Sashybo - Back Again

sashybo

Starting Debt Totals 2024

Car loan 1 - £152.21 pm, interest rate 2.9%
Jan 2023 starting total £3955
Current total £1421, paid off £2534 over the last year, hoping to see the back of this loan by summer this year.

Car loan 2 - £231.38 pm interest rate 3.9%, 6 years left
Jan 2023 starting total £17,264
Current total £14,686, paid off £2578 over the last year.

Garage conversion loan - PAID OFF
Jan 2023 starting total £1402 

CC1 - £80 pm 0% until November 2024
Jan 2023 starting total £3300
Current total £2135, paid off £1165 over the last year

CC2 - PAID OFF
Jan 2023 starting total £1700 

CC3 - £75 pm 0% until September 2024
Feb 2023 starting total £2783
Current total £1905, paid off £878 over the last year

Total paid off in 2023 £10,257
Current debt total £20,147

So hoping to get rid of the lower car loan within the first 6 months of this year but thinking we should maybe prioritise CC3 as the 0% deal ends in September. 🤔 I think we will probably need to look for another BT for CC1 but it would be brilliant if we could pay it off before the 0% runs out in November. 

I'm currently using my survey money towards paying off my new phone - only need another £120 and that will be paid off though. 😁 Once that's done I'll most likely put it towards the debts again.

 

jwil

Happy New Year!

You made great progress in 2023, good luck for 2024

sashybo

So the main financial goals for 2024 are:

Stick to our budget/adjust sensibly - we need to re-mortgage as our fixed deal ends in April 😢 We're expecting our mortgage payment to increase due to this so might need to juggle the budget around a bit.
Continue saving towards both long term (emergency fund) and short term goals - House-wise I want to finish painting the rooms upstairs (3 of the bedrooms, we already have the paint for one); get new carpet for the stairs and hall plus all 4 bedrooms and paint/treat the fencing around our back garden. We would like to have a short family holiday again this year but will be UK based as we can't afford to go abroad/don't have valid passports. Also need to save towards a birthday party for DD for her 5th birthday as DS had a soft play party for his last year. No big kids parties after that! I will be 40 this year as well so may have a party at home, my mum is 65 in the same month so might be a joint effort.
Pay off more debt - get rid of at least one loan and one CC, although both CC's would be amazing.
Meal plan more consistently and cut down again on takeaways - a downfall of ours is not planning enough then feeling tired and can't be bothered cooking. We did cut down on the takeaways last year but would like to cut down even more.

Other goals for 2024:

Keep exercising - I want to complete C25K, currently stuck around week 7, hoping some interval training will increase my stamina enough, so will be running at least twice a week. I also want to do yoga more regularly, maybe 2-3 times a week using y0utube and go swimming at least once a week as well. I would like to lose another 12lbs in weight as managed to lose 16lbs from May to December last year.
Get the kids out and about a bit more - it tires them out!
See friends more regularly - maybe once a month rather than once every 3 months!
Have more adult only dates and maybe another night away with DH - depends on my mum watching the kids though. 🫤 My older nieces will be 16 this year though so maybe we could get them to babysit the odd time? 🤔 

sashybo

Today before work (late shift) I got the bed stripped and remade and sheets in the wash. DH transferred to the TD when he got home from work.

I also managed to take the baubles off the Christmas tree and take down the Christmas stickers on the doors between living room & kitchen. I’ll take the tinsel and beads off tomorrow then dismantle the tree.

Hopefully I can pack it all away fairly tidily in the cupboard of doom in the kitchen. Will also force me to tidy the cupboard as need to move things to get the Christmas decs back in.

Will need to hoover in the living room and de-fur the couches. I really need to give the couch covers a proper clean as the kids have spilled all sorts over them (like eyeshadow from a kids make up set my mum gave DD 🙄) and DD has had a few accidents too. 😩 No idea how to clean them properly though. 🤔

When DH gets home from work I’m going to head out for a run. Will do me good to get a bit of peace from the kids.

sashybo

So far today I have hung one washing up and put another away and got the christmas tree down and put away. Cupboard of doom is still fairly messy though sadly, just too much stuff and nowhere to put it. DH keeps nagging about it as wants around the electric box to stay clear but he needs to help me get rid of things or find somewhere else to put it. On that note we will need to gut the shed again this year as DH has just been ramming stuff in there again. 🙄 

I have moved the rocking chair back downstairs into the corner where the Christmas tree was as we moved things around to fit it in and realised there would be room for the chair there rather than stuck in the spare room.

DD had to have a bath this morning as I found a squashed jellybean stuck in her hair 🤷‍♀️ Take it DH gave them jellybeans last night after dinner!

Heading out for my run soon and DH is going to take down the outside Christmas lights.

sashybo

Did my run yesterday afternoon and was very achey afterwards, I don't feel like I'm getting any better at it! Did 30:30 run/walk/run again for 25 mins, will do that for my next run and then might try another continuous run. 🤔 My piercings are 4 weeks old on Friday, I'm hoping to get back to swimming in the next 2 months as want to give them more healing time before getting into a public swimming pool. 😷 

Did day 1 of Adrienne's new 30 day yoga challenge this morning as well and a bit of strength training for my calves and glutes to help with my running.

Have hung a washing up today, put one away and put another on plus have hoovered the couches. I also went through some of my clothes and have decided about half a bin bag can go, there is probably more to go but that's all I have the energy for today. It was mostly t-shirts I never wear, some workout stuff that's past it's best and a couple of cardigans that are also past their best/rarely worn.

Will try to clean the bathrooms and hoover the stairs and the bedrooms. The kids are acting a bit mental now after playing nicely for most of the morning. DS has been building lego sets by himself and DD has been playing with her soft toys and dolls. I had a look in her room and she has trashed it, soft toys and dolls everywhere. 😱 Won't take long to tidy as it looks worse than it is but she is sooo messy.

DD woke again last night around 2 or 3am but settled again quickly after a cuddle, she hadn't woken up in the night for a few days which is good. Looking forward to the kids heading back to school and nursery next week as think they need it and I definitely need the break!

Money-wise I only need to make another £80 then I will be able to pay my new phone off in full, currently paying in installments. After that I need to build up my own savings again and also put some survey money towards the debts.

sashybo

Have had some sort of bug and had to call in sick to work for 2 shifts this week, had terrible stomach cramps and could hardly sleep, it was very weird. Actually unsure whether it was a bug or the result of eating too much fried/unhealthy food over the week. 🤔 I do seem to be getting more sensitive to what I eat the older I get.

Luckily DH was off work so he was able to sort out the kids for school and pick them up then get them fed and into bed so that I could rest. Feeling much better now and managed to get out for another run this morning. Still not running anywhere near 25 mins continuously but still getting out there so I'm counting it as a win, especially in the cold. Have got to day 4 of the yoga challenge as couldn't do anything on the 2 days I was ill.

Just remembered I slipped and fell on the ice on Sunday morning when I was out on my break at work, the town centre pavements  hadn't been gritted and it was black ice so I didn't see it. Landed right on my bum as well, it was a proper both feet flying out beneath me fall. I had a big padded coat on though which saved me as I wasn't injured thankfully.

Hoping to walk the kids down to school/nursery tomorrow then do some core & glute strengthening and then day 5 of the yoga challenge. I will be dealing with washing as usual and need to hoover upstairs and clean the bathrooms at a minimum. Might strip the kids beds and put clean sheets on as well.

On Friday I have the chiropractor in the morning so will try to drop 2 big bags of clothes off at the charity donation bin whilst I'm out and also need to collect some new clothes I had to order for the kids. Both are taking a stretch and needed new joggers and DD could do with a couple of tops but didn't see any I liked.

My car has been playing up, just in time for the MOT which is due at the end of the month. 😩 It keeps showing an engine fault but keeps changing its mind over what is wrong, there is a problem with the rear lights (DH has ordered a part that he thinks will fix it) and DH also thinks the battery might be on the way out. So I think it might be an expensive bill and then DH has his MOT at the end of February. 👍 

jwil

Hope there's nothing major with the car

sashybo

Thanks jwil, it could be the sensors that went on my last car and were expensive to fix but who knows. The car itself seems to be driving fine so hoping it might just be a minor fault.

It has been snowing here this morning, just lightly but enough to scupper my plan of going for a run after dropping the kids off. I did try for a couple of mins but the pavements were just too slippy and I didn't want to fall and hurt myself. Have done day 8 of the the yoga challenge plus some core and leg strengthening exercises instead. I also walked to school and back so an ok amount of exercise. Will see how the pavements look tomorrow for running but they might be icy as it's not meant to warm up until next week.

Yesterday I ended up doing an accidentally long walk after school drop off as I needed to go to the post office. I had ordered a top for DH for his birthday and when it arrived I realised he already had it. 🤦‍♀️ So needed to return it. The nearest post office is a 10 min walk from the school so I headed there only to find it closed. 😠 So then had to walk another 10 mins down the road to the next post office, it was open thankfully. Ended up being over an hour's walk by the time I got home, had to be careful as it was frosty with icy patches everywhere. 😩 

The only housework I managed yesterday was washing as usual (2 done and 1 put away) and hoovering the couches to get the cat hair off them. Today I really need to clean the floors downstairs and give the bathrooms a wipe but really just want to snuggle on the couch with a blanket after my shower. 😂 Working late shifts the next two days when it's meant to be -6 at night. So it will be fun leaving work.😭 

sashybo

Still not managed to get out for a run - yesterday morning was still a bit slippy and today was terrible with black ice everywhere. I basically slid down the hill with the kids, people were sliding everywhere. 😱 I have a pair of winter grip docs so wore them and managed not to fall. I did slide a bit but managed to keep myself and both kids upright, it took twice as long as usual to walk to school and back. The roads and pavements were like glass, it was awful.

So I've done some strength work and yoga as couldn't get out for my run, really getting annoyed now as I want to go for a run! Big Cat was being a pest and batting at my head and grabbing my hair with his paws when I was doing yoga, especially when my head was upside down!

I've got to walk back down to nursery soon as have been convinced by the staff to do story time today, I'm going to read a Hairy Maclary book as it's rhyming week for nursery. 😂 Hoping the black ice has melted away as don't want to fall. 😩 

Still have mountains of cleaning and tidying to do, all I've done is put one washing away and hang another one up on the heated airer. Feeling tired after two late shifts and DH is back on earlies for the next 3 days.

I went for my annual blood test the other day, because I had gestational diabetes with DD I now have to have a HbA1c test very year to check if I have developed type 2 diabetes. Hopefully it will come back fine, the phlebotomist said my blood pressure was textbook baseline so that's good.

Might try and get some cleaning done once the kids are home but will see how I feel. I really need to clean the insides of the windows in DD's room and the spare room as there are little hand and nose prints all over them - also little paw and nose prints too! 😂 

DS's teacher messaged me the other day to say that he has been doing well and seems to have settled in the class. She said he is trying really hard with his school work and is doing really well with his maths. DH was saying recently that he does seem a lot happier and calmer about school, he runs in the door most days now. He's just not that interested in reading and writing. 🤦‍♀️ We do his reading book with him and he's obviously guessing the words, I can see him looking at the pictures for context and then he just makes something up. 😂 He can sound out the letters but not interested in putting them together. 🤷‍♀️