A new chapter, An empty nest, Drama school & Last year of Uni

Spendless

Finished the month of with £133 in the main account. Having to change/cancel plans at the weekend due to illness helped us keep in credit. We also had to cancel plans to see the FA. 

 Its not a huge amount left over but we were still dealing with a lot of expenditure from the summer. I've used the money to top up our everyday savings as theyd fallen below the level Im comfortable with. 

DD's student rent paid today. 

Humdinger1

@Spendless can you remind me please of what Jabberwocky covers? I can't stop picturing slivey toves....love Humdinger xx 

Spendless

Humdinger1 said:

@Spendless can you remind me please of what Jabberwocky covers? I can't stop picturing slivey toves....love Humdinger xx 

Lots of nonsensical (hence dubbed jabberwocky) little things that should have never have happened and in an alternative universe didnt. Too numerous to categorise into seperate pots though I have a spreadsheet  listing it, so all come the same umbrella.

Woke to 2 kerchings on my banking app and it was interest being paid- 93p into the savings account. 

Spendless

Friday and Ive just transferred £10.07. The 7p is because a few days ago, I had interest of 93p paid out, so this is to make it a round figure.
Money put into pots as follows.
£5 into extra rent - this is to add up over the academic year and pay the last weeks rent of the tenancy.
Lost and jabberwocky now have £25 in each pot.
Stolen had £24 in it.

Im wide awake whilst the boys are sleeping in our hotel room. Going to grab a free coffee from the complimentary breakfast shortly whilst they snooze. We've decided to brunch outside the hotel today. 

Not a great deal of sight seeing done so far, as yesterday we concentrated on getting items across to daughters digs that we brought over, which included clothes for when the seasons change - its definitely not Autumn here yet. We have had nice food and drink but need to explore the area more.  We will adress getting out and about today. 

Spendless

And we're home. Finally got to our house around 4pm yesterday. So glad I booked today off work too. I know how long my body takes to recover from long haul flights.

Loved the experience, food, visiting tourist attractions, seeing DD. The highlight of the week was our last full day which was also  Mr S 60th birthday. We did a 2 hour long brunch river cruise. Enjoyed it so much. 

Worst experience other than the inclusive breakfast which had the room set out as though you were at a 1950s UK hol camp, was the show I booked for me and DD to watch. 2 hours of my life I'll never get back! Thankfully, the good times outweighed the bad. 

Can understand why DD finds it expensive, only found delis and tourist shops, very little else. I took her a 3 month (I hope!) supply of toiletries over.  Made me very much appreciate that here you can still buy decent brands of shower gel/shampoo/conditioner etc for £1- £2.

Got a horrible work schedule coming up where Im in every day, some shifts all day. Think its because I couldnt do my full contracted hours before going away so having a mid week to mid week off meant my underworked hours have been adjusted to include for this week. Looking forward to next week when it returns to normal.

Life admin/tasks done this morning. Dental appts made for me and DD. Weve got some plastering our bedroom next week but need a handyman to take down our wardrobe. Contacted the shop we bought wardrobe from (in 2014!) and they are getting their fitter to ring. We should have arranged this before going away but illness of DH followed by myself meant it got overlooked. I also only had a few days left to make an opticians appt or the payment plan for my glasses would stop. Thankfully Ive got an appt for later today, not my usual branch but at least I can fit it in. 

Spendless

Morning. Friday and £10 transferred into pots. £5 to extra rent to pay last week of daughter's student tenancy. The other £5 divided into pots. Lost has £27 now and stolen and jabberwocky £26 each.

Have been incrediby tired since returning home and having early nights. I didnt need the opticians appt it was just the way the email was worded that made me think Id lose my payment plan otherwise! Glad I found free parking in the city centre, otherwise Id have been annoyed! 

Best thing about returning to a retail job over an admin job is there isnt a backlog of work that hasnt been covered in your absence that youre now expected to catch up on! Have got a lot more hours this week though. Not sure if that's the way the manager had to juggle them.around due to me going away mid week to mid week, rather than have a full week off. 

Today is a lunchtime cover shift only and afterwards Im meeting a friend as she has a voucher for an eatery close to my workplace.

Have a good weekend. 

Spendless

Another Friday - £10 moved. Extra rent has £20 in so thats building nicely. All other pots have £28 in each. I love the weeks theyre even - lol.

On the 15th a few £s interest was paid out on everyday savings. For once I have just moved them for me to enjoy as having a girly meet up tomorrow afternoon for drinks. Im joining once I finish work. 

Our bedroom has been replastered this week and decorator is coming next month. Then we will need a new carpet and mattress and a light fitting. Potentially treat to new bedding (if theres an offer somewhere). Very glad that the taxman owed Mr S money (and that he thought to check his tax code!) Cos it paid for our recent hol and meant we could use savings for this instead.  

After that any redecorating/refurbishment is likely to go on hold till next year. 

Still waiting for the refund of 1 tax year (the furthest back) though a letter acknowledging it is due has been received. Also not turned up in our bank acc yet is money from the foreign check clearing. I know its taken ages before. Glad its the last one. Our bank is stopping accepting them too, so just as well.

Did a grocery shop at last. From returning home theres been coughs/colds, hectic work schedules and workman here, all meant hadnt been done. Finally addressed it yesterday. I noticed a lot of elderly people really browsing the meat section, not the reduced bit the regular stuff. I was getting a bit impatient (internally)  as I was stuck behind and then I saw what was happening, they were searching through for the pack size and price they could afford. It was an upsetting realisation.

Plans for today are very much home based. Prepare meals, do laundry. Ensure downstairs tidy as the upstairs is currently in chaos. 
 

Spendless

3 weeks today I paid in the US cheque and .....it's still not cleared! If it doesn't clear this week we will need to move money from ISAs to pay for the flights we booked on credit cards as that payment is due at the beg of next month.

I get paid at the end of the week, Mr S not until the end of the month. Trying not to spend too much so we can see where we are with any leftover income as there's barely been any the last couple of months. Both me and DH were out at the weekend with friends (seperately) and I then followed that by brunch wih old school chums and in my hungover state didn't notice I'd been served the larger breakfast rather than the smaller one I'd ordered until I was part way thru and started wondering why have I got 2 sausages. Not great in terms of spending more money than I'd budgeted for and also the extra calories! The larger and smaller breakfasts are very similarly named so easy to mishear or write down incorrectly. In future I will select something else from their menu so there's no mix up! Sign we are getting old most convo was about retirement and  getting work done  on our houses whilst still working. I remember the days when we mostly talked about dating! 

This weekend should be cheaper as I'm working and then there's a free boat parade with the boats all decorated seasonally that sails down some waterways close to us. It's very popular and can get busy but we have a relative who lives in a property en route (gorgeous view!) so we are going to go there and watch from theirs and have food and drink there

I am invited to a wedding at the beg of next month. I have everything to wear but some of my accessories are buried under all the piles of stuff  everywhere from our room being redecorated. I never thought to remove things before they were cleared because I hadn't anticipated having to wait for the painter & decorator. Need to find, def don't wish to buy again! Have contemplated staying overnight at the hotel the reception is at, just to give me a sleep in a nice surroundings whilst work in ongoing but if all the preferential room rates for wedding guests have gone, I won't bother and DH can pick me up - I'm a friend's +1 which is why he's not going too.

That will have to be a task for today. Not sure what else I can motivate myself to do!  I have a slight sore throat/cough and am unsure if it's just from the drying out plaster, so though I'd like to visit my Nan who isn't very well with a cold, I don't think that's wise in case I pass any bugs on. 

Spendless

Totally forgot until yesterday afternoon that I hadnt paid DD student rent in London. Its not due yet but the lead tenant prefers it all in on Tuesdays.  Drives me nuts that landlord insists on a lead tenant. We never had this in all the time DS was a student. At least its not DD collecting it in though unlike last year cos that was stressful!

With my wages nowadays, I cant meet this bill in full anymore. I can manage 3 weeks of the month - the ones that follow payday. After this Mr S wages are needed. Money is set aside every month for this. This week 's rent was a dip into those reserves. 

Decided against the hotel stay at the wedding. An unexpected personal expense has come up so need to channel the money towards that instead. I can sleep at home for free.  Was only an idea anyway. 

Today Im meeting a friend. We have planned breakfast out only in a supermarket cafe. Tbh after the unexpected bill could be doing with skipping it in favour of a NSD but have already planned it. Might dip into leftover birthday money and then repay back once payday is here. 

Spendless

The American cheque has cleared - yay! I checked tonight as I finished work and it hadn't then but ha now. I've moved the amount to a savings account so it doesn't get muddled with every day money.

Payday tomorrow, again more than I expected. I need to get to grips with their payment period. Not quite as much as last month but that makes sense because I literally started there on payday so that days work would have needed adding on. 

This left me with £48.18 in my account, which is good going but I am mindful that every travel cost and every small item I've bought has come out of our joint acc which Mr S wages are paid into and I prefer using my own wages to meet my personal costs. Going forward I can probably return to that now.

So with the leftover money, I have paid £42 to jabbewocky in my alternative universe account. I have a spreadsheet detailing all the miscellanous things this category is for. Adding £42 to the £28 in this account equals £70 which is the price of a dress, worn once to a special  event, dress code dictated by host, and wasn't  entirely to liking so later donated to charity. Paying this part back means I gain some headspace back over it.

Tomorrow being Friday there will be the usual money going across  into the Alternative Universe account but will be paid into the other categories.