The Road to Financial Security

Pushkin

Bit more human today after a decent night's sleep.

The eB@y buyer collected the chair yesterday so that's another few £ for my selling savings account - need to get a few other bits listed now as I'm setting myself a target for that account and I don't think the surveys are going to help me get there any time soon

The usual weekend stuff - washing, ironing & other glamorous tasks on the agenda await after my morning fix of internet surfing

Other Goals
Pensions - not stressing about this but I will get my current total and have told DH to do likewise- mine is easy as it's all with my current employed. Mr P has more than one pension so expect further nagging will be needed :rotfl:

Fencing the estimate we had for this was more than twice what I was expecting. Need to get a 2nd and possibly a 3rd quote for comparison. This one is from a company we've used twice for tree surgery work and been very impressed with and don't think they are prone to inflating costs. So likely its just more expensive than we envisaged. Need to get it done though as the dog is on a mission to escape from the garden.

Pushkin

Well trip to Newbury show is off as DH is feeling unwell, I'm not very sympathetic with illness but he must be feeling rough as the show is his thing. I can take it or leave it and don't think ds is bothered so we will stay home. I am annoyed about the fact we have already paid for the tickets- I gave them to our neighbours so I hope they go so at least they aren't wasted.

At least I won't have to draw into my slush fund this month as I think I can make it til pay day with the £30 that's in my purse. :j

I am also telling myself I have now been given a whole day of time - so I need to crack on and be productive:

• Hoover through downstairs
• Put bathroom back together (furniture still in spare room from when plumber was working there last week)
• Sort all washing
• Ironing (a constant item on any to do list I write)
• Post toys on eb@y

Pushkin

Pushkin wrote: »

• Hoover through downstairs - COMPLETE
• Put bathroom back together (furniture still in spare room from when plumber was working there last week) 80% COMPLETE
• Sort all washing COMPLETE
• Ironing (a constant item on any to do list I write) COMPLETE
• Post toys on eb@y COMPLETE

Productive if unexciting day, a rare occasion in our house that there is no ironing pile, but I ploughed through and ironed everything in there. Lovely feeling that but sad to think it only lasts a day and tomorrow there will be shirts that have been worn that need washing and ironing.

DH would pay someone to do our ironing like a shot but I feel its too extravagant but I my well give in at some point.

Not a NSD sadly, had to pop to chemists to buy DH his drug supply to feed his cold - (he is the chemists's best customer). £14 for 2 sets of cold medicine. I rarely take any medicine or pills and paying for them today reminds me why!

I also bought some theatre tickets as a treat for me and DS up in London at half term. Bit of a splurge but its lovely to have things to look forward to and DS's face when I told him was a picture of excitement.

Best of all our neighbours returned from Newbury show with some artisan bread, cheese & pickle as a thank you for the tickets. Saves me having to cook dinner which is always a result in my book.

Pushkin

This week's goal is to aim to maintain the house in some semblance of tidiness - especially after my efforts yesterday.

Normally Sunday evening is spent chaotically doing the bare minimum (ironing shirts, hoover through etc) and then by mid week the house is a mess again which snowballs until the next pathetic efforts the following Sunday.

Made a real effort yesterday and so far so good today - although admittedly it's only day 1! I even cooked dinner from scratch as part of my plan to reduce the number of ready meals we eat.

I do think though that a little effort mid week would make for more pleasant weekends.

Am hanging out for pay day this Thursday and will need to nip to the shops at the weekend as I am nearly out of moisturiser. Am thinking about downgrading from my usual Cl1nique (@ £27 a bottle) to something a lot cheaper. Can't hurt to give it a go.

Do need to budget very carefully next month though - I have a massivo credit card bill due and really need to make some inroads into the Christmas shopping during October.

Pushkin

Very brisk dog walk this morning having to wear a coat for the first time in months. Just hope it warms up later so I don't feel the need to put the heating back on. Fortunately study is one of the warmest rooms in the house and is where I will be spending my day.

Feeling really positive today although somewhat tired - am re-reading Robert Goddard books which is great cos I've forgotten most of the twists and turns and I'm not buying new books. However they are such page turners I am staying up way too late reading

Good MSE start to the day when I logged onto my bank account to find the cash back for the fridge/freezer has paid :j £75 thank you very much. Had a real debate with my self over where to put it but decided that as the fridge was bought with the cash back in mind it should go back to our capital house fund.

Also have a bid for one of the toys I listed on £b@y at the weekend - I think I'm still in novelty phase with this as its only £1.50 but it really gees me up. My target it to get my selling/money making account to £200 by end of the year - it currently sits at £130.

I have just paid the 3rd instalment for DS's skiing trip - £420 (gulp) but have put it on my cc. I am conflicted over this - I have the cash in my slush fund account and don't like delaying payment but I figure I might as well get the interest on the money for another month and paying on my cc will also increase my M&S vouchers so I know it makes sense overall.

Really need to start planning and buying some Christmas presents - I count down in terms of number of pay days til the big event and there are only 3 which is a scary thought!

Enough with the budgeting I need to switch to focussing on IT and start work!

Pushkin

Still managing to feel positive and I made the effort to sort out and put away the washing at lunchtime, this is something new but I am determined to start using working from home to get a few domestic chores done so there is less to do at the weekends.

Finished work and did a couple of surveys -tried to do more but kept getting thrown out with messages stating I hadn't qualified grrr. Am in a no mans land where I feel I've put a certain level of effort into them so don't want to throw it away but I have ages to go before any pay outs - kind of wish I hadn't started the b**gers!

I am also sick and tired of seeing companies of which I am already a customer offering bonuses or money off for new customers. Where is the loyalty here?! £ky has loads of deals for new customers - we have been with them for over 15 years where's our offer?!

I know thats how the world works but I just hate that you have to constantly switch companies to get any kind of incentives. I may sound like an old biddy but I think it's a sad reflection on society today that loyalty is actively discouraged. Rant over!

Pushkin

Ooooh parts for the new boiler were delivered today - very exciting - I won't class as 'sexy spends' but I am looking forward to a more efficient boiler, hive remote control powers for our heating and lower energy bills :j

It did occur to me as I was signing the many forms to verify the parts had been delivered that I don't know one end of a boiler part from another - fingers crossed that all is ok. A lovely sounding man from BG has just phoned to confirm he will be here between 8 & 8.30 tomorrow so hopefully we're off and running.

MSE Updates
Just done another survey (yawn) so still plodding on for now

£0.63 pay out from my su9erm@rket :T have transferred from PP to my bank account to add to my selling/money making savings

Last day before I get paid and thanks to missing the day out Sunday I was left with a surplus of £18 in my current account that I have transferred to my slushfund

Not such a great day in terms of housework & being productive - overslept which has thrown my whole routine out, have felt on the back foot all day. Not helped by a 2.5 hr conference call which started at 12 so meant no proper lunch break and poor dog having to wait until gone 5 before I could take her out. Also eaten very poorly (that means unhealthily!).

Still in the words of Scarlett O'Hara ' Tomorrow is another day'.

Onward and upward (or downward if talking about my weight )

Pushkin

It's been all go at Pushkin Towers today. New boiler fitting was completed but despite DH's efforts to photograph relevant parts in an attempt to be able to show the gas man how to switch the water off etc I was still asked questions I couldn't answer. Therefore ended up having to ring DH 3 times.

Stressful having to juggle work with the noise & questions and the dog's agitation with all the activity.

The hardest part seemed to be setting up the Hive remote technology - it looks amazing but I"m leaving it til DH is home to investigate it properly, its much more his bag.

The slow cooker I ordered arrived today, only cost £7 as I put a voucher I got for my birthday towards it. As I'm a morning person (come 6pm I can be bothered to do very little) I thought preparing a meal before work and sticking it in a slow cooker makes sense. All in an effort to reduce our intake of ready meals :A

I also got paid, did a Tilly Tidy - first for a while. For a week at least I feel rich as the direct debits don't start til 1st of the month.

So happy it's Thursday too, sometimes I like Thursday nights more than Friday as I have the expectation of the weekend ahead.

Off to google slow cooker recipes now...

BookWorm

Hi Pushkin

Congrats on your new slow cooker. I love mine, it's my favourite bit of kitchen gadegtry. I love coming home from work to a yummy home cooked meal that is ready and waiting when I get in :T
Glad to hear the new boiler is in too. Nice to have it done before autumn/winter gets here

Have a great weekend

BW

Wirenth

Congratulations on the new boiler - whilst not a 'sexy spend', it's definitely a 'comfort spend'.

As an aside, I can't quite believe the Asbestos Kerfuffle. Very poor show on the part of the salesman for the window company - don't promise what you can't deliver. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.