Cherry takes the reins

Onebrokelady

Awww sorry to read about DFIL Cherry xx

VelvetFreak

Yay! You are so close to getting rid of that mortgage

Honeysucklelou2

£70 left to go....that’s amazing. Well done.

in_need_of_direction

as as one who struggles with change, I think you’re doing brilliantly.  Now scoop up that £70 from one of your pots and get rid of the mortgage once and for all

Cherryfudge

The £70 is coming out of my pay on Friday! (Insert little jumping emoji).
I know I could pay it from the savings of odds & ends but I've mentally earmarked those for something that pays higher interest, I just don't know what. One option might be to add a little to my pension pot or better still use it as spending money and get the pension people to take the equivalent out of my pay, so I don't get taxed on it.
I think the pension money will have to be a target soon enough as it always needed help. I was in my forties before I started to pay into a pension so I need to work for a huge amount of time if I'm to build it up to a comfortable retirement, especially as our pension fund from Dh is going to take a hit with him retiring early. I had intended to put a lot of the mortgage money towards a pension but that's not going to happen on the present trajectory.

VelvetFreak

Why did they have to take away the jumping emoji?! and the EEEEK emoji? Those were my favourites!
How exciting to finally get that mortgage paid off!

I'm not sure how things work over there but can you call your pension fund to get some advice about whether you should get the contributions taken out of your pay vs. after tax?

Cherryfudge

We have sunshine and both DH and I are home for the day. I have quite a few things to do, so of course I'm on here instead.

Nothing spent yesterday, at least not by me. I ran out of time to go to the shops so asked DH to pick up bread.

Work yesterday was even quieter than last time - one extreme to another - but I got some time to push on with a file. Then one of my colleagues was dropping hints that I should be out actually working with people (:D) (okay so she was right) so we ended up playing an improvised game somewhere between football and skittles in the hall. At least this was enjoyable for the client and gave them some much-need exercise.

We had an unexpected solution to moving some of DFiL's larger furniture from the nursing home, which has to be done within the week. L took his car in for an MOT and the courtesy car was an estate which he then collect a big bookcase that wasn't likely to fit in any of the family's cars. So that's back at ours as we really need bookshelves. I'm still very much in the mind set of 'but it's DFiL's, we can't just take it' but of course that's not so. It means we have to shift lots of stuff out of the spare room at some point soon so we can put it against the back wall and put the books there rather than randomly round the house.

Yesterday's snow didn't last, thankfully. DS2 was delayed about 25 minutes getting to work as the going was horrid. DH had a bad journey over to his most-distant work place: thank goodness he won't he doing that much longer.

DH and his sister have been trying to make funeral and memorial service plans. We had a three way chat on the phone earlier and have made some progress, though whatever we do there will be someone inconvenienced.

DH has rung the specialist about his appointment which hasn't come through and apparently he's on a list. Ah well - it can't be all that urgent then. I have had a gentle nag at him about other symptoms but I'm going to go slow on that one as he has enough to cope with.

This afternoon DH and I are going to move things from the nursing home, and this evening it's all systems go for pancakes - at home first then at my friend's! I intend to walk to hers to burn off a bit of one of them.

Cherryfudge

We had a successful afternoon: everything is now moved out of the room at the nursing home and back into DFiL's flat, which has been up for sale for months but meanwhile is very convenient for storage. Progress has been made on planning services as well, so we don't feel as completely snowed under. There was good news too, in that some money will be refunded from the nursing home.

This evening we had pancakes, then I had some again at my friend's later. And very nice they were, too. We have another friend who has recently had a bereavement so we're going to send her flowers: my friend will let me know what my share comes to. I've also agreed to support a beetle drive for her favourite charity in a few weeks, which should be fun and won't be too expensive unless I go mad on tombola tickets or something.

The family is asking for my birthday list but I don't know what to suggest apart from gift cards, slippers and a couple of small items. I still have stuff from Christmas that I've not used yet.

Spending
Housekeeping £11.77 plus £10 in vouchers

MS
I remembered I had some vouchers from EmandEs and tracked them down. I realised I have till Friday to spend them! I had thought to get myself some jeans but I don't need any so I've spent £10 on various groceries. DH now has three bags of his favourite loose-leaf tea and I bought some spices and sauce mixes too. I spent 70p out of housekeeping in order to bring the shopping just over the value of the vouchers but that meant I got the full £10 worth out of them. I still have another £10 to spend but the local store doesn't have the curry I went looking for so I'll investigate further tomorrow.

DH prompted me to support the local greengrocer which I think actually worked out cheaper for some items. I used to shop there regularly and they have a discount section where I got a bag of rhubarb for 50p as well as fruit and veg from the main bit of the shop.

I still needed to visit the supermarket (2 boxes of cappuccino while it's on offer) but they were selling off multipacks of beans so I actually spent several pounds more than planned for the sake of a free tin of beans. They will all get used though.

Despite all this bargainaceous shopping, housekeeping is likely to be a bit tight this week as the shops kept giving me £2 coins in change. £2 x 4 into savings.

DH inherited a pack of expensive razor blades from his Dad, he was delighted!

Wombled 38p.

The change from last week's housekeeping, which I think I forgot to record, was £2 so that's also going into savings.

I have lemons left over so I'm going to see if I can get citric acid to make lemonade. DH adores Sicilian lemonade but I have an old recipe for it that's near enough the same and a lot cheaper.

10th coin savings 20p.
The downside is that I only have £10.27 to last the week - not likely to happen but I'm going to use my imagination and the freezer and see if I can make it work. Of course if I don't have any inspiration for the other £10 worth of vouchers they may end up helping me.

No decluttering.

Today I'm grateful for a job completed, mild enough weather to change my thick coat for a denim jacket, and some nice food bargains.

Cherryfudge

A quick bit of meal planning to use things we have:
Wednesday curry. I will put chickpeas in to soak before I go to bed tonight.
Thursday tuna pasta.
Friday Toad in the hole.
I'm cooking for all the above as I'm on earlies, so they'll come out of my share of the cash, leaving DH to pay for:
Saturday fish and chips
Sunday family meal?
I'll also get some of tins of fruit for puddings, and probably bread in a couple of days. Work lunches can be porridge, fruit and nuts.

Seasidegal58

Hello Cherry. I've been reading your diary as from the start of the New Year and hope to read all of it in due time and have subscribed. I've really enjoyed reading it, but I'm sorry to read the sad news of your DFIL.

Excellent news on your mortgage though.😁