Adventures and Overpayments

savingholmes

Not surprising you are feeling hormonal if you've recently stopped breastfeeding. It all sounds very normal but if you are concerned give your GP or health visitor a call and see if you can access any support. I always feel better when I can get out and about more - and like you say it's dry and sunny even if cold. The current storms aren't helping either...

Baileys_Babe

I find the weather has a big effect on me, when it is dry I am much more inclined to get outdoors which has a positive effect and seeing the sun is even better.

Life admin takes up so much time and it never seems to be as straightforward as it should be, even simple things like updating my contact details.

chicker

Thanks @Baileys_Babe @savingholmes and @badmemory

I'm feeling a bit more balanced this week hormone-wise but it's been tough in other ways. I have had news of two deaths in the last week - not close friends but I went to school with one and the circumstances were absolutely heartbreaking. Another friend has just lost her dad in a similar way to how my dad went and that is bringing up a lot of memories I haven't thought of for a while. Then there is the state of the world right now. I'm not ashamed to admit that many tears have been shed over the last 5 days and I am having to limit my access to the news to times when I feel I can cope with it. It feels a bit relentless at the moment.

Anyway...
Payday money shuffles all done and all money allocated to our various accounts and pots. After a slightly rubbish January income, we have managed to almost catch up with our holiday savings and I had enough to pay off the balance today which feels good. As our income varies every month it's difficult to predict but DH should be getting paid for quite a lot of private work in March so the beginning of April payday will be a good one 

We have made the tough decision to change our pet insurance after our premiums were doubled. This means our little old dog is no longer insured for her ongoing heart condition as we can get the medication a bit cheaper online and there is no other treatment available for the problem. We've re-insured her with a cheaper policy as she is 12 and doesn't get out much. It's so hard when they get older and suddenly the premiums are unaffordable but you don't want to risk not being insured!

DH got a quote for new tyres from the cheap garage in town... £115 each and we need all four changing!!! Luckily we have a car sinking fund but it's not got quite enough in it and now I know we will be short for the next MOT and service too. 

I'm not even going to mention all of the other bills going up...

Oh and our March budget is already stretched before we start as we have the dentist tomorrow and DH needs £60 plus money for a shirt plus drinking money for a stag do next weekend 🙄 

For balance...
Some good things that have happened recently:

• Our washing machine isn't broken and the callout was only £35. We just need to put it on a piece of plywood to stop it moving around.
• We had enough left in our joint account to go out for brunch yesterday while my MIL looked after DD. She's nearly 2 and this is the first time we have done this...
• I have had three free proper coffees this week! One paid for by a friend while I was trying to wrestle DD into a highchair, one free from our garden centre membership and one with the brunch - they made a mistake with DHs order so gave us the drinks free despite fixing the issue within minutes!

savingholmes

I think the news is unsettling at the best of times - right now its horrifying.

Well done on doing what you can control. Glad you had time out for you and with friends.

chicker

savingholmes said:

I think the news is unsettling at the best of times - right now its horrifying.

Well done on doing what you can control. Glad you had time out for you and with friends.

Horrifying is the right word 

greent

Another one here who can't cope with too much news right now - it's just too overwhelming. I limit myself to usually just reading a daily summary - it's horrific and so sad 😞 

chicker

chicker said:

Goals for 2022

Financial goals:

1.      Sort out accounts

Switch old current accounts for bonus  Just waiting on the bonus payments

Check TSB account has closed

Close my credit card

Open new credit card for DH

Open new credit card for me

Close DD's regular saver

  

2.      Investing

Open junior ISA for DD

Open SIPP/LISA/ISA for my pension (after working out which one of course)

 

3.      Begin matched betting for me and DH as I've researched this several times but the time hasn't been right to start - I've just opened a separate account for this so now need to get started 

4.      Contact agent to discuss increase of rent on BT - done. Small increase from this month onwards

 

 Family/home:

Enjoy our first holiday abroad as a family of three!

Renovate/decorate hallway, stairs and landing including new front door

New kitchen!

Flooring downstairs

Personal goals:

Remember to look after my own health - don't put things off because they feel too much to deal with. Seek out counselling to help me come to terms with and accept the way things are now.

Keep seeing the physio when needed and continue with pilates to avoid back pain as much as possible. 

See a dentist (private as our nhs one has closed) and get my discoloured root canal sorted. 

Reduce sugar in January and see how I feel about it.

Buy a few new items of clothing so that I don't feel like such a scruff.

- These are a bit vague so will continue as a work in progress...

- I have seen a dentist and start the whitening process tomorrow. I didn't realise it would involve whitening all of my teeth... just don't mention Ross from Friends 😂

- I bought some jumpers in the sale but now need some summery clothes for our holiday

Felt like reviewing these today to see how we're getting on. Is it still possible to use different coloured writing? 🤔

savingholmes

It used to be but I don't think it is now. You could copy and paste it into word - recolour it and then screenshot it and upload as a photo - says a fellow colour enthusiast

chicker

savingholmes said:

It used to be but I don't think it is now. You could copy and paste it into word - recolour it and then screenshot it and upload as a photo - says a fellow colour enthusiast

Haha I love colour 😂 I’m very visual but not remotely artistic 😆

chicker

Morning all,

Its been a very busy week here. It feels like almost everyone we know has covid including the childminder so I lost my ‘day off’ on Thursday. Fingers crossed they get over it before next Thursday 😵‍💫

We had a call from our Mortgage advisor yesterday advising us to secure a new rate asap as all other banks had put theirs up except N@west who we are with. They also advised us to stay with the same bank as the fees would make it not worth switching. 

We ended up going for another 2 year fix as I really hope we should be in the next LTV band by then so hopefully will get a better rate. As it is our interest has gone from 1.45% to 1.84% and our monthly payment will increase by £45. We can cope with this but obviously it’s just another thing chipping away at our plans to save/invest/have any kind of fun at all…

Even more annoying is the fact we opted for the deal with the £995 fee which gets added to the mortgage and nicely wipes out all OPs I’ve made so far. I checked it all very carefully and you pay exactly the same with or without the fee, it’s just that the fee keeps the monthly payments a bit lower for the duration of the fix which seems like a sensible choice at the moment. 

I’ll have to adjust my signature to a negative OP total…

Anyway, busy day today as DH is taking DD to his mums and swimming so I can have a break. I’ve got lots of work to do and want to fit in a long Pilates session (but I had two glasses of rose last night and I’m not feeling productive) so I’d better get up and get going! 

Enjoy the weekend folks 🙂