Keeping on the Straight and Narrow...

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Sorry to hear you were poorly on Christmas Day DITR, glad it didn't spoil most of uour plans though

DancingInTheRain

After a lazy couple of days involving many, many naps I feel back on good form today. DH and the boys have been happy staying home too so we've all chilled. Hoping to get out tomorrow though, cabin fever starting to set in!

Payday tomorrow so here's the end of the month/year figures:

End of month/year 'What We Owe The World' figures

Current scores on the doors are:

- Mortgage 31.12.21 was £46,415 now £42,800
- Credit Card 31.12.21 was £8,175 now £5,250
- DH Student Loan 31.12.21 was £5,285 now £4,190

WWOTW total 31.12.21 £59,875 now £52,240 (Total Reduction £7,635)

Total 'Free Money' 2022 = £3267.16 (December total £80.66)

We've managed to squirrel away a decent amount of my wages in the last couple of months and are ending the year with savings of £2,500.

Overall we're really pleased with what we've managed to achieve in 2022 but as always, there's always room for improvement. We've definitely been frittering money lately so need to get that under control and makes sure we make the most of having 2 incomes again. As I've been in my job for 3 months I have now been auto enrolled into the company's pension scheme so that's a tick for longer term finances.

2023 procrastination plans:

We know we need to get some work done on the house in 2023 that we've been avoiding so that is feeding into us  procrastinating at setting any other goals at the moment. Rightly or wrongly, we don't feel any urgency to pay down the CC/student loan/mortgage at the moment therefore it seems to make sense to at least focus on increasing our savings (current savings interest 2.72%) while the CC is 0% (until October 23) and the mortgage relatively low at 2.52% (until Aug 27) so for now, that will be our focus for the early part of the new year.

savingholmes

Sorry you were ill at Xmas. Sounds like DH rose to the challenge. 

On the debt - I'd love to owe so little - so in a way I can understand the lack of urgency. It's always a balance on how much to spend on current vs future self.

DancingInTheRain

Thanks Savings, we overpaid the mortgage quite heavily pre children and then got CC debt free a couple of years ago but right now with the total owed being relatively low, the financial balance has shifted towards getting the house finished (it's definitely been a doer-upper, labour of love house) and enjoying family life while the boys are young enough to want to spend lots of time with mummy and daddy 🤣

We will continue rounding down balances so tiny overpayments will be made on every debt each month, got to keep those 0's at the end of everything ✅

Moved my wages back to our current account today as this would be my normal payday, made all manual payments for the children's swimming, scouts and breakfast clubs and paid the road tax on DH's car. That's as much as I can do until the direct debits start going out on Tuesday. Also cancelled DS1's football as he's not interested in it now it's getting a bit more serious and competitive plus DH and I are struggling to find time to take him regularly so have spoken to his coach and cancelled the standing order for this.

All 4 of us were lucky enough to receive some money for Xmas so we have been to the bank to pay that in today and then distributed to mine and DH's solo accounts and the boys JISA's. The boys love to see how much they have for when they're grown up! I've told them it's to help pay for driving lessons which they're desperate for even at this young age 🤣 so it's a good motivator for them to save.

They also got a gift voucher each for a toy shop so they've been to choose a new toy each too which I didn't mind as we didn't go overboard on gifts this year. DS2 added some money from his hyperjar to buy his toy which he was pleased with.

DH and I also received some Amazon vouchers, I've used mine to buy a fitness tracker that was reduced from £60 to £30. My last one broke and then I pretty much gave up on fitness but I need to be moving more and I get quite competitive with myself when I'm in the zone, I like to beat either the previous day's or week's step count so hopefully I'll get back into walking, even if it's just laps around the house or garden. 

We're going to have a buffet style supper this evening and I'm finally going to have the glass of wine I was intending to have on Christmas Eve, a good way to end a low key day.

savingholmes

Enjoy your fitness tracker. I need to find and recharge mine for fresh motivation 

DancingInTheRain

8000 steps done yesterday so that's a decent start, helped by the fact the weather wasn't too bad so we got out for a walk to Mum's house which is a mile away. I have a feeling they'll be significantly less today...

Most of the Christmas decorations are down, we have 2 trees. 1 has been left up as we have family visiting today, the other is past it's best so decorations have been packed away and the tree will be taken to the tip along with the excess cardboard as our bins are full to the brim.

DH's pay has been allocated to the correct accounts and also received CB early today due to Monday being a bank holiday so finances are fully set up for January.

Today's plans then - Morning: tip run, visit nephew who has a new house and has invited us round to have a look. Afternoon - DH's brother, SIL and children are visiting so prepare a few picky bits to feed us all.

No plans for tomorrow as yet, probably have a low key evening with the children and go to bed at the usual time!

savingholmes

Have fun. Well done on the steps.

DancingInTheRain

Thanks SH

We had a lovely afternoon, the children always love an afternoon together and we get on really well with DH's Brother and SIL so did us all good having a catch up. Got just over 5000 steps in yesterday.

Sadly DH has succumbed to the lurgy doing the rounds so he went to bed the same time as the boys last night and I slept downstairs as I don't want it again! I've taken some vitamin C and zinc as a precaution. I've been a kind wife and let DH rest in bed today while the boys and I have had a PJ day. I've got the last of the Christmas decorations packed down ready to go on the loft, will need DH's help with this when he feels better so they're in the spare room/office for now.

Also got on top of a few chores while the boys have played or watched TV so we'll start the new year with the house looking relatively clean and tidy, start as I mean to go on.

I've got the last of the buffet food set out so that we can all graze, will let the boys stay up a little later but can imagine us all being in bed well before midnight.

Happy New Year to everyone xx

sashybo

Well done on getting the Christmas decorations down, I'm dreading doing it! Sorry to hear about DH, you were a very kind wife to let him stay in bed!

Hope you have a wonderful New Year in 2023. 🎊 

DancingInTheRain

Happy New Year!

Thanks Sashy. I wasn't being entirely kind to DH, I don't want the rest of us catching his germs and rather he was upstairs out of the way instead of lying on the sofa 
The rest combined with a hot bath seems to have helped him bit and we ended up having a lovely evening. I brought the boys mattresses and duvets downstairs and set them up in our smaller living room for a sleepover, the boys were ridiculously excited and they both ended up falling asleep just after 10.
DH kindly agreed to sleep on the sofa to keep an eye on them so once we saw in the New Year I went up to bed and didn't wake up until 745 which is a massive lie in for me! I've almost forgotten what it feels like to have a good night's sleep 
Typically, DS2 had woken up at 630 and DS1 woke up at 8. We've enjoyed a nice cooked breakfast and I've got a small joint of beef cooking in readiness for a late lunch.
No other real plans today, may visit one or both of our Mums once we've had lunch. The weather is awful here today so it's tempting to have a lazy one.