A New Year, A New Start

Silver_Queen

Thanks PMO2!

My list has been completed...

Silver_Queen wrote: »

1. [STRIKE]Phone First Direct to reset my app [/STRIKE] Done
2. [STRIKE]Phone HSBC to reset my app [/STRIKE] Didn't have to do this in the end, reset online!
3. [STRIKE]Chase up refund of £30 for a returned item from company 1 [/STRIKE] Received confirmation, just need to wait for it to hit my account. It was a smidge over £32 in the end, so a little more than expected.
4. [STRIKE]Chase up Amazon gift card refund of £15 - I've already earmarked £5 of this for a new yoga strap so it'll be nice for this to show up soon![/STRIKE] Received the refund, spent £4.99 on a yoga strap which should arrive today and £5.49 on a hanging planter which should arrive tomorrow.
5. [STRIKE]Post DBS check certificate to new job so that I can reclaim the expense [/STRIKE] Done, hopefully it'll arrive on Monday or Tuesday.
6. [STRIKE] Double check that my referees have given their references, and pack my bag tonight making sure I have all my documents to bring with me tomorrow to new job [/STRIKE] Done, the recruitment firm said they have everything so hopefully will get my contract through early next week!

Silver_Queen

Today and next week's list/MSE things:

• Made dinner mostly from stuff we already had in the house. Spent £4.90 on creme fraiche and salad though. Salad will go with tomorrow's dinner as well and we'll have these leftovers for lunch.
• Baking bread - I'm trying a new method where you bake bread using a dutch oven (cast iron pot). If it goes well, we'll have it for breakfast tomorrow
• We got rid of two of our old, sad pillows that keep coughing up feathers everywhere. Bought two new ones as replacements, using a £30 gift card we received for Christmas. Ordered to collect so we'll get them tomorrow.
• I went through my wardrobe and matched up some clothes to create new outfits, rather than shopping for new clothes
• We recently inherited a very very large beanbag that we couldn't fit, it was cluttering up the space and causing me stress. I've been trying to give it away for weeks but nobody wanted it. Decided to post it on facebook and it was claimed and collected within 10 minutes! So much more space now and I didn't have to throw it away. Not really MSE but it made me happy
• My sister gave me £50 as part payment for my phone. She'll pay me £10 per week for the next 5 weeks. I put this in my parent-repayment pot.

Pots Roundup
Personal:

• OH's presents (valentines/anniversary/birthday/xmas): £20/£200
• Parents repayment: £250/£7,000
• Train Ticket: £320/£2,000

Joint:

• Holiday fund: £8.87/£2,000
• Medical: £5/£500
• Emergency: £20/£1,000
• Presents: £5/£300
• Car: £5/£1,000

Planning on adding a "New Home Stuff" pot too, since we're hopefully moving soon.

Really annoying, I've been chasing my conveyancer to send some essential documentation for MONTHS. They've told me three times that they've sent it but when I called the recipient, I was told they hadn't received it. I'm pretty sure my conveyancer hasn't actually sent it. Chased it again on Friday and mentioned the dreaded "negligence" word, suddenly I was getting immediate responses whereas I'd had to wait weeks before. I didn't want to use that card because I know how awful it is, but if I have to, I will....

On an unrelated note, we're trying to keep an eye on our grocery and general food spends this month. It's been a bit of an eye opener! We've spent a lot of money this month, and have £46 left of our grocery budget, so we're trying really hard to make sure we don't go over.

Our tentative meal plan:

1. Sunday: Poached egg, bacon, hollandaise and homemade bread for breakfast. Leftover pulled pork with jacket potatoes for lunch. Roast chicken and salad for dinner.
2. Monday: Leftover roast chicken for lunch. Joe Wicks chicken and mushroom filo pastry pie for dinner, with sweetcorn and peas.
3. Tuesday: lunch leftover chicken and mushroom pie. Dinner carbonara.
4. Wednesday Lunch ???? Dinner Homemade pizza

Bought a sofa for £458, put it on my Amex so will need to pay that off. Also commissioned from art from a friend a while ago, which I forgot about, but it was time to pay yesterday...£100. I am my own worst enemy :rotfl:

Pleased with how things are going, but definitely counting down the days until payday now...17 days to go.

[Deleted User]

I really need to get more organised with the savings pots, I never save anything for car costs and don't have an emergency fund!!

Dxxx

Silver_Queen

Deleted_User wrote: »

I really need to get more organised with the savings pots, I never save anything for car costs and don't have an emergency fund!!

Dxxx

I was always terrible with savings pots too...I'd say I was going to save the money and then never actually did. At risk of sounding like an advert for Monzo bank, their pot system has been fantastic and has helped me so much with actually sticking things in pots. I move the money into the pot and then consider it spent. It doesn't show on my account balance anymore, so I forget that I have it! It's like tricking myself into thinking I'm poorer than I am and it works amazingly for me.

[Deleted User]

I might look into that, seen a lot of people talking about Monzo.

Dxxx

Silver_Queen

Deleted_User wrote: »

I might look into that, seen a lot of people talking about Monzo.

Dxxx

I'm not sure I trust it 100% just yet, because it's such a new bank, but I trust it enough to put in my monthly spending money into it

It also categorises your spends for you, so you can see how much you spent on each category every month. Very eye opening to see that I spent £400 on groceries and eating out in December :eek:

[Deleted User]

Oh god, not sure I'm ready for that amount of honesty haha

Dxxx

Silver_Queen

I ended up seeing a friend yesterday, so we didn't have roast chicken for dinner yesterday, or for lunch today. I had a gyoza bowl for £6.50 instead. We'll roast the chicken tonight and have that tonight, and lunch tomorrow. Tomorrow evening will be a carbonara, most likely. We're going to our favourite sport tomorrow (we pay in 10 session blocks, so this is paid for, and we have all our equipment so no equipment hire necessary) so it depends how tired we get - luckily, carbonara is quick.

The days until payday are really dragging out now. Even though I have funds in my account, I just really want payday to hurry up so I can top up my pots!!

Silver_Queen

A bit of movement!

My documents have been sent to the in-house HR team! Hopefully this means I'll get a contract in the next week or so, they did tell me it would be "a few weeks" but I'm praying it's sooner. Cannot wait to get outta here.

I got an anxious call from the estate agents asking me whether I would be seeking compensation from the seller. Well, I am now! Fired off an email so hopefully I can get a couple of grand off the asking price or some other incentive. Even a furniture voucher would be good, I have very little :rotfl:.

The funds in my LISA have finally been released to my solicitor - I get the fishy feeling that they maaaaaybe didn't send the documents when I asked, and only sent them when I chased yet again last week. LISA is now looking sad.

I've worked out that I need to pay my sol a further £11,650 for everything, including stamp duty and their fees. Ouch. I have just a smidge over £13,000 in my account though, so that should be fine. We'll have just under £1.5k to furnish an entire flat, although I already have the sofa, bed and pretty much all the kitchen stuff I'll need. It'll just echo for a bit, but that's okay.

Feeling dreadfully poor now, still two weeks until payday...limping along.

Silver_Queen

Whilst I'm here, I thought I'd make a little list of furniture and bits that I need for the new place. My total budget for everything is £2k, which I think should be enough, since I already have the main things. Some of the stuff I have is inherited, some bought when I thought I'd be moving last September, some I have over the years, some are OH's from before he moved in with me.

Stuff that I already have

• Bed
• 2 x bedside tables
• Sofa
• Drinking glasses
• kitchen bin
• floor lamp
• bathroom cabinet
• cast iron cooking pot
• cooking utensils
• cutlery and plates
• light fitting and bulb - they were on sale...
• a vase :rotfl:
• wine rack - my priorities are right
• various cooking essentials such as spices, oil, vinegar, salt, pepper.

Large furniture

• Shelving in the living room (bookshelf)
• Dining table and chairs
• Shelving in bedroom - bookshelf
• utility room storage - drawers and shelves
• potentially chest of drawers in bedroom - tbd

Not immediately essential furniture

• Mirror
• Shower caddy
• Shoe rack
• Rail in one of the cupboards to turn it into a cloak room

Essential utility stuff/electrical goods (honestly, don't know what to call this category)

• Ironing board and iron
• vacuum cleaner
• kettle
• toaster
• mop and bucket
• dustpan and brush

Kitchen stuff

• mugs - although we should have enough, think we've got four between the two of us
• saucepans and frying pan
• bin bags
• cleaning fluid/spray
• cleaning cloths/sponges
• kitchen and toilet roll
• washing up liquid
• dishwasher tabs, salt, rinse aid
• wine glasses

The priority is for there to be a somewhat functioning living space. My plan is to buy everything over the next 1-2 years or so, as and when good deals come up or if we find anything in charity shops that we can "upcycle".

We had a bad bed bug scare when we first moved into this new place and it cost us hundreds of pounds in treatments, so I'm really wary about used furniture now. I'm sure there's a way for me to decontaminate it though, but it's a bit more difficult since I have no outside space. Will have to explore this...