The Piano Diary

glass_half_full

Dear Diary and all,

Home alone this weekend as OH is away on a weekend with girl friends. She deserves a break as she works so hard.  This is being paid for out of the P*ffice account. We took delivery of the bedroom furniture a week ago. I had forgotten that the company we bought it from assemble it so two delivery men took 1 ½ hours over it so that saved me a load of time. I don’t mind assembling furniture, but would rather spend the time doing something else! I’ve got a few jobs to do to keep me occupied. Will do the grocery shopping this afternoon. So far we have spent £400 so should get in under £500 budget for the month. I’m catching up on the piano practice as well as I have been neglecting that a bit recently. The mortgage has gone out for the month so that’s one more marble transferred across in the jars. When we both get paid next week I will save some money into the P*ffice account and then mid-March the regular saver matures. This will allow me to make a large payment to the car loan leaving just a couple of payments in March and April to clear it. Then I will increase the mortgage OP to £500 per month so a total of £1500 per month.

The extra work in my side job looks like it will land in March or April. It’s interesting how much work goes into setting this up. It makes me feel empathy with freelancers or self-employed people. All the unpaid work that goes into securing paid work. And the client can change their mind/postpone at any point. I have considered this work as a way of earning money as a part of my plan if/when I semi-retire in a few years. If I did this the income would be less certain and more sporadic for sure.

Going to visit DS at his Uni tomorrow and we are going to the cinema in the afternoon, looking forward to seeing him.

Have a great day all!

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,

Well we have made it to the end of another month. Kept within budget broadly so I have put aside £1000 to pay to the car loan. This plus a regular saver which will mature in 10 days time will give another £1500 so this will be a payment of £2500 taking it from £6,245 down to £3,745. Pleased with this since we should be able to finish paying it off in April which will be around 16 months to pay off £16,000. Then at last I can increase OPs to the mortgage and pension.

Last weekend went to visit DS and took him to see 1917 which I thought was a good film. I have my piano lesson at 10am today. Yesterday I was away visiting a company and didn’t get home until 8.30pm so missed my regular time on Friday. Today we are returning a damaged bedside lamp to H*mebase, and then later do the weekly shop. This evening we are going out for a meal with friends, this will come out of the P*ffice account. Not much planned tomorrow apart for a run.

Have a great day all!

savingholmes

Glad you had a good time with DS and are still enjoying your piano lessons. Great progress on paying off the car. I know what you mean about the pain of securing extra work. I would like to set up as an artist - and am starting to realise why paintings can be so dear. You are paying for the cost of materials and time - but also towards the cost of them getting to that standard and all the works that weren't quite good enough that still chewed up money!

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,

We are off to Wales for a mini-break with some friends tonight. The area has been affected by the flooding but the hotel is ok apparently. It will be nice to see them and have a bit of time away. This morning I have been decluttering my wardrobe. I have a medium sized wardrobe in the spare room which has become too full and cluttered despite my best efforts. So I basically took everything out and started again. Quite therapeutic and I found lots of clothes and bits and pieces which either I was pleased to find or decided to throw away / recycle. Wardrobe is now organised and the pile in the garage of stuff for recycling / disposal has grown again. Money wise things are reasonably stable. Was surprised by a couple of bills, one was the six monthly water bill; why does this always surprise me. The other was a professional membership I can no longer claim for at work but which gives me value so I will continue to pay that one. Together they will make a small (£300) hole in my planned repayment for the car loan but nothing serious and still on track for April to finish it off.

Stay safe all!

savingholmes

Can you move to a monthly water bill? Are you metered? It might be cheaper.
Hope you enjoy your time out with friends

glass_half_full

Thanks for the tip Savingholmes . I had a look on line and it turned out to be simple to set up a monthly direct debit for £30 per month. Plus converted to paperless billing. That will be one less surprise every year.

The monthly saver matured and so I now have £2500 in the e-savings account. I was going to use this to pay down the car loan, but have decided to hold fire for now.

DS is coming home for the weekend, it will be nice to see him. The University I work at remains open for now.

Keep safe everyone.:)

savingholmes

Glad the tip helped. Enjoy seeing your DS. Mine is due home within a week all being well.

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Dear diary and all,

What a week. Last face to face day at the University was Tuesday, on Wednesday we started on-line teaching and all assessments will go online. OH is set up in the office upstairs, I am using the dining room table. The Uni has been really good to be fair recognising that this will need time for us to adjust. I’m popping into work shortly to fetch some bits I need to set up an additional 'home office'. I feel for the students who are bewildered as we all are. Some have gone home to their home country, there are some still at the Uni accommodation. DS is still at his Uni, we spoke last night, his spirits seem high. We’re concerned of course like everyone about the elderly who will now be isolated for a period. We are in touch with two in our road, and of course my in-laws. Piano lessons are off, my piano teacher is 70+. I spoke to her last night and she was ok. Running club has closed of course as well. I am still going out on my own whilst of course keeping my distance. Church services no longer happening, this is particularly hard for the elderly for whom Church is a great comfort in ordinary times.

Stay safe all.

savingholmes

Stay safe. Confusing time for all but social distancing should help make us safer.

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,

So we have made it to the end of the week.  OH and I have established a kind of routine. We are getting up a bit later since the daily commute has reduced from one hour to 3 mins. OH is working in the upstairs office, I am set up downstairs in the dining room. This week has been quite busy delivering seminars on line and other meetings. I do about half my teaching on line already so luckily I am confident with the technology etc. I feel for the students, my own son is in his final year. We are doing everything we can to help them complete their studies. OH is doing the Joe Wicks thing at 9am. We are breaking for lunch and finishing at 5pm.

We managed to avoid going shopping until Friday when we needed to go out to get a few things for OH parents who live around the corner and are in the vulnerable category. We went to Sburys, it was ok, quiet and everyone behaving sensibly. We are trying as much as possible to limit shopping to essentials.

DS is still at his Uni in his flat with a few friends. We are speaking to him most days. He is pretty level headed and so far is ok. Of course, we are worried about him, but now we have entered this lockdown phase it makes sense for him to stay where he is.

I received an email from my train company giving me permission to cancel my direct debit as I won’t be using the train for the foreseeable. This will save me £60 per month. Money matters seem trivial at the moment. Nonetheless, I am keeping on with the budget. I feel for everyone who has been impacted with their income. Although our incomes are ok at the moment, I cant but imagine the impact this may have on University finances in due course. Lets see.

Both OH and I have volunteered for the NHS volunteers. We have no children at home, so outside working hours we want to help in whatever way we can. Huge respect for the front-line workers in every field.

Hope you all get some time over the weekend to relax, recover from a crazy week.