Giving every £ a job

lucielle

Hope the gardening hour went swiftly and you found something more enjoyable to do. 

L

Blackcats

@lucielle - I struggled through the gardening hour which reinforced my dislike of garden work! I know I'll be delighted when the bulbs burst into life in the spring though.

moneywise, all October bills are paid and next month's money is arriving into our accounts.  I now squirrel this away into a savings account linked to the current account so that I can be very clear with myself what is current money and what is future money.  We have 4 different dates when money arrives so I needed a system to differentiate 'new' money or else I'd just feel muddled and unjustifiably rich in the last few days of each month.

the soup maker is working hard this week and our fridge bottom soup de jour made a very tasty lunch.  We made the yoghurt bread rolls that
@EssexHebridean kindly shared the recipe for and they were fab.  Next time we make them I'll be more adventurous with some herbs and spices.  

It's Back to the Future day today so that's tonight's viewing sorted.  It's MrBC's favourite film so we will settle down with a hot chocolate and slice of cake to watch that - another wild evening chez blackcats 😸

lucielle

Hope you find the flux capacitor!  Enjoy your film 
L

Blackcats

We finished October with a £125 underspend across our various spending pots which I'm pleased about.  I've scooped enough over to our buildings/contents insurance pot to bring that up to its £500 target due in May.  I've completely funded it from vinted sales, £co, surveys, underspends etc.  £co has paid out £120 for this year's car and house insurance so that's been a great boost to the pot.  I'm training myself to call it a future spends pot rather than a savings pot so that I won't feel so resentful when I have to use it.

November money shuffles have been done and we are all set for the month ahead.  

I'm using Diane in Denmark's gentle build up to Christmas to help me feel calm, organised and hopefully in control of our spends.
Week 1 was reviewing stocks of wrapping, cards etc.  I bought all my cards from whistlefish at the start of the year when there was a good deal on and I've bought my second class stamps.  I used up every scrap of wrapping paper last Christmas so, following Diane's advice I'm just buying a big roll of paper that will be used for all gifts and can be tarted up with ribbon and bows.  For week 2 I have drawn up a list of people we are buying for and started to jot down gift ideas.  The older grandkids will probably prefer cash but I'm eeking out the fun of buying toys for the little ones.  I managed to get a new with tags toy from Vinted for one of the grandsons and a nice new with tags jumper for him for the same cost as buying the toy from amazon.  

I've also been doing some work on our Ocado Christmas delivery shopping basket and am adding things as I think of them.  

I am not going to let November be cold, dark and miserable.  It's going to be cosy and cheerful.  We sat in the sunshine at a beach cafe this morning enjoying a hot chocolate.  It was warm enough to take our coats off which felt like a real bonus.  

Makingabobor2

Sounds like you have Christmas well planned. 
So lovely to see a bit of sunshine in November

foxgloves

I have also been busy tackling Christmas prep, @Blackcats. I enjoy making an early start & it makes practical sense from both a time & moneysaving point of view. I've spoken to 2 people lately who said they leave it till the last minute then run around frantically grabbing things - one of them said they then worry they haven't bought enough so also end up buying several extras. There'd be no enjoyment in that approach for me at all, although I acknowledge of course that everyone's different.
F

LzzyIsGod

Ah I call that frantic grabbing because you think you haven't got enough "The Twitch" 😂  I think it's quite a common phenomenon at Christmas and in reality you just end up buying stuff for the sake of it.

Sarahwithlove

Going through wrapping paper and cards to see what already have is something I really need to do.  Though my list of people to buy for is getting shorter every year 

Blackcats

I'm enjoying my more leisurely run up to Advent and Christmas this year.  This week I've spent some money from the Christmas pot so it's guilt free and joyous spending.  I've bought snowflake sparkly earrings and fluffy snowman socks for me, a festive hand towel for the cloakroom and some  festive coloured tea towels.  I would like a Christmassy mug as the expensive Emma B-Water mug has a wonky handle and a hairline crack which I'm disappointed about as I only bought it last year.

Next month's money has started to come into our accounts and has prompted me to take some time to evaluate our approach to money.  I've also been reading diaries and absorbing how other folks run their finances with the aim of learning and continuous improvement.  There are some inspiring posters on these boards!

we are in a fortunate position that we have no mortgage or other debt.  It's 2 years since I finished work and we have embraced our new lifestyle and adapted to our new monthly income.  We have spent some capital on things for the house and garden and a new (to us) car so - touch wood - we don't need any big items in the near future.  Our repair and replace pot is being built up to £1000.  It currently contains £703.

i think I would benefit from going back to focussing on making our money work as hard as it can for us.  We don't need to watch every £ but actually watching every £ ensures we spend our money wisely and well.  We know that our children are working hard and doing great jobs bringing up our grandchildren and we would like to gently provide some financial assistance  to them without patronising them.  As the older grandchildren start to learn to drive (eek) we want to help them with lessons.  

I'm still pondering how best to slightly shift our money focus.  I'm definitely not talking about thousands of pounds or giving our adult kids a regular allowance or buying a 17 year old grandchild a Range Rover.  Mm more thinking to be done.  I will aim to instigate something from the start of next year and I can keep thinking and adjusting along the way.

Sun_Addict

I don’t think you ever stop learning and adapting. I love picking up new ideas from the diaries on here.