New but not new - Year 1 of 5!

shangaijimmy

Congrats all round. What an exciting start to 2018 you're gonna have!

Karmacat

You're definitely not a fan of muddling along, I know, but you're starting from a very high baseline, hun, I'm sure you'll be fine. A new house with DH is really the last bit of the building blocks of a new life, isn't it, it's an even bigger deal than usual. I'm glad your Christmas will be low key - you'll have plenty of down time, I hope, and time to recharge and take care of yourselves and each other.

Betterthanever

Yes, you're right KC......I like to know what's what. Ordered chaos at the very least!!

Still, it will all come together and before we know it, it will be this time next year with budgets being worked out and goals for 2019 in the planning!

Today I ordered another SB voucher - the amazon account is rebuilding nicely. I plan on using this for some of the "extras" that we will want (not need) for the new house when we are there - eg we will have an extra bedroom, so extra bedding will be required. Things like that don't tend to have a place in moving house budgets but they are the things that we find we don't want to be without for too long, so at least this way, we can get ourselves sort of "in" without going too much over our eventual moving budget.

I'm very much looking forward to getting through it all - it has been a draining few weeks, one way or another, and still lots and lots of nervewracking job and house stuff to go!

In other news - DH who was quite sceptical of all the MSE type ways of "earning" is coming round.....he's been signing up all his colleagues to circle for the referral fees......He needs to be careful or I'll have him on swagbucks before he can say "survey"!

Betterthanever

Payday today - £525 in the "going towards the new house/offset" account and £100 extra paid off the 0% credit card which I have told Halifax I will have repaid before we move in order to give me the extra incentive to clear it rather than to simply say that because it is 0% it doesn't really matter.....


Budgets for January have been done. I will be looking to make the food supplies we have last as long as possible - to save money as is always the aim in January, and to help with Operation clear-out. We've not got any plans for much in the way of social stuff or trips away over the next couple of months so we should be okay.....famous last words!!


£9.27 received from TCB today. Nothing much else to report! Happy Christmas Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve!!!

Karmacat

I can hear the echo in here Happy Christmas Eve to you too

Betterthanever

Finally winding down before Christmas - a half day in the office today, so roll on 1pm.


Before work I cashed in another Amazon voucher from SB, and received one that I had ordered earlier in the week.....slow and steady! I'm not sure how much I will get done over the Christmas period - I suspect these things slow down dramatically, but I have been pleased with my efforts so far and look forward to building on them in 2018.


I've started tinkering with figures for the 2018 budgets - it is all a bit of an unknown, of course, but I don't want to use that as any sort of excuse!!

Betterthanever

And just over £20 withdrawn from Prolific.....happy days!

shangaijimmy

Christmas is a great time for taking stock and making plans for the following year. Christmas hols 2014 was a big one for me deciding to do something about the big mortgage we had. Fast forward 3yrs and we've reduced our mortgage debt by £36k! And as Mrs SJ says, "its not as if we miss out on anything".

Betterthanever

And that's the key - finding the balance between "going without" and "not missing out". Once you've got that sussed, the rest is pretty easy!
Normally my January plans and budgets for the coming year are quite straightforward....this year there are so many unknowns that I'm feeling in a state of flux that is not entirely comfortable, although I do know it will all settle before too long. New job is due to start in March (damn you long notice periods!) so by the end of April I'll know a bit more about where we are heading. In the meantime, I guess it can all just be put down to being pre-new budget prep!


One thing I will be doing, however, is being a bit more disciplined.....many on here will think I am already so, but there is still much room for improvement, and if I am going to make a success of the opportunities I have, I need to improve on that otherwise I will end up frazzled!!

Karmacat

Oh boy ... what are we going to see in the New Year :rotfl:

Betterthan, can I ask you something about running the videos on my phone? They occasionally grind to a halt and they're suggesting I download an app, of one sort or another. Do you download those apps and run the videos on them once you've reached your SB points limit on SB itself?

Hope thats clear