£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

Treadingonplaymobil

pennyforthepot wrote: »

Just popping my head round the door before heading back to page 55 as I wanted to share my joy at the purchase of the washing up bowl :j

Heading back now - desperate to find out if you finished the fence :rotfl:

Great diary, talk about being thrown to the lions, a true gladiator with your responses. I can't 'turn the pages' quick enough. I blame you for losing 2 days of my life

PFTP X

I strongly suspect that years after I have left this place, the washing up bowl is still going to be a metaphor for people who want a champagne lifestyles on a lemonade budget :rotfl: . Um. Don't get your hopes up about the fence.

PositiveBalance

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

I strongly suspect that years after I have left this place, the washing up bowl is still going to be a metaphor for people who want a champagne lifestyles on a lemonade budget :rotfl: . Um. Don't get your hopes up about the fence.

It has joined the list of MSE legendary debt-free related objects including the wonderful Hypno06's tin of Brussels sprouts! :rotfl:

dawnybabes

I cook gluten free at home and find if I use Asda gf flour I just swop it out as any normal recipe !!!55357;!!!56832;

Treadingonplaymobil

Just a quick list update before bed...

Many things to do today (hopefully not all by me):
1. Bake gf bread
2. bake muffins for snacks.
3. make oatcakes - the ones I whipped up last week were a huge hit, randomly.
4. make quiche (must rescue a couple of rashers of bacon before cooking breakfast).
5. make something else for packed lunches - I'm wonder if some sort of veggie meatball might be possible. Will be on Pinterest shortly...
6. roast all the sad veg in the fridge - I can freeze them and pull them out for lunches during the week.
7. Make dal for lunch/dinner (I cooked lentils on Friday then realised I didn't have any onions, so the cooked lentils have been in the fridge ever since).
8. set up ebay trailer search. DH is doing this as I type.
9. finish contract work for next week. Must try and get further ahead with this during next week.
10. order masa harina - I want to try making corn tortillas and apparently this is the thing to use (I'm assuming it's very fine cornmeal). It's available on Amazon.
11. make go-with-anything cake for pudding tonight. I've made this a few times and it's yum.
12. order a new A2 pad stand for work - I managed to finally terminally break mine yesterday. :eek:
13. chase an Amazon refund I was promised weeks ago after an incorrect item was sent then the correct one never arrived.
14. plan next week's work.
15. start a new knitting project.
16. driving license update
17. sort the garden for veg planting - if the weather holds!
18. plant the strawberries and potatoes out. Can tomatoes go out now too?
19. email the architect with my 'improvements' to discuss next Friday when he comes over.
20. clear the ironing.
21. tidy the DCs bedroom
22. tidy our bedroom.
23. tip run with all the recycling that can't go in the kerbside collection.

I think that's probably enough for now...

Mini goals:
- £72.19/30 April rounding down pot.
- £2,064.53/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.

Verbatim

PositiveBalance wrote: »

It has joined the list of MSE legendary debt-free related objects including the wonderful Hypno06's tin of Brussels sprouts! :rotfl:

Ah yes. And Southern Scouser's car mats!

Honeysucklelou2

Check the variety of tomatoes that you are growing. Some are fine outside but others will crop better in a greenhouse /conservatory. Hardening off is important to allow the plant the chance to adjust to lower temperatures.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 64: Day 1

Monday morning! Hope you are sufficiently up and at 'em, bouncing off the walls and raring to go. No? Just me? I'll be over here finishing my second cup of tea if you need me. :cool:

Back on the work wagon today. Invoicing for the month's work (yay!) and knuckling down to get as much of my essential work done as possible so I can spend some time this week on 'extra' work which will (gradually) hopefully make me some extra money. I have a really quiet work week in terms of commitments until my clients on Saturday, so plenty of time to get some stuff done.

We have found a little trailer on ebay which looks like a hopeful candidate for our camping needs this year. Need to go and measure the back gate to see whether we'll get it through. It's an hour away from DH's work, but I think worth the time sclepping up there to check it out. I'm thinking about messaging them and asking if DH can go and look at it, and if he likes it he'll complete the purchase on ebay there and then and take it. It's reasonably pricey at £190, but in great condition and has high and low covers. Will see if they'll take a lower offer though (it's on BIN or best offer) Would be nice to cross it off the list, it's our 'big camping gear purchase' of the year.

Will be back shortly with lists and monthly round up and the usual 'it's the last day of the month' gubbins.

Three things to do today:
1. Plan week's work.
2. Invoice for last month's work.
3. Driving license update.

Mini goals:
- £72.19/30 April rounding down pot.
- £2,064.53/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.

Treadingonplaymobil

April round up

April was, for me, a fairly straightforward month. There was the usual challenges in terms of balancing budget, but no major shock expenses or insufficiently budgeted ones like DC parties. Oh, there was a £140 car expense near the beginning of the month, but luckily it was largely covered by the emergency fund and car savings pot.

Wins
Extension savings pot is up to a huge £953 after DH's bonus. So tomorrow will be over the £1k barrier when I 'release' the new month's money. That feels like amazing progress towards our £5k goal for the year.
Savings pots are all looking pretty healthy, nothing has been robbed or raided or spent in advance. There's even £52 in the emergency fund, the first time it's got to the end of the month intact since I started actually saving my savings pots!
Annual insurances pot introduction. There's only £50 in this at the moment, which actually is going to have to go towards our National Trust membership when it comes out in a few days as, because we only started properly saving in February, the pot hasn't grown enough yet to cover the full cost. But I'm hoping that with 5% of any extra earnings going into it that it will be top up again quickly and we'll be able to manage at least one of our insurances on an annual purchase this year - car and house both due in the autumn.
Debt overpayment is going well. I honestly never thought I'd be able to overpay at all on a budget as tight as ours, but the little rounding down pot has worked hard this month. It's been boosted by the odd extra bit here and there, but is up to £74 for April, plus £100 from DH's bonus, so debt overpayment has nudged towards the £200 mark this month.

Losses
Food budget isn't exactly a loss, but it is a work in progress. As discussed at length, I am past the point of just cutting and cutting and cutting - we started to feel unhealthy, DH and I have both gained weight and we want to prioritise good healthy food that includes seeds, nuts, berries, avocados, whole grains and fish. We spent £402 in April, but £475 would have been ideal I think. I have given us an extra £4 per week from DH's bonus for the next couple of months, and will continue to add on any extra I can with additional earnings. I continue to feel my way with a combination of two-weekly shops, trying to shop plastic free where possible, using local shops for the top up and so on and so on.
Diesel really needs a bigger pot too. I think we need to accept that our diesel spend is actually more like £250 as a minimum rather than £225. However some of that is for my work, and I don't tend to move money over from my business account to allow for it, so perhaps I could improve that just by paying for a tank of fuel a month or so on my business account.
Entertainment kitty still gets overspent every month. Not by miles this month (£180 spend to a £150 budget), but I'm hoping that discussing it each week in family meeting will help to keep it a little more on track, partly because the DCs guilt DH into sticking to it when they go out .

May plans
Keep earning and saving! This is forefront of my mind, with the extension savings pot front and centre of my priorities. Because of the way I am dividing up any income, debt repayment will also benefit from my new found enthusiasm for earning more. I am so enjoying seeing the debt number come down and the extension pot number go up. I shall be quite resentful when I actually have to spend some of this money on the extension planning process!
Empty the cupboards of food - we never actually seem to eat our entire menu plan, as there always ends up being a 'leftovers' meal, or just eggs on a night when we can't be bothered to cook, so I need to make sure that things aren't just accumulating in the cupboards. I'm pretty good at using up veg before it goes off, but cupboard stuff I'm not so precious about as I know it will keep. Hopefully this will make for one cheaper food shop this month too.

Treadingonplaymobil

April's list progress

Home/Family
1. Tidy the front garden.
2. DH finish front fence.
3. Prep veg beds, pots and bags, and plant what can be planted.
4. Chase people who thought they might have a trailer. Done, no joy so need to set up an ebay search.
5. Mend poor Elsa's plait!!!!
6. DH to find new budget recipes.
7. Continue the more in depth food planning - this improved my general diet so much in March.
8. Turn over the whole food budget issue some more and try to find a solution.

Me
1. Self care - downtime, nice baths, morning and evening rituals.Fell by the wayside due to illness, but will try to reintroduce.
2. Keep up the yoga. OK, not amazing.
3. Try to do a decent bit of walking/outside time every day. Not going so well.

Work
1. 10% growth on my main social media platform (317). Have done nada on this.
2. A new blog post for my website. Or this.
3. Get ahead with contract work. Or this.
4. Focus on my key aim - of developing some passive income that allows me to move away from my current (not hugely enjoyable) main income source. Well I've focused on it lots, but not actually done anything.

MSE
1. £30 minimum overpayment from rounding down YNAB pots.
2. List wooden marble run on ebay.
3. Keep entertainment outgoings to a sensible level during the easter hols. Not too awful in the end.

XSpender

I am sure National Trust now offer a monthly direct debit rather than an annual payment so a family membership would work out at £10/month for the next 12 months leaving your pot intact.