Holey Moley!

greent

killerpeaty said:

Love your quote in your signature. Haven't heard the second part before.

  Thank you WE Henley (who wrote 'Invictus') was a local lad at one point - going to the same grammar school that my husband later attended. The poem was on the wall of a room I spent many hours working in a couple of Summers ago, so I ended up learning the whole thing

killerpeaty

I just googled invictus and haven't actually ever read it before. I didn't know that master of my fate came from a poem!

I haven't updated in a while. This is because I've been in a lot of pain. I've been going to work, coming home and going to bed. I've been in trouble at work for the quality of my work falling, despite the fact that I have been telling my manager to keep her in the loop. But this week, I'm on holiday, so I will not be doing what I wanted (day trips) but trying to relax and bring my pain levels down.

So, update on the flat.
The carpets are down, looking gorgeous. 
The painting never got finished and the carpet fitting caused some damage to the paint on the skirting boards so I will top them up.
The fridge freezer and the washing machine are in. The fridge freezer initially had to go back because I ordered the wrong size. Must have clicked on the wrong fridge freezer.
The bathroom is finished and beautiful.
I haven't actually checked my money yet, I'm dreading it because I will have less than £1,000. It makes my chest tight just to think about it.
Oh and my family and I managed to build my bed!
Bad news though, I received an email from my downstairs neighbour, apparently my knackered door is letting storm water go down into that flat. This means I have to borrow money from mum (thanks mum) for replacement of the door. Luckily mum got a massive PPI payout so has the money to lend out. By massive, I mean MASSIVE, I won't say how much because it's not my news to share but it's bigger than any I've heard of. I am gutted though, I didn't want to take advantage of her, but the credit card's 0% spending period is over and I don't think I will get another credit card this close to getting the other.
On Saturday, I went crazy with spending. I bought 4 cushions and a bedside table. Spent a whooping  £19.50. The bed side table was the most at £5 from a charity shop, it's a bit beaten up and the varnish is a bit ugly but I'm going to take the varnish off and paint it. The cushions are because I have friends around and no furniture for them to sit on... so I thought I better get some cushions for them. I did see a gorgeous side table that would be so useful for my living room, but it was £50 and I don't have a chair in my living room that isn't a camping or garden chair. Should probably focus on that first.

Plan for this week:

• Hoover everywhere
• Move the items for the dump into the garage before my friends come over
• touch up the skirting boards
• touch up the walls in the living room and main bedroom
• organise kitchen so I cant actually get into it

Don't want to aim for too much so hopefully this is achievable.

killerpeaty

Hoovering is at a stand still... The thingy isn't rotating. I'm sure it will just need poking. However, touching up went quite well. My painting delicate intricate bits is improving which is pleasant. 
I did have a bit of a shock this morning when I opened my front door and there was a bit of wood on the floor that hadn't been there before. There's the door to the yard right next to the front door and the wooden bit at the top that decided to fall off the wall, revealing an impressive amount of mushrooms inside the of it. Cue a call to my mum ruining her day. We attacked it with bleach and sent pictures to people. I'm lucky that I already had an offer of someone coming to look at it for me. I do have some plaster board left over from the ceiling so might use this if needed.
I also called my landlord (leasehold) because I'm certain that I owe some money. Apparently they don't have a record that I own it so, a quick email to the solicitor and hopefully it'll be sorted shortly.
I have my mattress! It's lovely. Even that wasn't without drama though, thankfully not mine. I was given a two hour slot, I got to 10 minutes before the end of the slot and I hadn't got a phonecall yet. I called head office to check what was happening (it was horrible weather so wondered if it would postponed), no update. About 5 minutes after, I get a call from the driver. Apparently, the delivery guys had finished their work, got back to depot and was asked to deliver a couple of items that night. This was because the original delivery guy had had an accident with his knife and his fingers. Eek! The delivery guys even took off their shoes to save my new carpet, fantastic service.
My duvet and pillows are now on my bed, it's a thing of beauty.
My friend came over and saw my flat for the first time. She likes it. I'm very pleased. I also built my little table, it's part of my little bistro set, it only cost me about £25 for the table and the two chairs. They will be used inside until I have a proper table and chairs. But the little table is very appealing.
Lastly, I have sorted out my spreadsheets. The investments have taken a big hit as expected (£1.7k). But my cash is better than expected, I thought I would be below £1k but I'm at £2.7k. Relief!

killerpeaty

I'm back to being anxious about money. This is because of the virus and this could lead to a slow down in my industry so I should probably be more careful with money and being at work. The issue is that I've been quite ill so my work hasn't been brilliant.
I had an emergency doctors appointment, he has prescribed me naproxen and cocodomol. It's melting my brain.

So, whinge over. Goods things:
I got the hoover to work! The carpets were beautifully clean for a whooping 24 hours.
I went out to the theatre for my birthday and it was amazing! London was weird though, there was barely anyone there. We had third row seats and there wasn't anyone ahead of us, on the other side there was about 5 rows that had no one in. Must have been difficult for the venue but I had a blast. We don't go to the theatre often but we always go for the best seats we can afford. But also had brilliant icecream, mine was jam rolypoly flavour and I want more.
My friends came to my flat and it was amazing to have people at my flat. A lot of people couldn't come due to illness but we played games and I even managed to get the oven to work. Some of my friends were planning out my furniture for me ha!
I received £90 in john lewis vouchers (not all from one person), which ordinarily I would save for the sales but I'm vaguely concerned that the virus will cause a lot of places to go under. So I'm looking at things I think will be useful to me.
I have not looked at my investments for the last few days and ignorance is bliss!

South_coast

Ignorance is definitely bliss KP! Glad you enjoyed your birthday celebrations, sounds great (and also that you got to the theatre before they had to close)

Moneyfordreams

Sorry to hear you've not been well. Hope things improve for you soon.
 I've never recently had large sums off cash, my comfort zone is £2k, in the last 2 years (this house) I've been settling for £1k... needs must I'm around £550 down on my £2300 ISA. I've just suspended payments until things level of a bit. 
Congrats to your mum, and booo to the door   

killerpeaty

Hi SC and MFD! How are you guys doing?

Are you sure you want to suspend your investing? Most investing blogs say that effectively shares/indexes are on sale, if I had any spare cash then I would be investing right now!

So when it rains, it pours! Work has now said that we will be going to 3 days. Still could be worse, it was either go down a couple of days or face redundancies. Unfortunately, businesses are not bringing in their records for their accounts, no idea why not because it could be all digital. Hardly anyone thinks about giving their accountants their invoices digitally, I personally prefer it... fewer paper cuts!

The drugs are working so hopefully I will feel better soon. I guess I will have plenty of time to work on home improvements.

killerpeaty

My weekend has been spent in bed! The meds are making me sleepy but I have still managed to at least do some thinking about my flat.

Regardless of whether I go down to 3 days, I need to get my roof fixed, the front door fixed and the boiler fixed. So I will rescue the emergency money that I hide in some building societies (roughly £1.5k) as if this pandemic is not an emergency then what is! Thanks 23 year old me.

I plan to email a local roofing/building firm to see whether they will help me with the roof, the removal of the ruined plasterboard and possibly the door.

Additionally, I will get the BG homecover plan, which I can get £40 cashback and will look at my central heating in general. In the event that my boiler is condemned then I will get a discount on the new boiler and they have 2 years interest free loans available.

For now, I will not decrease my overpayments or ask for a payment holiday, as I am hoping with the announcement late on friday will mean that I don't need to go down in my hours. I will have at least one more full time payment but I will be more careful.

But I have been tempting myself. I found a gorgeous small extending dining table with four chairs for £40 on FB marketplace. It looks like it would be perfectly sized for the space I have and in the fullness of time I would be able to get the chairs reupholstered. However, I'm being good because who knows what I will need to pay out next!

killerpeaty

Been sleeping a lot this week so very little progress.

My days have been cut to 4, not 3. This is a lot better than expected, I can cope on this, I really hope that we don't get cut again though! I can definitely afford my essential bills now, but the optional stuff will need to be cut back on.

Been adhering to the advice, but it's not easy. I bet others are struggling with it as well. Hope everyone is staying safe.

killerpeaty

Just did my monthly checking of the accounts, ooph there has been a lot of expenses coming out this month.

• Car insurance
• professional subscription (on credit card)
• payment for the mattress (last month's credit card)

The council tax is still to be paid this month and any parking in the town when I need to drop off files to work. Last week it cost £16.50 for just the one day, a weekly train ticket is £21.something. Ouch.

Had a panic because my internet DD was double of what I was expecting, then I couldn't get into my account. Spoke to someone over the internet chat and they were super helpful. I have in fact been charged for two months. It's all good. But I still can't get into the account. I will try again tomorrow.

Surprisingly, my cash balance is up about £150. I still have £400 to come out before next payday, however considering the heavy expenses this month, I think I've done okish. The £400 includes investments, council tax and items such as my prescription certificate. Other than the professional subscription, there shouldn't be any big expenses this month. And it's not like I'm spending any money in socialising this month.

In mortgage news, I'm at 6 months of payments! I have paid off £2,811.79 and paid £1,688.21 of interest. Therefore I have paid off an unimpressive 1.6%. According to my mortgage calculator, if I had not overpaid by £38.93 each month (or £239.58 total) then I would owe £267.81 more. 

In debt news, I am down to a little under £1,300 as I am paying off £100 a month at the moment. I am debating putting this down to £75, which would then still pay off the balance in time for the 0% to be cleared, keep the payment at £100 or put it down to the minimum (£25). If I put it down to £75, I would incur no interest and free up £25 which will help plug the gap between full time and part time pay, not by much but would help a little. If I stick with £100, I would be sticking to the plan and getting out of debt more quickly. If I reduce it down to £25, I will free up £75 a month which is half of my monthly council tax but I will have to play catch up later.

I will be down just under £340 a month so none of the above helps very much. I should probably halt my investments (£200 a month), overpayments (£38.93 and £75), and cut my voluntary payments to mum. I am uncertain about how much I will save from not being able to leave the house and not commuting versus increased electricity usage. But I think I want to try to cut unnecessary purchases rather than stop the wealth increasing activities. I am entirely unsure what to do. But I have this month to think about it.

Writing this all down, makes me think I can actually plan some course of action.

To inspire myself, I'm watching Spendaholics on youtube, it's a BBC 3 show from the credit crunch. Currently I'm watching a girl with a salary of less than £10k a year with over £40k of debt!