Taking it slowly, but doing it well.

wishingthemortgaheaway

pinkypig wrote: »

Excellent number of nsds:j

Had your council tax gone up much? Still waiting for mine.

Have a lovely rest of the week xx

Thank you PP, you too.

5.5% increase overall. I've shuffled my budget from April onwards as what I have been putting aside each month wouldn't cover the payment if I needed to pay monthly again(it would over 12months, but not over 10) and I rather like having my 'year end bonuses'

I'm sure other people would say to do it differently, but it works REALLY well for us and, as the bill is 5.5% higher than last year I didn't panic, I had the money to pay, and if the same happens next year, I'll be covered.

wishingthemortgaheaway

gallygirl wrote: »

Our equivalent in Spain is only €438 a year - just under €300 general and the rest on bin collections.

From what I've seen of the Town Hall most of the 'general' goes on paper for the printer/copier - every time you go in they take another copy of your passport. I think they have a massive game of Snap with them every Christmas :rotfl:.

Haha Gally, I imagine there's an equivalent amount spent on paper and ink here too, in the envelope with the bill there was a letter and a leaflet explaining why the council tax had to rise and services need to be cut (non of it to do with the fact we're paying for both a city mayor and a regional mayor and a police and crime commissioner at all of course!)

Ho hum, at least it's all done now for another 12 months and I can just squirrel the money away earning me interest not them.

wishingthemortgaheaway

Not much to report today. Easy day of supply, although he teacher who's classroom I was in this morning is one of the most untidy teacher's I've ever seen. And the effect on the behaviour of the children was obvious. They had no idea where anything was or should be put back. But never mind. I've done my job and my working week is over.

It has been another nsd, so they are
Looking good.
2 days worth of the 1p a day challenge done, Associated tilly tidies made and the cleaner hasn't come, but I won't see the benefit of that until April as I'll just roll the cash over now and reduce the amount budgeted in April. That will go into step 13- commercial clean of old and new property.
Tomorrow I think we going to check out a free toddler playgroup that is reasonably local. I do need to source birthday cards and presents for a party we're going to on Saturday, but I'm hoping that will be able to be done cheaply.

Save well my friends.
Wish

mse March Goals

1) Mop Pot
Target 1: next brick on the countdown house
£50.97/£50.97 :j :j
Target 2: monthly interest payment
£13.52/£13.52 :j :j
Target 3: mfw March target
£105/£145.51
Target 4: new 2018 target (to catch up on January's low payment)
0/£7.34

2) Emergency fund growth
£250/£150 :j

3) nsds
9/16

4) 1p a day challenge
19/31

5) save the £2 coins (update monthly)

6) get in size 14 jeans (update monthly)

wishingthemortgaheaway

Another nsd today. Woop woop. Doing ok this month. I've noticed that the number of nsds are proportional to the amount of time hubby is away- hubby being away means pickle and I do free things, eat from the freezer and 'shop at home' hubby is a bad influence....

Tomorrow requires a food shop. But I'm only going to get some bits for Sunday and Monday (if we need them, then Tuesday afternoon I'm going to do a child free shop that will hopefully see me through until the end of March. There is £133 I'm the grocery pot, I'm hoping that that is more than plenty and a good proportion of it will be winging its way to the mop pot come the end of the month.

I also need to get cards and a small gift for the birthday children of the party we are going to, so, as the party is our 'entertainment' for the day, it should end up being a low spend day.

I'm doing really well on my latest knitting project (a tank top for Pickle) I'm hoping I'm going to get it to the point I need my mum to help me with by the time they arrive on Wednesday.

My deficit work expenses pot is going to take a hammering again on Thursday as I need to pay for taxi fares from the station as no one from the office can come and pick me up. I could very easily wam it from one of the other pots, but, as the actual account is well in credit, I'm going to leave it as is until the end of the month and wam it from pennies that would have gone into the mop pot or offset pot. It's all coming back at some point, so it's not like I've overspent my own money.

Right, time for bedtime routine, House is tidy, washing is up to date, and the 'life admin' list is under control, so my rock n roll friday night is a large G&T and my knitting. - living the dream.

mse March Goals

1) Mop Pot
Target 1: next brick on the countdown house
£50.97/£50.97 :j :j
Target 2: monthly interest payment
£13.52/£13.52 :j :j
Target 3: mfw March target
£110/£145.51
Target 4: new 2018 target (to catch up on January's low payment)
0/£7.34

2) Emergency fund growth
£250/£150 :j

3) nsds
10/16

4) 1p a day challenge
22/31

5) save the £2 coins (update monthly)

6) get in size 14 jeans (update monthly)

wishingthemortgaheaway

Biiiiiig news today is.... the mortgage company have opened up our account to switch deals. We can get a 2 year fix at 2.39% without any checks/faffing. Currently on 2.44% so a tiny saving. I think we're going to jump onto it from the beginning of April, just in case interest rates go up again. I'm also going to pay in our total overpayment allowance for this year, to recalculate for the lowest amount we can. Then I'll just plough on putting as much money as I can into my '13 step mfw plan' and hopefully have the entire 10% allowance ready for 1st Jan 2019.

It will pretty much empty my EF and ynab buffer pots, but I do have money in the ns&i, I can get at in about 48hours and a credit card with a 6k limit. But, I will fill them up quicker as I'll only be focusing on the 13 step plan, rather than splitting between the plan and the mop pot, and monthly repayments will be about £30 a month less. (And hubby has a fair chunk of cash squirreled too)

So much for going for the 'off set plan' but the muse overpayment calculator says this will save about £2300 in interest. So, I'm doing it!

(I need to switch by the 27th to get it going for the 1st April, so I'm going to get my current mop pot as high as possible until about the 20th, then transfer from the offset pot once that's done.)

In daily mse news. A bit of grocery shopping this morning, another pack of nappies, just to keep stocks up and a couple of birthday cards. This means my grocery pot (after tilly tidies) sits at exactly £100, if I plan thinks right, I should be able to do a £50 ish shop on Tuesday for the rest of the month.
3 days of the 1p a day challenge done (the challenge pot sits at a satisfying ingot round £100)
And 61p cashed out of tcb. - this has gone straight into the mop pot of course.

mse March Goals

1) Mop Pot
Target 1: next brick on the countdown house
£50.97/£50.97 :j :j
Target 2: monthly interest payment
£13.52/£13.52 :j :j
Target 3: mfw March target
£112.22/£145.51
Target 4: new 2018 target (to catch up on January's low payment)
0/£7.34

2) Emergency fund growth
£250/£150 :j

3) nsds
10/16

4) 1p a day challenge
25/31

5) save the £2 coins (update monthly)

6) get in size 14 jeans (update monthly)

wishingthemortgaheaway

Maybe I should rename my diary as 'the slightly going off at a tangent, changing her mind, getting cold feet and changing her mind again thread'

This afternoon I used ynab and wammed from my '13 step mortgage neutral' pots into the mop pot, up to the annual overpayment allowance I have left, thinking I'd sit in the huge mop pot for a couple of days and then overpay into the mortgage. Well, I've got cold feet. Despite the fact I have cash elsewhere, I just couldn't do it. So, my plans have changed (again...)
I've paid £950 into the mortgage - this is my current mop pot, plus money from the 13 step plan.
I've completely filled the EF to £2000
The 'ynab buffer/1month wages pot stands at £62 - this will be my priority
Filling pot.
The only other pot with any money in it is the 'increased bills at new house pot' which I really want to show any prospective mortgage company I can keep up.
I'm not going to put anything else into the mop pot this month, I'm going to wam everything I can into the 'wage buffer' pot. And start again in April.

When the payment I've just made shows up on the internet banking, I'll refix the mortgage to ensure I get the current rate. My monthly payments will go down a little bit but not a huge amount.
I have £2k of overpayment allowance left, I shall continue my usual 'pay off £400 capital a month' on the mortgage for the rest of the year as well as throwing as much as I can into the 13 step plan.

In other news:
A nsd
I've done my first ever bank account switch. This will give me the best interest rate on the sinking funds/monthly bills. As well as cashback on transactions. I should get £10 a month which will help towards the plan. I need to check which of my bank account transactions are actually card payments, rather than direct debits.
A job for another day though. All this financial juggling is just beginning to hurt my brain.


mse March Goals

1) Mop Pot
Target 1: next brick on the countdown house
£50.97/£50.97 :j :j
Target 2: monthly interest payment
£13.52/£13.52 :j :j
Target 3: mfw March target
£145.51/£145.51 :j :j
Target 4: new 2018 target (to catch up on January's low payment)
£7.34/£7.34 :j :j
Extra.....£797.15
Total: £1014.49 :j :j :j

2) Emergency fund growth
£250/£150 :j. (Due to a bit of 'wamming' this is now 'full' at £2k) :j

3) nsds
11/16

4) 1p a day challenge
26/31

5) save the £2 coins (update monthly)

6) get in size 14 jeans (update monthly)

wishingthemortgaheaway

Another nsd here, Pickle had a dental appointment first thing, then we went to the library, my boy could spend forever in a library, he just loves it. After lunch we cooked and baked, 'fridge bottom soup' currently in the slow cooker. Stiff starter started for a loaf of bread, lemon & lime jelly for Pickle's puddings (he's currently suffering from a terrible cold & sore throat, so jelly is definitely called for) and a chocolate cake for the parental visit this week.
Left over chicken curry for tea for both of us and, since the Pickle went to bed, I've 'cleaner proofed' the house. I just need to put the recycling out tomorrow morning.

Just 1 day of the 1p a day challenge done, but a slightly bigger tally tidy to 'Step 2' of the plan.

My bank account switch has started, I've applied for and successfully achieved a reward credit card, and I've applied to transfer my isa to a different bank. I've had my current account since 1995, and I'm getting nothing for it (I did get an additional £120 when I first opened my isa), so I've resolved to become a mse tart.
I am closing all the accounts with my current bank, but I'm going to keep the credit card as it has a 'I could buy a car' credit limit, should I ever need such a thing.

Just waiting for the mortgage balance to update now, then I'll fix for the next (and hopefully last) time.

Tomorrow is a mega food shop which I'm hoping will see us through until the end of the month. My supermarket says £102, my ynab pot has £100 in it, and I want to come in significantly lower - bring on the challenge.

mse March Goals

1) Mop Pot
Target 1: next brick on the countdown house
£50.97/£50.97 :j :j
Target 2: monthly interest payment
£13.52/£13.52 :j :j
Target 3: mfw March target
£145.51/£145.51 :j :j
Target 4: new 2018 target (to catch up on January's low payment)
£7.34/£7.34 :j :j
Extra.....£797.15
Total: £1014.49 :j :j :j

2) Emergency fund growth
£250/£150 :j. (Due to a bit of 'wamming' this is now 'full' at £2k) :j

3) nsds
12/16

4) 1p a day challenge
27/31

5) save the £2 coins (update monthly)

6) get in size 14 jeans (update monthly)

wishingthemortgaheaway

Today is not a nsd, but, I have finished spending for today and, as I've got a friend round later, I'm doing my update now and will catch up on diaries later.

Today was 'shop for food for the next two weeks' day.
My supermarket had estimated (at Mr M's) that shopping would be £110. It was looking like £102, but hubby requested 'snack food.'
A combination of Ald1 and MrM's led to the most expensive shop I've done in a while £92. But, that's for full meals (hubby home & my parents coming to visit) until the end of the month. when I got home, I split some of the meat packs up into smaller portions so they'll do more meals in the long run. There is £8 left in the grocery budget and £6 in the household goods pot - it looks like we'll be squeaking through to the 31st.

1 day of the 1p a day challenge done.

And.. an email from work today saying I'm getting a Work credit card so I don't have to keep spending out and waiting months for reimbursement.
This means I'll reduce my expenses slush fund to £50 (when I get expenses back at the end of April) and put the other £150 into the 13step plan. - I will still have small amounts of incidental expenses to pay out for, but hopefully the £50 will cover it.

mse March Goals

1) Mop Pot
Target 1: next brick on the countdown house
£50.97/£50.97 :j :j
Target 2: monthly interest payment
£13.52/£13.52 :j :j
Target 3: mfw March target
£145.51/£145.51 :j :j
Target 4: new 2018 target (to catch up on January's low payment)
£7.34/£7.34 :j :j
Extra.....£797.15
Total: £1014.49 :j :j :j

2) Emergency fund growth
£250/£150 :j. (Due to a bit of 'wamming' this is now 'full' at £2k) :j

3) nsds
12/16

4) 1p a day challenge
28/31

5) save the £2 coins (update monthly)

6) get in size 14 jeans (update monthly)

DrSpendLittle

Good news on the work CC, Wish! I used to have a fuel card and it was amazing, especially compared to the first few months at the company when I spent huge amounts of my take home pay on fuel.

MOP pots looking good! Enjoy your evening

wishingthemortgaheaway

Evening all,
DSL I so excited about the card, but mostly because I can Wam £150 of my 'expenses slush fund' into the 13 step plan.

Today has been a nsd, good job really as, after I made today's 1p a day challenge payment and did some tilly tidies, I have £80 left for the rest of the month. Should be fine, especially as I have £30 cash in my purse. £20 I took out yesterday and £10 dad has repaid me for something I ordered online for him.

Tomorrow is my quarterly visit to the office, early train. I've packed some snacks for the journeys, but I'm going to buy a meal in the office canteen at lunch time as it is such a long day. I also need to make an effort to be social as I so rarely see my colleagues.

It has occurred to me today that, if the week after Easter weekend is pants weather, it could end up being an expensive week.
The Childminder is having a week off. Hubby is away for work and it's school holidays. So, nice weather means lots of nt and wildlife places (where we are members so it's a free day out) but bad weather means we are more likely to end up in soft plays and trampoline places. There are a couple of suitable museums, but he is still a fraction too little really. It's a good job it's in April, March's budget would just not cut it. I must remember this fact for the May half term which comes at the end of the month.

In other money news, pay slip for supply work arrived, so money poised to be put in the wage storage pot (Step 3) on Friday.


Time for sleep now though. Night all.

Wish

mse March Goals

1) Mop Pot
Target 1: next brick on the countdown house
£50.97/£50.97 :j :j
Target 2: monthly interest payment
£13.52/£13.52 :j :j
Target 3: mfw March target
£145.51/£145.51 :j :j
Target 4: new 2018 target (to catch up on January's low payment)
£7.34/£7.34 :j :j
Extra.....£797.15
Total: £1014.49 :j :j :j

2) Emergency fund growth
£250/£150 :j. (Due to a bit of 'wamming' this is now 'full' at £2k) :j

3) nsds
13/16

4) 1p a day challenge
29/31

5) save the £2 coins (update monthly)

6) get in size 14 jeans (update monthly)