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

lindez

Hi TOPM I have read your diary from start to finish it has taken a couple of weeks to read. What great steps you have made congratulations. Your diary has given me inspiration so thank you for that. I have subscribed and look forward to more achievements from you. Well don x

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 66: Day 3

Another glorious day yesterday, it's so lovely living where we do when the weather is agreeable. Did plenty of walking when I could fit it in, dropping DCs to clubs on foot and lingering on the walk home to make the most of the sunshine.

Hi Lindez and Starmummy, lovely to have you both along for the ride! I occasionally think about going back and re-reading my diary, but I'm not sure I can take the trauma of reading how bad it was in the beginning :eek: :rotfl: .

Suffolklass the potatoes are in! Next job is to set up the last couple of pots and plant some of the random assortment of seeds I have accumulated - mostly salad or chard type things.

Lots to try to get done today. I am really settling into trying to divide work and home time, and although the only tangible reward I'm seeing so far is a 3% increase in social media followers (social media posting for work is always the first thing to slip when I over-commit myself) I'm feeling much more focused, and more able to get on with house jobs in the evening as I'm not totally frazzled from trying to fit everything in the universe in between 9:30am and 2:30pm.

To do yesterday
1. (Before work) pedicure.
2. (Before work) order natural rubber washing up gloves to try. Both 'before work' jobs fell by the wayside when i realised I needed to make flapjacks and savoury muffins for packed lunches before 8:30am.
3. Shop for work equipment. Don't get distracted and buy unnecessary stuff! Success! I have to confess that I did spent a frivolous fiver on a nice bowl as I met my friend for coffee in ikea afterwards. At least there was some money in the 'house stuff' budget to cover it.
4. Plan a blog post for my website.
5. Email back client enquiry.
6. (After work) plant potatoes.

To to today
1. (Before work) pedicure.
2. (Before work) order rubber gloves.
3. Blog post for website.
4. Check contract work for next week.
5. Finish contract work for 28/5.
6. (After work) make something else for packed lunches.
7. Do a coupe of laundry loads throughout the day.

Mini goals:
- £26.32/30 May rounding down pot.
- £2,409.38/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £27.86 daily earning goal.

Gemsy81

Great read as always, you seem so organised!

Interested in how you organise your food shops....I think this is one area we can seriously improve on. I am starting on the meal planning etc. but how do you manage with a fortnightly big shop - any tips gratefully received!!

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 66: Day 3

Almost the weekend, we can do it people! We are visiting friends again. We have a few weeks at home after this weekend (although we might go camping in half term), and I think we'll really value it after a few busy weeks.

Gemsy81 I don't do anything terribly clever. I force myself to sit down and menu plan for two weeks instead of one, then I write a big list of everything I'll need for the two weeks. I then put anything perishable (fruit/veg/dairy) for week two into a separate list, so it hasn't all gone off by the time we get there. Anything that runs out during week 1 unexpectedly gets added to that list too. I look in the freezer/cupboards when menu planning to see what leftovers there are from the previous fortnight and include those in the plan too. It takes longer than a single week's menu plan/food shop, but not twice as long, and the best bit is not having to do the big supermarket schlep every week - I tend to either do a quick Aldi run or top up from shops in town for the second week, depending on how much we need. It isn't, however, working out any cheaper.

Feeling a bit bleurgh about finances today. I was chatting to my mum the other week and she mentioned in passing that she doesn't really think about any purchases under about £50, as she knows her budget can absorb them. It struck me, and has stayed with me, that I can't 'not think about' a single darn purchase, not even of a few pounds. I have thrown my budget into disarray this month by buying a book which was a complete indulgence (my absolute favourite childhood book, no longer printed, I found it in good condition second hand on amazon for £22) and actually my budget doesn't have £22 of flex in it. I used up the remaining £10 in my personal kitty, and had to use £12 of my emergency fund to cover the rest. I know it's a result of our actions in the past and needing to do the extension etc etc, but it is a bit depressing that I can't even spare enough for a special book to give to the DCs without having to juggle and balance things again. I'm not sure, realistically, that there will ever be a time, certainly not in the next half decade or more, when that isn't the case, and I find that a bit of a bleak thought. We work so hard, and still have to scrabble around to cover a £20 book. Humph. I'll get over it shortly, it's just irritated me this morning for some reason.

I am going to email the architect this morning - I feel like we need a schedule in place, as I could just see us drifting on until September before we apply for planning, at his current rate of progress. I really want to finalise the design so we can get on with the quantity surveying and start getting builders to quote on it. I have the drain people coming to look at the sewer today to give the go ahead (or otherwise :eek: ) for the entire extension.

To do yesterday
1. (Before work) pedicure. This is clearly never going to happen. I will have ugly feet forever :rotfl: .
2. (Before work) order rubber gloves.
3. Blog post for website.
4. Check contract work for next week.
5. Finish contract work for 28/5. Progress made, but not finished.
6. (After work) make something else for packed lunches.
7. Do a coupe of laundry loads throughout the day. It drizzled all day, so nothing doing on this front. I did clear some ironing in the evening though.

To do today
1. Publish blog post after a quick check through.
2. Social media post.
3. Top up food shop for anything we need to take this weekend.
4. Finish contract work for 28/5.
5. Email architect.

Mini goals:
- £28.67/30 May rounding down pot.
- £2,411.73/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £27.95 daily earning goal (this is inching up again!).

apple_muncher

Fingers crossed for the drain people giving the go-ahead.

Treadingonplaymobil

Sewer men very noncommittal, so need to wait until I hear back from the water company. I will be on tenterhooks until we hear!

DH has got held up at work so I am flying solo this evening, which is tedious as it's swimming night and we usually divide and conquer. Send me the strength not to buy sweets to pacify my children...

Cherryfudge

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

I have thrown my budget into disarray this month by buying a book which was a complete indulgence (my absolute favourite childhood book, no longer printed, I found it in good condition second hand on amazon for £22) and actually my budget doesn't have £22 of flex in it. I used up the remaining £10 in my personal kitty, and had to use £12 of my emergency fund to cover the rest. I know it's a result of our actions in the past and needing to do the extension etc etc, but it is a bit depressing that I can't even spare enough for a special book to give to the DCs without having to juggle and balance things again.

Could this not come out of the gifts budget? Either as a gift for the children or perhaps your Mum would buy it off you to give back to you at Christmas ('Mum, I found this book that I'd love to have again... ') as a memento of your childhood? You could still read it to the children.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 66: Day 5

Wasn't feeling my yoga this morning so have come out for an early morning leg stretch instead. The birds are super noisy, and it feels like another sunny day ahead.

Re the book - I could change the category (although the birthday pot is also fairly empty this month, after two god children's and my best friend's birthday) - but my irritation is really at not even having that much available to fritter away if I want. I know that having it to spend in the past was an illusion, but I do sometimes look at how long it will be before we have the freedom to spend even just £20 and get a bit of a sinking feeling.

Anyway, on to cheerier matters. I managed to publish a blog post on my own website yesterday for the first time in months, and have been doing at least one social media post a day. Progress is always going to be slow here because as long as it's not earning me money it has to be a side project, but my follower count has gone up 5% so far this month (my aim is a minimum of 10% growth a month, ideally more, but I only started focusing on it again a little over a week ago). I am particularly keen to keep it rolling as it's going to be impossible for me to see clients in the house while the extension work is on, so my income from that will inevitably drop for 2019, although I can see the clients who want me to travel to them, and my usual contract work will hopefully continue.

DH got a letter yesterday saying he had overpaid his loan and needs to phone to reclaim his money. It will probably be about £2.67, but hey, free money. No complaints here.

To do yesterday
1. Publish blog post after a quick check through.
2. Social media post.
3. Top up food shop for anything we need to take this weekend. Going for a make do and mend approach - will do some baking today with what we have in the house.
4. Finish contract work for 28/5. Still not done, hoping to finish today so I continue to inch ahead of my schedule with this.
5. Email architect. Done, hoping he responds soon as I really want to get on track with a schedule - spoke to a friend yesterday who is married to a builder who said they are already booked up for next spring, so it looks like my initial concerns of needing to book a year ahead we're true. Wish I hadn't been lulled into a sense of security by the architect. :mad:

To do today
1. Bake biscuits for playdate this morning.
2. Bake something to take this weekend.
3. Packing list/pack for weekend.
4. Finish contract work for 28/5
5. Tidy house a bit!

Mini goals:
- £28.67/30 May rounding down pot.
- £2,411.73/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £28.07 daily earning goal.

Treadingonplaymobil

Ooh, how exciting. Apparently DH is owed £285. I'll wait until it comes in before getting too excited (just in case someone got a decimal place wrong and it's £28.50 ), but it will really help this month's goals if it's right.

JoJoC

Excellent! £285 would be amazing! Will you split that according to your normal percentages for each pot?