MFWW - Cinny Gets Serious

ruby_eskimo

Birdie85 wrote: »

As I was reading your explanation of what your OH does I was just getting images of Friends- Rachel shouting 'He's a transponster!' in answer to the question 'What does Chandler do for a living?' :rotfl: It's pretty much how OH sees my job, he doesn't know what I do, nor does he really care!

I was thinking the same thing Birdie, and my OH and I are exactly the same; we're both analysts but we do COMPLETELY different things, I'm the more technical one and he's the more interpretive one.

Oh those houses Cinny, I love all three of them and wish we could find something similar around here. At the moment we're looking at a 2 bedroom tiny mid terrace for at least £250K. Southern property prices make me sick sometimes. Here's hoping the housing market crashes again in 2016 so we can actually afford to buy something.

Cinny91

Dinah93 wrote: »

You would need a lot of little people to get lost in it.

By little people, do you mean dogs with awesome human personalities?

But imagine having a little attic room in a gorgeous Victorian house with all little quirky features growing up! I was friends with a neighbour kid who lived in one of those houses and I was forever jealous of his bedroom

Tootallulah - I love houses in Retford, namely the old ones. I grew up in the house behind the church that got burnt down years ago on the main road (if you know it‽) and it's kind of my dream that when the time comes that house will be up for sale and just in our price range

I sometimes tell people OH is a transponster :rotfl: I'm so terrible with remembering things like this. I don't even fully understand what he studied at Uni I don't even know my own official title at work!

Gallygirl - Thanks for stopping by, love your diary and find it a big end-game kind of inspiration! The thing I love the most about #3 is the kitchen/dining room. Just looks like a lovely snuggly family home. If only we were ready to buy already!

I don't think we'd ever be able to afford something nice down South, Ruby! I know there's the whole area dealio but I feel like houses should really just be houses. 1 bedroom costs X amount, 2 bedrooms cost xyz etc etc.

Exciting day today! Dropped my old car off at work, took out all my random bits of tat (cuddly husky, hidden doggy-doo bags, hidden dog treats... mostly dog things ) ready for the switch!

Will do a money post separately!

Cinny91

OH and I had a big-ish (fueled by a bottle of wine) talk last night about house savings. With OH's job changing in a few months* we need to make as much headway as possible on savings while we can.

*the new job is double his basic salary, but we will lose his commission which is what fuels the big jumps in savings every payday. It's not that we can't save at all, it's just going to be a fraction a month of what we currently save (more around 1k a month which is still good going!)

Plans to maximise savings:

• Carry NS January into NS February. Keep using up what we have and up/recycling things we already have in purpose of things we need.
• £29 grocery budget for February (for juice veggies, milk etc - total of £225 including our main food shop)
• £40 fuel limit (feel I'll be driving much more in the new car so need to cap it!)
• Free weekends. With our cineworld cards and a more economical second car (will be cutting fuel costs in half) we should be able to have filled weekends at little cost straight out of pocket.
• Make an inventory of our store cupboards so we can use up and not waste anything.
• Leave debit cards in a safe place at home - only spend in "real" money so I can dramatically wail in pain whenever I part with it.
• Remember that despite being "cheap" with ourselves, we love our families very much and they deserve the best so we will pick out gorgeous thoughtful gifts (still within a certain budget) over whatever we can find in budget.

Will add to these as and when we think of new ideas. Can't wait for February when we're fully recovered from Christmas and can monitor our money now everything's back to normal

gallygirl

• Leave debit cards in a safe place at home - only spend in "real" money so I can dramatically wail in pain whenever I part with it.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:Love it :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Cinny91

We. Have. Winston! :j:j I'm so happy and totally content with the areas I'll be cutting back in to justify having the second car.

gallygirl wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:Love it :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Told OH this part of the plan last night and he said "as opposed to the bleeerrrggccchhhh noise you make when you use your debit card?" Whoops

Having a look around for cheap things to do for our birthdays this year. They're spaced 3 weeks apart so we try and plan something in the middle. There's a show at a local theatre that looks promising and not only £15 a ticket so well within budget! Going to show OH a few videos of the guy (an impressionist which always fascinates me?!) tonight and see what's up.

Speaking of birthdays! Been asked(/told) to get Mum No2's birthday present today. She loves Ghost perfumes and OH told me her favourite is the "purple" one.. but a google search shows there are at least 3 purple ones?! So I'm just going to hazard and guess and hope it's all good

So glad it's stopped raining/snowing and the sun has come out! Taking Ryder for a walk before I go on the mystery perfume mission, the nicer it is the longer he'll walk for and less mean I'll feel leaving him again I did stuff some of his toys this morning with a stickered pot of wet dog food from Mr A last night and popped them in the freezer to keep him busy while I'm out.

Only 8 days until payday now and OH is feeling positive we'll be able to make some good head way on the deposit! I'm just looking forward to my bank leveling out after £152.20 of unexpected spends so I can start saving my little goal of £200 a month (making up our emergency savings )

Also added to my signature my "personal spend" challenge for this year. Which covers everything I buy for myself. So clothes, toiletries, hair products, make up etc etc! Averages out at £20.83(ish) a month so will hopefully help me be less wasteful as this is the area where most of my money vanishes to.

ruby_eskimo

He probably means the original Ghost perfume, that came in the purple bottle (and was very popular when I used to work in a popular high street chemist).

Good luck with the personal spend challenge. I wish I could keep to that but I have expensive taste when it comes to cosmetics. Although I have been good and haven't bought any new makeup in at least 6 months (just goes to show how much I have) and I try to use everything up before repurchasing something new.

gallygirl

ruby_eskimo wrote: »

Although I have been good and haven't bought any new makeup in at least 6 months (just goes to show how much I have)

Em, not really, some of [STRIKE]us[/STRIKE] other people on here, not me obviously, have six years worth .

Cinny91

Thanks for the heads up on the Ghost perfume, Ruby! Read it before I set out only didn't have chance to reply. Oddly couldn't find a Ghost GS anywhere?? So I took a chance and got her the DKNY MYNY fragrance, as well as a Yankee Candle that when I got to the till discovered was the fragrance of the month with 25% off :j

Was also very well behaved and didn't buy a single thing for myself, not even a drink for the ride home (which always normally happens) I'm not sure if it's because I'm trying to behave or because I don't want things in my car that might make a mess?!

Was struggling to grasp the concept of having 6 years worth of products for a moment then, GG! :o But I think that's because about 95% of my stash is Lush so only has a shelf life of around a year

Speaking of, OH came home from work with some Lush things as someone at work had been gifted them for Christmas but can't use them. :blushing:

Snow has come down thick and fast this morning. I need to go get a prescription for OH, but the rest of my afternoon plans have been cancelled so I'm just going to potter around. Do some laundry, clean up etc etc.

Also having "the talk" with OH tonight. We've been using HelloFresh though January for our food and it's been nice! All the meals have been gorgeous and with a well stocked store cupboard/freezer it's been nice to have our grocery bill capped at a certain amount. But today an Aldi opened near us and I just think if we're watching our pennies and trying to save more.. it just makes sense to start shopping there?!

ruby_eskimo

gallygirl wrote: »

Em, not really, some of [STRIKE]us[/STRIKE] other people on here, not me obviously, have six years worth .

Oh I probably have more than enough makeup to probably last me about 10 years! I just meant that not buying for 6 months was an achievement!

I wish we had an aldi here. My parents shop there and they're pleased with the quality etc. I would definitely recommend it.

Cinny91

Haaaappy Friday!

Found time this afternoon to sit down and tot up all our spends for this month. And I can tell I wasn't paying full attention. With not spending money on myself I just thought other areas would take care of themselves.. but err, turns out it doesn't work that way. Who'd have thunk it?!

Our biggest total was a section labeled a little widely as "misc spends" so if we bought house stuff, things for the new car, bits for Ryder, meals out etc they all went in this section. Last month this totalled £513.11 :eek::eek: And that's just from my account! And a close second in biggest spend was our food bill that reached £363.19 Noticed a big trend here was small amounts of £7 - 10 going in smaller food shops.

Must. Do. Better!!

I spoke to OH about groceries and we've agreed on swapping to Aldi :T So I've set a food budget for February of £150

Misc Spends are going to be limited to £100 (so this is for things like dog food, meals out, entertainment money)

Personal spends are going to be £0 (*crosses fingers*)

If we stick to these budgets it means we'll be able to save over £600 next month!

Biggest goal for next week is, bar bills, to spend £0. Will see how that goes!

Had a nice email from quidco to say £16.40 is due to pay out so that will be in my bank within a few days

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!!