Returning to MFW, my elusive unicorn!

coldcazzie

The final countdown *breaks out the trumpets*

Himself has arranged for his equipment to be collected and returned. New job day is April 1st. Everything is exciting.

Big Small got a covid test at college yesterday to prove that she is disease free and allowed to return to lessons. Medium and Small Small went to gymnastics, both were thrilled to see friends and get out of the house, and then loudly complained about how achy and tired they were for the rest of the day  

Almost up to another fiver on Prolific.

Grogged

That seems to have come round quick for himself.
New chapters are always exciting!

coldcazzie

Grogged said:

That seems to have come round quick for himself.
New chapters are always exciting!

Well, considering he applied for the job in August.... not really LOL.

Next couple of months are going to be interesting as we shuffle all the bills around to accommodate a new payday etc.

We've started the process to switch energy suppliers, which will save us about £25 a month. The deal also includes a central heating care package so they will come and service the boiler etc, which is good as it is 2 years old in June so will need that.

My phone contract ends in April. I'm going to have to schedule in some time to have a look at the upgrade options and compare those with other providers. I am intending on getting a work phone this spring/summer, which will help me to not live at work quite so much! That will almost certainly change what phone I choose.

Last few days has seen another filing cabinet shuffle/organise. Thanks to all the work I did last year it has been MUCH easier to do! I bought some more suspension files and have expanded out a lot of the folders, meaning each one has less in and is more clearly labelled. I've also added folders for small items that get easily lost like doorstops etc. And finally, I've arranged it all alphabetically.

The reason I've done that is because I'm on a bit of an organisation mission. Putting systems in place that we can then rely on. I'm adding a weekly review to my calendar during which I empty my inboxes, update the spreadsheets, and make sure everything is ticking over. Seeing as I already do a weekly meal plan/shopping session, and try to update the spreadsheets once a week too, this kind of thing is already pretty familiar: I'm just shifting to a new time and have written myself a checklist so I don't forget anything each time.

Another £5.34 from Prolific, which has been overpaid.

2021 OP running total: £40.61

coldcazzie

Well! New job has officially started! Very exciting!

We've moved all the direct debits. Cancelled all our old standing orders into our savings accounts. Now we are just ~waiting~ for the end of the month >.< 

Grogged

Congratulations to himself!

coldcazzie

Organising everything has been hard on the brain. I will try to list the changes:

1. Direct Debits moved from the end of the month to the beginning of the next month.
2. For a couple of them that means this week we will be making an interim payment to cover the missing few days.
3. Council tax is going up anyway, but will be extraly high this year because we'll essentially be skipping April's payment and making the payments over 11 months instead of 12.
4. The mortgage DDs are going out as normal this month, then being cancelled and remade for June, and I will need to make manual payments in May, because there isn't enough working days between the old date and the new date for them to change it in time. However, this is fine (from an organisational POV), because it's the same details that I use to make OPs.
5. Himself's redundancy pay has gone into our account, along with his owed holiday pay.
6. We've paid back my parents for a small loan they made us years ago, when they paid for our concrete shed.
7. Today or tomorrow Himself is ringing the finance company for the new front door so we can clear that too - I'm anticipating that being about £450 ish.
8. We have a list of things to look at spending some of the money on, which are very exciting things like a carbon monoxide detector and new metal shed doors instead of wooden ones that swell in the winter.
9. New cars. Omg, I am keeping that box shut until much later when I have actual brain space.
10. I am on-call now, and I'm basically on-call until the end of June. This is taking up a lot of brain space.
11. Medium Small has officially applied to go to college too in September. We are waiting on an interview date.
12. The HMRC £500 for people who receive tax credits has gone into our account. I put half of it in our food/booze/takeaway account and left half of it in the joint account towards a mortgage payment or something.
13. The credit card tickover has been moved from the 14th to the 19th. That is going to take a lot of getting used to.
14. I am sure there is more, but I need to go and do the college run now!
15. OPs WILL happen again, but probably not until June. Emergency tax is a thing. Ugh.

Grogged

Wow! That's quite a lot of changes in such a short amount of time.
It looks like you have it under control though.
Sounds like you're also doing more by being on call.
Fingers crossed that Medium Small gets their choice of college.
ATB, G.

coldcazzie

I made a sneaky OP today the credit card is an AM3X one that gives us 1% cashback and April is the time where that goes on each year. We often spend it on stuff for the kids, but nothing is urgently needed this year. After the annual fee it was £123.56, so I've overpaid that today.

2021 OP running total: £164.17

I feel much better having done that

Did the money shuffle manually yesterday and today. Tomorrow I will sit down and set up all the standing orders for June 1st so that happens automatically (there's 20 of them!)

We have cleared the debt for the front door. We've bought a carbon monoxide detector lol. Most of the stuff we plan to buy is technology - upgrading PCs etc. We've a list on the side of the freezer where we're keeping track of everything we spend.

The other half of the HMRC £500 thing is going to be split between a few different pots I think, because it's not like we need it to cover us at this point.

I'm still on-call, but 1 client is finished now. Our final meeting will be this week. Only 3 more to go! 

coldcazzie

Well. Interesting few days.

My FIL passed away. There was very little in the estate and a very short will which included a very strong "I do not want a funeral" wish, so actually, it's all been fairly straightforward to sort out. It wasn't a surprise, but it was still a bit of a shock. We're doing okay, all things considered.

Medium Small broke his finger getting down off a climbing rope tied to a tree.

I got 3 days off from being on-call - that was rather nice and unexpected! 

I gotta be honest, I'm ready to get into bed and sleep through until Monday morning! How is it only Wednesday evening?? Himself has suggested takeaway this evening and I think that might be good. Can't decide what I want though? 

Still haven't set all those standing orders up. I'm so tired!

Made a little OP yesterday of £5.50 after cashing out a few surveys from prolific.

2021 OP running total: £169.67

Grogged

So sorry to hear about your FIL.