Ruby's Bought a House, Now I want to Own It!

misslolu

Hope your dad gets well soon, it must be tough. Happy birthday also!

ruby_eskimo

Thanks @South_coast and @misslolu - Dad has an appointment on 17th April as needs to have a few more tests done by the local hospital first.  I'm hoping he has surgery scheduled rather soon after that as it's Eurovision in early May and while I'd be disappointed to miss it, I'd rather be at home helping my parents.

Almost end of the month so time for a little money update:

- Out of my 5 big money goals for the last financial year, I've managed to achieve all 5!

- I'm 49.33% of the way to side-hustling a new mobile phone in just 3 months which is amazing me no end.  It's all through cashback and surveys so really chuffed with it and hoping I can get the rest of the money in the next 4 months so I have a new phone with a better camera in time for our trip to Norway.

- I'm almost half way to the target I set myself for saving for DH's next big birthday, where I'm hoping to surprise him with a big trip to somewhere he's always wanted to go.

Going to go and have a think about targets for the new financial year and post an update in April.

ruby_eskimo

Long time no update.  Lots of things going on around here recently so here's a quick recap:

- Dad's not been great.  Had a biopsy on his cyst, caught covid and had to miss his appointment with the specialist.  Has to have more tests and images and is struggling with the fatigue.  No pending surgery dates yet.

- My car developed a weird over-revving thing last week which now means a replacement clutch and gearbox.  Oh and the cambelt was overdue a replacement too.  It's going to cost about £3k 😳  Very glad we have the emergency fund for me to use because I have no idea how on earth I would have paid that.  Need to work on trying to build that back up now.  Oh and it might not be ready in time for going to Liverpool next week.

- Randomly my facebook account was flagged as going against community guidelines yesterday too.  I don't even use it really but it's made me hyper aware of all the photos and things that are on there so I need to try and get access back to download all that data.

- In more positive money news, I'm 60% of the way to side hustling a new phone handset and I've over halfway to the money I need for DH's 40th next year.  It's almost time to book flights and I might be able to cash in my hard saved air miles to get a bit of a discount which would be amazing.

- All being well we should be in Liverpool this time next week 🥳

- Our cruise is coming up soon (think it's less than 100 days to go now!) and we managed to save big on one of the excursions.  If we booked through the cruise line then it was silly money, but booking direct with the operator we saved about 70% 👍

- Work has been stressful but as the pay deal has been agreed now (not going to comment on whether it was right to accept or not), I'm looking at about and extra £100 a month after tax and about £1600 in a one off payment.  That money is going to come in handy with a) re-building the emergency fund and b) helping me to increase our investments on a regular basis.

- May is birthday month for me.  By that I mean it's DH's, my dad's and my mum's.  Presents have been purchased using the gift pot of money, cards written and presents wrapped.  I'm taking DH to his fave BBQ restaurant on Monday and then we're going to a cheap comedy gig afterwards 👍

I also need to try and reign in the spending again as I've seen my spending on treats increase as I've been trying to deal with everything that's going on at the moment.  At least I'm not turning to food like I usually would do so need to focus on keeping the bank balance under control.

Right that's it I think, must do a round up next week of the financial goals for the year but that can wait.

LadyWithAPlan

Sorry to hear you going through the mill and hope your dad gets his surgery soon.
Well done in keeping a focus on the budget and your phone side hustle is a great doable goal

ruby_eskimo

Well it's been another month without an update 🤔

- Dad's currently in hospital, has been there over a week now and only today actually having something done.  It's been a very stressful time, care hasn't been great, but he's feeling a bit more positive about things.  

- The car was fixed and cost just over £2700, so that came straight out of the emergency pot.  Need to try and build that back up again but I did win £100 on the premium bonds today so that's a start 🤣

- Eurovision was epic.  Words can't describe how much fun we had.  Liverpool fully embraced the event, and being there to see some of it live was something I will never forget (kind of spoiled the final on TV for me now though!)  Also managed to sneak in a little visit to see my best friend in Lancashire and we had a lovely, lovely day with them.

- We're under 80 days out from the cruise and have to book all the remaining excursions / specialty dining on Monday which should be fun seeing what's still available.  DH has also used yet more airmiles to book a trip for us to Buffalo in November so he can watch some NFL and I can actually hopefully see Niagara Falls this time.  

- Not sure if I've mentioned before but it's DH's 40th next year and I really want to try and take him to South Africa.  I've been saving and have worked out a plan but it appears that the reward flights might have disappeared so might not be as straight forward as I thought...oh well have a few weeks till I have to start booking stuff.

So lots of travel coming up in the next year, plus an upcoming pay rise which will be much appreciated.  I've been cutting back on my spending and making progress with trying to max out my LISA as quickly as possible but still a few months off.  Hopefully will be back next week with a more numbers focused update!

ruby_eskimo

So I did a thing... and booked our trip to South Africa for DH's birthday next year 🥳😳🤯😆  

Still can't quite believe I just did it all yesterday but that's it, we're going.  Flights, accommodation and safari booked and all paid for from the pot I've been putting aside for the last year.  Just have a couple of excursions / tours to try and work out but those can wait till next year.  Can't really tell anyone about it for fear of them accidentally telling him so this forum is probably the only place where I can talk about it 😏😆

Merlin's_Beard

That sounds like both a dream (the holiday) and a nightmare (having to keep it secret)!

ruby_eskimo

Off the back of exciting purchases last week, I've just bought myself a new phone, case and screen protector with all the money I've "side hustled" from cashback and surveys since January 🥳  Battery on the old one has been dying a death this week so definitely time to get another one.  Very pleased with myself that I've managed to buy it using free money essentially and I'm hopefully going to get £75 cashback from trading in my old phone so that will go towards the next treat of a new laptop which is very much needed too.

We've finally booked the last flight and hotel for our big America trip in September / October and there's only about 7 weeks till we go on our cruise.  I really need a holiday and can't wait to be on a ship and just chilling out.

My dad has been out of hospital for 2 weeks now but having to take him for weekly reviews.  Still waiting to see what his specialist wants to do but he's got the joy of wandering around with a bag attached to his drain.  At least he's referring to it as his handbag now for some light relief.

Money wise things are looking good in general, just plodding along and trying to make our regular overpayments to the mortgage so we're paying down the balance to get a better LTV ready for when we have to re-mortgage next December.  British Gas have said they're prices are coming down so will need to review the new projected price and hopefully I won't have to increase the direct debit again!

I've also got back on my health and fitness kick and feeling very good for it.  I've even managed to go for a "run" (mix of running till I can't breathe and then walking till I have my breath back) this morning IN THE RAIN and ended up with a new personal best time for 5K 😁😎  Also enjoying my evening yoga practice to help me relax before bed.

June has been high and low and I'm hoping July is going to be a little more positive 🤞

badmemory

Don't forget that the standing charges combined are going up by over 8p per day.  They try to slip that one in whilst you aren't looking!

ruby_eskimo

badmemory said:

Don't forget that the standing charges combined are going up by over 8p per day.  They try to slip that one in whilst you aren't looking!

Oh yes thanks for the reminder, but it's not going to add up to the £500+ they were quoting me over the course of the year so I won't be paying over £250 a month like they wanted me to 😳