NST July - Bobs Bucket & Spade Boogie to the beach!

apple_muncher

Hello - if academia can do August, I'll happily do September. Thanks Bob for July - it has been most enjoyable .


Now to the numbers: let me preface this with the comment that it has not been a normal month. From my personal account it would seem that I have paid £664 off the mortgage; and £634 from our joint account, making a total of £1298. Ooh, I have impressed myself there :rotfl:. And we still have the usual mortgage repayment amounts to go out... Seems too much to be correct...! And I'm even tempted to delete this post, just in case I'm waaaaaay out with my number crunching.


Anyhow, today I am grateful for smooth train and bus journeys, for fun dancing with dd, for being able to simply relax at home, for my knitting, for raspberries.

Bobarella

Apple - Wow!:eek: that is really amazing. Such an inspiration.:T

Fmess

bob - well done on getting below 4k, that's fantastic!


applemuncher - where did you go on holiday? A money making factory :rotfl: Well done, that is a huge amount in one month and before your monthly payment!


Today is SFD number 14 and I'm planning on having at least 2 more this month and I'm rather pleased to get to 16


I have received my final marking payment and have paid £220 more off my debt (although I did need to use some for the chandelier!) I also have the chance to go on a holiday with my sister at the end of the six week holiday so have put some money aside to cover this so that it doesn't make me go into more debt, and ay spare in the holiday budget will go off the debt


I have also made a new plan for debt freedom, inspired by you getting us to declare our payments this month bob. Last year, I calculated how much I would need to pay each month to be DF by this New Year, however due to my changes in circumstances (increase in debt and paying 100% of all bills) I have decided to extend this to New Year 2017. To be debt free by 01.01.17, I need to £404.63 off my debt each month. This is £120 more than my minimum payments, so I need to make/save £120 extra each month. I love planning, this makes me feel really positive.

mothernerd

A SFD and have looked after myself and been very lazy all day -sleeping/ reading, doing puzzles. DS2 has paid me (paying off what he owes from last year when he was ill at £100 a month). He has finally got his tax sorted so has paid me extra - useful now but means that after next month that is less 'income' (bill paying) so I need to get my act together.

DS3 paid me last week and he and gf have contributed some food. They brought back some things from their group picnic on Saturday including my favourite chilli heatwave posh crisps which I rarely buy for myself, they gave me sweets today when I was collecting rubbish and some salsa dip, which I am not fond of but will cheer up curries and chillies. They also gave me leftover garlic mushrooms (love them but no longer make them as sooo high in calories) and a complimentary garlic bread which came with their pizza today - I looked and it's basically a 6" pizza so will have it with salad bits tomorrow. Cooked a whole pack of sausages in the oven, ate some for tea (with veg and the mushrooms) and will divide the others and put away for other days.

Going back to the world of the strange, not very strange but a bit of a challenge sometimes, I am persevering with only having one set of cleaning stuffs so eg on Saturday I mopped the bathroom here so that I could take the st*rdrops to the other house and did both the toilets there before bringing the toilet cleaner back. I have also used all the cleaning sprays left by DS2. Every little helps, especially when things like path weedkiller cost around £4 so worth occasional irritation.

Today I am grateful for libraries, leftovers and my bed.

WelshKitty85

Hi everyone!

Been a SFD today as spent most of it in work. Made the most of blue skies when I got home and went for a walk to the orchard. Managed to get a tub full of cherries. Was also surprised to see blackberries coming through (thought it was too early) and picked a few. Loads of mushrooms growing but not sure I trust myself to know which are safe to eat!

abundant1972

Evening all...

Apologies for being incommunicado the last few days...

Claiming 2 SFD's though = 17 in total to date!

Congratulations to those of you hitting targets and smashing them. There's been some serious money saving this month.

Stewby - NY is incredible. I fell in love with it - it's one place I felt totally at home in, and could move to tomorrow.

Well impressed with your YS haul OnlyGirl. I only ever seem to find stuff at ours that's marked down by 50p tops. Way to go!

Too many things to comment on but I love reading everyones' posts. It just provides such a solid foundation... and helps me loads. So thank you everyone. Even if I don't comment on things - your posts are greatly appreciated.

Off to bed... day off tomorrow. Night all.

Ps. If you want to put me down for October I'm happy to do. Must earn my keep lol.

Added 29/07/15: Realised I'd not claimed 26/07 as SFD 15 so ammended my figures here

Bobarella

Fmess - fantastic. I have updated your total on page 1 now.

Mothernerd - Glad your DS & daughter are feeding you nice things..I know what you mean about having certain food items you wouldn't buy yourself now but still enjoy to eat. For me it's good cheese. I was delighted to get the latest The Orchard offering from Mr T for that reason. £3 off their Finest cheese range. And of course I have to use it to keep getting these offers...hard life

WelshKitty - we've had ripe blackberries in southeast London for around a month. It is very weird and unseasonal.

Abundant - thank you for your kind offer to do October. I will add a note of volunteer hosts to page 1 for reference.

Bob

Fmess

Right, all this talk of blackberries is making me jealous. I'm going to take a bag with me when I walk the dogs this evening and see if I can spot any in the usual places. Thanks for this tip


Should be a SFD today as I don't need anything, except a diary, and I keep putting off buying it as I don't want to ruin a SFD.

nannygladys

Just sitting dgd' s, will be glad when all this house moving and cleaning is done and dog can go home, I love having them all but at the moment with them all staying with me I have no time to myself and very little energy. But come middle of next week I'll be able to start my retirement proper!!!!!(well here's hoping)

Everyone seems to be doing well this month except me. I can't wait for the new month, I've ended up with 3 sfd so far this week, so plenty of room for improvement.

I don't think I have any paying appointments next month so I will start to work out my budgets.

Feeling a lot more positive now I'm back home and just glad my brother is dealing with all the rest of the paperwork for stepfather

Nannyg

apple_muncher

Fmess - I also got a final payment for marking - nothing like yours: it was... £8.20! Needless to say, it went straight to the mortgage and will never have interest paid on that £8.20 again.

Hugs nannygladys - hope the longed-for peace and quiet and retirement are not too long in arriving.