Learning to walk before I run

edinburgher

Darn it! Thought my back was better, haven't taken any painkillers since yesterday and boom! Back *and* groin pain No heroics from me, I thought swimming with DD1 might have been a bad idea. Co-codamol and ibuprofen gratefully glugged.

Today I have been grocery shopping. Picked up essentials (I'm planning on dieting this week), some baby things (4 packets of nappies etc., DD2 has gone up to size 3), topped up the car with another £13.01 of petrol (I was trying to use cash) and fed a friend's cat. While I was at the supermarket I got £50 or so for cashing in some loose change that had been not earning interest in a jar in the cupboard. I used some of it for shopping and have transferred myself the same from the grocery budget.

I have been feeling a little scunnered financially, so paid a cheeky wee £37.52 into my SIPP (£46.90 after tax relief)

edinburgher

£2.25 cashback withdrawn from TCB (bought myself a Mr M's voucher that I used for groceries yesterday) - £1.13 OPed and £1.13 paid into my ISA.

I have always been tickled by the quote "Markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent". I always like to think "I can remain determined for longer than markets can stay irrational" - take that Keynes!

Suffolk_lass

Thanks for the good wishes re my headache. They are much less frequent now I'm not working but I still get 3-4 a year. They just sit above my right temple and varying degrees of sight interference and nausea. This one was OK until nausea yesterday but a couple of the 8mg codeine with 500mg paracetamol did the trick so the big girl medicine stayed in the bag. 

Back and groin pain not good - consider a tele-consult with your GP? 

Everything else seems to be flying for you at the moment - well done

killerpeaty

Sorry to hear about your pain. Definitely speak to the doctor!

When I come out of my current industry, I'm thinking of going into local government for the pension honestly

savingholmes

Well done on the pension payment.

Hope the pain resolves soon.

edinburgher

£11.92 paid out from Prolific, which I have paid into my SIPP (£14.90 after tax relief). It has rapidly become my favourite way to earn some passive(ish) income and allow me to scratch the regular payments itch. Far quicker than TCB and far less effort than eB@y. I tend just to leave my second laptop on, grab surveys during the day as they arise and complete them on a break. Don't get me wrong, probably only talking £3-5 a day, but better than a poke in the eye

edinburgher

Sore back still bothering me, I've tried adjusting the angle of my computer chair to encourage better posture and I've booked a phone appointment with my GP for tomorrow. It's day 3 of my diet and I have lost 6.5lbs, which I fully appreciate will be water loss and err... digestion The plan is to behave myself until Friday or Saturday, at which point I will have a higher calorie day with a "cheat" meal, more carbs and calories. As I think I'm eating at roughly 1,000 calories under maintenance on my diet days, this should be fine and will help to keep me on the straight and narrow (fingers crossed). 

I remembered to make use of my free cinema ticket from Oh2 this week, have booked for DD1 and I to go and see Lightyear on Sunday morning. I know it's getting poor reviews, but it has a robot cat in it, so she will likely find it hilarious It is funny though that even with a free ticket, it's still £9 to go and watch a kid's film at 10 on a Sunday! I will find it hard not to eat nachos

Correspondence has been bouncing back and forth between the architect and the builder and I'm hoping we're still good to go from w/c 18th July. There have been changes to the stair design and the builder is now asking for a 40% deposit that was never mentioned previously. I don't think he is a scammer - if he is, it's the longest con ever. I suppose it's reasonable to ask for some monies the week prior to starting a large job? I just keep telling myself that everything will be alright - tons of positive feedback, he's very responsive, has made loads of home visits. It's just hard to trust someone with large chunks of your money, isn't it?

I noticed the FTSE 100 took a dive yesterday, so I made a small payment of £24 into my SIPP (our Target Retirement funds are slightly overweight re. UK equities). I also withdrew another £5.84 from Prolific and paid this in, too. Total after tax relief should be £37.30. 

savingholmes

Well done on the SIPP and your weight loss.

I have no idea re builder. It's a big risk for him too isn't it...?  Perhaps ask what specifically it's for - and if it's for materials ask when they will be delivered and perhaps pay on delivery? 

Cheery_Daff

40% deposit sounds like a lot! I only really have one recent experience with builders to go on though. We had quite a bit of work done - paid a £500 deposit to secure when we booked it 6 months in advance. Then installments - first one as soon as they got on site, second after a period (can't remember what) then remaining balance at the end. They also asked us to pay the other trades (who they organised) directly - so plasterer, electrician, plumber, etc all invoiced separately, mostly just at the end, but the apprentice was set up self employed and invoiced each month.

Can't actually remember whether each builder installment was a percentage of the estimate or a price - it was certainly nowhere near 40% though, and the final installment came as rather a big shock given that I'd asked for estimates of additional costs each week... Couldn't argue with the detailed bill at the end, but I wish he'd kept a more accurate tally as we were going along.

Not sure what they'd need that amount upfront for, as they've usually got accounts with builders merchants for materials.

Having said that, I am a complete wimp so I would have just paid it and not caused a fuss even if I thought I was being swizzed 🙄😂

Suffolk_lass

I have never been asked for a deposit up-front. Times are very different now though. See if you can pay with your credit card with benefits so you can get a refund if there is a problem, and you get something out of it (it is a JL card for me).

The one time we did pay ahead of work being finished (£30k) the builders went awol for 6 weeks leaving us with a tarp across the back of the house from the week before Christmas until February. It was this that destroyed my sleep pattern, permanently