A Ditherer's Diary (again)

Naomim

Morning all,

I'm actually off work today and tomorrow but jumped online to have a chat with my new boss. All seems good.

I've updated ynab. MrM went to an outdoor food market and spent £21 on cakes and pasties! I did give him a telling off.

I've had a refund of £25 from Amazon for a toy DD bought with her Christmas money that was broken but I did have to chase it up as it was a 3rd party seller. I also have an Amazon subscription for Tassimo pods but it's been out of stock so i bought some with the groceries and moved the money from the ynab to the groceries budget and now the subscription has turned up so had to move the money back. 🤦‍♀️

About to go and start on dd's bedroom,  just need to get the room emptied and find somewhere to put her with her pc.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. 

Naomim 

Naomim

Have started dd's wardrobe. Managed to empty it, filled over the screws and done the undercoat.  Undercoat has shown up a few pinprick nail holes so need to fill and sand tomorrow then get onto painting the bits I need and hanging the wallpaper.  I hope it looks ok as this is the first decorating I have ever done myself as MrM usually does it but I insisted I wanted to do this myself. 

Naomim

Popped out to get some eggs this morning for pancake day. I also needed petrol and as luck would have it, I got a coupon for 400 extra points on petrol when I bought the eggs so I used it straight away. 

Went through the McDonald's drive thru and picked breakfast for the family on the way home.

I've tilly tidied my Monzo account and have £4.67 in there now. I know its not great amounts but every bit really does help.

About to continue in dd's bedroom,  hoping to have this part done by the end of today. Then we can think about decorating the actual room.  

Naomim 

GeorgianaCavendish

Great news on the new job - huge congratulations! 

Naomim

Thanks @GeorgianaCavendish. I'm really looking forward to getting my teeth into a new challenge.  I'm the only one from my old company in the new team, all the others are from the company we bought but it's great they are making sure there are jobs for everyone and no redundancies. 

Naomim

I've been looking at my ynab this morning and have noticed it's really showing area's that we spend more in.  I probably need to tweak my categories as it's definitely the smaller middle of the month spends that are causing the issue and i should have a category for the miscellaneous stuff. 

Yesterday I had to order a chair for dd's room as she's been sitting on a stool to do her school work and is complaining her back is aching.  I also had to order another roll of wallpaper to finish the wardrobe.  Small things but they add up.

I've also not really taken into account the overdraft with the budget, in that I haven't started the budget with a minus figure but I do have have an overdraft category so anything left in there at the end of the month is what the overdraft will come down by.  I have been watching videos about starting in overdraft and may start a tandem budget to see if it's better.

I did look at the MSE availability checker for a money transfer to see if I could get a deal to transfer the overdraft and pay it off.  There wasn't much on offer to me and I worry as some of my debt was built up from doing money transfers when I kept trying to get out of the overdraft.  Admittedly I wasn't budgeting well so fell into the usual consolidation trap we see on these diaries so often. Transfer the balance then build up the OD again.  So maybe I need to wait a few months until I can see ynab is really working for my budgeting (which I think it will) and my credit card balances have further reduced.

Naomim

Morning all, 

I've just updated my ynab for the past few days.  I'm definitely short in the groceries budget 😕  

Work has been crazy this month with the merge in companies and all that is going on. I've done hardly any prolific surveys so will have nothing to to payout this month for an overpayment, although my tilly tidying is at a whopping £5.36 😂

Yesterday MrM managed to impale his foot on some kind of metal hook that was on our garden path. He was only taking the recycling out and we have no idea where it came from and what it was doing on our path.  I had to take him to A&E as it had gone through his slipper and sock and stuck into his foot.  The triage nurse asked him to take his slipper off to have a look at it. 🤦‍♀️ He pointed out he was unable to but she was insisting! In the end they managed to cut the slipper off and x-ray him. It was straight so they could remove it. He's home and in pain.  He'll do anything to get out of housework! lol

Now the weather is turning a bit, I'm starting to look at getting our decking sorted. It needs a good clean and re-oiling or painting, all of which I'm happy to do myself. If MrM is set on using some of his bonus on the hot tub then the decking needs sorting out first.  We've had an electricity supply put in the garden ready.  I probably need to wait at least another month before I can do anything with it.   DD's bedroom still isn't finished. I need to get legs for the makeshift desk but as I need six of them, I have told dd we need to wait for next month before I can get them.

Hope everyone is keeping safe and well and looking forward to the new "roadmap" out of lockdown.

Naomim

FootyFanDan

Hey, 

Ouch, sounds painful for MrM hope he recovers soon, guess us men will do anything to avoid chores hahaha. I am very much looking forward to slowly getting back to normal, but also very wary of the impact it will have on the budget. While lockdown as certainly helped keeps the pennies save I have truly missed just the usual stuff and I think I have learnt to try live life a bit more, I have always thought of myself as quite reserved but I plan to try be open to new things and maybe not take the good I have in life for granted. Its weird how stuff that becomes routine we begin to take for granted, going to football and having a nice cold pint in the sun can't come quick enough for me! Although I accept not everyone will maybe want to dash out.

I hope you and family are keeping safe 

Naomim

Morning all and happy March! 

Spring is finally coming.  On Saturday I was hanging washing out on the line and I could hear children playing in another garden and a neighbour cutting their grass and it was one of the best things I have heard.  It really made my heart sing.

MrM is on the mend, he can get his shoe on now and has new slippers! 😂

Good news, I heard yesterday that we got first choice for 11yo's secondary school.  I was expecting it as we only live two roads away but good to know it's all confirmed and I have accepted the place already.

Payday has been and gone and all the dd's have started coming out of the account.  Was struggling with ynab as it was showing I was over budget and I just couldn't see how I could reduce things. I watched a couple of short videos and then realised I was budgeting for a couple of things that come out right at the end of the month and by that time I will have been paid again so no need to budget for them until payday.  the budget actually looks respectable now.  I'm still on that learning curve but determined to stick at it and chip away at everything.  I know I've said it before but Nov '19 really was my true LBM and the longest I have ever stuck with a budget and determined to keep it going.

I was working late last night as have swapped teams at work but still have stuff to tidy and hand over.  Had a call from my boss about payrise and bonus.  Payrise was 1.47% - funny amount I know; but they rounded it to a full figure in the salary but the bonus was very generous!  As soon as that comes in I'll be booking an eye test for new glasses and getting the kids rooms fixed.  15yo's first as his radiator is hanging off the wall and held up by his bed and some of the plaster on his ceiling has come down.  also need to put a bit by for dd's new school uniform.

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the slightly warmer weather we have had. ☀

Naomim

Naomim

Morning all,

Credit card payments starting to come out of the account. Getting down into the £25's this month which feels like a bit of a milestone.

I've reactivated my Hello Fresh subscription for next week. I felt we were getting in a bit of a food rut again so it'll be nice to have something different. I'll do a top up shop in Aldi for the cupboard bits and pieces.  I have to remember to start buying packed lunch bits for 11yo again.  I can't wait for them to get back to school and into a routine again.

My kids are currently in the kitchen baking a cake.  It's nice to see them doing something together without loads of arguing (albeit there's time for communications to break down!)   We'll see how it turns out.  It's supposed to be for 11yo's World Book Day challenge. I'm just happy she hasn't had to dress up this year and moving into secondary, they don't bother so much.

Hope everyone is having a good week. It's flown by for me.

Naomim