2020: Becoming a Saver, Not a Spender

[Deleted User]

Thank you, Beanie

[Deleted User]

Right guys and calls, debt targets have been re-ordered in favour of their ascending amount, will be tackling from smallest to largest as I did previously

DT1 - £750
DT2 - £770
DT3 - £858
DT4 - £1000
DT5 - £1600

The £50 from PL will go straight to DT1 when it lands in my account, plus it has a £20 DD going to it early July anyway, so that already will bring it down by around 10%

Halifax asked me if I wanted a second account with them when I opened my app earlier, so I will continue to use my main account for all bills/debts paid via DD. The second current account will have the bits I pay manually such as our milk man, so I can see everything is where it should be at a glance. My new debit card for HFX came yesterday, gone are the days of knowing the number by heart and willy-nilly spending

Poppy1984

So sorry to hear about your tenancy! What a stress for you! I'll keep my fingers crossed the affordable house is suitable. Well done on setting your debt busting targets sounds like you're determined to get them paid up! Good news on your phone assessment for the new job  

Poppy

[Deleted User]

Morning everyone

Up at 5am this morning thanks to the kitten literally prodding me with his paw til I woke up for his breakfast I refused to get up and do it until 6 as I don’t want to reinforce the 5am habit, then went back to sleep until about 8

OH has had to go to work for a few hours so I am on coffee number 2 and waiting for the first load of washing to finish. I only have 2 loads of actual washing to do (and not massive loads, at that) but want to change over the towels and bedding, too. Then literally everything is done. We are hoping to get out on our bikes over the weekend if we get a break from the wind & rain. This means using the TD for the towels and bedding, but does mean I don’t need to water the grass and plants  

OH wants to buy some new pillows today as our (not cheap) ones have gone very flat very quickly. I’m not spending any money but he wants to get those. 

Not many big cleaning jobs need doing thanks to following the fly lady thread, just our bedroom really and general top-up cleaning

Kitten must want something as he is currently cuddling one of my feet....  

[Deleted User]

Hey hey! (I miss the waving emoji)

Good start to the week with all of the ironing done yesterday, bit of a saga with the iron as I descaled it before using but that seemed to make it worse as it was oozing yellow/brown gunk so went online to get a new one which is coming this morning. Typically after that a further clean got it running without gunk again, so I could return the one coming today. However it has always had a problem with leaking during ironing and having spent some time combing through reviews it seems that because it's a cordless one and it spends a lot of time heating and cooling there are times when it's not hot enough to turn the water to steam which is why it leaks, so I think I will be opting to keep the one that arrives today. OH wasn't keen as it isn't cordless like our current one but the amount of water that comes out onto the charging base, it doesn't seem safe anyway. However, if I can by some miracle dig out the receipt I will try and get a refund as it's less than 12 months old and it will cover the cost of the new one

Pork ribs are cooking away slowly in the slow cooker at home, will just need to baste those and pop them the oven when I get home for some yummy slow cooked BBQ ribs it was supposed to be chilli that got pre-made last night but I forgot so will cook it tonight for dinner tomorrow

With our new higher budget for the weekly shop I came in under budget quite comfortably and didn't have to umm and ahh about what I should get or what we should eat. It helped that we had a solid meal plan prepped before I went out, and checked the cupboards to identify what we actually needed. Y'know, common sense stuff?!  

We went to Costco yesterday to pick up some cat litter as it's super cheap in there for massive boxes. I think with the cleaning supplies each month I will probably do an online bulk order from Wilko, as I cannot go in there and not spend more than I was supposed to so I figure at the start of the month I will see what we need and double up to do an order warranting a home delivery, and then in theory not need to pop in! This covers fabric sprays, air fresheners, citric acid, drain cleaner etc so will be worthwhile getting what we need in one go and paying that straight from the grocery pot. Then whatever is left is split up for our weekly food budget.

I need to crack down and get as much SE work done as possible going forwards as we may well be moving house, so need to keep my head down and get on!

FootyFanDan

Hey 👋 

Good news that the new increased shopping budget has made things a little less stressful ha, I’m same with food budget though I always set a budget and then start not getting stuff in the shop when I hit that budget 😂. I think a review of budget may be needed, although meal planning seems to have gone out of the window! oooo ribs sounds delicious

Have a great week x

savingholmes

Sorry to hear about the tenancy. I think some landlords have got twitchy about the risk of not getting rent and the risk of the housing market crashing. I hope things work out in your favour whatever that ends up being. 

[Deleted User]

Thanks guys, we had someone from the new estate agents come yesterday to do a valuation and he basically said that, at the price they were selling it for, it wouldn't take long at all to find a buyer, but also that from someone agreeing to buy it we probably had at least 3 months to find somewhere so we should get the rest of the summer in the house, and time to find some money towards a deposit and end of tenancy clean

[Deleted User]

Morning MSE

First day of the new airtight budget with YNAB, everything from yesterday and this morning logged and all balancing nicely. Kitten had his procedure yesterday, they handed him over without a cone as he hadn't tried to lick his incision at all whilst there. However, typically, as soon as I got him home he wouldn't leave it alone so I rang OH to stop and get one as he was on his way home from work, it was the longest 45 minutes of my life trying to stop a drugged up kitten (who according to the vet would be "high and seeing things") for a while licking his wounds, which meant he inflicted many on my hands that interfered instead so, I basically drank a bottle of wine to soothe my own wounds he managed to get his cone off overnight as his collar is quick release one but I bought him a new harness on my way out of the vets (mum guilt ) which has the D-ring for the lead in a much safer position, so I cut off the collar section of his old harness and have popped that on him instead this morning as it doesn't have a quick release button. If he gets out of that one, then I give up

Not much else to report, all funds have been moved to the correct places for the month. A small amount has gone into my sinking funds for the dentist, car insurance and road tax, plus £10 moved to my Monzo pot for prescriptions. Groceries money and fuel money are in their respective Monzo pots, too.

My nan had a successful first outing to one of her shops yesterday, I think she is going to a busy supermarket today so I have offered some socially distanced assistance

beanielou

The joys of kittens 🐱 & cones 😂