The Road to Financial Security

Pushkin

1 March, St David's Day and it somehow feels like Spring :j

Usual payments all went out as regular, DH had his first pay packet since the pay rise - needless to say the extra net amount is lower than we thought, thanks to tax etc. I re-iterated I thought he should add the lot to his pension anyway.

Am now waiting for my bi-annual S&S ISA statement to see how much that has increased if it has. I don't really follow the stock market but it often seems like doom and gloom on the news and I have known the total go down before now!

DS went on a school trip so nice mother that I am I gave him £5 spending money. No outgoings other than that.

jodles16

Hey Pushkin! Sounds like things are going really well, yay! Was the cake as good as it looked?

Jodles

Pushkin

Hey Jodles - well the cake was actually pretty good in terms of both looks and taste if I do say so myself. I don't like cooking and am not good at it, think this was my best effort to date.

Shame I can't share a piece with you - thanks for asking...

Pushkin

Today the S&S ISA statement arrived -horrified to discover the balance is £141 LOWER than it was 6 months ago:eek: To add insult to injury I have been paying in £100 a month so the reduction is really £741.

Rang my father (aka financial advisor) to have a whinge and ask if I should stop paying in. Got a lot of guff about looking at the bigger picture and not to judge it on one 6 month period. So I guess I'm sticking with it for now!

Had an email from BG to advise us our monthly DD for gas is changing from £75 to £10. Not sure if it's a typo or not. I know we are in credit on the account (I like to have that buffer during the winter and would have claimed it come April) but that's one big reduction! Shouldn't complain about that I guess.

SueP19

I have a little V*rgin tracker and mine is down too

Lets hope the next 6 months they rally :j

Pushkin

Hi SueP - yes me too, what annoys me even more is that I had actually assumed the total had gone up and entered it on my spreadsheet - that will teach me!

Pushkin

We are off to mum and dads today for early Mothers Day lunch as my sister and her kids are staying - not sure how my poor mother ended up cooking but the arrangements all got very complicated!

I nipped to the supermarket to get some puddings as I at least insisted on contributing that much. Also had to buy ingredients for DS's next cookery class - lets hope this one makes it home and doesn't end up in the school bin!

Ended up spending nearly £40 as you always impulse buy in these shops - well I do - its why I do most of my food buying on line. I am consoling myself that its still cheaper than if we had gone out for lunch.

DH and I just whipped through the house doing essential tidying and cleaning. Only chores now to be done this weekend are the ironing and putting the washing away. Looking forward to the rest of the weekend...

Pushkin

Did two rather un MFW things yesterday - ordered £150 of clothes from M&S - the perils of internet browsing of an evening.

Sick of having very little to wear as I've put weight on and can't seem to get in the right headspace to lose any at the moment

Also gave an old 1p@d to my sister, been meaning to sell it, its been sat on the shelf for nearly a year unused. However since the mobile phone scam before Christmas I am wary of selling on £b@y. So while I got nothing for it but its good to see someone you know getting use out of it.

Off to an NT house today for some culture - dragging DS along and told he has to to be cheerful about it as it's Mother Day! :rotfl:

Pushkin

Long day at work as had a conf call at 7 am so really early start. Feel ok though and DH was working in London - he's been home a lot lately and it's annoying me!

DS left his lunch giro vend card in the pocket of his school shirt - it came out of the washing machine in 3 pieces. £3.50 to get a new one - the dilemma is do I make him pay for it - try and teach him some financial savvy??? Seems harsh as it's his birthday this weekend.

We have bought DS a new mobile phone for his birthday, I rang the n/w provider to tether it to my account and was persuaded into signing a year long contract at £8 a month- seems a good deal but I don't like the idea of being tied in, have always been pay as you go. It also took 10 minutes to arrange due to the many, many, many financial terms and conditions they had to read out to me :eek:

SueP19

I started DD with a contract phone at 13 due to the better deals but told her if it was more than contact it would be deducted from pocket money, she was really good with it.

At least you teaching DS money savvy :D