Half a house

Silence101

I just checked the prices of yearly bus passes. I'd have to go to town at least 3 times a week to save any money by buying one. At least I now know that buying a return isn't too bad a deal.

Silence101

We got £100 for scrapping the old car. I'm not too sure what we're doing with the money, might keep it to pay for Christmas presents. I need to start writing a list of potential presents for extended family, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment.
I calculated that it takes us 6 monthly payments to pay off £1000 of capital. It'll be great if we can cut it down a third or even half.
We're finally potty training the youngest, so should save a bit every month. We tend to buy value nappies so it's not a great saving but we've seen how quickly little steps do add up.
As we haven't done a budget recently, I can't tell if our current OPs are on track according to our finances or not. It's the yearly expenses that tend to throw us a bit, although we've been trying to save a weekly amount, but we've had to spend most of it during the move and all the fees, so that needs to be built up again.

Silence101

I went out last night, so it wasn't a NSD (It was a Bring your own bottle event, so I spent £5). I met someone who makes these lovely bird sculptures, and I'm planning on buying one. I actually wanted to buy it last month, but wasn't able to. It does mean that it's very unlikely that I'll stay within the £50 (£45 now) limit, so I might have to discount the £50 already accounted for in monthly commitments.
I need to take eldest for her flu jab this morning. I'm hoping we could get there and back without spending money but I'll definitely need to prepare snacks.

We keep our buggies outside, under the carport, which is great in theory as they don't clutter up the house, but one of the neighbouring cats has weed on one and it reeks. I've washed the washable stuff and that's helped, but the buggy itself still stinks. I've just put some vinegar on it in the hope that eradicates the smell, but I'm not convinced. The buggy is quite old so if I need to bleach it I don't mind losing the colour, but I've never had to deal with cats before so not sure what works best.

wishingthemortgaheaway

What rubbish about the cats, I think you need to use bicarbonate as well as vinegar to clean it all up.

Silence101

I need to buy some! We usually have a stock but between the move and potty training accidents, we've used it all up. So I'll get some from wilco this morning.
It's tipping down so we'll probably take the bus after all, so not a NS morning after all.

Silence101

So much for a NS morning. The bus was £5.30, the bicarbonate was £5.20 (it's gone up 0.25 a box since the last time I bought some, and it wasn't that long ago.) And the cookies were £1.10 (cheaper than the option the girls wanted, McDo).
Off to the Halloween party in a bit.

Silence101

Morning! Had an NSD yesterday, although I've been looking online for a room divider, as I want to be able to use my desk while others are sleeping. I have realised that the £100 challenge is unlikely to happen as there's always stuff needed, especially so soon after the move. Should be an NSD today, as long as I don't buy anything online.
I haven't OPed anything recently. I'm not sure we can afford to OP anything else this month as we do have to think of Christmas and eldest has a few birthday parties to go to. Our budget for these is low, but it still adds up (and this year I'm really struggling with what to buy!)

Silence101

I was very good yesterday and didn't buy anything online. I am going to have to buy a rail to use as a wardrobe soon, as at the moment all the clothes that need to be hung are still in a box. Once that is sorted we should be closer to having everything put away. The storage cupboards need a good sort out too, but it might be something we do later on, as Mr S is planning on putting shelves up.
I'm still debating about which room divider we need. It needs to be as light proof as possible, while remaining cheap.

Silence101

I managed to transfer some more money to the mortgage. I'm hoping we won't have to dip into our savings by the end of the month, but the interest we're saving by OPing now is so high that I just want to put as much as possible in the mortgage as I can.
The £100 challenge has gone out of the window as I had to do a food shop yesterday. However I managed to resist the cakes and fizzy drinks, even though I purposely went past the aisles to choose a treat.
I still haven't chosen which screen divider I want. The cheaper one seems to have a lot of reviews saying it's flimsy, so we might have to go with the more expensive one. I'm sure we could DIY something but it'll probably be ages by the time we get round to it. Same with the wardrobe rail. And the cork board.
I need to start using my bullet journal again, as the days go by and I can't show anything for it.

daisy_1571

If you want to use your desk while others are sleeping then it sounds like you need a wall properly put up rather than a room divider which will let light and noise travel. Don't waste money getting something flimsy that you will have to replace anyway would be my tuppence worth.

Daisy