Oops I Did It Again

CRANKY40

Today is a planned spend day. Food top up - salad stuff, fruit and something to take to my friend's house tonight because I'm going there for dinner. I'm thinking either flowers or chocolates but I may see what Asda have on the outdoor plants trolley when I do the shopping. This afternoon I will be going shopping for shorts for the HT as it's pension day and his money is in the bank (he has a pension from the MOD until he finishes education). Just cheap black ones from Sports Direct - he's not fussy. He has flatly refused to wear shorts for the past 5 years so he only has one pair just now and he's wearing them to death.

His pension money is used for clothing him, for his pocket money and for saving for treats/days out. I'd hand it over entirely but he's very careful with his money and wouldn't buy clothes etc - he'd leave it to me so I just keep it in a separate current account. Works for me. 

@Naomim I read somewhere that you don't go to Home Bargains with a list, you go there and let the shop tell you what you want. It's so true 🤣 I don't go to B&M because the nearest one with free parking is miles away whereas all the local HB's bar one have free parking and other interesting shops nearby. 

The HT is in the good books today. He's already tidied his room and made his bed. I'll get the hoover out later and do most of upstairs - he'll do his own room. 

short_bird

Absolutely true about Home Bargains. I have someone tasked to buy any cheap gluten free stuff if and when it turns up 

Naomim

I've checked and there's a couple about half hour drive 😂

CRANKY40

Good morning. Today will be NSD number 4. Some of the spendy days have only been food shopping but as I always buy more than I plan to I'm not counting them. If I ever manage to stick to my shopping list I will add it to the NSD total. There is plenty of food in the house, I just have to get my act together and make some decent meals out of it.  Today will be a housework/cleaning day. The HT has been press ganged into helping - he's finished school so no excuse not to help until he goes to college in September. 

I've paid just over the minimum payment on my 0% cc this morning. "Just over" is because I want to keep it at a round total not an odd number. Just one more to pay which is cc2 - the statement is due on the 14th and the money is sitting in the payment pot waiting for it. 

WinterWarrior

I hate mid month payments! I want them all gone just after pay day 😁
good luck with NSD4 and keeping the HT on track ⭐️

CRANKY40

Good morning. So......I used my time yesterday while my Looked After Person was watching tv to do a total overhaul of my finances. All money coming in, all the payments going out etc. I had a chat with the HT and agreed a plan for his pension payments. He will have some for pocket money, some for savings for clothes or whatever else he needs which will stop me moaning about what he is wasting  using his money for and some will be paid to me for board and lodgings as I'm now feeding his partner 3 days a week. I've incorporated my wages into the new system as they were being used for some card repayments, a bit to savings and the rest just sort of disappeared. The new plan has a definite amount for everything and means that we should actually have a decent amount left over some months which can be used/saved/paid off debts as we see fit. 

I've renamed some of my money pots too. I will have a separate pot for grocery spending which should keep me under control (freezer is packed again) and the HT's saved money will go into a savings account instead of into my 2nd current account. I'm a little bit nervous because the current system has served me well and kept all the bills paid for the past 12 years (if you don't count random spending on credit cards) but I didn't have a job when I started it so there was less income to take into account. I will still be writing down my starting figure and all money in or out in my record book. I tick each item off as it's paid so at any time  can see what still has to come out of my account and how much money I have left before the end of the month. 

I've written a 4 year plan for my savings goals too which should end in a new car and a holiday for me (solo) which will be worth saving for. I do like a plan and it can be revised to suit when necessary. I have a feeling it will take longer than 4 years as my finances will change again when the HT finishes college but for now I feel a bit more organised. 

Yesterday was a spendy day as the HT decided that he fancied sausage rolls which we didn't have so we went shopping and bought a few bits after I dropped LAP back home. I used the money that LAP's mum gave me to repay the cost of his food so I paid cash that I already had in my purse. Also bought a very nice RTC sourdough loaf which we had a slice of with our dinner. 

jokono

Oh, a holiday alone sounds amazing! Fingers crossed you get it soon, good luck with the new plan!
Love sourdough, I should get mine out of the fridge and use all that flour I've been hoarding. What does RTC stand for?

CRANKY40

It stands for Reduced to Clear @jokono. Some people call it YS or yellow sticker instead. Either way it translates to "cheaper than usual" or "bargain" 😃  I'm still sniggering here at your cat story. Not much work 🤣🤣🤣 Ours is a princess and we call her that because she is a right royal nuisance. She has a series of other uncomplimentay names too according to whatever activity she's busy with. It's usually eating or begging. 

jokono

Thought it might be something like that, we had one the other day with the yellow sticker on. My husband buys one every other day, for some reason he doesn't eat mine though! I think it's the slicing, we can't get proper sandwich slices with our knives - we tried loads and some are better than others but none of them great.
With 2 young boys and an active dog we thought a cat would be negligible. First few months he was meowing for food/attention at 5am. Now he's killing birds and brings them in. We can't keep him in unless we lock the dog flap but then he might still run out when we open the door for the dog. We put a bell on it but it doesn't look like it's working.

CRANKY40

@jokono our cat that died two years ago was a birdy murderer. The one we still have (older sister) couldn't catch a cold. When faced with a live bird that her sister fetched in she pointedly looked the other way until I removed it then she pretended to search for it. We have never had a cat flap and have no plans in that direction 😂