Keeping on the Straight and Narrow...

DancingInTheRain

Good start on the extra/free earnings this month. We had some end of year interest applied to a savings account £33.72 - one of the few perks of last years building work taking so long was that the money to pay for it was left sitting in that account for a large chunk of the year! Small wins I also had another cash out from Pro!ific of £6.28 to take me to a very neat and tidy £40.00 earned, a great start to this pay period.

Meter readings submitted as a precaution today, tried on and off all day but managed to submit without issue half an hour ago. Hail and snow here today mean it's been freezing again so the heating has been on more than I'd like but needs must with the little ones, although we've all been wearing our fleecy or thermal socks/pj's/dressing gowns as much as possible to keep cosy.

Pay day money shuffle completed, mortgage payment and credit card payment both made. Looking forward to the 10% allowance starting on the mortgage again tomorrow so I can pay a few pence to round the account to zero (Must keep repeating the mantra "no extra overpayments, we need to build savings" over and over )

Sad news about Tom Parker, he had the same type of tumour as my sister in law so this being in the news has churned up a fair few emotions for us all, such a cruel illness but a reminder that each day is precious... 

savingholmes

Sad about the tumour. Cancer is a horrible disease. Hugs for your loss too. It's things like this that bring it back up for everyone.

Good news on your savings interest.

DancingInTheRain

Thank you SH x

Mortgage appointment scheduled for this morning has been rescheduled as the advisor is ill, our product doesn't end until the end of May so no rush I guess. 

Had a busy start to April, went out for drinks and a catch up with friends on Saturday before heading off on our holiday on Sunday.

We've just got back from our holiday, we've had an amazing but exhausting time. The boys behaved wonderfully (hurrah!) and the weather was largely on our side which made our lives easier. We were at a holiday park so lots to see and do each day. Just working my way through the laundry - 3rd load of the day in the machine. Thankfully it's dry and breezy here today so should get it dried.

While away we switched everything off in he house apart from the freezers to minimize on gas/electric consumption. The money we would usually spend on groceries were added to the holiday pot so we ate and drank well while away (and of course we took some supplies with us to keep costs low )

Prolif!c cashed out this morning £10.10 and got a £5 Te$co voucher from M!crosoft rewards taking free money for the month up to £55.10.

Lazy day planned today to recover, will probably have a small flutter on the horse racing later. Also need to check supplies to meal plan and make a shopping list for tomorrow as we seem to be low on quite a few things and the children will require a million snacks while on their2nd week off school next week

Hope everyone else is well, have a good weekend x

sashybo

Glad you had a nice holiday.

Can definitely relate on the million snacks. 🤣

FootyFanDan

Glad to read you had a nice time away on holiday 

savingholmes

Glad you had fun. Well done on the free money. Good luck with the mortgage when you get your appointment.

DancingInTheRain

Thanks all, still feel exhausted today - I must have used too much energy last week doing all the activities! . Following my post yesterday, snacks were purchased plus a few groceries from L!dl. Got a free tiger loaf from using the app and have triggered the £2 off coupon for the next time I'm in. Came home and baked some fairy cakes and cookies so we should be fine for the next few days as long as I keep DS2 away from the fridge as he's addicted to yogurt at the moment! I've got a click and collect order booked in the morning for A$da to get the remaining things we need.

Not much luck on the horses yesterday, bet £15 won £8.67 but this came out of personal spends. DH's brother & family came round for the afternoon so it was fun letting the kids pick a horse and cheering them on. Our youngest niece decided she wanted to sleepover so we had an extra child for the night

The 3 loads of washing I pegged out yesterday were all line dried, managed to get most of it put away this morning - there's about 6 tops that would benefit from a quick iron before they're put away. We've been for a bug walk this afternoon and visited my Mum while we were ut, was good to catch up.

We've also booked to go back to the holiday park next Easter. We managed to get a discounted rate and a price match guarantee in case we see it cheaper elsewhere at a later date, so we feel its good value for money and it's good to have something to look forward to amongst all the belt tightening we're doing. The balance won't need paid until the end of January so plenty of time to budget for this and we also now have a clear idea of how much spending money we need so can plan for this too.

Used the MSE car insurance tool and looks like our insurance will be under £200 when we renew later this month so that's quite reassuring.

That's enough for one day I think, time to start the bedtime routine for the boys...

savingholmes

Hope you manage some rest but if the kids are off - I imagine carving out quiet time is difficult.

Good news on the insurance. MSE recommend getting quotes 6 weeks before to get the best prices...

DancingInTheRain

A couple of decent night's sleep for me has got me back on track thank goodness!

I've diarised the best date to do the car insurance, it's not until the end of the month though.

Got the click and collect order yesterday then popped into our local Te$co express to use the £5 voucher to buy 5 of the £1 Easter eggs for the younger children we know, transferred the equivalent cash to savings to keep the free money pot on track.

It was sunny here again yesterday so the boys spent lots of time playing in the garden and I got another load of washing line dried 👏

It's a wet day today and DH has the car for work so it looks like we'll be home for the day. We may pop to the library if the rain eases as the boys want to change their books and it'll fill an hour or so in. There's plenty of things the children can be doing to keep them busy if we stay home and there's always plenty of chores to keep me occupied 😉

DancingInTheRain

Well we took a chance and went to the library yesterday, got there dry but the heavens opened on our way home and we were soaked through. Trying to avoid using the TD so have had all the wet things on an airer overnight and now in the yard, almost dry now!

The boys cousins came for a play yesterday afternoon which was noisy but filled time in on a wet and miserable day. I didn't get many chores done as a result but did slow cook a chicken for dinner as well as then stripping the carcass for other meals. I have also been handwashing dishes rather than using the dishwasher.

DH thinks I'm crazy doing without the TD and dishwasher, not having heating on unnecessarily and being strict on switching off unused appliances/lights etc. We had a a bit of a row about it last night Unfortunately he can't get past a bit of a sense of entitlement that we should just be able to do whatever we please whereas I'm more of the opinion that we're lucky to still be in a position to choose to be frugal rather than it being out of necessity.

He's permanently cold too which doesn't help whereas me and the boys are usually fine but then again we move around more often than him throughout the course of a day. I showed him the predicted costs we're facing after our fix ends and then again when the energy price cap increases in October and he just ended up in a massive sulk!  He's also going to be in the office more in the coming weeks which is an 80 mile round trip so I'm also a bit concerned about additional diesel costs. However, WFH has been a godsend for us and our budget the last 2 years so we just need to suck it up a bit now that this is changing.

With careful budgeting we can, and will, manage. Obviously me going back to work is also an option although that would likely involve us needing another car and all the expenses that entails along with childcare issues so we'll just have to do the best we can for now. It is what it is and all I can do is continue to make savings where I can and hope DH gets onboard or at least tries to have a bit more appreciation for the positives of our situation.

Sorry that was a bit of a rant!!! Will end on a positive...

Free Money pot for April has jumped from £55.10 to £147.36
£85 pre-paid Mastercard (bonus as thought this would only be £50!) from our new Broadband provider, £2 from the L!dl app and £5.26 cashed out from Pro!ific.
We used the pre-paid card to pay for Monday's click and collect order and then to pay for a few bits and pieces from Ama$on (including thermal socks and a hot water bottle and slippers for DH ) before transferring the equivalent cash to savings.

Happy Wednesday!