Get a grip woman!

Suffolk_lass

Update my Targets for October -

- Live within our income - try to avoid any top-ups to bills account and running cost accounts in October Fail I accidentally used the bank card to buy my season ticket, and a couple of cheques have cleared that I thought I had already accounted for. I have just moved £250 from the emergency savings back to the current account otherwise that remaining credit card bill would have hit us with overdraft charges again this month.
- Investigate how much it will cost to repair the wall scrape to the bodywork of my car that I acquired at the weekend - don't ask! Not done - I've decided to wait until the last week of the month to do this so there is no chance of spending any other money this month
- Overpay the mortgage by at least a bit this month not done - now I've raided the savings pot I can't get it under £100k not one of my better reviews this!
- Do some fun things I've just agreed to meet DS in town on Saturday (his first of five days off after a 7-day straight of working) - we are going to their version of Oktoberfest (it's been a while but we used to have a flat in Munich and go every year to the real one)
- Continue with the deep clean at our other house not done yet and not on the plan for this weekend yet
- Kon-Mari a drawer in my chest in my bedroom not done yet
- autumn pruning and tidy in garden We have six one-ton builders bags that are all full of tree pruning (and the one that split and we had to fell) plus three garden tidy bags (about half ton dimensions, in builders bag size) full of the vegetation I cut down in the veg plot last week plus the clearings from the front garden. Never-ending job this one!
- lose at least 2 pounds to tip me under the next stone number on the scales I have not checked since...(it seemed best not to iykwim)
- process the apples and tomatoes before they rot A must do for this afternoon - I can see a couple of tomatoes going over. I think I will whizz some raw and freeze in plastic bags and I will roast the really ripe ones and make roasted tomato sauce for jars - the apples will wait but I do plan an apple and (home-grown) raspberry dessert for this evening to go with our slow-roasted chicken Oh dear... no room in the freezer. Plan B in progress - eat some freezer food to make room! - apples doing Ok so far! Might have to resort to apple butter... had to throw three tomatoes away (not bad out of six punnets. Maybe get the old green tomato chutney recipe out...

I am starting to think about Christmas things. I have also volunteered to host some friends for New Year, which will be fun, so I need to prepare for this. I also need to find out how many I have for Christmas Day. All that chatter about Christmas on TOPM's diary has got me thinking. I am definitely doing recipes and ingredients in jam-jars for my fundraising stall at the beginning of December. And little books of domestic promises to give away.

The Aga is on but no heating yet (might wait for Christmas - then the oil will last until summer; we have loads of logs) - and... tada :T the dishwasher repair man is coming tomorrow to fit the replacement part (it has been AGES!!)

Suffolk_lass

Thanks for stopping by missymoo81 and JoJoC - I wish my actions could deliver on my targets

Karmacat

You're managing all these extra food things without a dishwasher? I couldn't, these days arthritic fingers is my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. I'm also sticking to my dishwasher

Great save on realising how you'd paid for the season ticket, by the way - we all do that sort of stuff, and catching it is the thing that matters.

Suffolk_lass

Well it is officially fresh air week this week. DH's payday is next Thursday. As there is so little in the bank I will resist the urge to use the CC (again) and we will mostly be having a freezer week. The exceptions are - milk, yogurt, blueberries, satsumas/clementines, lettuce, leeks, coleslaw, juice and maybe butter. I don't want to sound too virtuous. In the last two days I have paid for refuelling my car, dental work (private, to try and save my tooth) and the deposit on our Son's skiing holiday.

In other news I effected a massive cheat, I moved just enough from the emergency savings pot to the mortgage to pay it down to £100,000 exactly. Then 97p interest was deducted so we are officially in three figures now. Just in time to report for MFiT Q7. Any coincidence is entirely deliberate.

Son's friend moved in last week for six months so there will be no need for me to pay for the house subsidy in November, but I have already paid for October.

Two humungous credit card bills plus the third with regular travel expenses on totalled £2,500 in October. No wonder we are struggling. And I had to sub our running costs by £250 from EF this month. What a nightmare!

At least the dishwasher is working and it was fixed under warranty; albeit by a man with the personality of a cabbage. None is an understatement. Apart from turning my dishwasher on its side without taking the panel off, and flooding the floor (and leaving my soaking wet towels all over it), I had to lend him a broom so he could [STRIKE]sweep up after himself[/STRIKE] - ooh no, he left that for me! poke it back far enough without having to do it properly. A bodge man if ever I saw one.

Karmacat

Oh, the dishwasher work doesn't sound a fun experience! Hopefully the actual work is good enough? Yuck.

OTOH, the mortgage "cheat" is brilliant as is son's friend moving in.

Fresh air. With fresh blueberries lovely.

Suffolk_lass

I just love the positive spin you put on things KC!

I think I was just having a bit of a wobbly moment when I posted. I had spent the afternoon with a dental specialist who recovered my tooth-position. I had an abscess when I got back from Mum's last time and my dentist's X-Ray identified a root tip problem. I was referred to the nice man who specialises in this work. £75 for the initial consultation and £550 yesterday but hopefully up to 30 years life-support for my poor tooth. Just need to make the appointment with my dentist for a combined check-up, review of the temporary repair, and a separate repair to a tooth that has just lost a lump. Happy days.

I've had a look at the bank accounts this morning and we have just over £200 in the bills account, with the electricity due Monday £138 and no top up until 31st October and £107 in the running costs to last until next Thursday - that is weekly food shop, swimming and yoga and literally nothing else. Oh my!

The fuel, Son's holiday deposit (that he will refund to me) and my dental bill will all unfortunately hit the December CC statement.

I know when I compare our situation with that of others on this forum it feels quite embarrassingly affluent but I think we are all struggling in our own way and I literally had to turn off Question Time last night when the Government spokesman (Chris Grayling MP) was trotting out scripted drivel with no relevance to people or how they are actually struggling with regard to Universal Credit.

Karmacat

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I just love the positive spin you put on things KC!

I try Actually, I try very hard if I collapse into how I feel sometimes, it feels like I won't come out the other side

I think I was just having a bit of a wobbly moment when I posted. I had spent the afternoon with a dental specialist who recovered my tooth-position. I had an abscess when I got back from Mum's last time and my dentist's X-Ray identified a root tip problem. I was referred to the nice man who specialises in this work. £75 for the initial consultation and £550 yesterday but hopefully up to 30 years life-support for my poor tooth. Just need to make the appointment with my dentist for a combined check-up, review of the temporary repair, and a separate repair to a tooth that has just lost a lump. Happy days.

Thats a genuine wobble causing moment :eek: I'm in the middle of a crown repair right now, and when I've spent half an hour in the dentist's chair, no matter how good the dentist is, then truthfully, I sit down for the rest of the day and do nothing except watch rubbish tv. Because I know I feel wobbly.

I know when I compare our situation with that of others on this forum it feels quite embarrassingly affluent but I think we are all struggling in our own way and I literally had to turn off Question Time last night when the Government spokesman (Chris Grayling MP) was trotting out scripted drivel with no relevance to people or how they are actually struggling with regard to Universal Credit.

There are plenty of comparatively affluent people on the boards, there really are - including people with land and a couple of horses. Be kind to yourself :kisses3:

I won't listen to anyone in government. And I won't listen to Donald Trump either, the mute button is getting a lot of use now I have my tv connected again

Suffolk_lass

Karmacat wrote: »

I won't listen to anyone in government. And I won't listen to Donald Trump either, the mute button is getting a lot of use now I have my tv connected again

Not just me then!

Suffolk_lass

Update my Targets for October -

- Live within our income - try to avoid any top-ups to bills account and running cost accounts in October Fail I accidentally used the bank card to buy my season ticket, and a couple of cheques have cleared that I thought I had already accounted for. I moved £250 from the emergency savings back to the current account otherwise that remaining credit card bill would have hit us with overdraft charges again this month. Other than that, no further mishaps
- Investigate how much it will cost to repair the wall scrape to the bodywork of my car that I acquired Not done - This is planned for this week as I hope to take Wednesday and Thursday off
- Overpay the mortgage by at least a bit this month done - I've now raided the savings pot just to nudge under £100k
- Do some fun things This month I have been to the classic motorbike show, been for a lovely walk with Son and friend in the local river valley - even borrowed two dogs, and went to friends on Friday for a girls night in and got completely and unexpectedly sozzled due to a bit of accidental drink-confusion
- Continue with the deep clean at our other house not done yet and not on the plan - a change of plan and Son's friend has moved in. Good job we sorted some of it.
- Kon-Mari a drawer in my chest in my bedroom not done yet - this is for a wet day and I have not had any when I have been home yet
- autumn pruning and tidy in garden We have six one-ton builders bags that are all full of tree pruning (and the one that split and we had to fell) plus three garden tidy bags (about half ton dimensions, in builders bag size) full of the vegetation I cut down in the veg plot last week plus the clearings from the front garden. Never-ending job this one! - dump run planned for later today so we can free up the three smaller bags. Might buy a couple more as these are a good size for me. The big bags are going to the Village bonfire so I won't get them back until next Saturday
- lose at least 2 pounds to tip me under the next stone number on the scales It feels like a fail so far but also not fatter. I will fast a bit more and cut out the sugar that has crept in
- process the apples and tomatoes before they rot Finally done - made enough room for the apples in the freezer by getting out some meat

The Aga is on but no heating yet (intention is to wait for Christmas - then the oil will last until summer; we have loads of logs) - and... the dishwasher is working!

This last week is a freezer week, so I stuck to my list and spent just £27.11 on groceries for the week and £8.35 for my stores - with that there will be a tiny surplus in the running costs account and the bills account but oh boy, are our emergency savings looking depleted. It was all about damage limitation and at least it was there to call upon.


For November

• I am starting to think about Christmas things. I have also volunteered to host some friends for New Year, which will be fun, so I need to prepare for this.
• I also need to find out how many I have for Christmas Day.
• All that chatter about Christmas on TOPM's diary has got me thinking. I am definitely doing recipes and ingredients in jam-jars for my fundraising stall at the beginning of December. And little books of domestic promises to give away.
• I need to do leaflets to gather items and publicise my Village Ebay table too (we will keep 40% with a £5 minimum)
• I know I need to buy ingredients for 2 batches of christmas cake as my Mum, her friend and a third for her Minister are on my list, plus one for us. I shall make smaller cakes.

Suffolk_lass

Hooray, it is pay pay for DH today. What a tight month! We went into town yesterday as I had some work clothes click and collect to try. I returned three pairs of trousers but bought two additional tops while in store - on CC which will be horrendous in Dec - I may need to pay some extra this month to make it more manageable. I had no choice as all my winter clothes are too big!

Then I spent £3.99 from the remains in my purse on some charity plates (making some cake stands) ready for when my stand parts arrive. After another CC purchase in Waitflower - this time it was cake ingredients we came home.

We bailed out of the planned gardening to go for a lovely walk in the countryside and down by the river. 25th October and it was warm enough for a picnic by the river (there was a family down there!). The rest of my cash paid for a quick drink in the pub before coming home. At least I avoided getting any more cash out