Learning to walk before I run

edinburgher

Is it safe to come out yet?

I have been tweaking the February budget and there isn't as much of a surplus as I'd like (c. £500, £226 of which is no Council Tax). Perhaps this is just the net effect of the additional borrowing, CC repayments, £220/4 weekly childcare and our new protection products coming home to roost? Will need to take a long hard look at categories such as groceries and presents again. We've actually put our pocket money up slightly as c. 10% "fun" money between us was feeling a bit tight. We have, however, agreed to reduce it in any month where we have additional earnings. We're both planning a current account switch.

Edit: I'm switching back to the Spanish bank as of Valentine's Day, Mrs E to the Chinese bank

Edit the second: I've 'phoned Virg1n M3dia to get the automatic 6 month discount that cancels out their price increase. By the time that expires I'll be at the end of my contract and will haggle my way back down to whatever their lowest price for broadband is at the time

Edit the third: have paid Monday's £4 to OP/ISA and CC, going to go up to £5 weekly as of Monday 7th February

savingholmes

Sounds like great MSE progress...

On the washing machine debate - I have some things I could stick in the wash to wash it - but they tend to sit on the shelf... Strolls away whistling. It's the thought that count's right?

LadyGnome

Our washing is on at the moment.  Our ecofriendly washing bits are that our wm is second hand and we line dry whenever we can.

Even if the Feb figures aren't quite what you want - you are making good progress.  Keep tweaking the pots and you'll get to where you want to be.  I think you are right about the fun money - if its too tight then I get annoyed and want to splurge.

Alchemilla

@edinburgher I'm not preaching since you are much greener than me but hexyl cinnamal is apperently very toxic to aquatic life.

How is the lovely Miss E?

sabsob

I like the idea of monthly budgets - we typically just keep going, but our remortgage came through, so repayments have changed drastically, and we'll need to take a long, hard look at ourselves....

edinburgher

@Alchemilla - I'm sure you're right - I've come to appreciate that everything chemical that either sounds vaguely delicious or futuristic is bad for the planet. I am not the Laurence F0x of washing machine cleaning, just a keen but confused member of the public trying to balance relative harms in his head

@sabsob - our circumstances have also changed and it has been a bit of a reality check. Still, when I started this round of my diary, we were spending something like £700/mth more than we earned! That has now slammed into reverse. It has led to us having to chop a few categories that were very nice to have (like holidays). It's a bit disheartening and I feel we're now "poorer" whereas we probably just need to get used to the fact that we're now living within our means.

Not a lot of financial news to report. I am not feeling particularly lucky, so will be paying my £10 "sin tax" straight into my SIPP this month instead of matching the lottery tickets that I would usually buy. The gummint will top it up to £12.50 and I'll probably pop this into my US fund, which has been ravaged the most of late.

In real life, I've been doing the usual rounds of "Dad's taxi" and trying to get the dull month end chores out of the way. I've cleaned the dishwasher (not saying what with ), the aquarium, the filters for the extractor fan and I'm about to clean the tumble dryer, take out the recycling and flush the drains with soda crystals. It's also a fast day, going slowly as ever

*Edit: Have also submitted meter readings (energy supplier insists on providing an estimated bill unless I submit a meter reading within the last 3 days of the month - even if I've submitted readings a week prior to this)!, took out the recycling and cleaned the oven

Watty1

Love the washing machine chat.     Was told by washing machine chappie that delivered the Watty machine some years ago to run it on a 90 degree wash once a month and then leave the door open for it to dry and that would keep it working and running well.  I'm now wondering what would happen if instead of dog towels I put some spent lemons in the machine for the 90 degree wash?  I could pop lemons in the freezer as they were used and once a month put in machine.  
Any thoughts?   (Ed's readers not Ed )

greenbee

My WM has a 'Drum Clean' programme. It's currently running with citric acid as I did soda crystals last month. I leave the door open (definitely helps - I get really annoyed with visitors who 'helpfully' shut the door for me. Why? It's nothing to do with them!) and also wipe round the door seal and window when I remember. I must remember to drain the pump when the machine has cooled down. 

Like Ed, it's an exciting day. I've done the bins and recycling, cleaned the loos and will descale the kettle, coffee maker and DW shortly. I might even give the drains some TLC seeing as I don't want to let the side down as I channel my inner domestic goddess

edinburgher

The oven is, if not sparkly, getting there Caustic soda is horrendous stuff, I was very glad to have a FFP2 mask going spare! I've given everything a good wipe down with very hot water, have sprayed with white vinegar to help neutralise any residue and I'm now going to let the oven come up to max temperature in the hope of burning off anything left...

I have just realised that I can switch both of my current accounts, so I'm going to move my "spare" NW account to N@tionwide (opened a savings account with them a few months ago for this very purpose)

Alchemilla

@Watty1 you would need to be careful not to block the filter.

@edinburgher well done on the living within your means x