Atrixa's Saving Diaries

doingitanyway

I'm hoping to rehome a dog and it seems to have stopped due to the pandemic. 
I agree with MF, the wallpaper seems to be 1950s to me.

savingwannabe

Good luck with cat fur. I am allergic now. 

atrixa

It's been ages since I've updated! I'm very behind on everyone's diaries, too. I'll try to get up to speed this weekend, I hope everyone's doing well.
Landline woes: They've fixed it with my old number after saying it was impossible (?) but still aren't billing me properly. Don't use Tritish Bellecoms. Useless.
I got my water meter installed with no fuss whatsoever. My bill is now £16 per month. Gas and electric switch also complete- now down to £61 per month for dual fuel. Council tax went up by £4 this year, so glad I could save elsewhere.
Savings Summary:

Sinking Fund Holidays		£       530.00
Cat Adoption		£       250.00
Sinking Fund days out		£       108.76
House Emergency Fund (£4000)		£   1,549.32
Bathroom Sinking Fund (£5000)		£       426.26
Emergency Fund (£7000)		£   2,193.54

Most of the house fund will go on the roof/chimney stack repairs. That's apparently happening on Tuesday, but that remains to be seen. It's the 3rd date I've had for the works to be done. I've done a fait bit of overtime this year so hopefully I can replenish it quickly.
Decorating update: Stairway is almost done, just the trim to go, which will be finished this weekend. The top of the stairs is the same dark green as the bedroom and the rest is white. It looks so much cleaner now.
I've put more coats of damp seal on the chimney breast in the living room and repainted as it was still coming through. If the stain comes through again, I'm giving up and buying a large plant pot, or possibly I can put a cat bed in front of it or something.
I treated myself to some lovely art prints and frames. The living room has a travel theme- idea is that I can pick up more prints when I visit new places so I can have a sort of log of where I've been. It's looking very cosy. I did have a mishap with one frame that I tried to attach to the wall with those sticky strips. It ended up behind the radiator in two pieces.  I had to lever it out with a spatula.
I'm looking forward to the charity shops opening so I can find some thrifty treasures in there.

Weight loss is still going swimmingly. I've started back up running regularly again and I've incorporated some strength training once per week to try and improve my muscle tone. Goal now is to drop a little bit more fat and gain some muscle I'm feeling really quite positive about everything- must be the change in the seasons!

savingwannabe

Your sinking funds look great! Repairs cost a lot but once they are done it is an investment. Everything sounds really promising: It is great that you are painting there is special stuff you can buy from DIY shops to stop the damp coming through. I hope can get some. It is wonderful buying pictures, yikes to radiator! Fab news on weight loss. I keep eating!!! 

MovingForwards

Plans and savings look good.
I can't believe you've nearly finished decorating, you've only been in 5 minutes 😲
Theme is great idea, memories and images will bring the travel home and lift spirits during hectic moments.

Better weather makes food and exercise habits change.

doingitanyway

Such an uplifting post. Your savings are excellent and well organised

atrixa

Thanks all Looks like the landline billing issue has been resolved. They booted me out of contract and upped the prices, so I ended up getting a deal with an upgrade for less than the out of contract price. Fiver more than I was paying before, but I did end up getting 5 or 6 months free, so I can't really complain. 
Scaffolding for the work on the roof went up today, hurrah!
I've claimed my WFH tax back for this tax year. Very easy.
Tea tonight is cauliflower and coconut curry with some broccoli. I went for a walk to get groceries at lunchtime, then I did a bit of strength and conditioning training after work.

MovingForwards

At least it's resolved with some discount for the trouble.
Hopefully the roof work won't take long and that's another thing off your list.
Tea sounds great!

atrixa

Roofers finished yesterday. The porch was hiding a legendary old bodge job, even by this house's standards. It was literally just the ceiling, then laths, then tile. Looks like it was originally a flat roof, then some fool decided to raise the pitch a little bit and put an unsuitable tile on. It's now loads warmer now that there's insulation in there. Roofers were genuinely shocked at the state of it, so I'm glad I got that done.

I'm off this week, so I got my hair cut this morning then looked around the charity shops. I found a picture frame for £4.49, bargain! I'm going to have some lunch now and have a long walk to a hardware shop on the other end of the town to buy the last picture frame I need and a new shower curtain. I was just going to wash the existing one, but I broke off the loops when I was trying to take the thing down. I could do with a wider one anyway.

I spent all of yesterday deep cleaning the kitchen. The insides of the cupboards are now sparkling and the oven and hob are tons better. I'm considering getting some kind of steam mop to try to de-grot the vinyl floor but the reviews online aren't really encouraging. It would potentially be cheaper to just replace the vinyl. Today's job is a deep clean of the living room

BF is unfortunately isolating as Track and Trace has alerted him he's been in contact with a positive case. Means I can't see him until Sunday but it does save me some grocery money!

MovingForwards

That was quick and as you say it's done, one less thing to worry about.
I had a steam mop, didn't think much of it so sold it a few weeks later.

Seems like you had a productive day.

Hope BF is ok and nothing comes of it.