Hope is not an Effective Financial Strategy

shangaijimmy

Payday today so can properly start to make plans for over payments. I sent a small £5 across from small change jar, then had a count up of what remained. Am half way towards the next £5.

Mrs SJ's car was in for service and MOT today and after a nervy few hours got the good news that it had passed and had no jobs to do, that'll do me for another year. Car maintenance, and tax are all budgeted for so no unexpected impact on finances.

Not sure its something i[ve mentioned but DS1 and myself both suffer from terrible hayfever and the last 3 weeks have been particularly bad. Most early hours i've been having extra tablets and inhalers, and some my only respite has been going to sleep with a cold flannel over my face! Tonight we were playing in local fields and woodlands and DS1 suffered a horrific reactions with his eyes. I've never seen anything quite like it to be honest, so he's in our bed with mum tonight and i'm on the futon!!

debtfreeoneday

Not sure why I haven't popped in here before! But hello!

thank you for your posts on my diary and will subscribe to follow you!

Love that you do small payments - they really do add up don't they?!

I will nick your idea of counting how many payments I have in order to reach our goal of 2023 as well!

[Deleted User]

shangaijimmy wrote: »

Firstly i always thought i was good with energy switches and stuff, but it appears i haven't been too good. So i've signed up for the energy club and instigated a switch that apparently will save me £21 per month.

Just got an email yesterday reducing my Energy DD by £10pm! Just in time as i was concerned I about building up a large credit.

So to celebrate I bought some more LED bulbs to change over the last remaining few and up'd my monthly savings towards the next re-mortgage by £10pm

[Deleted User]

shangaijimmy wrote: »

Great evening to come from work to - I to of Mrs SJ that I wasn't prepared to decorate our room until she'd de cluttered every draw, space, box, wardrobe. Well she has and she's been ruthless!

I still feel we've got a phenomenal amount of stuff but hey ho!

My part of the deal is decorating this weekend and I must admit I never thought it'd be so soon!

In other news, all is quiet money wise. NSD today and a net gain with 20p road kill to the small change jar. Which reminds me I have £5 of small change to overpay tomorrow:T

It was only the other day we walked past a 2p on the pavement. Normally I'd pick it up for DD's piggy bank but to many people around...

shangaijimmy

Debtfree - great to see you over in SJ's little world. No problems on it taking so long there are so many its very hard to follow them all!

Jeepjunkie - Do LED's make a significant saving from energy savers? If so i'm converting! All our energy savers from the past 6 years or so are all starting to go at once so it would seem an appropriate time. :j
Also be brave on the 2p's, pretend it's a £1, and even act disappointed as a show of defiance :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

shangaijimmy wrote: »

Debtfree - great to see you over in SJ's little world. No problems on it taking so long there are so many its very hard to follow them all!

Jeepjunkie - Do LED's make a significant saving from energy savers? If so i'm converting! All our energy savers from the past 6 years or so are all starting to go at once so it would seem an appropriate time. :j
Also be brave on the 2p's, pretend it's a £1, and even act disappointed as a show of defiance :rotfl:

Brilliant!

A couple of years ago I did a spread sheet of all the bulbs in the house and how often they were used. Gradually I've been replacing all the CFLs, outdoor halogen floods [no street lights in the country] etc with quality LEDs as the difference in wattage when you add it up is staggering. e.g. One extreme example - Outdoor flood from 500w to 10w! To a table lamp from 11 watt to 4 watt...

Basically I can have a light on in most rooms and some outside lights on for less than a single 60w bulb!

It must work as since changing most of the bulbs and more recently replacing the double oven for an energy efficient model our monthly electricity bill [no gas here] has gone from £107pm to £73pm and we have always been frugal. Well apart from heating, the heat pump is never technically off. Oh and electricity has got slightly dearer in that time.

PS I've only bought warm white's from LedHut with Quidco offers and MiniSuns from ebay/amazon. No issues so far and give out a really nice light.

Hope this helps

shangaijimmy

That'll do for me. I'm on it!

shangaijimmy

Just snatched 5 mins on my overpayment spreadsheet. Despite my best intentions for the month of June i'll be £25.13 short of moving into the 131k's. Now i'll earn £25 refereeing on Sunday so will i be able to resist the temptation of putting it all to the mortgage and then doing a nice 13p tilly tidy!!

The other problem is i'll be in the same boat next month where i'll be approx £30-40 short. So always in a perpetual state of mental torment come the last few days of the month!!

What to do, what to do, what to do...:eek::mad:

shangaijimmy

Decorating is on the agenda for this weekend. 2015 sees us decluttering and decorating every room in the house. Initial plan was 1 room a month from March. I'm slightly ahead of schedule as so far i've done; DS1 bedroom, DS2 bedroom, bathroom, DS1 en suite, main en suite. That leaves our bedroom (this weekend), spare room to remove junk and make into nursery for number 3, living room and kitchen.

So i came home from work an hour early (before kids arrived home) and blitzed the room ready for morning. Its cleared or all furniture bar the bed and Mrs SJ's vanity unit. All polyfilla has been done, and wood work sanded down. B&Q beckons at 8am to pick up paint, and off and running!

Sorry to disappoint everyone but as i'm stuck in all weekend i hope it isn't glorious...

debtfreeoneday

Not sure where you are in the country, but we are anticipating glorious tomorrow
Not mentioning it supposed to be rubbish Sunday

We are out in the garden all day building fences and raised beds!