Spend Nowt, Buy Nowt, Owe Nowt

XSpender

Not much to report today.

DS got all his school work done, including a piece leftover from yesterday.  I can’t say the same for myself with a last-minute 2 hour meeting eating up my afternoon.

£2.91 added to the ISA from account interest.   Savings will slow down a bit now as the bigger payments have all been made. Either that or I will have no money left to pay anything!!!  It is addictive though, adding bits and bobs and seeing the balance go up.

Total saved this month so far is £786.  Still a bit to find to hit the target of £1000. I set this target before we lost part of my bonus so it will be a challenge but I still really want to hit it.

I’ve made a list of a few survey sites and receipt apps to sign up to to make a few quid. It’s never going to make me a fortune and will take a while to earn anything but it is something I can do at intervals during the day and on an evening.  

The highlight of my day was choosing our puppy from the litter now they are 3 weeks old.  Totally smitten 🐶🥰

XSpender

DH has had a little flutter on the horses and has made £48 which will cover his birthday takeout breakfast tomorrow and pizza takeout for the rugby on Saturday. We had planned to use the grocery budget for these 2 meals so will send that money to the Costco sinking fund instead.  We only need a small shop this week and I am determined to spend no more than £400 on food this month, ideally under £380. 

I popped to Morries at lunchtime to pick up a nice bottle of red and some choc for DH birthday.  I thought I had done well to spot that the loo roll I bought on special offer had gone through at the wrong price and got the assistant to check and adjust it only to realise that I had missed a bottle of wine (I.e. the free one) off a 3 for 2 offer 🤦‍♀️ I will have to go back tomorrow as I want to open it on Friday night.🍷

DS teacher rang for a catch up today and is really impressed with the work DS is submitting so all the shouting must be working 😂 

I had a nice long chat with my mum who, because of lockdowns and been in tier 3, I have only seen twice in 12 months 😢 Both she and my stepdad (80 & 74) have had their vaccinations.  We are hoping to have a short end of drive visit at their house and at my brother’s house next month as we pick the pup up from my brother’s town.  Mum will finally get her Christmas presents!  I don’t usually buy my Mum a mother’s day gift, just send a card, but as I will be visiting close-ish to the date I will take her some flowers as her favourite chocs are already wrapped up from last Christmas.

The savings balance is still the same and no debt payments due out for 2 weeks! 😕

Suffolk_lass

That's rather lovely. I don't bet on jumping horses except the Grand National but I did build up enough flat racing winnings to take our Son away a few years ago. We have three euromillions tickets for tonight...

Toni'sfriend

A few years ago some friends took us to the horse racing. First time I had ever been. We had a lovely picnic with sparkly wine. I felt like royalty. We limited ourselves to betting £2 each per race. Knowing nothing about horses I chose mine of the colour of the jockey's shirt that I liked best. I won. They all lost. It was such fun. Himself and I went a couple of times after that ourselves although there aren't many courses around here. Sadly we haven't been able to do it for a while now but I would thoroughly recommend it as a day out.

Suffolk_lass

That is similar to my betting on flat races. My rules were, bet on the favourite. Don't bet on the handicap races. Don't bet if the weather has been dreich and wet.

I think I hit a purple patch but I know nothing about it. I just thought that must be slightly less risky than the handicappers knowing which ones were best and trying to level the field. And jumping over big fences or little ones is inherently more risky than just running. And not too soggy. It seemed to work. Two return flights to Nice and an apartment for a week

Parkyp

Morning, well done 👏👏to DS for doing well with his school work, it is such a challenge for the children. Nice wee bonus to win on the horses. 

XSpender

DH and I once went to the races with a group of friends and did so well we came home very late that night, having drunk champagne all day, with even more money than we went with! When I go with the girls I never put more than £2 on per race, usually ask DH for his recommendations or chose something with a name I like, and usually break even.  That day is more about the outfits though or the meal and entertainment if we go to one of the winter meets . It feels like years since we were there  

I had a long chat with my sister this afternoon as I picked her brains for some advice on puppy insurance and training as she has had 5 dogs in the last few years. We don’t talk often so it was nice to have a catch up.  I have found a lovely oil cloth cover for the dog crate that co-ordinates with the kitchen. It isn’t the cheapest of items so will see what I have left out of the puppy pot when I have sorted insurance and other essentials before I order it.

We went for a wet walk through the woods across from our house this afternoon to look at the stream which was fast flowing with flood water.  You could see where it had flowed over the path earlier in the week and the level of the lake it flows into was much higher than usual.  Lots of wet, muddy dogs about.

We decided against pizza takeaway and just had breakfast delivered this morning which was a nice treat and covered by DH winnings.  DH had a £9 voucher for Uber eats too which covered delivery, tip and a little off the bill.  It’s the first time we have used one of these delivery services and it was fast and efficient. Much quicker than driving there and back ourselves and a very friendly delivery driver.

I am aiming to pay £20 to savings every Sunday as one of the savings challenges I am participating in this month but did it today instead.  Tomorrow I will do the account/category round up to the ISA.  

I haven’t had any luck getting through to V1rg1n to get the credit added to my account so will attempt a different route tomorrow. It means I will have to pay this month’s bill and next month’s will be £2 instead.

Tomorrow we will be having another wet, possible snowy, walk.  DH is planning to touch up the paintwork on the living room skirting board (which has needed doing since Nov 2019!!!!), DS and I are making cakes and I will list the contents of the utility freezer.  The freezers do not seem to be getting any emptier so we keep putting off doing the Costco meat haul.  Operation Shop from Home for the next 2 weeks!

Our food spending, with 19 days to go, is £229/£480 and apart from a possible small fruit top up mid week I don’t need to buy anything until next weekend.  Ideally I want £100 of this budget left when my budget month ends on 25th Feb. 

I was reading an insta post about calculating net worth last night and it prompted me to check the estimated value of our house which I haven’t done in a long while and it appears to have shot up since I last checked.  It is a while since I updated this figure so have used a conservative estimate which has added about £20k to the value.  It’s academic anyway as we have no intention of selling the house for many years.

Honeysucklelou2

How lovely that you have been able to choose your puppy! Do you get to see the puppy again before pick up day?

Parkyp

Morning, did you get snow? I’d love to go to the races, is it a long Day though or do you just drink in between the races and the time’s passes 😁. Uber eats often send out voucher codes like 25% or 50% off (I think it’s for the customers who don’t use them often) that’s when by son orders when he’s getting a bargain lol. Enjoy your walk. Ps Sorry forgot to ask. how are you feeling ?

XSpender

Honeysucklelou2 said:

How lovely that you have been able to choose your puppy! Do you get to see the puppy again before pick up day?

The breeder is going to send us photos and videos every week.  Because of lockdown we won't get to see him in the flesh until we pick him up.