Marginal Gains

Grogged

It seems like forever, rather than just a year of lockdowns...
Fingers crossed on the drains and fence not breaking the bank.
Beena bit too wet and windy to get out into the garden, but we'll need to do our patio soon as well...
Enjoy your day!

debtfreeoneday

In many ways the year has flown by but during it, it’s felt like it has dragged so much. 

Busy_Mee

I've just read my diary back over the last year to remind myself of how things happened . Such an unbelievable year and glad I have a diary account. Let's hope things will get better this year x

Cornish_mum

Month end totals abit late!

Mortgage balance £176,744, capital reduction £900

£1100 towards paying back the education fund. £1100 to go. Not made our savings goal this month because of fence and holiday booking.

AVC added £985. MrCM similar.

Spendiness: So in March we ended up paying £900 for new fencing and an AirbnB deposit for our summer holiday (in Norfolk). Alas nothing by the sea was left so we are staying inland this year. Then I went a bit mad with more garden stuff (seeds, compost etc) ~£100. Groceries were £365 for the month and MrCM and I had a take away dinner two weeks ago from a famous fusion chain restaurant (expensive and disappointing won’t be doing that again), this week we went back to our local Chinese restaurant, much cheaper (£15) and nicer. I also stocked up on kids presents which were on discount (£44 for 4 sets of Sylvanvians) and bought DD a new lunchbox £6.99.

Frugaling

I decided against buying hideously expensive Easter eggs (despite spending a very long time on the website considering them) and went for supermarket ones. 

Mended some leggings of DDs and PJ trousers. 

World book day costumes were homemade by MrCM. 

I made a few bottom of the fridge meals.

I finally put in HMRC WFH claim.

Life

Work load continues to be high for MrCM and me. Theoretically I am on annual leave this week but did 2 long days Wednesday & Thursday.. boo. MrCM has been working half days and evenings this week.

Easter weekend was nice and quiet, we did a lot of sorting out in the garden, even got both kids working out there! DS was in charge of patio plant pots maintenance and DD in charge of weeding and seed sowing (as long as I did all the difficult bits). We have tomatoes (3 types), cucumbers, chilli, basil, parsley, kale, beetroot, radish, lettuce, salad leaves, leeks, carrots and some flowers started. We repotted most of our pots and planted out things we had grown from cuttings or seeds into the bed cleared by the fence people. 

MrCM managed to get the patio clean with the pressure washer and we brought all the outdoor sofa cushions and blankets out. We had a garden visit from in laws which was lovely, they seemed very well. 

We have been walking at local nature reserves for fun. I did a homemade Easter treasure hunt for the kids which they enjoyed. DS and I have been plotting his birthday present (pet related!).

April Goals

Save £1100. We have decided to drop our savings rate to make sure we can all have a few more treats now it’s easier to do so. 

Make new normal higher AVC payments.

Review money at month end and plan new savings plan.

Enjoy garden and repaint gas meter cupboard.

Arrange DS birthday treat (zoo visit), party and present (for when restrictions are lifted).

Cornish_mum

Month End Totals

Mortgage capital repayment £912, outstanding balance £175.8k. On Tuesday when the May payment goes through we will be sub £175,000. I am really pleased to have paid off 75k in 6 years. We have eased off on OPs in recent years as our priorities changed.

Paid back Ed-fund completed plus an extra £150 saved (total this month £1250).

AVC (USS ethical growth fund) CM +£985 and similar for MrCM, newly invested this month. Market gains were larger than typical in the last month but in February/March growth was poor. CM fund ~27k; MrCM fund ~51k.  Thanks again to Edinburgher for Fireside chats.

Frugal Fails 

Managed two fails last month, signed up for free Brown-box prime (needed that lunch box for DD in a hurry) and didn’t properly cancel it before I was charged £7.99. I also managed to mess up paying off MrCM cc over Easter bank holiday so was charged £2.80 in interest. (Hanging my head in MSE shame 😱). 

Frugal if

Despite being sorely tempted esp when work has been horrible, I have cut back on takeouts. MrCM has had a few lunches out and a pie n chips one evening when he had to work on campus till 9pm.

Used the library for a book for DS.

Re-planted cleared garden border with plants grown from seed or cuttings.

Posted a couple of items on gumtree.

Speediness

Groceries £500 - yikes quite a lot of wine and beer plus nice Easter food, this month.

Paid off rest of fence work £950.

DS birthday treat zoo tickets £90.

DS birthday presents ~£90 as MrCM wanted to buy him an extra present.

Printer ink for working at home £25.

More school uniform needed for DD £30.

Stocked up on birthday cards etc at card factory £30.

Presents for DN christening and birthday £60.

I didn’t have enough vouchers to pay this months childcare so that came out of this months budget £450.

April Goals

All DS birthday fun is organised, but still need to sort out the drains, repaint meter cupboard & find time for a chat with MrCM about long term financial planning. We did manage to declutter quite abit in April, deep-clean the whole house (this is definitely helping with the moths) and do some gardening jobs.

Goals for May

Sort out drains & pay whole bill from May’s pay.

Save £250 in cash.

Continue with higher AVCs.

Make a plan with MrCM for saving plans going forward.

Handover hand me downs to SIL for DN.

Take bag of donations to the charity shop (don’t buy anything).

Organise half term childcare.

I am expecting groceries to be high again for May, as we are going to host an outdoor family party for DS at the end of the month (as long as rules change on the 17th).

In related news, I had my second vaccine! Also all our siblings are now also vaccinated and MrCM just become eligible (he is waiting to book locally as nearest places available were 30 miles plus when he looked on Friday night). I am feeling so grateful for this.

Day off for me and little CMs tomorrow- MrCM has work alas.

CM

edinburgher

Congrats on the vaccinations

South_coast

Fab report! A tenner's worth of frugal fails are perfectly acceptable in amongst everything else you've achieved 😀

Busy_Mee

Great update Cornish Mum and I agree a couple of minor fails in the context of your big wins and busy lifestyle is perfectly acceptable. We are all getting our second jabs here too 

debtfreeoneday

Great progress and good news on the vac

Cornish_mum

Thanks all, the little CM and I spent the morning at the botanical gardens (we are members so it was free-fun!) The kids were very proud to walk there and back without needing to take the bus.

 It’s so cold here today, I think we might just stay inside this afternoon.

Hope everyone is having a nice bank holiday.