Keeping on the Straight and Narrow...

DancingInTheRain

Signature updated with current savings and mortgage balances as DH and I had a chat about finances last night and agree we need targets in place to focus ourselves in the same way we did to pay down debt.
Although life is full of ups and downs at the moment and incredibly stressful at times we do appreciate that we are incredibly lucky to have our health and relatively stable jobs during these surreal times so we really owe it to ourselves and our children to try to safeguard our future.
It's 3 months since we became debt free so time to knuckle down a bit and apply the same discipline to savings.
Targets are to increase EF to £5,000, build Premium Bonds to £5,000 (medium term savings for when we need to replace the car) & contribute to a S&S ISA which in the long term we hope to use to be either mortgage neutral or pay off totally.
We also need to top up savings pots for annual bills as they still look a bit decimated and will continue to round down the mortgage so it ends in a zero each month.

savingholmes

Sounding really organised as usual. Having goals definitely helps with discipline and results

DancingInTheRain

Thanks @savingholmes
Did the grocery shop last night and we didn't need to much to see us through to next week so had an underspend of £35, sent £25 to PB's & £10 to EF.

Had a delicious fakeaway with DH last night - made Lamb Balti, enjoyed with a bottle of wine & also watched the new Borat film which was a little 😱 in places but a good watch, definitely my sort of humour ☺️ and a very scathing look at the world we live in at the moment.

The weather is atrocious here today & I think the last half term has caught up with DS1 as he looks exhausted so looks like we'll be having a quiet, lazy day at home.

I've already cleaned the kitchen and on to my 2nd load of washing so having a skive on here with a nice cuppa ☕

My payday on Monday and DH's on Friday so will start looking at next month's budget over the weekend. Will definitely continue to log spends in my notebook for the foreseeable, it's certainly helped to control the impulse spends.

Hope everyone else is well, wishing you all a lovely weekend x

DancingInTheRain

Happy Sunday!

Well DS2 has no respect for the clocks changing and has been up since 5am, going to be a long day...

Mum popped in for a visit yesterday and gave the boys some money for half term, as the weather is still so bad (we've had non-stop rain, hail and even thunder & lightning all night) we've used some of the money to book an early morning soft play session.
It will be good for the boys to let off a bit of steam, DH and I will get a cuppa using our personal spends so no cost to the budget.

Yesterday was quite low key, lovely to see Mum, we managed to get our for a walk in between downpours & otherwise pottered about while the little ones played, also watched Toy Story (again) so they were happy enough.

Take care x

DancingInTheRain

Still raining here, no let up at the moment.
£20 refund hit our account for some returned kids clothes paid from last month's budget so have sent this across to the EF.

Hospital appointment this morning for more tests relating to my blood pressure (been there 4 times this last month 😱).

Will be WFH after the appointment, mega busy again this week so I'll be working in our office upstairs while DH distracts the boys downstairs with some pumpkin carving & Halloween crafts 🎃🧙

DancingInTheRain

Both boys up early, excited about our little trip today ☺️
Hopefully they'll both sleep in the car otherwise we'll have 2 little grumps on our hands!

So thankful to have a couple of days of work and for the pending change of scenery, everything has been full on at work the last few weeks so it's nice to have a break.

I back claimed the WFH tax relief last month but my employer has decided to pay us it themselves from the start of October 😱 so need to contact HMRC about this. I also have a pay rise confirmed as agreed when I started there last year (agreed a starting rate with a review after 12 months as long as I hit targets set). Wasn't expecting it with everything going on but to be fair to my employer they've stuck to the agreement. This will put me over the threshold for the marriage tax allowance next tax year so again will need to notify HMRC - I forsee some potential hiccups with my tax code coming up! 

Been a low spend week, sent £10 to the EF this morning. Any spends today and tomorrow will come from the holiday pot, shouldn't be much as we've already paid for the hotel and a couple of activities for us, looking forward to some time together 💞

Hope everyone else is well x

beanielou

Enjoy your break. 😀

FootyFanDan

I hope you all enjoy the well deserved break  

DancingInTheRain

Back after a lovely 2 days away The boys were beyond excited to stay in a hotel and then almost burst with joy on day 1 when we took them to soft play before heading to our hotel room for a spooky movie night (Hotel Transylvania) complete with popcorn and chocolate pumpkins
DS1 was very impressed at just staying in a hotel (Don't tell him it was a bargain deal on a Pr£mi£r !nn), he soon took control with using the passcard, pointing out when and where we needed to sanitise our hands and operating the lift for us!

Yesterday we went to Lightwater Valley, it was great to be outside - the weather was kind to us and the boys were overjoyed to go on as many rides as they liked! They'd put out some spooky displays which added to the atmosphere and we all really enjoyed ourselves, managed to distance from others too so felt safe. Took drinks and snack with us meaning costs were minimal, also managed to avoid the gift shop. Popped to A!di on the way back so we could have a buffet tea while watching Halloween themed episodes of the kids favourite programmes courtesy of Utube.

Back to reality today - washing machine has been on, unpacked all our bags and been for a top up shop so that we have something in for lunch tomorrow and work through the week (whether WFH or office...).

Must admit I feel sick at the thought of another lockdown and am deliberately avoiding the PM conference happening at the moment. As much as I try to remain positive, I've been on an emotional rollercoaster the last few weeks and am dreading having to face further restrictions - time to put my big girl pants on I think!

In money news, I've just manually transferred £125 to the S&S ISA, £60 to the EF, £50 to PB's as well as topping up the annual pots a bit more than usual to try to build them up, signature updated and across all 3 savings accounts we have now got a total of £4,600 - hoping to get close to £5,000 by December.
 
DH got an additional £95 in his pay this month due to being on call last month, at his request I've sent this to the mortgage as an overpayment as in his words 'it was money for nothing'. Just waiting on the monthly interest being added before making a further tiny o/p to round the account down to zero.

Let's see what November brings, deep breaths...

Stay safe everyone x

beanielou

Glad that you enjoyed your break.