Keeping on the Straight and Narrow...

DancingInTheRain

Back still niggling but much better, at least I can put my own socks on now 🤣 once it's back to normal I need to be better at improving my posture, stretching and generally looking after myself better. If I have another flare up in the next few weeks I'll definitely look into a chiropractor or osteopath as I don't want to get any worse.

DH unfortunately has man flu (daily negative lateral flows) and DS2 came down with a stomach bug in the early hours of this morning so all fun here!

DS1 had a lovely birthday and enjoyed his party, he's been spoiled rotten & loved the gifts we got him - we went for a games table and he's spent lots of time playing with it. The party guests loved getting an Easter egg too! 😊

Grocery and general spends are on track for the month, we've definitely been having more lazy meals so need to prove our fresh food intake next week as a priority.

Council tax going up 2.2% from next month, adjusted the budget again to accommodate and trying not to think too much about how much diesel has risen recently 😩 I topped the tank up yesterday, just over £40 for half a tank 🙁

Free/extra earnings pot stands at £76.27 so ticking over nicely, good to end on a positive! X

sashybo

Glad to hear your back is better, I need to get back into doing yoga regularly as it really helps my sore back. 

Sorry to hear about more illness, my DD woke up at 3am and took over an hour to settle again. She kept holding her ear and said it was sore so I gave her calpol just in case, she already has a rotten cold.

All of the price rises are just awful, we are going to really have to start being strict with our spending.

Well done on the free/extra earnings, that’s a great amount. 

DancingInTheRain

Thanks @sashybo hope DD was okay in the end.

Here in DITR world, DH ended up being bedridden Sun-Tue, he's looking much more human today and is back to work (from home).

DS2 was sick all day Sunday too so was off school Mon/Tue, back in today thankfully although he looks quite tired as was demanding his breakfast at 4am this morning and was most upset when I frog marched him back to bed!

Inevitably DS1 got the lurgy too, he started being sick at breakfast time yesterday and throughout the day until around 8pm so he's off school until at least Friday. I've just persuaded him to eat something for the first time since Monday so hoping he's starting to feel better.

So the last few days for me have consisted of washing blankets and pyjamas, providing hugs and back rubs as required and disinfecting all contact surfaces as much as possible. I've been making soups packed with veg for those of us who have been able to eat and that's about it.

Kept up with surveys and the free/extra money pot is currently at £95.39 👏👏 

Managed to get to L!dl yesterday and spent £38 on supplies to keep us going but no spending apart from that this week so that's 1 positive from everyone being ill 😊.

savingholmes

Hope health visits your home soon. 

sashybo

Fingers crossed that’s the worst of the illness over for you all. The extra washing due to sickness is nearly as bad as the sick!

DD was ok thanks Dancing, she’s still got a really runny nose though and not quite right yet. 

DancingInTheRain

Where has the last week gone?

Well, just when we thought everyone was well DS1 was sick again on Thursday morning so he ended up being off school for the rest of the week. Thankfully he rallied in time for the lovely sunny but cold weather which started on Saturday. Since then we've spent lots of time outside walking, getting the boys familiar with their bikes again and hitting the local playgrounds. We ended up being a bit silly with spends by having a couple of meals out and a few ice creams between us but after the previous week it was SO nice to have a bit of fun as a family.

I also went to a friends house Friday evening and enjoyed a good catch up over a few glasses of wine, was very much needed!
DH went away Sunday evening for his work related training, we're missing him but have had lots of video calls and have kept the boys in their normal routine so we're doing okay.

In MSE news the free money pot has reached £100.77, have washed laundry using eco mode daily and line dried the washing each day since Saturday. The many, many electricity guzzling items in DH's office have been switched off since Sunday and the kids and I have barely used the car this week and are working our way through freezer and cupboard supplies to keep spends low in an attempt to rein in the budget after overspending a bit at the weekend.

savingholmes

Sounds like you are keeping the right balance. Some spends needed to preserve sanity in the face of that prolonged family illness I imagine!

DancingInTheRain

A week since my last post, largely due to the sunshine, we've spent loads of times outdoors and really making the most of the weather. The garden is looking as decent as we'll ever get it (neither of us are natural gardeners) patios and kids outdoor have been jet washed, grass cut and bushes trimmed back. The boys have loved playing out more and eating meals outside and I've loved line drying the washing. We've also enjoyed a few outings to local playgrounds and had the boys out on their bikes and scooters.

DH's week away was a success and he passed his course so he's happy about that, he took yesterday off so that we could have some child free time. Typically it rained for the 1st time in a fortnight but we managed to but a few items needed for our holiday next week.

The budget has just held out thanks to CB being paid yesterday which I had forgotten to account for! DH gets paid Thursday and as we have no spends planned for today or tomorrow I'm doing my end of month summary today.

Free money/additional earnings pot ended at £151.76 thanks largely to some cashback becoming payable and getting a few good surveys on Pro!ific. I had set a target of £150 for March so I'm happy enough with that figure.

End of month 'What We Owe The World' figures

Current scores on the doors are:

- Mortgage 31.12.21 was £46,415 now £44,590
- Credit Card 31.12.21 was £8,175 now £7,440
- DH Student Loan 31.12.21 was £5,285 now £5,020

WWOTW total 31.12.21 £59,875 now £57,050, signature updated. 

This means that at the end of the first quarter of the year we've reduced our WWOTW figure by £2,825. A great start to the year largely thanks to the extra earnings (£1,301.76 in total) and using savings to maximise the 10% overpayment allowance on the mortgage. Between this and paying for the holiday next week our savings have taken a hit so the plan for the second quarter of the year is to simply pay minimums to the mortgage, credit card and student loan and aim to build savings while adapting to the ever increasing cost of fuel, food and domestic bills.

DS1 has dropped one of his clubs so that's £2 per week coming back to the budget other than that I think all bills are as low as we can get them for now. 

Still haven't remortgaged, we'll be sticking with our current provider though as we don't want to go through affordability checks or pay an arrangement fee while on 1 income and a largish CC balance. Our provider has a couple of fee free products which, although not the best interest rates, are best value for money once you account for not paying a fee and the relatively low mortgage balance we have. We'll get this sorted in April as the existing product expires at the end of May.

DancingInTheRain

It's absolutely freezing here today, we've managed to avoid putting the heating on so far but can see it going on for the boys bath time as our bathroom is the coldest room in the house on a good day. 

Remortgage appointment booked for a week on Saturday, earliest available appointment with us being away next week. DH and I looked at available products with our provider and think we'll be going for a fee free 5 year fix (rate 2.27% at the moment) to provide us with a bit of certainty in these very uncertain times. 

Energy account monthly statement arrived today, we're still in credit by £67 but can see that being swallowed up in the coming weeks  The energy company are recommending increasing the DD from £115 to £190. As we're in credit my plan is to slowly increase the DD each month, we will pay £125 next month and then assess when we receive April's statement. It may be a futile plan but hopefully a combination of warmer weather, reducing usage and making incremental increases to the DD each month will lessen the impact on our budget.

Reviewing March spends I can see we spent £50 less on groceries than in February so I think we're starting to see the impact of having the additional freezer we bought a few weeks ago. All other budget lines were in line with February but diesel, family fun and birthdays were all higher as anticipated. Not unexpected given we had DS1's birthday party and the warmer weather meant we have been out and about more but something to be mindful of moving forward.

Time for lunch - home made veg soup with cheese toasties today, need something to warm us up!

savingholmes

Sounds like great progress overall. Good luck with managing energy bills. It's definitely taking up more attention than it ever did before. Well done on the extra money in too.