A new royal start

QueenJess

Grogged said:

I'll be your straw man then...
From what you've said above, can I ask if you want to carry on there?
If you do, what is it you want to do?
If you don't (and this may sound mercenary, it's not meant to be), if you stay till January, will you be entitled to maternity leave?
As they don't seem to have a plan, it may be better if you do.
It really sounds like you are a great asset (sorry, got corporate there), but the restructuring seems to be quite disruptive to the business, it's structure and people. Unfortunately people are usually the last to be considered and the most affected by it.

Oh no, I already knew I wanted to leave before Covid, but was originally planning to stick it out until about June 21 to save up and then take a 2 year career break. 

It makes financial sense to continue until end of Jan and it's all in black and white now. There is a tiny chance they will offer me something permanent, in which case I will probably take it since I would only work another couple of weeks and then go on maternity leave. Then I get paid for being off for a year and only have to work 3 months after I get back to not pay it back (which would be much less in reality as you accrue all your holiday whilst being on maternity leave). I'm just waiting it out from that perspective... Of course they might make me redundant again during maternity leave, but I'd still be much better off. And actually will have clicked through another work year, so will get a little more in redundancy.

In the short term until Jan, I just want to know what I'm doing (even roughly) as it's driving me a bit crazy 😜

Weirdly I don't mind restructures and changes. I've seen lots of them and I am just not able to go to work and do the same thing everyday. I need different things to do all the time otherwise get bored. This isn't the most organised one I've ever seen though, that's for sure! Things move very slowly in this organisation..

QueenJess

I should say I asked for the job I want and they need, but doesn't exist as a role. They know they need it locally, but organising it and getting the bosses in another country to agree to it is a different matter...

QueenJess

It's typical that I asked work for more information about what they want me to do day to day, but the person I need to speak to is on holiday this week.  So another week to get through.

Cleaning, washing and clean clothes put away today.  No money making activities today... not sure I achieved much!

Lunch was cream cheese, smoked salmon and rocket bagels with vegetable crisps.  Dinner was leftover roast beef stir fry and noodles.  Pudding was fruit and yogurt (baby can't get enough of it!).

I did reassess my emergency fund and recalculated.  I think I was planning to put in more than I needed, so I am going to call it full.  So back to full on OP savings for now (until I get to my target).

QueenJess

Trying not to obsess too much over money at the moment, so trying to update a bit less on here!  I've spent the last few days/week sorting out some additional pension contributions to cover the fact I won't be working for a year or two.  It's taken ages and left me with a headache (and I had to upgrade my personal finances spreadsheet to put it in properly), but it is finally done.  I feel a bit better in terms of planning for the future.

It was also payday today and managed to scrape more into the OP fund than I thought.  I'm now on £84,897.42  I'm not sure whether I will put any additional income I earn in November to it, as I think I will need to relocate it to other things.  I'll see how it goes.  I think I've also got my deficit (loan to myself) down a little bit, but not as much as I'd like due to this being a really expensive month.  I'll update at the end of October for the final figures, but I am hoping I can smash it down in November so I can start saving for DS's bed and the new baby furniture/car seat base we will need.

Other than that, just trying to get through the week    No cleaning done yesterday, so I am going to have to catch up and still not been doing any extra earning.  I always lose my momentum at the end of the month, but I did manage to make £275 extra this month, which is brilliant!  I think I've earned my break

Dinner tonight will be pasta with tomato sauce, salad and garlic bread.  Baby is still on a fruit fix, so fruit and yogurt for pudding (or muffins for people who want to be less healthy!).  Lunch is tbd still... I have something for everyday planned, just not which day I will be making what.  Yesterday was homemade pot noodle with chicken and veg.  Might go for fish finger sandwiches today with ketchup/tartare sauce and rocket... feeling lazy and can't be bothered to make the soup I had planned yet!

QueenJess

Not planning to spend any more money before the end of the month, so here are my updates:

• Mortgage is down to £84,882.77 (from £88,760.53 at the start of the month).  Wow - that is huge now I've written it down!  November target is below £84,500, which I will definitely be meeting as my monthly mortgage payment coming out next week will be more than the amount left.
• Debt to myself (from overspending earlier in the year - joint account  ) is now -£950.74 (from -£1,262.31 at the start of the month).  Really need to smash this down as much as possible this month, because I urgently need to save for DS's new bed and baby furniture/car seat base.  November target is -£400 and then hopefully I will have a small surplus in December.  I wanted to buy things in Jan, so I may have to borrow money from myself to do it as I don't think I'll have quite enough by then.  Don't want to put it off as it'll get too close to March..  Will do the best I can and see where we can get to.  My parents have offered to help with the cost, but I would rather do it myself if possible.
• Food shopping - don't want to add it up!  Probably about £85-90 a week on average (excluding my one off purchases), which is a bit outrageous.  However, having a few treats in there is keeping me going at the moment, so don't want to cut them out completely.  Interestingly, my food budget is less over than the amount of the big stock up, so maybe it isn't too awful (there should be a surplus though to use elsewhere).  Hopefully using up all the stocking up food over the next month will make a difference.  Probably need a surplus for December as I will get a few treats in for xmas time.

As I will meet my mortgage target, I would love to put a little bit in a S&S ISA for the future (pension/early retirement/big holiday/rainy day fund or whatever).  Going to target £300 for this month, which will be tough as it will just be from budget surplus/extra income/rounding.  Anything is a positive, so will try not to beat myself up about it!

Still not sorted the car insurance (got a few weeks still).  Really hoping I can get a reasonable price within budget!  Otherwise, November shouldn't be too spendy as I already have all DS's presents and I don't spend much outside of that (and all budgeted for anyway).  I do have my eye on some candles to brighten the place up though (within my one thing a month for the house allowance at the moment)... may have to do an Ikea order 

Oh - also not been feeling great the last few days, so trying to take things a bit easy.  Means I'm a bit behind on the cleaning, but at least most of the house is done now.  Just half the kitchen and a bathroom to go.

QueenJess

I was having baking withdrawal symptoms, so just made a batch of buttery biscuits.  I'll ice them pretty colours once they've cooled 

rugbymadfamily

That's a big month of mortgage OPs, well done! I was having withdrawal symptoms from no baking updates hehe! The iced biscuits sound yummy, enjoy 😊

QueenJess

rugbymadfamily said:

That's a big month of mortgage OPs, well done! I was having withdrawal symptoms from no baking updates hehe! The iced biscuits sound yummy, enjoy 😊

I cut all the biscuits into different shapes and the car shaped ones are going down a treat with DS!  I think a crumble is on the cards for the weekend as well.  It has fruit in it so hopefully it'll keep baby happy!

debtfreeoneday

Well done on those OPs 

QueenJess

I think the mortgage overpayments I totted up for October is actually September + October 🤦‍♀️.  Never mind... it's still a lot!

Given up with the car insurance people that I have.  Spent hours and lots of stupid conversations which still hasn't fixed the simplest thing.  It also took three separate conversations for them to simply email me my actual policy.  Jokers!  I am putting in a formal complaint and obviously won't be renewing with them!  Just signed up to another company with a much better customer service record.  Insurance was £53 cheaper than I originally had forecast and I should get £58 cashback as well.  Not counting the cashback until I have it in my hands, but the £53 is a nice start to my savings for the month.  Going to ring my bank tomorrow and make sure the jokers won't take out the renewal despite me cancelling... I wouldn't put anything past them.

Stupidly busy at the moment.  I always feel like I am trying to juggle 2 full time jobs which is not possible in a day.  Was also not feeling great over the weekend, so didn't achieve much then.  No cleaning achieved today, but was working hard and then treated myself to a nice long hot shower and generally pampered myself 

Overspent again on the food shopping... another £90 this week    A number of treats sneaked into my list this week though.  The random list is popcorn kernels, jam doughnuts (not had any for years!) and a large leg of lamb.  I also have ingredients for a crumble, baked apples and some apple and cranberry oat biscuits (the iced biscuits are a hit all round and won't last much longer!).  I'm not going to feel too bad about it as we needed to stock up on some expensive oaty bars for the boys (they'll last a while) and I need some treats to look forward to at the moment.  Should make some flapjacks too and dig out DS's ones from the freezer to make the expensive oaty bars last as long as possible.

As it's the start of another month I am mulling over my choice of household item I am allowed to buy this month.  I think it has to be candles and I am just deciding what size and where from.  I would love to buy some bedside lamps as mine is really rubbish, but I just can't find anything I like and is a bigger challenge as I have to get DH to agree to something as well.  It'll have to stay on the pending list until I can find something.

Not much else happening really.. will try to click through a couple of surveys whilst watching TV this evening.  Already cashed out one lot earlier, so the extra income is off to a good start.