And so it begins: The Pig Vs The Mortgage

pinkypig

Downshifterella wrote: »

Phew.....that's a lot...only on a Monday morning eh?!
Onwards and upwards and roll on the weekend I say!! :rotfl:

Well done on the trail running , muddy as u say but great feeling once you get back indoors ...may venture out this week now the evenings are getting ever so slightly lighter!
Have a good Tuesday pp

Thanks Ella - focussing on the weekend is always good:rotfl:

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

What a day PP!
I hope you sleep well.

Oh the joys of other people's children, I do wonder when teachers have time to teach these days with all the social work required.

Feels like that some days :eek: Slept well and had a nice,normal day today

Cicatriz wrote: »

Hi PP. I'm pretty good despite the time of year.

The trail running sounds like fun. It should be good for you, too. I guess the trick is not to be concerned about getting muddy.

It can be difficult to motivate oneself to exercise this time of year when it's cold, dark and wet (well, wetter than usual). I wonder how many new year resolutions bite the bullet because of it. Probably better to start in March.

Getting out of the door is a bit of a struggle for sure. The mud is quite good fun once you're over the shock of getting wet:)

pinkypig

Karmacat wrote: »

Good heavens, PP, thats a lot of problems to fit into one day! So you were just starting to settle at gone 9pm I hope Silent Witness was a real antidote (I've become a solid fan in the last few weeks).

Much quieter today Karma:D

Thoroughly enjoying Silent Witness too xx

pinkypig

Today has been a calmer day all round - hurrah:j. Work was busy but manageable and I marked through lunchtime so I was able to leave a bit sooner to pick ds up from his revision class. He's never going to love school but he's certainly trying his best at the moment. I'm praying it lasts until June!
The house has been advertised for rent so I'm hoping the agent will have good news for me soon. Still no rent in my account from the other. Its 9 days late now so I'm hoping its a one off as they've always paid promptly before. Its frustrating though as I want to pay my cc bill and finalise my January totals:mad:
Other than that I've not got much news but I have managed a few successes;

Daily sweep and wipe
laundry folded and put away
Cheap healthy eats (porridge for breakfast, lo risotto and salad for lunch and batch cooked tarka dal from the freezer with chapattis for dinner. Snacks were overnight oats , a banana and some air popped popcorn in sensible quantities!).
Spin class done
Grocery spend of £6.29 on milk and a pile of ys sea bass and mackerel for the freezer plus a bag of mixed pastries for the kid's breakfasts this weekend which were ys to 10p. All stashed in the freezer.
Spreadsheets finalised for January and new ones set up for February.

Confession - bought two bnwt bikinis for my jollies off eBay so £12.19 spent on wants not needs:( . So much for tightening up personal spends - not a great start to my new month:o. (They are very nice though:p).

I slept much better last night so I'm going to persevere with establishing a routine as it definitely helps. Find work really tough when I've slept badly and nobody likes a miserable, ratty primary school teacher:)

Hump day tomorrow peeps then its a steady glide into the weekend

PP xx

pinkypig

Happy hump day . Actually can't believe it's only Wednesday it feels like I should be much further through the week!

Work sort of came and went, nothing of note either great or awful just a steady trundle through what we needed to do. I had inset tonight which was useful but meant a late night so nothing else got done.

In money news I'm still waiting for rent but I'm assured it will be transferred to me from the agent's account by they end of the week. There was a viewing on the soon to be empty house today and they've asked for an application form so fingers crossed although I know from experience that you shouldn't count your chickens until the deposit is paid.
I had a 85p grocery spend on sweeteners and two bags of ys artisan rolls. I also got my free Peri Peri Shopmium fries and submitted my request so hopefully I'll get the money back soon as they are super quick payers.

I've been mulling over goals for February. My financial ones are set as part of my annual plan but I'd like some short term ones that will hopefully lead to decent savings in the long term. So far I've ;

Reduced the heating by 1 degree

Reprogrammed the heating to come on 10 minutes later and go off 15 mins earlier. I've also taken into account the two nights a week when we are all in later so the heating will be on for 45 minutes less on those days.

Used the showers at the Leisure Centre after classes rather than coming straight home. This will be four free showers a week.

In addition I'm going to try and use half the amount of stuff. I think it was on Squirrel's thread that I read she did this and never noticed a significant difference.
So this month it will be half measures of shampoo, conditioner,toothpaste, mouthwash, dishwasher tabs, laundry liquid and anything else I can think of. I started tonight with laundry liquid and the laundry is clean and smells nice so that's a good start.

In other exciting news my new duvet cover arrived:). It was £8.95 + £2.95 postage for a king size cover and two pillow cases which seemed very cheap compared to others I looked at so I was a bit concerned about the quality. It appears to be fab:). The material is quite thin but it lovely and soft and the finish is good and it has buttons not poppers. The pillow cases are Oxford ones and it looks lovely on. My £4.75 Asda basic fitted sheet is also looking and feeling nice and best of all I don't have to get bedding dry and back on within the day which is such a treat (really must get out more:rotfl:).
My naughty 'want' purchases have also arrived and are tucked away ready for my holidays. They are also very nice, if unnecessary:o

I'm off to my nice, newly made up bed to read for a bit with lights out no later than 10.30:)

PP xx

Karmacat

Sounds good! I love those little actions - and the shower thing isn't a little action at all, water heating is very expensive, so thats a keeper

I love the "use half" too - thats a good idea. Toothpaste is supposed to be pea-sized, but 90% of people put it along the length of the toothbrush.

You're on a roll!

pinkypig

Goodbye January! January was a month of keeping things tight due to big annual spends and February looks like its keeping things tight due to reduced income:eek: I suppose variety keeps things interesting:p

February's totals are in which is always exciting/daunting depending on how the month's gone.

My spends against budgets were done on pay day but the biggies are as follows;

AVC top up pension £880/£880 (this is net so £1,100 into the pension pot) :j

Os payment £639.47/£430:j

Os interest benefit £70.20 :j

Mortgage neutral balance £93,368.62 :j

Capital reduction in January £1478.82:j

Feel chuffed and just a little bit relieved as January has felt long,spendy and on occasions a little arduous. Onwards and upwards

Karmacat

Your capital *reduced*, PP?

wishingthemortgaheaway

They are all looking like brilliant figures PP.

pinkypig

Karmacat wrote: »

Your capital *reduced*, PP?

Doh!!! Mortgage capital reduced. Glad it wasn't the one I said (although it might next month:eek:):rotfl:

pinkypig

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

They are all looking like brilliant figures PP.

Thanks Wish:A. Making the most of them as my income is going to be significantly down for a couple of months. Makes you realise how important an emergency fund is though