Queen Bee fighting for her Hive!

Queen_of_the_Hive

Morning diary, 

Its 2nd Aug and I feel I've hit a temporary low point. Can't seem to get a handle on finances and my weight is going up. Going out and doing nice stuff, nothing too extravagant just finding the balance between 'good' spend and 'bad' spend is not in kilter and some spends which have been put off for a long time have caught up with us. The most recent is litterally my wardrobe has collapsed. Its one of those temporary canvas types and yeah its just gone on me so need to replace with something more sturdy. Having to put a halt to driving lessons due to time and money pressures. Have a mini break coming up and this is costing more than i'd have hoped and we are just keeping our heads above water on the bills front. So far though, everything is being paid for without incurring interest. Weight situation, need to be more regulated on what I consume and stop going around in circles. 

Think a review of budget is needed - although don't think this is the problem, we just need more money coming in Need to think over the options. 

Queen_of_the_Hive

On the positive front - our new holiday let venture is slowly starting to take off. We have 6 bookings so far and the first one starts the end of this week! Feeling excited and apprehensive at the same time. Hopefully this will start to pay for itself going forward. 

Humdinger1

Exciting @Queen_of_the_Hive! Good luck with the holiday lets.  I think everyone who's not burying head in sand is in shock over rising cost of living and thinking about how to fund the winter.   Speaking of which, I had better get to my desk.  Onwards and upwards love Humdinger xx 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Humdinger1 said:

Exciting @Queen_of_the_Hive! Good luck with the holiday let's.  I think everyone who's not burying head in sand is in shock over rising cost of living and thinking about how to fund the winter.   Speaking of which, I had better get to my desk.  Onwards and upwards love Humdinger xx 

Thanks Humdinger1! I'm favouring the head in the sand method atm, at least till schools are back

Holiday let is an interesting project but equally brings its own headaches. Thanks for replying

Queen_of_the_Hive

ooops!! Just wrote a diary thats just been deleted

This week is holiday week for us, we have a few days booked in Europe via Eurostar. Sadly had a mini crisis last week that meant our return train was cancelled. 24hrs later and a bit of help from social media and it was resolved with an upgrade & new train details! At one point I thought this might mean we have to cancel the holiday as we couldn't get the return leg sorted without spending big bucks (that we didn't have!). Anyway all ok now.

We had another disaster of sorts too. My wardrobe has been on its last legs for a while and it finally gave way. Hence clothes now in a large heap in bedroom. Bought a replacement wardrobe which then broke during assembly. Completely our fault, not manufactures fault so now am out of pocket for one broken wardrobe which at the moment there is no money to replace. So keeping an eye out for a secondhand replacement, oh and my clothes are still in the heap too . Last week was utterly rubbish. 

Finances are awful although had a bit of respite by some temporary upturn in the stock market so ended the 13th up overall. However my credit card is high and am like everyone else nervous about heading into autumn with all the financial burdens. Come September I need to re-asses budget, spends etc and see if there is anything we can do to soften the blow. 

In the holiday let front - we are now on second set of guests and no new bookings. We've had one or two hiccups which we are learning from and very much looking forward to getting booking number 7.  

Queen_of_the_Hive

I forgot to add - I've been quietly continuing with surveying and managing to add something to my S&S ISA each week. 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Morning diary, 

We've just come back from our holidays. This consisted of a midweek 4 night stay in Europe via Eurostar which was booked back in April. We stayed one night in London too as we had an early train. This was a novelty in itself as we are not that far away so haven't ever done this before. The kids loved it. The holiday was a lovely getaway. We spent mainly in Euros so it was nice a refreshing to come home and not feel like we had pummelled the credit card. I did do a small amount of spends on the cc but tbh this added upto less than £50 so pleased with that. We have a small amount of Euros left, not enough worthy of converting back so I think we will keep this for next time. The kids have a love of trains and have asked for us to experience a sleeper train so am now thinking what options of sleeper trains are there in Europe. Am a traveller at heart so really fancy going all out (experience wise but budget conscious) and giving the kids a memorable trip. So this is a fun bit of research to do

Our holiday did not go without any hitches though, our first Eurostar was cancelled in advanced of the trip because of the UK train strikes. Nearly thought our trip would have to be cancelled as I couldn't get the tickets changed. However through the power of social media these got sorted. However yesterday we had a broken down train on our ill fated return leg and we missed our replacement train. So we had to get sorted with a third. Luckily we got back on the third attempt! We did have an upgrade to find they were not serving any food which was very disappointing. We still had a fab holiday and all that. 

This morning I awoke early as I keep doing.. grrr, piff.... but got up and checked my bank acc and credit card. Credit card is on fire (it was pre holiday) and bank account is not in over draft (just!). As I have posted before I have deliberately had my head in the sand over the summer to just enjoy it as life is pretty depressing given this cost of living crisis. I have now however started taking said head out of the sand and starting to think about what we need to do to keep our heads above water. A big area which needs action is spending on my credit card. It has to be culled. I do have a record of each transaction so will look and see where we can cut it. For our energy everyone does it differently. We don't have the DD but instead pay for what we use. I normally pay quarterly but am going to take the approach to pay monthly. I have put a little bit of money aside but is small fry compared to the scary figures coming out. We also have a prepayment meter for gas. Not our choice but what the landlord installed. We are not big users of the gas but will top up in advance of the new price cap in Oct. I grew up in a very cold house so prepared to go hardcore to balance the books. The holiday let business does worry me as we haven't yet being going long enough to be self sustaining. 

I need to make this week a cheap week, no major plans with the kids and work is going to be full on. We have a visit by the landlord later in the week which is a bit of a concern as you can never tell someones thoughts. Hopefully its just a regular inspection. I've already asked my partner to find out if there is any 'bad news' coming our way. I said I would rather know now than wait until he came. 

Queen_of_the_Hive

So after writing my diary update earlier this morning I have now had a chance to think about what I need to do this week. 

1. An ongoing task at the moment is getting the accounts upto date for holiday let. I have the info just need to get this all in one place. Will focus an hour on this today. 
2. Flat needs cleaning - bit annoyed as OH is a lazy bum and ultimately ends up on my shoulders. Am so tired of being the nag! Gaming is much more important in his world
3. Need to do a bit of food shop - only need for next few days as we are heading off to holiday let place for bank holiday. 
4. Work is going to be yuk this week so going to spend an hour or so today going through emails and stuff so tomorrow is not so full on. 
5. Potentially getting rid of one of the kids old bikes. Need to organise for friend to come and take a look today. 
6. Need a plan for wardrobe. Not happy that clothes are now sitting in a massive pile on the floor. Buying a wardrobe is not on the cards atm. Ah the joys of being back to reality with a bump. 
7. Check out what things are needed for one of the kids outward bounds school trip. Its coming up soon! 

Something we started days before the holiday was collecting water from showering. I've actually been shocked at how much we have collected. Water butt is filling up nicely. This is a bit of an easy game changer. Bucket cost £1. Bought 2 others which I have poised to collect rainwater when it does eventually rain. 

Have a good sunday everyone. 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Bit of a quick update - so on the task list I've had a good day on the cleaning front. Really gone a bit OTT but with the landlord visit later this week I want us looking good. So the kitchen, living room and hallway have had a good clean. Tackled some of the jobs which never get done too so that is good. 

Didn't spend any money today which is a thumbs up! 

Not much progress on accounts but the kids bike did go to its new home which I am pleased about. 

Tomorrow is back to work but will carry one with my task list and see where we get to. 

Queen_of_the_Hive

So today was back to work after a week and a bit off so feeling quite tired this evening. 

After work went food shopping, original plan was to get minimum groceries but the kids were being well behaved in the shop so managed to do a reasonable shop. It funny, I had the most eclectic foods in the cupboard but not much in the line of salad or veg to pad it out with so bought some frozen veg which am trying and some staples. Bought a big bag of jacket sized spuds so going to try the troops out with jacket potatoes which should be a cheapish meal and would like to try cottage pie. Last time I made anything like that the kids flatly refused to eat it but they are slowly getting less fussy. Total spend was just shy of £40 at Ald*

This morning I was annoyingly awake early (again!) and thought id use the time to make a bit of progress on the accounts which are in need of some attention. So pleased to say that I am a bit more ahead than I was this time yesterday . 

The kids go back to their dad tomorrow for a few days which they are looking forward to and actually should give me a little breathing space for busy week at work. 

The flat is looking in a good shape for the landlord visit and thinking about the wardrobe situation am wondering if we can get some replacement parts for the broken bits. Need to review where it was damaged and see if there is something we can do to rescue it. Would rather not create more waste than necessary.