Budgeting by the beach

DaisyCheerings

I didn't realise I was taking a break from here, but I think a few things caught up with me.  All better now.  No financial hiccups, so that's good.

This miserable weather has been getting me down, but lots of good things have been going on too.  Friends of mine finished renovating their home so they had a little party a few weeks ago which I went to and stayed over for a few nights.  Their place is gorgeous now, and really spacious.  I also got to see nearly all of my friends there too, so that was lovely.  I've also managed to get a few minor jobs done at home and have visited a few other friends since I last updated my diary here.

I've been invited on a road trip in July, but decided to turn it down as my to do list is so overwhelmingly long that some sacrifices need to be made.  I need to write out a snag type of wish list of what needs doing and work towards that.

My office has been reorganised and I've dismantled and disposed of one of the garage shelving units that was in there. I hadn't put it together very well and it was also very ugly so it had to go.  The other one I put together is sturdy and looks nicer, so have kept that.  I've decided to use my little downstairs office for personal work stuff as well as it being my work from home office, so the new layout should work out well.  I need a couple of drawers and a desktop, so I'll get those from Ikea in a few weeks.  I've seen Ikea is closed on Easter Sunday which is a nuisance as I'll be near one then, so I'll have to figure out an alternate trip.  Delivery is £40 which feels pretty steep.

Financially I'm keeping up with my budgets and most pots are as healthy as they need to be.  The gift pot is depleted though because I have a lot of birthdays in the first 4 months of the year.  To get around this I'm having to borrow from other pots and then I'll pay those pots back mid year when there aren't so many gift buying months. I have bought 2 Christmas gifts though as they were on sale and perfect for 2 friends and I didn't want to miss out.  I've also started a "Sweep" pot which I add to when there's some leftovers in a budget pot.  I only move over a few pound here and there, so there's just £6 currently in there, but I'm going to leave it to grow this year and see what's there at the end of the year and then decide where it should go.

Now the weather is starting to get a little milder I need to start my early morning beach walks again.  Those walks in the mornings really set my day up well, and also give my brain a chance to calm and focus.  The exercise is a bonus and just watching the sunset over the sea is the best way to get me motivated for the day.

I hope everyone is managing to stay on top of their mood and finances.

DaisyCheerings

doingitanyway said:

Nice reading through your posts and catching up, seeing your home progress and you settle in.
You might enjoy your London days more if you arrange to do something you can only do in London. Pop not a gallery on the way home then get a later, less crowded train, or meet a friend for coffee.

Is it too late to wish you Happy New Year? Done it anyway 

Hello doingitanyway.  Lovely to see you back.  I need to catch up with your diary now to see how you're getting on.

That's a great idea with my days in London and am in the process of arranging a meet up with a friend for my next trip.  

savingholmes

Well done on staying on track 

DaisyCheerings

Thanks savingholmes

I've been out to scour the charity shops for cute little items to use for photographs.  I didn't see anything other than a potential little yellow book which I didn't buy but may go back for.  I drove to the town next to mine and it was a really nice way to explore while having something to do.

Morrisons have an Easter special where if I spend a minimum of £20 on groceries for 4 out of 5 weeks, they add £8 to my account.  This week is the last one I need, so I went shopping earlier and have spent £15 of the £20.  I'm taking my Mum shopping in the week so will buy the rest then.  I didn't get to the market this weekend as I have a fair bit of veg from last week, so that saved me a little.  I'm managing to keep up with my weekly food budget and it's making me plan my meals out more and creating less waste.

I took my Mum out on a steam train yesterday for Mother's Day which was a lot of fun.  It's a tiny train, and you get a whole section of the carriage to yourself for 2 people so it was spacious and comfortable.  It had that old train smell I remember from when I first started commuting on those old style trains.  The trains where the doors would slam shut, but could be opened at any time, and we would open the door and jump off the train as it was pulling into the station.  The door opening mechanism inside was always a bit awkward so we'd often open the window and reach our hand out to open the door and then jump and run a few steps along the platform with the train.  It really took me back smelling that wood and material smell again.  It was a lovely journey and really good value.

My gas bill arrived last week which was a lot higher than I expected considering I'm so frugal with the heating.  At least that's the worst quarter done and paid for now though.  I don't pay by Direct Debit but I do put an amount aside each month, and it was nice to have that bill covered when it came in.

My next trip to work is also booked in for May.  The main rail tickets are paid, so I just need to pay for parking for the day and tube fares, although I think I have sufficient on my Oyster card at the moment.

So that's it for my week.  I seem to have typed a lot despite it being pretty uneventful.

savingholmes

The steam train trip sounds lovely. I'd like to go on one again...

DaisyCheerings

I'm lucky to have 2 steam train routes near me, and can highly recommend you going on one again @savingholmes

DaisyCheerings

Shopping trip tonight to spend the last £5 to get the £8 voucher.  I don't actually need any food but it's a good time catch up on things like tin foil and other incidentals.

I need to book my car in for an MOT for April. 🚙  Friends of mine have just asked me to stay at their house and look after their puppy 🐶 while they're away in April and unfortunately that's when my MOT is due, so I'll have to get it done next week.  So reminder is set and I'll also need to check the insurance and start getting quotes and see what cash back is on offer.

Now the Spring is about to arrive, I've charged the battery for my lawnmower.  I can't do it today as the grass is wet, but will do it as soon as I can.  I also planted a heartbreaker, and a few little flowers 🌺 that I've forgotten the name of. They're so vibrant and pretty 🌼 so I'm hoping they'll "take" in the rubbish soil and thrive in my little flower patch. 

Next week:
Get car booked in for MOT
Cut grass front and back
Look for car insurance

I've decided that I need a fence put up along the exposed side of my house based on some weird things happening, so when I get paid I'm going to request some quotes.  I'm hoping it won't be too expensive, but with the price of everything I'm not so sure.  I'm hoping I can get work started on this at the beginning of May, if it's not too eye watering.

Health wise, I've been having some weird symptoms of heart flutterings etc. I've looked up what could be the issues and the most likely reason is low iron.  I bought and started taking some supplements yesterday (with vitamin C added) and can already notice the difference.  I also bought some Vitamin D 🌞 as I haven't taken them since my prescription ran out! 😕.  If I get more heart flutterings next week I'll see the Dr 🧑‍🔬

This weekend is a little trip away which I'm really looking forward to.  I found some euros I had pre lockdown, so I feel like it's a virtually free trip now that spending money is sorted.  It's just for a couple of nights too with my group of friends, so should be a great time.

doingitanyway

Just catching up and It sounds like you are doing well. 
Good idea to keep an eye on heart flutterings whilst starting supplements.
Enjoy the trip with your friends.

savingholmes

Hope you feel better soon. 

Garden plans sound positive.

DaisyCheerings

Thank you @doingitanyway.  The trip was so much fun.  Thank you @savingholmes, I was hoping I could have been out in the garden but the weather here has stopped me doing much.

The iron and other supplements have made an improvement.  I was away this weekend and forgot to take them for 2 days, but it's still feeling under control.  I'm back on the supplements again now and will make sure I remember them each day.  A friend also showed me an app that works with my apple phone on checking heart irregularities when I need to, so I now make sure to wear my watch each day so if there is an issue, I can track it.

Yesterday my phone number was spoofed so I was getting calls all day from genuine people saying they were calling me back as they missed a call from my number.  If I didn't answer the call, most left voicemails with personal info to help me identify them!!!  I genuinely thought people were more aware of scams than not, but this experience has proven to me that we still have so much more work to do to stop helping scammers take things from us.  Spoofing is random and they just assign random numbers although I think there is more I could have done to prevent it happening, but people calling an unknown number back is such a worry.  If anyone has a phone with voicemail, please set a pin code on your voicemail so you're the only one who can access those messages, as they access your voice messages too so they can listen to "their" messages.  I don't know if that would stop it happening, but I think it is a first step, at the very least.

From a spoofing point of view I appear to have cleaned it all up though as I had less than a handful of calls after 5pm yesterday and just 2 unknown calls today, so I think the actions I've taken have worked and may also prevent my number being used again.  When I started looking into how to get it stopped, most places recommended changing your number.  If you do that though, they could just spoof your new number at any point in the future and it would be a major hassle contacting everyone that has your number to update to a new one, so I wanted something a bit more remedial.  I'm grateful to have been taught how to deal with this as I generally only keep up to date with computer scams.  At the time it was such a hassle though as you don't know how much they've taken.  I never click on weird links or anything like that though, so felt as confident as I could that it was just a number spoof.

On the better news, the weekend away to Salzburg was excellent.  The euros I took were more than enough for the food and little coffee stops along the way.  We went to Austria and did a cooking class on how to make apple strudel and we followed that with a 4 hour coach tour on The Sound of Music.  We had a fantastic tour guide who made it as interesting and fun as possible.  I'm not really a Sound of Music fan, but I loved the tour.  The 4 hours flew by too, although the last hour was the drive back to the drop-off point.

The apartment we had air bnb'd was perfect for what we needed and was comfortable for the 7 of us.  We could easily walk anywhere we wanted to go, so didn't need a car or any public transport.  We were just there for 2 days though, so if I went again I would love to see the beauty of the area and may need public transport for that.  It was very reliable, from what I could see, so I'd have no issue with catching buses.  I also have to say this is the first non-English speaking area I've ever been to where I didn't feel like a foreigner.  It's such a warm and friendly place.  It can be hard to find vegetarian or pescatarian meals out though, and we also found it difficult to get a table for 7 in any restaurant we walked up to.

I get paid at the end of this week, and have enough food in to last me and no other reason to need to go out and spend money, so that's great.  All of my monthly payments have been made, so I've closed March budget down and prepared for April.  I managed to keep within budget this month and I've learned more little personal tools to keep me on track.  The weekly meal plan and budget really helped so I hope I can maintain and improve that over time.

It's looking very bleak out today, but I'm overly wrapped up and feeling very snug and warm.  Enjoy the week.