Hope is not an Effective Financial Strategy

shangaijimmy

themadvix wrote: »

I hope you didn't mean I felt for the teacher who has DS2 specifically! I'm sure he's lovely!

Lovely yes...but still relentless and i do mean specifically for his teacher and because of him!!

shangaijimmy

So managed to get all the kids presents wrapped this afternoon. I started by intending to get a few done but powered through and ended up wrapped all of the 3 kids presents (those that needed wrapping). I have 2 big ones to build and think i'll crack on with those tomorrow morning. Feeling rather smug! Mrs SJ can polish off all the big peoples pressies!

Just me, the 3 kids and 2 dogs tonight so just considering which film to watch once the kids are in bed.

shangaijimmy

84p TT yesterday and 71p TT today so all going nicely for another £3 TT pot OP on Sunday morning.

How dis-organised is our household...kids actually finished school yesterday and not today :eek: Could have been worse though, we may have realised today when we rocked up for school to find a locked up building!

So kids off, which means they need entertaining...DS1 is simple enough, DS2 is another matter with his unbelievably excess energy levels. Thankfully its dry and mild so i can kick him outside with his scooter and bike.

Final reckoning up on Christmas budget and we are about £50 under So that's my cash for night out tomorrow sorted.

Next planning is for the hectic financial month of January. We have 4 family birthdays, 2 of our kids birthdays plus Mrs SJ best friends wedding which requires 3 nights away as its a 400mile drive. Thank goodness for Mrs SJ selling 4 days leave back and that will pay for the 2 parties (we bought DS1's birthday present in with the Christmas presents due to the black friday sales, so don't need to account for that).

Right, shower, drerssed and dog walk!

Betterthanever

Just make sure that you get the "back to school" dates right - many a time in years gone by (long time ago now, granted) I would often fail to realise that there was an inset day and get them ready for school only to be waiting for a bus that was never going to turn up......

atypicalblonde

SJ, what's your 2018 target?

shangaijimmy

ATB, I haven't fully committed to a target just yet. I'd love to knock £15k off and get to £85k, but that may be stretching too far even for us. To make that we'd need to average £770 ish as a monthly OP. I'd say £14k and balance of £86k is more realistic, as that's a mere £685 monthly OP. At some stage in the next week i'm gonna map a few scenarios out and make some definitive monthly targets for the opening post.

pinkypig

My target is £15k in 2018. Hope I don't live to regret it!
Enjoy your family time xx

shangaijimmy

Well Christmas Eve arrives and it wouldn't be Christmas in our house if we didn't have a day in hospital... Everythings fine, but just throws some more chaos into the mix. Mrs SJ is gonna be a tad sore for a few days, and its fortunate that we do Christmas at in laws.

Anyway onto today, my job is to occupy 2 phenomenally excited boys...hmmm... So trampoline centre for 2 hours this afternoon to burn off some energy me thinks.

I've had a good luck at spreadsheet this morning (payday yesterday) and happy to report that our closing balance for 2017 will be at most £99,415.35. We'll have £2-3 more from TT's and i'm hoping to have a good Boxing day for MB offers. I had a bit of a surge this weekend and am now over £200 for the month so half of that will go to mortgage and the other half will go to our entertainment funds.

So, all the best everyone. I'm off to tire 2 boys out otherwise its going to be a long day!

greent

Have a great Christmas, Jimmy - and hope Mrs SJ isn't too sore and recovers quickly x

Greta_Sharbo

Great diary Jimmy. Loved reading it.
We are 1 year into our first ever mortgage deal and we intended to overpay but never got round to it.
Got some busy days ahead with some spreadsheets I think to start making our plans. You've inspired me!