Squirreling Away Those Nuts

Squirrelz92

Grogged said:

Well done on getting to the 95s!
I had the same dilemma at Christmas, so Santa helped out 😆

Thanks @Grogged It is very satisfying to be where I am in such a short space of time, especially with the mortgage overpayments and renovation funds coming from my wage alone.

caeler said:

Love the room decoration! @Squirrelz92
and great news on the first overpayment of the year! 

Thanks for dropping by @caeler and many thanks on the bedroom compliment! It's great to be underway with that first payment of the year. Definitely on track for my £200 OP this month so far. 

Gemma x

Squirrelz92

🎉 Woooo £11.18 earnings from Prolific has finally hit my bank and it has gone straight to January's mortgage overpayments. This brings my total so far to £74.02

On a sad financial note, I finally received my energy bill for the month of December... £117 It's always an expensive month with lights and heating working full time so it was to be expected. Shall have to hold a little back for next months direct debit payment in order to cover the cost. 

News of more renovation expenditure! I have finally found a joiner who is able to remove and replace my 5 doors upstairs. However, due to it being the 'typical ex council house of the 70's', they are not standard doors/door frames so I have to have doors cut to size. Keeping it as budget as I can with the traditional 6 panelled white woodgrain effect. To add to this, I have decided to take the plunge and have my loft boarded my the same joiner I really do need it doing in order to clear the remaining loft clutter from under my stairs and that is preventing one room from being accessed entirely! He is going to install a lovely fancy pull down ladder, a light and board as much of the loft as he can. The price in all fairness isn't too bad compared to what I have been quoted before. After this, I shall have my painter/decorator in to get his 2 days worth of work done as agreed. Excited!!! Ooooh and I also have my brand new Simba Hybrid mattress being delivered on Wednesday  The thought of not having to sleep on a slant due to sharing with Mr Squirrel on a 'past its sell by date' memory foam mattress is beyond thrilling!!

Gemma x

Grogged

Exciting time for the upstairs.
I imagine that extra loft space will come in very handy!

Squirrelz92

Grogged said:

Exciting time for the upstairs.
I imagine that extra loft space will come in very handy!

Most definitely Grogged  Cannot wait to organise everything ready to be shipped on up there on evening next week once it is all finished. 

Good news this evening! After trying to pay off some more of our holiday to Egypt in May, my booking wasn't showing on First Choice so I had to ring up to find out why my holiday has suddenly disappeared. Turns out that my favourite hotel has now been placed into a different category, moving from the 'Holiday Village' collection to the 'Platinum' range. I have always taken my children to the Holiday Village hotel's as it is 1000% made for children. It's brilliant. I was offered the options of either continuing with this holiday booking, changing my destination and date for free, or cancelling altogether. I decided to opt out and cancel Although I am a tad gutted that for another year I shall go without my sun and sand, I am happy that it is one less financial stress to worry about with paying it all off in time. It also means I will be able to sit another ACCA exam in June. The best part however, is I shall be receiving a refund of £800 that I have paid so far to the holiday which couldn't have come at a better time with my loft/door replacements and painting reno expenses! So all in all, not bad!

Took two trips to B+Q on the hunt for the perfect stairs/landing paint. I found five shades of grey that I loved, painted them on sheets of A4 paper and cello-taped them to the wall. Turns out now they have dried completely that one is practically white. Another is wayyy too dark considering my landing and stairs do not have any natural light unless the bedroom doors are kept wide open. This leaves me with three colour choices. My family loved the darker of the three initially but now they are swaying more towards the middle option. The third is light grey but with a light blue tint to it. I quite like it. I also however love the other light colour; also a light grey but may go a bit better? Soooo hard to choose! Lucky for me I have a few weeks to decide before the decorator comes in and does his thing.

Gemma x

Grogged

Shame about the holiday, but I think last minute is going to be the norm this year.
Can't really see the quick policy changes stopping any time soon.
Glad the refund is not going to waste. 🙂
If you're having to buy new doors upstairs, have you considered the ones with windows as the small top panels?
Even with privacy glass, they'd help brighten the upstairs.
Off for another fun day filling the new shed with boxes so I can move my WfH office (well table) to one with a garden view.
ATB, G.

killerpeaty

Shame on the holiday, hopefully you can get some time away soon!

Did you do FR in December? The results are soon so I hope you did well. 

Squirrelz92

Funny you should mention the top panel glass @Grogged. We have the traditional council house 'transom windows' I believe they are called. Have them all above every door we have (almost). I have been looking up as to what I would be best doing with them and a lot of people board them up. I was going to do the same but then it really would be very dark on the landing and stairs. So I have decided to keep them as they are (especially considering I am not removing the old door frames) and have given the painter/decorator the task of tidying up the god awful paintjob given to them by the previous homeowners. They will look good as new!

An office desk with a garden view certainly sounds like something that would make a world of difference! Once my spare room next to the driveway is all boarded out and plastered I intend on having my desk next to the window so I can lean back and see down the street. Not quite as beautiful as being able to see your garden but I intend on jazzing up the front of the house this year so it shouldn't be too ugly a sight!

Thanks for dropping by @killerpeaty We are hoping to book somewhere in the lakes for a long weekend away (without children if my Mum is able to have them) once this covid decides to !!!!!! off. It's on the bucket list to have a short hiking holiday away at the lakes with a hot tub lodge and dogs!  

Sadly I did not sit FR in December as I decided not to put myself through the disaster that the exam centre put us all through in September because of covid. I have had much to think about the last month or so with work and a lot of recent events to do with my employment have put me off accounting altogether. However, I do believe that it would be a real waste to simply up and leave the industry without at least giving it one last shot so I have decided to seek accounting employment elsewhere in the hope that it is just my current company who are ruining my thoughts about accounting We shall see what happens in the near future. I also decided to inspire myself to get back into the swing of ACCA by watching some motivational ladies who are self studiers like myself. This has awakened a new mindset for me regarding achieving my qualification. So, I have decided to resit AA. I failed it by 1 blasted mark in September and I was unable to resit it in December with my boss being on holiday. I'm taking one exam at a time and if I fail then so be it. I just try again. So long as I know I have put everything I have into studying for it, I wont be disappointed with the outcome. Hoping to pass it in the March sitting though and now with my holiday cancelled in June, I am able to sit FR then all being well

Gemma x

Squirrelz92

Well, the joiner has been and put on new doors for all of upstairs. Very pleased with them! I am waiting for the painter/decorator to get back to me with a date to crack on with finishing up the landing and stairs and then it just leaves the nitty gritty stuff like matching bedside tables and sets of drawers etc. On a down side, what I thought would be a simple enough job in getting the loft boarded has actually turned out to be a flaming nightmare. Apparently I need all the woodwork supporting the roof strengthening before boarding as any load bearing weight would essentially pull down on the supports potentially cracking my roof Never mind. I am getting a specialist loft boarding company to come out and survey it just to make sure that is what needs to be done (and roughly at the same quote as I have already been given). I really do need the space for storage but instead of plan A (loft) I have now decided upon a plan B. I have a large space under my stairs where half of what needs to be stored is currently shoved... I have asked my joiner to quote me for putting together some plywood panels and doors so not only will it make the area tidier, but it will also be able to hold the vast majority of my loft goodies. Of course I will have another thorough root through to sort out anything that isnt needed just to make a little extra room. Shouldn't cost too much!

Nothing has moved much on the overpayment front. I get paid on the 20th so my usual ritual of clearing out the bank account the day before into my pots shall commence then. I am taking part in a weekly Prolific survey which pays me £1 for every time I submit so that is quite handy

Work is tough... our office next door has contracted covid so they have all been sent home for 10 days to isolate whilst myself and the lady I work with still have to come in but must now be placed into separate rooms.... bloody mental!

On the studying front, ACCA has made the sad decision to cancel all centre based exams meaning I will now no longer be resitting my AA exam. Sure there is the option to sit it remotely at home, but I am choosing not to. There are wayyyyyyy too many horror stories vs good experiences of the site crashing, losing internet connection or the session freezing. You don't get your money back nor do you qualify for mitigating circumstances... you simply must resit again in 3 months if you choose to. Not worth the risk for me!

Gemma x

Grogged

Shame about plan A, plan B seems like a good idea and is useful if plan A is a goer later.
That Covid gets around doesn't it, hope they are all doing ok and only bored at home.
Stay safe (and studying! 😆).
ATB, G.

Squirrelz92

Ooops, three days late to provide a money shuffling update after being paid on the 20th!
Didn't have as much to spare this month as I have done in previous months with having to shell out for things that were needed but all in all it has still been a good month. Annoyingly Mr Squirrel ended up paying me some of his share of the bills in cash (I like to trace spending through cards and with cash I can't remember everything I've purchased using it), so that was £200 less than what was supposed to be in my bank account. A bonus however is that the painter/decorator managed to do the work in one day instead of two, so that has saved me shelling out another £120! After shuffling money about I managed to pay the remaining balance for January overpayments which was £126, give or take a few pennies. I have successfully paid the £200 January overpayment target  

Thought I would add some before, during and after pics to the stairs/landing as although it is nothing fancy I am really pleased with how it has turned out. 

Gemma x