Our MFW Adventure!

savingholmes

Great progress. Love manifesting May

Needhelpsaving

Good Morning!
Lots going on here, my head is spinning (plus very stressed people in our house yesterday). All sorted now, jus lots of things going on at once, it's kind of like plate spinning, but will be grand once it's all sorted. 

Manifesting May has got off to a decent start, Some wins, some 'doh' moments. I seem to have mainly been getting freebies as opposed to cash for sinking funds, but it's all been counted and practicing gratitude for the freebies. Looking for more money making opportunities to try. 

So far, I have calculated that I have manifested about £93 of freebies/offers/gifts/cash/vouchers etc so far; 
1. £40+ worth of clothes for girls gifted by a family member
2. 0.72 account round down
3. £1.60 account round down
4. £8.21 saved by buying yellow sticker foods as part of shopping (not enough wiggle room to move this from food budget this month).
5. £0.02 account round down
6. £2.90 cashback from shopmium for free kids cereal (wouldn't buy it normally as it was £2.90 for 6 portions, but it was free, so why not?)
7. £10.45 cashed out from Prolific
8. Audible offered me another 30 day free trail which I will be cancelling. Got 1 free book (counted as £7.99 as this is what they charge for membership).
9. Managed to return two previous audible purchases that I didn't like, but wasn't previously able to return as out of membership - counting as £15.98 as this is what 2x monthly membership is. 
10. £5 rewards voucher received from M&S credit card (used for points and S.87 cover, don't tend to carry a balance). 

Opportunities waiting for answers on/to pursue
I have 5 things listed on ebay and shpock, 7 more to list.
I have applied for some focus groups and other projects that could bring in some money, nothing heard yet, but keeping fingers crossed. 

savingholmes

Great list. I got a whole 21p interest. It all helps.

Needhelpsaving

*Lurking back in after being MIA* 

Apologies about the lack of updates, life has been busy. We're making progress on the house, but the money we had set aside for renovations is running out. We have made good progress, perhaps not as much s we would have liked, but that's life. The house is fine in terms of being able to live in it. The outstanding jobs to be done before winter are; Replace kitchen worktops, new windows and doors and carpets in the bedrooms and stairs. 

I hope everyone is well x

savingholmes

Waves. As long as you are okay that is the main thing...

Needhelpsaving

Thanks for dropping in SH, always great to hear from you x 

I have been finding it hard to keep up to date with this diary, as with the kids and being the main DIYer (DH works long hours) I am literally putting the kids to bed and then painting things/putting furniture together/looking for the next lot of things we need to move the house forward in the right direction. 

I have been a little better with money this month as I am physically writing down each spend. On reflection, it seems that we're much stricter with when we use cash, so I think next month I will withdraw cash for all discretional spends. 

We have bought some chests of drawers second hand for each of the kids rooms (we had fitted wardrobes in our last house, so no storage at all to move). We're all currently sharing 1 big wardrobe and then I am upcycling the second hand pieces to fit in with the kids decor as I work through their rooms. The first one I think I have overpaid for in hindsight - £85 vs 1 at £20 and 1 at £30 (1st was from a second hand store and the other 2 from FB Marketplace). I've also picked up a set of 3 oak round nesting tables that needed to be refinished, £5 and I already had some varnish and sandpaper to do the job, the chap was moving and just wanted them gone as they were planning to buy most things new. 

Money making has been pretty slow too, I am trying to do surveys etc, but don't have the consistency at the moment for them to be yielding anything noteworthy. On that note, there have been no mortgage OP's again this month, however, we have been discussing ploughing all spare money next year into them to pay down as much as we can once the priority jobs in the house are done.

In lieu of seeing the mortgage go down, I have started to consistently track our net worth numbers to stay motivated and confirm that we are moving the the right direction over the longer term. 

Right, off to catch up on some diaries x

savingholmes

Your mortgage is still headed in the right direction. At least you know for next time about the FB option. Upcycling furniture can be fun... What colours are you picking?