Working the numbers 2019 style

doingitanyway

Great buy with the RL shirt

mark55man

Not my week for NSD, planning a NSD today (friends coming round and shopping already in the fridge), but I ran out of screenwash en route (its been mucky out there) so that was £5.25 to keep me going for a bit

My CC Minimum payment was more than I was expecting (previously I had put a standing order in over that amount, but now I am saving into regular savers to build the balance and get some interest before bulk repaying. However now I still need to pay the minimum. Together with an extra over payment on the standing order at the start of the month that means I am a bit short now on my current account. So I have a couple of spends - final payment of our holiday and a couple of nights in a hotel for my niece's wedding both about £200 so I may have to use up the overpayments which is a shame. I do tend to overcomplicate things and this sort of thing is the result - but no real damage done - just messy

Better_place

Hey Mark, just popping by to say hello and wish you well. I'll be following your journey

mark55man

Thank you. I think we all need all the support we can get these days

mark55man

Minor achievement yesterday on my Fitbit. Managed to meet 250 steps each hour from 8-6. You can set up for any time period. However it was a lot of getting up and down and didn't feel very relaxing. I ended up going for a longer walk just at the cusp of the hour so that was 10 minutes every other hour

For every metric there is a shortcut!!!

mark55man

quiet day today - mainly because I had to do a little work while my OH saw her sister.

first failure on the food waste front, and how to throw away some leftovers that never made it into main meals, which is annoying but still doing well on unopened food.

went out yesterday for a lovely coffee and cake with OH £10, and bought a teapot for £15 (reduced from a £45) for my niece's wedding. I am going to put ome money in it but haven't quite worked out how much as they are not flush - even less flush than me!

Lidl shop came to £72 - and included rhubarb gin (my OH favorite) as well as a lot of fresh fruit and some breakfast cereals and tinned goods and enough vegetables for a few days alongside some cleaning stuff - not very exciting

doingitanyway

Nice idea to put some cash in the teapot. It is good to remember that yes, we are all sorting out our money issues but many others have less.

I like Lidl's gins too. Many are award winning

mark55man

Thank you DIA - I agree I only have to look at some of the diaries on here to see that I'm very fortunate. I am not sure if its MSE or not, but have decided to put a cheque in for my niece as that way it will clear after payday :-) - I haven't written a cheque in ages, although I hardly use cash at all either

Up to London tonight have a meeting all day tomorrow and today was finishing off what I was doing on Sunday - but I managed to finish reasonably early today so I will be able to check in not too late and take a stroll around. Really hoping its not too cold - although I am travelling light I do have my bobble hat and gloves so I can cope with a little cold

not very spendy today as I bought in a deconstructed chicken salad sandwich - in that I bunged some bread and some salad and some chicken (from yesterday's roast) into a old loaf of bread bag (no single use plastics). then made up the sandwich at my desk rustically

Enjoy - will try and report back on the 3rd week of 2019 tomorrow, but may be first thing Wednesday as tomorrow will be quite late by the time I get home

mark55man

Report Back for 150119-->210119.

Money
Main CC – Was 90.4% Now 94.33% (29 payments) – added in DD car to his one, not sure that tracking separately adds anything, so %age has gone up as I haven’t made any payments on that
Car loan – 95.7% (23 payments) – same as last week
£2019 in 2019 challenge is maintaining with £26 in this week but I have some items on ebay I have hopes for
No CC spends – 6/7 - I had a credit balance on one of my cards so I spent on that. I did actually go into negative balance so I need to correct that next month, but as said I may have stretched my overpayments
NSD – 1/7 (its been a few little things so generally happy with reducing spending)
Separate Work and Home spending – going well (will stop reporting on this as I can't see why this would change)
Emergency fund – haven’t got round to setting this up its been a bit busy (or rather I’ve been a bit lazy)

Non Money (Weight/Health/Green)

Weight is flat in this week so that’s a total loss of 0kg out of a target 17. Not great!
My steps average was 9160 for the week – didn’t quite make 10,000 despite a monster walk in London on Monday – but I had a walk free weekend and just couldn’t make itup
Didn’t make 3/7 Vegetarian - only 1/7 and 0 vegan – getting worse, but have had a few meals out at work or at home and I have not fancied the veggie options
6 for 7 on no alcohol purchases (Lidl gin – because we’re worth it)
Zero food waste – had to throw out some leftovers but generally good


Highlights – would have to be a monster walk round London – from Paddington to Chinatown and back along the river for a while. Financially nothing stands out – but we are in that boring mid month.
Lowlights – Noticing a bit of lethargy in getting round to doing some things – need to nip that in the bud – eg emergency account, better analysis of spends. Also weight being a bit stuck is poor, but not quite ready to go for it

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Just a thought with the teapot, might be worth putting a little tag saying 'open me' or she might not find the cheque! My friend did that - she finally used a gifted teapot after 2 years and found a cheque for £100 in it, but it was out of date and she didn't have the nerve to ask for a new one :rotfl: