A Year in the Life of...

savingholmes

boxofpaws said:

Our cars - causing us stress and ebbing our money away. I feel your pain.

Sounds like great progress with the kitchen, it will be so satisfying when it’s done.

I found a memory foam mattress topper quite a life changer. Hopefully it will make a big difference. How is it? 

Blown budgets are a bit of a theme on this board at the minute. These are tough times, I think we need to be less hard on ourselves and appreciate we are surviving in a strange world. 

I agree with @boxofpaws - my budget seemed to go sideways this month yet I'd struggle to point to why.

Hope the new topper makes a difference. Sorry your MH is struggling. Definitely be kind to yourself. Do more of what you want to do and less of what you don't. It should help.

Life is definitely weird at the moment. Hope you manage to sort your car and market your flat soon. Most people would find the latter a lot of pressure - so how you are feeling sounds pretty normal. Is there any option to part x via a builder or are they all out of price range?

beanielou

Exciting times that you are nearly ready to market.
Boo to the car.

astrocytic_kitten

Another one who’s gone over budget here 🤦‍♀️ You’re in a period of uncertainty with the house sale as well as needing to get out of your living situation and the general state of the world, it’s a lot to cope with. Hopefully in a few months you’ll be settled in a house with a garden and neighbours will just be a bad memory x

EssexHebridean

Ahh that's annoying about the car - and has also reminded me that one side of mine is currently looking a bit low on "oomph" too - I'll drop a spot of limescale remover or white vinegar on the nozzle at some stage and see if that improves things - just have to be careful it doesn't get onto the paintwork! 

with the cost of living increasing might it be that your budges need reviewing - I'm not sure when you last did them? When we had our January "financial summit" we agreed to increase our food budget a bit as we were definitely seeing costs going up in that area. This month we will actually be well under the previous figure but that's going to be a rarity now. I also really want to start building up enough of a buffer in there that we are not only a full month in hand, but we also have the money ready and waiting when we're ready to buy meat in bulk again. 

Here's hoping the mattress topper sorts out the achiness too - it's horrible waking up and not feeling rested. 

girlatplay

Thank you All.

Paws -
the mattress topper is ok.  Better than my bed without it but not as great as I hoped.  Still, I didn't pay a huge amount for it so can't really moan about it.

SH -
we looked at three different builders for part/ex and they were all too far above budget.  We could have borrowed the extra but the budget would have been just too tight.  It was a pity because one of them was really good.

Beanie -
another couple of weeks, hopefully, and we'll be on the market, or at least ready to go on.  Feel like I've been saying that for weeks though.  More tiling was done on Tuesday and hopefully the rest on Sunday.

AK -
I really can't wait. A useable garden will make a huge difference for us.

EH -
I last amended the budget amount in April last year when I got a temporary promotion.  I upped it by £50 pm.  I was supposed to bring it back down in October when the promotion ended but I was promoted permanently and didn't adjust the amount back down (bit complicated in that the promotion resulted in a pay cut because of JEGS but because I am now full time rather than part time my salary is more than it was before but less than if JEGS hadn't happened).  The grocery budget is embarrassing at what it is for two people.

I have been using a moisturiser made on the Isle of Lewis which has lavender and seaweed in it.  Every time I use it I get a great sleep.  Not sure if it is a coincidence.  Now with the mattress topper on I have been sleeping better.

beanielou

If you can,  get a Templespa sample of their nightcream which is amazing.

savingholmes

Good luck with finding a new home. 

Glad you are sleeping better. 

girlatplay

beanielou said:

If you can,  get a Templespa sample of their nightcream which is amazing.

I'll keep an eye out, thank you.

savingholmes said:

Good luck with finding a new home. 

Glad you are sleeping better. 

Thank you.  I think we're just a bit disheartened at the moment.  Everyone must be looking for what we are looking for and there's always someone with more money than us.
Sleeping better is a positive!

girlatplay

One week into the month now.  Grocery budget is looking a bit low already but we have enough food for around a week so hopefully it will work out.  LMG is on lates all next week so I can make dinner for myself out of what we'll have left by then.

I've asked my energy provider to raise my dd by just over £20. Doesn't sound like much but I'm already £250 in credit and the heating went off a few weeks ago (although LMG puts it on for an hour in the mornings when she's on earlies.  I joked about it and she stated, in unamused tones, that she not only pays digs but she now pays extra digs!  It was only a joke.  Some people are so touchy 😆).

Really busy at work.  I work in finance and it's our year end at the moment.  The days are busy and long, even when I finish early it still feels like a long day.  I'm supposed to be on a half day tomorrow, meeting a friend for lunch.  Not sure if she will make it or not yet but I'm going to take the half day anyway.  I feel like I'm starting to burn out.  Usual weekly meeting with my line manager tomorrow morning so I'm going to chat with her about taking some time off soon.

Bf got some more tiles up on the kitchen wall on Tuesday night.  He reckons he'll get it finished on Sunday.  Just got to finish painting, stick a bit of wallpaper that has come unstuck and then give the flat a good clean.  I might pay a cleaner to come in and deep clean before photos.  I can do it, I don't mind cleaning, just worried about the amount of time and energy it will use.  I'm not the fastest.

The garage can't look at the windscreen washers until Wednesday next week so it's emergency short journeys only and we're keeping a cloth and glass cleaner in the car.  At least a little fluid is coming out, it's not completely dry but I've told LMG she can't borrow it to meet friends until it's fixed.

All else is plodding.

beanielou

Plodding is good my friend.
Pay for that cleaner, worth it for your energy levels.