Reducing Debt - being accountable and taking responsibility

enthusiasticsaver

Goodness your move is taking a while although I guess a lot of time was wasted with the first lot of buyers. Moving is stressful but hopefully you will be in before Xmas. We sold a flat a few years back and slow solicitors were the problem then too. For them it is just paper shuffling and sometimes they forget how it affects people's lives.

Fingers crossed for progress soon. At least the money side looks good.

DrSpendLittle

Thanks Enthusiastic! It's dragging but it almost seems normal now to be in a perpetual state of uncertainty. I'm glad I'm a glass half full kind of gal!

Today I ordered some makeup and perfume as I'm running low. B00ts had a good deal on both items AND a points deal so I unexpectedly ended up with £10 of advantage points from the transaction! Wahey! That takes me up to £20 on my advantage card now! I think I'm going to use it to buy little things like cotton wool pads, micellar water, face masks etc as and when I need them.

I still feel guilty about spending money on Me Stuff, even though I'm putting just over a 1/3 of my take home pay each month into savings . It's funny how having real ££s in the bank has changed my outlook and expectations. I remember saying in my early post-debt days of spring this year how I felt very protective of my ££'s as they belonged entirely to me. I didn't owe them to anyone. I still feel that. It's become hard wired. I give myself roughly £100 to spend on Me Stuff every month. That's only about 4% of my take-home pay but it still feels a bit indulgent

I've been better with work lunches and groceries this week. We're trying to use up what's in the freezer as we're hoping to move at some point before xmas. Smirk :rotfl: The Longest House Move on Record!

However, I seemed to have spent an extortionate amount of money on fuel and parking this past month. Over £130!! I did buy a new parking book (£40) which should last two months. And I also put £20 of expensive premium fuel in my car on TWO occasions at the Middle of Nowhere Overpriced Garage - I stupidly misjudged my commute and fuel gauge twice in one week. D'oh. An expensive and silly mistake that I wont be doing again!

Other than that, we have a quiet weekend planned. DF is watching the rugby - I might join him - then we need to deal with Washingmageddon and I need to dead head some plants in the garden that are looking very sorry and sad.

Also, a horrible family of jackdaws have learned where my robin / blue tit bird feeders are in the tree in my garden and have started stealing the food I though I'd placed the feeders in the tree in such a way that the bigger birds couldn't get to them but the avian scoundrels have just forced their way in and have scared away the smaller birdies I've taken the feeders away this week in the hope the jackdaws will just go away. So I need to try and sneakily reintroduce them this weekend and hope my lovely little birds will come back. I miss them.

Ooops. I didn't realise what time it was! Better get dinner on and empty the dehumidifier!

DrSpendLittle

A NSD so far. I've got some lamb loin chops defrosting for dinner so I'm just about to see what we can rustle up using just ingredients we have in the house. Both DF and I are feeling too lazy to go out to the shops so we'll see how we get on. We have ingredients for hummus, flat breads and maybe chilli sauce so we could just do that.

I did some gardening this afternoon, which was quite therapeutic. Lots of leaves picked up and stones raked. I decided that the plant I was going to deadhead was actually beyond repair. I'm not too sure what I did wrong, but it died last week and looked a right sorry state. I ended up chucking it in the green bin and I'll start again in the spring. We also need to empty the sorry looking herb pots and bay tree, which appear diseased - they're close to the ivy which we forgot to treat over the summer and has since got infested with aphids. There's no point in carting dead / diseased plants and herbs to the new house.

Before I did the gardening, I spent an hour or so sorting out my wardrobe as I've got a few new knitwear pieces for the autumn / winter season and they are very bulky when folded on my wardrobe shelves. I moved some things around and now everything fits perfectly. I love a tidy wardrobe.

Tomorrow we are spending with friends but it should be low spend as we'll be doing outdoory things like going for a walk etc. We need to get some supplies for cooking a meal in the early evening but aside fro that, a low spend weekend should be feasible!

Next week shouldn't be too spendy, though I'll need to try and be good taking lunches into work and not buying fuel from expensive petrol stations We need to do a weekly food shop soon to stock up on meat but I'm tempted to do an Ocad0 shop for that.

DSL

DrSpendLittle

Had a fairly low spend weekend - bought a few small items from amazon - and plan to do the same this week. Did some outdoor jobs yesterday but sweeping up the leaves seems to be a never ending and thankless task! And the rain isn't helping matters. My elderly and fairly immobile neighbour is worried about slipping on them and I'm worried about her too, but its difficult to remove wet leaves without having to pick each one up individually by hand :mad:

Worked on some solicitor enquiries for the house sale over the weekend and they've been sent on to our buyers solicitor this morning. Things seem to be moving much faster now though with the experience we've had so far, I'm not counting my chickens. I'm nervous to even get quotes from removal companies in case it makes it too real and jinxes it all. Such is the life of a perpetual house mover. I've gone ahead and got a revised buildings insurance quote which we'll need in order to (if we ever!!) exchange contracts. I have removal quotes from earlier in the year but we've added in some new furniture pieces and replaced others (I had a massive tantrum after the other sale fell through and spent some ££s in a furniture shop as a form of retail therapy The new chest of draws is lovely though :rotfl:). So, I might pluck up the courage to organise those removal quotes for next week as we're both busy this week.

DF seems to have been doing more of the food shopping lately. Not sure why but I'm not complaining! Can't wait to combine finances and have proper order with the house budget.

This wasnt meant to be a long post but I seem to be ranty, so apols!

DrSpendLittle

Just reconciled my YNAB accounts - I used my two existing credit cards to make some recent online purchase, so I needed to pay them off and log the spends. I'm conscious not to use my debit card in some cases when making online purchases as I feel quite protective of my ££s and I've been subject to fraud twice in the past two years.

I'm also conscious to use my credit card (and pay the balance IN FULL :money:) each month at least once to keep my credit record ticking over nicely.

DrSpendLittle

Didn't want to leave it on 666 posts for too long :shocked:

Whats new?

I've taken the plunge and booked in two removals companies to update their quotes as we've bought a few new furniture pieces since the original quotes were generated.

Working from home today - just about to have a mid afternoon snack as I had a very late breakfast. I love wfh

Busy few days at work coming up - I've got a business dinner tomorrow (expensed but I'll need to claim back) and then another working business lunch on Friday so I'll have some expenses to claim. back. In fact, I need to claim for some other expenses from earlier in the month!

DSL

DrSpendLittle

Not much to update on. Just waiting for buyers solicitor to deal with our responses to queries. Removal people booked in for Friday to requote us.

Finances okay - started xmas shopping and got a few bits. Will need a new mobile phone soon and we need to buy a desktop computer as well. Thinking of waiting for new year to purchase these but at the same time, I'll see what discounts appear over the coming weeks - we know exactly what we want, so its a case of waiting for a good deal to appear.

Need to do an Ocado shop at some point as we've no meat in the house and we're a bit out of control with food spending.

Onward and upwards!

DrSpendLittle

Confessing to regularly buying lunches this week. Eeek. I also haven't done YNAB in a few days which makes me complicit with the rebellious side of me. I'm not watching the little spends, so I need to have a word with myself this weekend and sort it out!!

Hoping to hear tomorrow or next week about possible completion dates. She says... Ugh. Not heard since Monday whether our buyer's solicitor has any queries to the queries to the queries. Ahem. Selling a leasehold property when the original lease doesn't exist and the deed of transfer is missing is quite the task! Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me! I'm taking it as a positive that he doesn't have any further queries and that he is simply drafting the report on title for our buyers to sign and digest before requesting their instruction to exchange. Pleeeeeeeeeeease may this be true!

Will try to do something outdoorsy this weekend. A walk or something. Nature is great. And free!

DSL

DrSpendLittle

Forgot to add, my bank gave me £7 cashback for two transactions and £5 interest this month. Winning. I still can't get used to the bank giving me money for having my money. I spent years paying the bank to provide money for me that I didn't actually have. It's a nice feeling but I often imagine what it must be like when interest rates are favourable and those returns are higher. Mind you, that would mean mortgages would be more expensive! I know what I'd vote for (given the eek! size of my new mortgage. If I ever move! :rotfl: )

enthusiasticsaver

Fingers crossed for exchange of contracts very soon.