is not helping me get over the glums so need to pack in some quality time with the pillow.

egoode

London18 wrote: »

Hi egoode, wish I could work from home more, am feeling very negative about work right now and would love to just not be there. Though do you miss the people contact? I think I was at home every day - despite the current attack of the glums.

Hi London,

Sorry to hear about your work. I don't mind working from home but probably because I'm an introvert and like being on my own. Also I'm usually busy in the evenings catching up with friends, and also have a few things like a book group and a exercise group I attend regularly and have made some local friends though those groups. So I get my people contact from those things. Also I'm constantly on the phone with work people and I work with some of my closest friends just coincidence we all got contracts in the same company so I sometimes call them when I need a break and a gossip!

London18 wrote: »

Interesting about your utility switching - hope it goes smoothly. I have always been terrible/lazy at doing that sort of thing and just seem jinxed when I do try. Recent attempts at bank account change has been an unmitigated disaster and Utility switch via a cashback site simply fell into an internet black hole and hasn't happened.

Who are you changing to BTW? If I ever do get around to it I will have to check again to see what the best option is at the time but good to know what worked for you - £100 ish is not to be sniffed at.

I previously had my gas with British Gas and Electricity with EDF. It's now all going to be with EDF. When I first moved in the electricity was disconnected and the gas was on a pre-paid meter and it took a while to get everything sorted out and ensure they knew I wasn't responsible for the debt that built up while the flat was empty. So at the time of moving I just wanted to sure I had working gas and electricity. I did look on uSwitch for cheaper options but I didn't recognise the name of the most of the cheaper companies and one I looked up looked like it had only started about a year ago so I decided to go with EDF as I've had good dealings with them before. Also I didn't use a cash back site I just called EDF direct to sort it out. I'm sure I could have got better deals but it works for me. Just have to hope the move between British Gas and EDF goes smoothly now.

egoode

Well yesterday was a bit of a disaster money wise. I took the afternoon off to go shopping with a friend as I really wanted to buy a jacket and some ankle boots and she was also looking for the same items. While I did get my jacket and boots I also bought a new dress and a pair of jeans. I'd planned to wait until I went to the US for things like that. However I probably did need them sooner than January as all my current clothes are about 3-4 years old and keep getting big holes in them so I'm fast running out of clothes.

egoode

Feeling really organised today. Finally meet with a Financial Advisor to discuss getting a pension set up as I currently have very little in the way of anything saved up for a pension and as I'm 35 really should have thought about it earlier than this. Better late than never though and I've still got time to save enough for a comfortable retirement.

The other thing we discussed was income protection insurance. I think this is definitely worthwhile for me as I'm a contractor and single so no one else will look after me if I ever fall ill and can't work for a long period.

We also discussed getting a stocks and shares ISA where I can choose the shares to buy directly. I've been wanting to do this for a while but all the various fees involved have confused me a bit. Probably won't get that set up straight away but will get it done before the current tax year ends.

Now that there's a beginning of a plan in place I'm feeling I'm finally getting my life sorted out, well financially anyway!

egoode

Hmm think I need to learn how to menu plan after I've just thrown out a lot of food that went off before I managed to eat/use it. I've never tried to menu plan but think I really need to learn how to. Any tips especially for someone that cooks just for one is appreciated!

egoode

Well I did better food wise this week only threw out a few spinach leaves I hadn't eaten in time. Although still need to learn how to meal plan better especially need to remember to check what nights out I have planned so I don't buy food when I'm barely home some weeks! I'm going to make some Chilli Con Carne today to freeze but still have some of my lasagne and cottage pies I did earlier in the freezer. I'm still so excited about finally having a bigger fridge freezer it's really quite sad but I lived with an under counter one with hardly any freezer space for over 8 years so nice to finally have room to bulk cook and freeze things

Not much to report money wise this week managed to only do spends I had planned in my budget which is good. I also finally submitted my tax return I need to pay approx the same as I did last year so not completely unexpected but is quite a lot I'm hoping to pay it out of my dividend in January so I don't need to move any money out of the offset account. Now that I have YNAB I'm trying to ensure I put aside enough for my tax bill each year and not ever be short of money for it.

egoode

Well I started off my week well with eating a home cooked meal each night and taking lunch into work and last night after being out got the train home rather than a taxi like I used to do. However this morning hasn't been so good. I woke up late and only had 20 mins to get showered, dressed and out the door. Missed having breakfast at home so bought something once I got to the office. I also didn't bring lunch in as when I got home late last night I didn't make it up then and then didn't have time this morning

However I guess a small slip up every now and again isn't so bad compared to doing that everyday like I used to!

Tonight I'm going to be speaking to the neighbour downstairs about kicking off the process to buy the freehold to our building. There's only our two flats in the building and my lease has 122 years remaining and I believe her's is similar so hoping it won't be too expensive to buy. The local council is the freeholder and has recently sent estimated charges for work they want to do in the next year for almost £5000. While I think the charge is about right and the work needs doing (although it's not urgent) I've heard the contractors they use aren't the best and often do quite bad jobs and take a long time to do it so hopefully we can buy the freehold before they do any work and we can choose our own contractors to do the work and also at a time that suits us and not the council.