Never a good time but here goes..

ladysummerisle

Wrenched out of bed by a wailing threenager so over a tepid cup of tea ordered a mattress for her bed. I avoided buying one at the same time as the frame as I knew I could get the one I wanted for cheaper elsewhere. Glad I waited now as paid £160 instead of the already cheaper £200!

Another job for the list - declutter and get rid of the existing cotbed. Inevitably I’ll take it to the wire 😂

ladysummerisle

Quick post whilst my son has a haircut. I’m off all half term and we’ve had activities with friends for the past 3 days. Clutch on the car still okay for now but plan to check hydraulic fluid levels next week. I did spend £126 on a new thermostat last week so at least no more fan going all the time. 

New bed for my daughter is being delivered tomorrow and as predicted, I’ve not got rid of the cot bed yet. It has been unearthed though so pics to take then need to dismantle later. 

Other tedious tasks include birthday cake arrangements, world book day outfits and many more I’m grateful I can’t currently remember!

ladysummerisle

Ooh, can report I received a letter from mortgage provider confirming I’ve used up my overpayment allowance this year. Never had one of those before.

ladysummerisle

Edging closer to the end of half term and just managed to smash my phone screen. Again. 

It’s an iPhone 7 Plus and had several new screens already so it’s time for another. Can someone just decide for me please? I hate shopping. 

ladysummerisle

New (to me) phone bought, hopefully with some cashback so circa £300. I want to order a Smarty sim too to see if their coverage is decent by me. (I’m on a hill so can be tricky). I meant to change plans / phones an indecently long time ago so this will save money long term.

I’ve been off work for the past week and it’s involved a fair amount of spending. Perhaps I’m less comfortable with it as I made any transfers so early in the month. I’m itching to move more when I get paid. 

I ordered some bits from M&S, Tu, plus new bras so will be due refunds from at least two of those. Oh and from the bloody bed frame that is being collected on Tuesday. It was too long 😭 Divan now on shopping list..

ladysummerisle

Back to work this week and busy as usual. Squeezed in a few errands, all seemingly around returning things so I’ve had M&S, Tu, Argos and partial phone refund. The new one arrived and it didn’t have Touch ID, Face ID wouldn’t work and I got annoyed with it so sent it back the same day for one I’m happier with. £35 refund and Touch ID so I don’t waste years remembering variations on passwords. 

Ordered an ID mobile sim today, £6 a month. Something I should have done an embarrassingly long time ago but it kept falling off my list. 

Ended the month with £191.52 so shuffled that over shortly before pay hit the account. I spent the latter half of the month itching to move more so may need to rethink my early in the month transfers. I’ve got a couple of standing orders so will have to be satisfied with that for now.

February mortgage interest: £35.93!

ladysummerisle

Quick update as I recline on the couch before school pick up. My refunds have all come through so that’s good. No sign of my Help to Save bonus £600. My attempts to withdraw the balance in the account has returned only website errors and to try again later. 

I need to conjure up birthday present, balloon, card and cake by Friday for soon to be 8 year old. Aka mum life. 

kaycastle

Yay another diary caught up on - I'm sorry to hear about your autoimmune diagnosis and your friend from work.

You are so so so close on the mortgage being gone!

And happy birthday to your 8 year old. I think my brain must be sending me a message as I read the sentence as "cake and cake by Friday" 

ladysummerisle

I’m definitely here for cake and cake @kaycastle

I haven’t mentioned it before I had planned to use a chunk of the “emergency fund” for a new bathroom. The tiles are already in my garage but time flies and I’ve not had the bandwidth to make decisions. 

My Dad has dementia (300 miles away), complicated by his wife having cancer treatment too. Yet another thing in life we can’t control so I suspect the mortgage is my way of focusing on something I (mostly) can. It should be down to about 14500 by the end of the year on normal payments. I think I can make overpayments without penalty next year though.. 

ladysummerisle

Another quick update. I’ve been off work for a week with a chest infection but no sign of actually being able to rest. I’m going to try today but I’ve got a game (or 3)  of Pop Up Pirate to complete before then. 

In a shameless move, I gave child cash for his birthday. That and sweets, a bespoke cake and balloons seem to make him happy so a win there. I need to go back on GF but the cake is so tempting.. it’ll soon be gone!

Now to finances: some expenditure obviously but not too bad. My help to save balance and interest hit my account today so that’s £3000 moved into main savings. I know I had the £2400 anyway but it was hidden so nice to see it all together.