2020++ - smiling and waving and looking so fine

mark55man

I would be a great short order chef - always been good at the fry up and Egg and bacon is becoming a regular (lo carb) brunch - so not unhappy about that. 

Was tempted by Welshkitty's talk of curry so OH is doing that tonight with spinach - lovely chicken tikka saag.  Our choice of curry is largely dictated by which Lidl curry paste was available last time we ran out - so recently its been tikka, but I do like the rogan josh (especially but not limited to lamb)

Weather is miserable here so just pottering around in doors - as if there was anything else to do.  Watching Sunday Brunch on C4 catchup - I like the blend of humour and cooking

savingholmes

You're making me hungry. DS is cooking fajitas - but where I'd have it done in about 10 minutes - it seems to have taken at least three times as long LOL.

doingitanyway

mark55man said:

weighed in this morning and down another kilo, so that's slowly beginning to head back to my pre christmas weight.  OH is doing much better so that's motivating

I think you'll find that kilo down this morning went to me. I weighed in after a low period of a week of not bothering and I am up one kilo!

mark55man

We'll just have to find someone else to take it, preferably someone who will find it easier to lose than us   

mark55man

So done my Monthly maths - a game of two halves, but there were "Eddies in the time continuum" as my jiggling of Xmas, my CC tango and some maladministration around some poorly timed but entirely regular spends.  Here's my notes  (will do MN pot and so forth when they have all gone through)

• CAR - Well within budget, literally only did 34 miles this month, but OH doing her charity work and had some winter costs, and the insurance payment has trickled over into Feb
• CASH - No Cash this month - apart from a couple of Cash Only places, have hardly spent anything in cash since February last year
• CLOTHES - No Clothes - essential items only for us
• COFFEE - NO COFFEE - wow wasn't expecting that but well done team!
• CRAFTS - Over budget - but keeping busy is Essential - in a we gotta do what we have to do to get through this sort of fashion
• ENTERTAINMENT - Some books and birthday takeouts
• GROCERY - Still high, but a bit less than the end of the year, some of which was XMAS left overs, but I think some is just cheaper eating (will be needed this month) 
• HOLIDAY - Nothing this month - nothing this year unless 2021 gets a lot better
• KIDS - Kids - this pot has surged a little, as I have agreed to continue help DS Van, and DD did a deal with me about her XMAS / Birthday which left me spending double what I was expecting on the basis I may get it back later :-)
• LIFE - Over Budget as we continue to buy a few things to improve various rooms which are in need of care.- this category is non food, non utilities.  
• AMAZON - Amazon relatively steady, but still indispensable for things at the moment - at around £100 pm I think this will be the way of things

mark55man

In other news my DS1's ancient PC has gone to meet its maker (not literally not with the travel ban and all that), but in a typical family deal, he has paid £600 deposit and I have used CC3 (0% credit on purchase) to bridge the rest which he will pay me from his part time job.  As a bonus to me I have already passed the money down the line to CC2 which got a cheeky payment to help me beet the May 0% BT deadline.  Which is looking in the bag.

So not exactly moving forward, but not exactly moving backward either.  I was tempted to keep the cash as extra float for my current account, but I'm comfortable in my "in the black" status out of my OD for 6 months now, and even if I have to do some money shuffling with OH near the end of the month, well its a short month, and I'll be trying my best not to get to that point

savingholmes

Glad things are still going well money wise - despite computers biting the dust etc.

mark55man

Following the end of month and start of month busy-ness I have slightly tweaked my signature - to show my Mortgage Neutral challenge, and to show my Emergency Fund progress and CC repayments.  its all the same ££££ but not necessarily in the same order.  Hopefully this is the last restructuring I will do this year, but its now much cleaner which has always been an objective.  Broadly:
* mortgage neutral  - in a dedicated fund within my pension - now £3.3K (£1.7 from last year) / £101K owing (£2.4K normal mortgage repayments this year)
* emergency fund - partly in my OH solo account (£1.5k) and part in my company share scheme (£1.4K) - traditionally EF should be cash in a savings bank, but I'm putting a bit more into my company share scheme for which I get a matching contribution and can access immediately (well within a week).
* CC repayments - money explicitly paid off CC2 (BT May 2021) and subsequently CC3 (0% Purchase 2022) currently £1.9K/£12.3K - (The increase in CC3 and the decrease in CC2 are a bit of a balance, but in combination form the £12.3K total and I'll zero out any errors once CC2 is gone / DS1 PC repayments have come through) 

Now all I  need to do is get on top of the basics like being able to spend a normal amount on groceries and I'll be fine

savingholmes

Good luck with the grocery challenge!! I am falling at that hurdle too...

mark55man

What's the opposite to Lazy / Stupid Tax - by committing for a year ahead I saved £20 on my zoom subscription, and chuffed to have raised a paypal dispute with a service provider, and got £24 back that I wasn't really expecting!!