My mortgage clobbering post

KajiKita

Sometimes the bosses need someone to speak up and be willing to make a statement about problem colleagues …. It then allows them to take action about the problem colleague. However, in case the boss doesn’t want to tackle it, I would enter into the conversation carefully ….

KK

Frith

Thanks, @KajiKita
I've made a list of things I want to say in the meeting. 

Just withdrew £74 from Quidco so I can only hope it is going into the correct account! Quidco says it will be paid in by the 20th. 

An expensive 6 weeks coming up with Christmas and my mum and dad's 80th birthdays. 

LadyWithAPlan

beanielou said:

Have you looked at the social tariffs for broadband? They are well worth a look. 

Yes if you havent Frith then they are worth a look indeed.

Well done on the pension contributions btw as well as your continued focus on saving

Frith

£74 from Quidco plus £25 from Ebay sales.

Not much to report from here. The ancient cat (19) has been extremely poorly but is now well again. Snow yesterday and today. 

Current account about -£200
Savings account +£500

beanielou

My best boy lived to 20. 😻

Frith

The cat is still going, though I've no idea how!

Just doing the Switch process to NatWest. I think I've switched banks about 6 times to get their "golden hellos!" Hopefully this will give me a free £180. 

Not much else to report, finance wise. 

Frith

The cat is still alive! There have been many evenings where I have said goodnight to her and not expected to say hello to her again the next morning. 

I have had the golden hello from Natwest today so my balance is £787.61. I have also had £100 for Christmas from my parents so that will be in my account soon. I am still saving to have the kitchen floor tiled. (It has been bare concrete for a year!)

Debts are going down each month:

British Gas -£212.20
Eon -£185.25

I can change my son's mobile phone contract in January from a paying for the phone contract to SIM only. That should save over £30 per month. It will take 3 or 4 months to pay off the electricity and gas debts now so they will then decrease a lot - probably saving an extra £100 per month. 

We had really rather a nice Christmas. It is still all about the stocking fillers and Christmas Eve pyjamas even though my sons are both in their 20s! My older son's favourite present was an apple peeling/coring/slicing machine (£2 from a charity shop!) and my younger son's was a colour changing light bulb you control through your mobile phone. My favourite present was a piano stool a friend bought me. (I've never owned one but always perched on the edge of a dining chair.)

I have about £20 in Nectar points and a £20 JL voucher so those will see us through any difficulties. 

beanielou

Glad you had a nice time & the cat is still with you. 

Frith

The cat is quite better. 

All bills paid (last week of the month).

Balance £700
British Gas -£212.20
Eon -£51.07

The food share place (not a food bank but a cafe twice a week where anyone can collect surplus food) sent out a FB message that they were absolutely swamped with food. I had never taken any food before but popped in and they had one hour left before it all went to the pigs! They were helping people unload bags in their cars then come back to refill the bags. 

I had fruit and veg, a Christmas cake, mince pies, frozen burgers, meat, fish and cheese. They weren't doing staples like flour, bread and tea bags but we will be eating what we were given for weeks! I have already cooked and pickled a bunch of beetroot and made parsnip soup plus carrot soup. I've made pears into pear and frangipane tart (and cake) and uses butternut squash to make a pie. We've eaten vegeburgers, the Christmas bits and might have salmon tonight. 

I've also been told when the YS are particularly good at work so had 2 packets of sausage meat for 20p and some turkey fillets from £6 down to 50p! We had those last night in batter with sweet chilli sauce and noodles.

It has all made me more enthusiastic about cooking again. 

I'm working on writing my new year's resolutions. I need to lose weight (and not put it all back on again!), get the kitchen floor tiled and I want to grow flowers in the garden that are good for cutting to bring inside. 

Frith

3000 of us are going to be made redundant in March/April so I'm vaguely looking for another job and finding it quite difficult to make plans. My colleagues have all worked for the company for 20-40 years. It is our department that will no longer exist 

I have ordered the tiles (cheap and cheerful, from Topps Tiles) and they will be delivered next Thursday! The tiler will be here in late February. 

I'm trying to get into as many free or cheap local activities as possible. I've tried out the community cafe (very good but not particularly cheap). I now go to a free art class once a week and still go to the coffee morning (also free) and have been going there for over a year. A new Warm Space has opened weekly where jacket potatoes are £1 so I think I will go there once in a while. There will also be a book club once a month at the library from next month. 

Both mobile phone contracts have been changed, saving £30 per month. 
I spent the Nectar points because our old kettle fell to pieces but I still have the JL voucher!

And... the cat is still going and having a quick sit out in the garden.