DD's accountability thread

DD265

Progress has slowed a bit - the plasterer couldn't come on Friday, as his household are isolating waiting on Covid-19 test results. He's rebooked us for Wednesday - hopefully the test comes back negative and that can go ahead. If it can, to save elapsed time during decorating, I'm going to attempt to free-hand cut in this room, rather than masking it. If the plastering can't take place, I think we'll push into January - along with the carpet fitting - and just make do. Desks are all joined together now, have started the process of repairing/making good the surfaces, but it'll be reasonably slow purely due to lack of space to lie them flat.

We had our budget meeting last night, and I had a revelation that maybe we've been going about it wrong. We talk about the budget after it's already been set for the month and often there's very little wriggle room in the joint account. We're going to try the approach of setting January's priorities before we get paid in December, then budget accordingly. It will be interesting to see if it makes a difference. I'm still playing with the idea of making all of our finances joint, too, but the challenge is that I spend more than OH; my hair appointments cost more, for example, so it doesn't really feel fair.

enthusiasticsaver

It makes sense to do a budget meeting before the budget is set maybe by listing priorities with costing ideally. 

DD265

I think the plastering will happen in the new year now - in any case, it didn't happen this week and next week feels unlikely. I've pushed the carpet fitting out until the end of January. It's a shame, but I much prefer knowing rather than the will it/won't it stress of the last week. We'll prime the walls and woodwork and caulk it, then re-fit the carpet, curtains and blind and put furniture in for OH's brother who's staying over Christmas. It's not going to be the finished room I'd hoped for, but it'll do. OH had taken two days off work this week to decorate; he'll now use that to do the desk tops. Those are filled, they need planing and sanding and possibly more filling/sanding, then varnishing. OH has bought an electric planer - it was only £10 more to buy than hire, but we're gradually filling the garage up with tools!

We got the mattresses from IKEA last night on the way back from dropping presents off with family in Yorkshire. One came from bargain corner with 35% off (£30) as a customer return - it's grubby. The cover on said mattress is removeable and can go in the washing machine so it's a no brainer really. The second one was full price, but we couldn't get the wardrobe door panels so will go to our local IKEA during the week for those and if we happen to find another mattress in bargain corner, we'll return the full price one, so it's staying packaged for now.

The family visit was a bit sureal. We had socially distanced fish and chips in 3 cars parked next to each other with my side, then stood outside OH's parent's house. It's very strange to think that this will be our last visit to Yorkshire this year - hopefully we'll manage many more in 2021 but I'm expecting another lockdown in January/February, and we're all in tier 3.

The new Christmas tree is up and it does look good; very realistic. I did originally wish I'd gone for a 6' (or even 7') tree, but the 5' still has a 38" circumference and actually fits really well into the space we have for it. We've ended up putting far fewer baubles on it than our old artificial tree; whilst it has more branches, because the tree is higher quality you don't feel the need to fill all the gaps. If we go somewhere - on holiday or a day trip for example - we try to pick up a bauble (we've managed 1 this year...) so the tree is a mixture of those special ones and nice ones from the shops, with all the plain ones ready for donating along with the old tree.

DD265

Our bargainous mattress was not a bargain when we realised it was a medium/firm in a firm bag. When we opened out the firm one, the difference was massively noticeable. Returned to IKEA and refunded no problem, then we paid full whack for a second firm mattress. We also paid full whack for the mirror wardrobe panels - it feels like we've had quite a few trips to IKEA recently!

The desks aren't finished; they need a bit of hand sanding but we're short on space to do it. We focused on getting the spare bedroom presentable instead. The walls and woodwork are primed, which looks reasonable at a glance, then we re-fitted the carpet (and did an alright job, but I wouldn't want to do a brand new for-keeps carpet), fitted the blind and curtains, built the bed. Brother in law says the bed is decent, as the first person to have slept on it. When the day bed is pulled out the size is slightly larger than a UK King (160x200 - so 10cm wider), meaning special sheets/topper etc, but all sourced on Amazon. When we don't have guests though we'll take it back to being a single (though it's 10cm narrower and 10cm longer than a UK single - how awkward!) which makes the room feel nicely spacious.

We'll have to think carefully about what additional furniture to put in there; I'm leaning towards something along these lines shape wise: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07S24LYCY/?coliid=I3MP8YWFG4BG97&colid=1FQ4LCZLCQBQ2&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it Aside from the materials we probably have all the tools to make one, so that might be what we end up doing, it's just a case of designing it first. I am keeping an eye on FB Marketplace too, but I think a full size adult wardrobe will be too large, and a child's one not suitable for our guests.

The electrician came and we got most things done. Couldn't get new sockets added in the office or spare bedroom without making a massive mess. We've concluded that the house may actually need a re-wire; it appears that even the original sockets when the house was built were not all wired in correctly (the one being on a spur, and the wire used for said spur being too small) so will be factoring that in to all other renovations going forward. We'll deal with it in the office next time around, and the spare bedroom will be able to come off the circuit currently used for the immersion heater when that's removed (when the new boiler is fitted). OH did check with a registration body on our electrician's recommendation, but they only guarantee the work for 6 years and we're long past that. It wasn't a surprise, but would've been lovely if some of the costs could have been covered.

I think we're pretty much all set for Christmas now. We did a fortnight's worth of shopping (less any fresh items) and got everything at the butcher so the freezer is full. Got a small amount of wrapping to do. I finished work on Thursday but today is the first restful day we've had; after all the DIY and decorating, the house was in disarray. It's nice to have it somewhat tidier again, though I'm not looking forward to tackling the garage - leaving that until next week.

I hope everybody has a safe and enjoyable Christmas.

DD265

It's been a while! If it's not too late to say it, happy new year.
Largely I've been avoiding spending time on my PC. With working from home, I tend to just want the break and I don't generally like browsing forums on my phone. I've gotten into cross stitch (an inexpensive hobby, when you consider the hours it can take to complete a single cross stitch).
Spends have been reasonable, I think. I put my optimistic head on and booked an Airbnb for April; the refund policy is good though of course I'd much rather go than have to cancel. The car had it's service and MOT - passed with flying colours - though between the service and a new actuator for the fuel cover the bill was almost £400. I've bought some desperately needed underwear (about £100 for two sets) but overall been quite well behaved.
Work have decided to back pay the amount deducted/not paid in Q2 last year, so my bonus at the end of this month should be very good - I estimate around £2k before tax, though I don't know the exact numbers. I've bought another pair of running trainers, this time with Goretex so they're waterproof, but the original pair will still get used. I was going to wait, but they're going out of stock fast and getting harder to find in my size, so they're ordered.
The spare room hasn't been plastered yet. Our plumber/plasterer is only doing essential work during lockdown, but we're getting quotes from a couple of plasterers. The first was more expensive (twice the price) but I've often thought our plumber's rates are very cheap. We should get the second quote tomorrow. The desks aren't finished either; need to stop procrastinating on those! We have hung the wardrobe doors though; that took a long time but they look good.
My plans for the bonus, aside from trainers, are to get this plastering done, buy a set of (expensive) weighing scales, and then I'll see about putting a chunk into savings and paying a chunk off the credit card. I'm not skint by any means, but excited for pay day!

DD265

To say we're still in lockdown, I feel as though we've been rather busy.

The second chap who quoted for plastering did it the next morning; that's the spare bedroom ceiling and the downstairs loo ceiling. We've not started decorating either but we have everything we need except the wall papering supplies which will be the last job anyway. The desks are currently in the spare bedroom - they're sanded and ready to varnish, but after testing some sawn off pieces, we realised the filler wasn't going to take the varnish well. We bought some markers designed for touching up wood but they weren't quite right, so I've bought some acrylics during the week. I've not started yet; I've got a professional exam on Monday so I wanted to focus my energy on that instead.

We've booked to have a window pane replaced (it has misted, only once admittedly but I'd rather cross it off the list) and two sets of window restrictors. It's too cold now, but it means when the weather is better we'll be able to have the windows open without fear of the cats being able to push them and escape. This is quite an expensive endeavour at £35 per restrictor (and we need four across two windows) but we tried to DIY it and failed - though we did not cause the misted panel! The payment for this is coming out of my bonus from January's pay day.

As well as the previously mentioned trainers, scales and plastering, the bonus also bought a mini-trampoline, a LEGO set, a winter running top, I set the balance aside for our holiday in April (assuming we get to go) and I topped up the joint account, so it went a long way towards stuff we either really wanted or needed. No additional payments to the credit cards, though the Barclaycard (and OH's Lloyds credit card) is paid off in full, and the MBNA is on track to be where I need it for a balance transfer to the Barclaycard later this year.

The family member who loaned us some money when we were buying the house has been taken ill. I think it may prevent his return to work and that he'll take early retirement. We've increased our repayments to him. It has been £100 a month since we moved in, but we've doubled our monthly repayments, and will be ready to pay the leftover amount in full (that'll be £500) when his full sick pay term ends. A different family member we loaned £500 to last year is intending to repay it soon, so it might time nicely and if it doesn't, that's not a problem. We can't afford to do everything we want to do right now; a new boiler, bathroom and kitchen soon adds up after all, but we're OK.

DD265

It's been a while!

We largely carried on as we were through February, March and into April. April has been an expensive month but we had a week off work and decided to crack on with a few things.

The desks are finished so barring some artwork, the office is complete. I've also finally got my second monitor (OH's old one - he has a friend's old monitor which is huge) and I'm very happy with how the desks have turned out. It's neat and tidy with sufficient storage, but doesn't feel cramped. The spare bedroom is finished; fully decorated (we know how to hang wallpaper now!) and carpeted. We need to pick up a small wardrobe for it (not a common size unfortunately as I keep checking FB/eBay) and the curtains are being altered by my mother. Pleased with how the room looks. Plan to get it completely finished for the next lot of restrictions easing next month. The cloakroom is also done; putting better quality fixings (door handle, towel rail/toilet roll holder and toilet seat) along with the fresh paint has made a huge difference. I kept the original splashback as much as I want to change it for fear of pulling off wall with it. I got a grout pen and went over the grout so the floor looks smart too.

The bathroom is WIP - I put two coats of primer on the walls/door frame and caulked it. We haven't had the ceiling plastered and we're not changing the suite, tiles or floor, but wanted to freshen it up a bit. Still need to put the third coat of wall primer on, two top coats, then strip all the sealant (around the bath is WIP, it's hard work!), reseal and paint the woodwork. We have a mirror cabinet to put up that I got cheap on FB, but it's much better than we had previously. The weather changed to be lovely and we went outside instead so I've not finished, but this is also on the list to complete for mid-May.

We paid to have the fence painted, in the end. They replaced two panels, cleaned and put two coats of stain on I think 25 panels both sides, replaced some willow screening with feather boards and improved the side gate as well. It was £755 and my only regret is not asking them to clean the concrete too! It took a lot of effort so I'm glad to have dodged it.

What we did do, as we'd hired a skip (you've never seen anybody so giddy about a skip) was dig up the front lawn. A weed membrane went down and we've planted heathers, lavendar and grasses. My herb planter has moved around the front (nearer the kitchen) and we've got a slab laid ready to put a potted acer on, when we buy one this weekend. There was an acer when we moved in but sadly it died due to strimmer damage. That was in the ground so we removed the stump (and a couple of others for trees cut down before we bought) but the new one will go in the same place. Then I, after a lot of effort and calling around, managed to get two bulk bags of blue slate delivered - this was £200 and we'll have used a bag and a half I reckon by the time we're done. One bag is down, we're topping up using the second. It was expensive but looks far better than the lawn. Once that bag of slate is down - aiming to finish for next weekend - I'll flog what's left on FB, and we'll get some limestone chippings for the drive to top that up as it's a bit of a state. We also need to try and do something with the weeds... easier said than done. We do need to have the fascia painted and the gutter cleaned but it looks so much smarter already and I am excited about the end result. 

This week I found out that I'm getting a substantial pay rise - my new basic salary is now £50k plus car allowance plus bonus (which has seen a £3k increase in on target earnings). I'm really pleased because it is more than I'd asked for, all told, and I was a bit worried I'd feel like I had to leave if I felt undervalued. April's pay includes a substantial bonus from March (my largest yet) and the pay rises typically take effect from 1st April - I think I was a bit in shock and didn't really absorb everything. But I'll find out my new basic take home at the end of May as I won't be earning a bonus for April due to holidays. I was keen to get my regular take home to £3k, and I think I should be there. This provides a lot of scope to save more and pay off faster. I'd like to increase repayments on the mortgage (from £800 to £1000) but I also want to pay off the MBNA card a bit quicker, and boost savings. Once we know what my new basic take home is, we'll sit down and prioritise.

Next on the project list is a new boiler. We've been quoted £2880 which I think is reasonable for what it includes. The current dilemma is where to put it; we want to move the kitchen into the garage (would need a conversion, but it's internal) so potentially we put the boiler in the existing kitchen, instead of the garage where the current one is. I'm going to see about having a conversation with an architect to float some ideas around and make that decision. Long term we think we might want to do a small single storey extension as well, thinking 4-5ft extra on the living room would make all the difference. Whether it would in reality is unknown, and the reason why we want that voice of experience.

DD265

Time flies when you're having fun I suppose.

I did indeed get my pay rise and I increased my MBNA repayments to £500 a month (double what they were). I'm nicely on track for a balance transfer to the Barclaycard in September to keep it interest free, but as of today there's £6250 on the card - that'll be down to £4750 when I transfer it, if you include September's payment. We haven't increased the amount we're paying on the mortage or into savings as such; I'm setting a small amount aside to save for specific purchases but we're not paying extra into the emergency fund. We're still paying my in-laws off for the house deposit, and soon to be in 3 digits.

We had set extra aside to repay that in full but have diverted that £1100 towards home improvements. We now have our new boiler, which has cost £3200 (so far), £3000 of which was gifted. The rest came from the £1100, but we are doing a few other bits and need to get the electrician out, because one of the previous owners of the house did (or had done) some dodgy wiring and we need to have it double checked. The other bits include fitting Nest Protect smoke detectors, getting the now-empty airing cupboard boarded and skimmed (hurray new wardrobe space) once the electrician has done his thing, and buying an under counter freezer. I'd also like to get more of the loft boarded now that there's no water tank up there.

OH is due to change jobs in November and after a training period, will be working rotating shifts. The emphasis now is on things we can do to make life easier, like the extra freezer space so we can batch cook more, and the smoke detectors so that I don't have to struggle to reach them if they go off and he's not around.

Unfortunately I think we'll end up buying a second car sooner rather than later, though I'm hoping we can put it off until February/March. We knew we would eventually, probably when we start a family but after some thought, not having access to a car when OH is at work will be isolating and restrictive. The public transport options back to Yorkshire are not cheap, and we can't rely on everybody coming down to us all the time. There's also the awkwardness if I need to go into the office on a day he's working a shift that doesn't fit, and what we do if I or one of the cats had an appointment. Things like the dentist/doctor can be hard enough to get appointments at these days without being inflexible on dates! The plan for the second car is to get something on finance for 3/4 years, and then in 4 years time, when the Tiguan is 10 and no longer meets the terms of my car allowance, we are cycling the car on finance so that it's young enough whilst keeping the Tiguan going. Ideally I'd simply own two cars outright and always be in a position to keep one under 10, but we're a long way from being in that position financially. There's a big used car dealership locally, and they don't pressure you at all, so we'll start there and see what's on offer.

DD265

It's been a while.. I suppose there's less to talk about when you're on top of things!

The MBNA balance is £0, and the Barclaycard has £5402.25 on it, including the transfer fee. This is interest free until September 2023. We're still paying off the in-laws, but when we get paid at the end of the month will be in the position to pay them off in full. We do however have an electrician to pay, plus the plasterer (it's taken a while to get that booked in!), and it is up to my husband whether we take that out of the inlaw-overpayment pot, or his balance (which is very healthy).

Car wise we haven't made any move, although I did start the process of shortlisting. I am now leaning towards buying outright on a credit card like we did with the Tiguan, mainly with a view to paying it off before we start a family so we don't have those repayments to worry about when I'm on maternity leave. We still haven't had confirmation of OH's new job, so we're not progressing anything for now.

I've had a call with a financial advisor this week, provided by work, and it was interesting. The focus was on my pension, but we talked about some other things, too. I am moving my pension into a higher risk portfolio and need to review how much I'm paying in - ideally I want to come under the 50k mark for tax purposes, as I earn 50k basic plus car allowance plus bonuses. Something else we are discussing is income protection insurance, but I'm not sure about this just yet. It makes sense as we can't afford our outgoings on my husband's salary (and less so when he changes job) but a ball park of £50 a month feels like a lot.

The other thing which I'm looking at is beginning saving for maternity leave and the financial advisor recommended avoiding a S&S ISA because we can't really afford to lose any of that money. She said say to look at one after maternity, but to play it safe for now. I can get 1% for up to £400 a month deposits for 12 months with Lloyds, or 3.5% for up to £250 a month for 12 months with Skipton. I don't think I can afford to do both, so I need to look at the budget and figure out how much I'll realistically save each month. If I go for £250, I think I can still pay the car off at £500 a month so that might be the better option.

DD265

We finally got confirmation of OH starting the new job, which happens on the 1st November. I'd say preparations are in full swing for that, but there's not a huge amount we can/need to do at this point. We did get an under counter freezer so we can batch cook; I won an award at work and got a gift card for £200, so the freezer basically cost £4.99. Having that bit of extra space is making a huge difference already even though we've not batch cooked that much yet.

Nothing has been, or is being done, on the car front. We've gone from leasing to credit card ~£10k to thinking we'll spend £3-5k (on the credit card) to keep repayments manageable. But we're holding off for the time being. I dropped my repayments on the Tiguan/Barclaycard to £250, and am putting £250 into the savings account with Skipton. It feels manageable and I'm happy to be saving a bit extra. 

I've taken out income protection insurance through an independent financial advisor after asking for advice on here. It's £32 a month but with LV, there's a payout (£500-£2k ish) if you fracture something, and they'll also pay out if you have a child diagnosed with one of several illnesses. Legal and General were £9 cheaper, but I decided that £9 a month was worth the extra cover to me, particularly given it will be difficult for OH to have time off and my employer's policies are rubbish for that kind of thing. This has a 3 month waiting period, so I need to build up the budget to have that saved really; the payments will be £1500 a month so in theory, £4500 minimum in the emergency fund.

We did a fresh start on YNAB, and I'm currently reviewing categories to see where we can cut spending. Our energy provider is one of the ones that has gone under, and it has me feeling a little like costs are going to increase across the board and how well we'll manage to keep up with everything and still make progress with debt repayments, savings and home improvements. I've just been through some subscriptions and cancelled (Graze), or got a better deal (Kindle Unlimited - £21 saving across 3 months) and suggested OH reviews the ones he's paying for too. We currently have Amazon Prime (free via health insurance), Disney+, Netflix and NowTV so it adds up, but then we've just talked about what we have on each and how we aren't willing to give them up!

I have been decluttering my clothes and decided to sell some of them, namely the Under Armour and a couple of other mid-end brands that I think would be worthwhile. I'm also getting a decent bonus at the end of October (£800 pre-tax), but I'm not sure where that will be directed yet. As much as I'd like to bite the bullet and buy a greenhouse, we're looking at decorating the hallways and living space which I think will be expensive. We need electrical, plastering and decorating because OH won't be able to have any time off work, the hallway is too high, and the space is transitional so DIY would take ages and be a massive inconvenience. OH is officially a student again, so we'll get discounts there, as well as the blue light card plus the ones I get. We always use the supermarket ones, but don't often remember to take advantage of others. Hopefully we can at least save some money on paint!

I just renewed the car insurance and we did end up switching as the current insurer couldn't come close enough. Got it for £360 which is a massive drop, so very pleased. Also read the paperwork many, many times to make sure I hadn't entered something wrong. I'll continue to budget at £50 a month though; I'd always rather overbudget than under. Tax and MOT are due in January, but both budgeted for.