Adventures and Overpayments

chicker

Just remembered I bought a stack of cards from Wh1stlefish on an offer last week which should cover most birthdays and special occasions for the next year plus a few spares. I think they worked out at 80p per card and they're good quality. I've also already bought our first birthday present for the 4th January which I usually forget about...

Just paid our car tax for the 1st Jan and did a lot of complicated shuffling of funds from one pot to another to make sure our bills account ends on £0 instead of -£74 after I paid for a food shop on the wrong card... 

Our joint account is now at £17.24 until the end of the month
My account is at £64.22 and DH's is at -£13

We are hopefully going out for a meal on Tuesday and I have one more physio appointment on the 31st. I plan to use the cash we had for Christmas on the meal and probably scrape enough together for the physio, or start our January budget a day early 😂

Noticed this morning that DD has chicken pox so if she gets poorly with it we may save a bit of money by staying in! I keep thinking we have to isolate at home then remembering that's only for covid... obviously we're checking if others' kids have had it yet though.

savingholmes

Well done on the money shuffle - I'm sure you'll do well at making your money stretch. 

Hope DD recovers quickly.

chicker

Thanks @savingholmes  😊 

Poor DD is now plastered in spots and new ones keep appearing. She had a temp yesterday and some of the first ones are now beginning to itch so she is a bit grumpy! 

We still took advantage of the dry weather and went for a nice walk along a river and stopped for a drink before walking back to the car. Highlight was sitting at the table next to a very famous person who has a house locally and pretending not to look at them 😂

£5.20 spent on drinks from my account, £8 on some cream for DD's spots and £10 on some pants for DH as I've just binned a few very tatty pairs! Both on the cashback credit card as bought in Mr Ts.

Our lunch with friends in cancelled tomorrow and I'm still waiting from family to see if they still want to come here on Thursday. Tomorrow I need to do our grocery order so need them to make up their minds!

I've taken advantage of having DH at home and spent some time formulating some new year financial goals which I will share in the new year. Have also been researching pensions and investment ISAs... which are both confusing me but need sorting next year.

I love this time of year for a fresh financial start and reading everyone's new goals and diaries 🙂

savingholmes

Glad that your break hasn't been too limited by DD's illness. I think mentally the fresh start is good for us - helps inspire hope.

chicker

Quick post to log an OP of £16.17 of money remaining in our December budget. New balance is now a nice round £231,700 

Overpayment total for the year is £605.85 😃 which has saved us approximately £314 in interest and knocked 1 month off the remaining term. Not bad considering the years it's been!

chicker

January account shuffles done 😃

First overpayment of 2022 £135.68 😃 saving approx. £71 in interest 😃

I've made completely new spreadsheets to track our 2022 budget and mortgage overpayments 😃 should be much easier to complete, less time consuming and easier to track 😃

New credit card approved 😃

DD has no new chicken pox today 😃😃😃



I plan to do a more detailed review of 2021 and goals for 2022 but I might not manage it today as DH is out from lunchtime until the early hours. So it will be an exciting NYE in this house...not!

chicker

Ok, quick 2021 review before DD wakes up:

(I haven't drafted this and my tired brain will definitely forget stuff...)

• Left job in January - didn't go back after my maternity leave as they wouldn't reduce my hours (they were crazy despite being supposedly 'part-time') and I have a lingering health problem which would have made it impossible even if I had wanted to go back. Didn't expect this to knock my confidence quite as much as it did.
• Cut our expenses down to the minimum. No sinking funds, no personal spends, cancelled everything we could cancel...
• Cancelled pet health plan - saved £22 per month and I've only had to pay for their vaccines this year. Neither have had fleas but I should probably worm them at some point.
• Paid off car finance 3 years early with money we took from our equity when we moved. Saved something ridiculous like £3000 in interest!
• In April I got a new job tutoring online. First pay arrived in July and it has taken a while to build up. I worked out I would only earn £31 a day doing supply teaching after tax and nursery fees and would lose money if we booked a day in nursery but I got no work. Last month I earned £500 
• I've earned over £151 on prolific this year and need to remember to check this more regularly. Also earned a bit on influence and continuing to use Topcashb@ck.
• Work has picked up for me and DH has done some private jobs and continues earning with his band. Combined with our buy to let we are now able to save and have booked a holiday for May 2022.
• I've tweaked my budgeting and now have one spreadsheet for all of our income and outgoings each month. Bookkeeping is ticking along and we've both completed our tax returns. Just need to pay DHs bill.

That's about most of it I think? 2021 started really negatively, not just from a covid point of view! But we are now in a much better place. I don't miss my job but I do miss having a job and definitely miss the pay. I'm quite worried about our pensions and if we will ever be able to move to our 'dream' home. 

I have lots of goals for next year that I will hopefully have time to post this evening.

Happy new year MFWs! 🥳🥳🥳

Grass_Roots_2

Great summary of everything you’ve achieved this year and look forward to hearing your goals later this evening - feeling inspired to write my own

savingholmes

You've achieved a lot this year - including more time with family. Sounds good to me. Happy New Year.

debtfreeoneday

Well done on last year and Happy New 2022!