Keeping on the Straight and Narrow...

DancingInTheRain

Mum still with us, still recovering.
MIL tired but over the infection.
I have a stinking head cold.
We're going to end the month £400 over budget which we'll have to take from savings 😳
DH wanted us to spend £40 today extending our Office 365 subscription, it was a cracking deal to be fair but not worth us overextending ourselves further.  Our current subscription doesn't expire until May so hopefully another deal will be available before then when our finances are back on track.

My payday Friday, DH payday next Wednesday. It's time to get back on track. I've gone old school and got a notebook to track spends for the month as this will help to focus. We have no plans this next month so it should be possible to claw back a bit of the damage from this month as long as we are more mindful & have no further appliances dying on us, fingers crossed 🤞🤞
Hope everyone else is well xx

savingholmes

Glad your mum and mil are holding there own. Well done on having savings to draw on.

DancingInTheRain

Hi it's been a while...

As discussed in my last post I've been tracking all spends for the last 2 weeks and it's definitely helped to maintain focus. Mum has also gone back home now so it's good to see her back to normal.

In addition to the £400 over budget last month, we've had to spend more money this month - The locking mechanism in one of our external doors broke, we couldn't lock the door so had to call out a locksmith who thankfully arrived within a couple of hours and managed to replace the lock. Then our toaster blew up and tripped the ground floor electrics, the electrics were fine but had to replace the toaster. Finally our washing machine developed a leak so we had to call an engineer out for that too 
I hope this is our 3 things out of the way for October! 

As our saving pots were decimated and interest rates are rubbish we decided to close DH's regular saver and paid back last months deficit and this months extra repairs then moved the remaining balance into premium bonds. We've also reduced the monthly S&S ISA direct debit from £250 to £125 to enable us to build up the saving pots at a faster rate. 

With tracking spends I'm hoping we can save a little more this month but I'm a bit nervous/paranoid that something else may break so it's staying in our current account for now (I know I'm a wimp  ) 

In more positive news, have rounded down the mortgage account so that now stands at a very neat and tidy £54,000 and despite dipping in to savings, we are still debt free. We're aiming to have more of a buffer in the savings pots than we budgeted during the debt busting days as, in addition to things breaking in general, we're also wanting to do a few more jobs around the house over the next year or so.

On a personal note, I've also managed to get a bit more of my coursework completed so that's 2 more assignments off the list.

DH & I have also culled the boys toys over the last couple of weeks and donated them to the toddler group ran by their school so that's freed up a bit of space for Santa coming in a couple of months

Hope everyone is well x 

beanielou

Good news on staying debt free. 

sashybo

You're doing so well to stay debt free despite all the breaking things! Fingers crossed nothing else happens needs replaced for a while now.

Also well done on the toy cull and finding somewhere to take them, my living room has been overtaken by toys and it's going to be a nightmare trying to fit my Christmas tree in, never mind the extra toys that will arrive. 😱 

FootyFanDan

Hey DITR, 

Congratulations on managing to stay on top of things despite everything breaking! I really need to find the energy to do a toy clear-out too. Hope everything is well with you.

savingholmes

Well done on decluttering

DancingInTheRain

Thanks all, happy to report nothing else has broken since my last post! Also pleased to say that after a month of wrangling with BeeTee our Broadband finally appears to be fully repaired and operational which takes a bit of stress of our shoulders as it's made our WFH days almost impossible at times.

Continuing to log spends, definitely helping to feel more in control of the budget. We've also made a start on buying extra treats for Christmas - gluhwein, port, matchmakers and twiglets all hidden away 

Also picked up the boys some Xmas themed socks to go in the 'Xmas' box I bring out December 1st. The box has themed stories, DS1's outgrown PJ's/Jumpers and things like seasonal cups and plates. We started this almost by accident with keeping hold of DS1's things 'just in case' but is now a nice way to build up the excitement for the 2 of them.

Took the boys to buy their Halloween costumes today, we will have a 4 year old skeleton and a 2 year old spider on the 31st  DH stayed at home and did some prep work in out utility room in readiness for us repainting in here soon. 

DH's BIL and SIL came round last night and we enjoyed an alcoholic beverage or 2, was great to catch up but we were all horrified to see how fast time went - it was 1.30 by the time they headed home! DS2 decided I'd had enough fun and woke up at 5.45  so it's safe to say I've been fairly tired today, will be heading to bed soon.

Cashed out £10 $mazon voucher from SnapMyEats today, going to use that to buy a giftcard for a Xmas gift so have sent £10 from the Xmas pot to the mortgage just so we could break in to the £53k's.

Overall, everything ticking over fairly nicely at the moment and still hopeful of being able to save a bit of money this month but remain in full on wimp mode about actually committing to it. 

Hope everyone else is well and having  lovely weekend x

DancingInTheRain

Good evening

Just checking in to say hello as I'm in danger of returning to just being a lurker on these diaries 😊

Saw a meme earlier saying 'This week has been a long year' and I think that sums my week up perfectly 😃

Work has been incredibly busy for both DH and I, we're both building up a lot of Flexi but not sure when we'll find the time to use it.

DS2 has been going through a sleep regression so I've not been getting much sleep (DH never hears him 🤬) so have switched his bed back to being a cot and it seems to have helped along with completely cutting out his naps.
Literally not a lot else happening, been making an effort to get out with the boys after school where possible and each weekend day to ensure we all spend some quality time together in the fresh air.

After blowing the budget last month we seem to be getting back on track, continuing to track spends although these have been fairly minimal due to being too busy/tired! Contributed a bit more to the savings pots and have a new hobby of sending an occasional £25 to premium bonds. This could be my new area to focus on building savings as it mirrors the feeling of regular small wins from the 'little and often' approach we used to help pay down debts, really get a buzz if I can squeeze £25 from the rough weekly budget I've been setting us.

Half term next week, DH has annual leave all week but I'm only off Thu/Fri, we're due to head to Yorkshire for a couple of days so fingers crossed no further restrictions before then as I think we could all do with a change of scenery.

Think that's it from me for now. Hope everyone else is well & keeping safe x

beanielou

Enjoy your break. 😊. X