Getting it together...one £ at a time!

teafor2

Hi HG That's great news about the dresses but even more exciting are your new savings pots, especially the 'treats for me' one   Glad your husband has a date for returning to work and also the children to school. Are they going back full time from day one? DS returns on a Thursday but we've had an email telling us to only send him in for the afternoon which is just under 2 hours then he's not to go back until the Monday when normality resumes - fingers crossed. xx

Homegrown0

Yes, I'm particularly fond of the 'treats for me' pot. I received some money for my birthday a few months back and have kept it separate from all other money as I'd like to treat myself to some new clothes once I feel like I can get out to the shops properly again and actually have somewhere to go. The treats for me fund will add to that

My youngest is just starting school so he'll be in Wednesday and Thursday full days and the oldest will be in on Friday full day then from the following week it'll be full time for all. I suppose it's just to get the kids used to the new way of working in the school (one way system, hygiene etc) while the school has less kids in it. Both of mine are super excited to get to school and I, much as I'll miss them, am looking forward to it too  

Days until pay day: 23

Homegrown0

Hello all, hope Monday is treating you well? 

I'm feeling entirely unmotivated today and I've struggled through the last 6.5 hours of work. I'm going to do one more thing and knock off early. There's no point in me forcing myself, i'm so unproductive. I've updated tomorrow's to-do list and it can be a new, more productive day. 

Money-wise, everything is on an even keel for now. The bills account is balancing and the spending account is looking a little sparse, but we'll get there. Had a lovely couple of days with family over the weekend - a family BBQ and a day of hillwalking, which was nice. Some sea air and exercise helped to clear the lungs and the mind. 

Need to get started meal planning for next week. We're meal planned until Wednesday this week but I think we could eat out of the freezer until the weekend and this will get us back in a good spot in time for everyone being back at school/ work on Monday. A little more prep and organization required. 

Days until payday:  18
Days until true normality (everyone back at work and school): 7
Days until mini break: 46

Homegrown0

Today is going to be a better day - I got up early, had some peace to myself while having a coffee and now just about to start work for the day. I have a list and I will tackle it today. 

Car costs
We are trading in our car this week and have been working out the 'new' sums. I also have never paid for car insurance up front, nor have i saved for MOT, tax etc. in advance. I always just take it out of my spending account at the time (which can potentially set us back a bit that month). We have savings sitting there for the extension but I figured we can cover the cost of insurance up front and I've worked out how much per month we'll need to save to pay it up front next year, pay the road tax (first year included with car already) and pay for the first service in a year's time. Never done this before and feel fairly accomplished haha The savings will kick in from next month's budget. My new Monzo pots will house these savings.

I'm finally beginning to understand what it means to be ones' own future friend

Meal plan
Hoping to keep costs a little lower in next week's meal plan - we have bolognaise, chilli and 4 portions of cod in the freezer to be used up so that will mean two main meals that we don't need to worry about (we have plenty rice and spaghetti in the cupboard already) and just something to go with the cod. Only four evening meals required Plus, the kids will be back at school full time next week so they'll be eating less from home! That will make a big difference! 

Days until payday: 17

teafor2

Hi HG Saving and paying up front for annual bills is something we do but it took us a few years to get there. I think there are financial benefits to not having the 'privilege' of paying monthly as well with not having to pay interest but not 100% sure as I leave hubby to deal with that. 

My shopping bill isn't as much as usual this week but I can't fathom out why so I've probably forgotten something. Mind you no dog food and no washing liquid and I'm nearly £10 up straight away so that will be part of the reason. 

Hope you got everything done you wanted to. It's a scorcher today so that's a good enough reason not to overdo it in my book   xx

doingitanyway

I bet the hillwalking did you the power of good. I really want access to green open space for some walking wherever I move to next. I can't believe the little one is ready for school already. Exciting for you all.
I've been spending randomly but reading your diary I need to get a grip and go back to pots. 
I hope your motivation is on its way back. I've been reading your diary a while so I know this happens to you sometimes but it seems to bounce back.

Homegrown0

August 2020 ROUNDUP!

Balances and paid amounts
Loan: Paid off  (yes, i'm still displaying this on my totals 6 months later)
CC1: £3,689.87 / £4,736.59 (£1046.72 or 22% paid off) - £100 paid this month
CC2: £2,927.00 / £5,031.14 (£2,104.14 paid off - 42% paid) - £70 paid this month

Total: £6,616.87 / £25,619.44 (£19,002.43 paid off, 74% paid)

Highlights

• CC2 broke into the £2k bracket
  
• Super close to 3/4 being paid! One teeny tiny percentage away. 

Savings

• £12,005 in savings (saving hard for extension contingency and furnishings, hence why debt payments above are less than usual and we're saving like mad)
• Had a savings goal of £12,000 by the end of August so have met that 
  
• May be able to save another couple of hundred pounds by the end of the week - will need to wait and see how it goes until pay day
• Goal for savings total by end of September is £13,500 
• £100.00 in clothing/ gifts account 
• £450 in Christmas saver (payout mid-November)
• £502.01 in credit union (I usually use this for Christmas activities and presents in November/ December)
• £0.14 in holiday savings account... 

Days until pay day: 3

doingitanyway

Aww, 0.14 in holiday savings! This has to be rectified surely. You guys love your family holidays...

teafor2

Hi HG Well done on already hitting your savings target and the possibility of being able to add more before the end of the month is amazing. I feel the same as DIA about the holiday savings, that 14p is definitely looking very sorry for itself compared to all the other figures lol.  

I bought my first Christmas present yesterday but with only 17 weeks to go if I bought one gift every week I would only just about cover what we need 

Hope the boys have settled in well at school, especially the youngest and school clubs etc are up and running so you're back to some sort of normality. xx

Homegrown0

doingitanyway said:

Aww, 0.14 in holiday savings! This has to be rectified surely. You guys love your family holidays...

Oh, i know. It does look so sad there doesn't it? We will of course populate this account with funds at some point soon but the focus right now is extension costs. We're doing so well with savings that we may be able to use some of the savings to reduce the amount of credit that we need to take out for the build. We're still toying with how we'll do it but it all depends on how costs pan out (and how much contingency we need to use). 

By Christmas all of our savings will either be spent on the extension or we will have some left over (haha wishful thinking) and from then on until July, we will be able to focus on building up savings for other parts of the house renovations (many, many, many projects, which are all smaller than the extension thankfully which will make them easier to do one at a time). 

I might actually transfer £10 in there on pay day just so it looks a teeny bit less sad!