Forever Starts Now

Cheery_Daff

Yes, I can't believe how quickly the year is flying by! Two thirds of the way through!! 😱 You are ploughing on nicely with your goals though. Well done on finally getting paid from last year 😮 and I am so excited to hear how you get on with your new job! 😊😊😊

starnac

Today, kind of feels like a new start. It's the start of the new school year and everything feels a bit new. My two don't go back to school til Wednesday but a lot of the prep starts today. We are starting to get back into routine with bedtimes and meal times. 

Finances are going to be a little weird this month I think (maybe next month as well) as this month I move from one job to the other. I'm not exactly sure how it will work yet so spare money from payday just gone will go into savings rather than overpayments just in case we are a little short with the crossover (two half month pays). We can then take the shortfall from the savings with no issues. Once I know exactly what my new new pay will be (with all the deductions etc) then I will do a new budget so that we know exactly where we are again. 

Today will be spent making plans, plans for next term for some of the groups I will continue, meal plans, house plans and of course, now it's September, Christmas plans. 

Karmacat

September *does* feel like a new start, doesn't it - even without kids, for me!  Start of autumn, an acknowledgement, finally, that the nights are drawing in, all sorts of things.  I'm glad you've got the leeway of these two days before the kids go back.

Cheery_Daff

Yep, September is always a new start for me too 😊😊 Good idea to stick into savings rather than overpayment until things are settled 😊

starnac

Last day with the kids at home. I really miss them when they are in school but I have to be honest I am in desperate need for routine again. Everything slips over summer and I'm fine with that but only as a short term thing. I need routine again. 

Meal plan for this week was done yesterday. I need to do some baking today ready for lunchboxes tomorrow. I also need to do some kind of exercise. Diet started yesterday (again!) so need to be more mindful when I'm reaching for a snack that I probably don't need. Washing is on. That can be hung out on the line when it's done as it's beautiful here again today. Need to start the dishwasher while the sun is out to use free electricity from the solar panels. I also need to have a look at the To Do list to see what needs doing this week. Now where did I put that?? 

EssexHebridean

Isn't it funny how even without children in the equation so many of us still feel that "new year" feeling in September! I'm feeling it more than usual this year I guess as of course for us 1st September was a fresh start in more ways than just the one! 

Trying to juggle income over a time of changing jobs is always a challenge - it's definitely a good idea to initially allocate any surplus into savings where it can be accessed if needed. You can after all always re-route it to OPs later can't you. 

starnac

@EssexHebridean it most definitely is a new start for you. I hope you are settling in to your new house. 

I read somewhere that children who do well at school or who work hard at school turn into adult who still see September as a new start as that school routine is so embedded. I did okay at school, and I was a child who felt that I had to try hard to impress my teachers so I can relate with that in a way. 

Kids are both back at school. DS is finding secondary school a bit overwhelming but is doing okay. He's got PE today so that will be a test for him with changing etc. I've shown him how to pack his kit back into his back as he just shoved it all in there! 

DD is doing well. She's just fallen back into routine with no problem, although was annoyed by the teacher who had worked out how many school days there were until their first GCSE exam, then proceeded to waste the entire lesson lecturing them on not wasting opportunities to learn and revise this year! 

starnac

Money wise, I'm about to spend quite a bit of money this morning. Hamilton the musical is coming to Cardiff next year and tickets go on sale this morning. DS absolutely loves Hamilton and we've already been to see it in London. That cost quite a bit especially with travelling to London on top so hopefully it should be slightly cheaper to see it in Cardiff. So that's DS's present sorted if I manage to get tickets. I mean it can't be worse than trying to get concert tickets surely? 

We've been paid for the electricity we sold back and considering August was a bit of a wash out we earned £56.52 so not too shabby. That's more than we used in both electricity and gas combined which is even better.
Electricity Used £19.31
Gas Used £12.14
We now have a decent surplus in the account to hopefully cover what we'll use over winter. We'll keep an eye on usage over the colder months then we can always request a refund of the surplus. But for now we plan to leave it there so see how we get on. 

I decluttered a large (80litre) box of fabric yesterday. A friend was looking for a certain type of fabric (of which I had a box full) for a community project. I told her to take as much as she needed and she replied "I would probably use all of it " so I told her to take the lot. DH is happy I've cleared a box of fabric and actually I feel good about it too! One less box taking up space. 

Cheery_Daff

Room for one more box of new fabric, I say! 😂😂

starnac

Cheery_Daff said:

Room for one more box of new fabric, I say! 😂😂

oh absolutely! 

I really don't want to be that person as we had such a rubbish summer but boy it's hot! I am melting and it's only half 10! 

I don't have anything majorly pressing to do, just some bits and bobs around the house. I need to bake two cakes for tomorrow. We are off to lunch at my mum's and my sister has made lemon curd which DH loves. So I'm making one cake for them to have with lemon curd and one for those of us who don't like lemon curd.  

I also need to take DD into town to get her phone looked at. We upgraded her phone as it was so old, it barely worked, there was hardly any memory etc. but she can't get WA to transfer over to her new phone and she has about 50billion chat threads and groups on there that she can't possibly lose without her life being over!!!!! Oh to be a teenage girl!! The main problem is, that her phone has so little memory that she can't back up WA to make it easily transferable. Anyway, I'm sure the people in the phone shop save teenage girls' social lives all the time. It's probably in their job description. I did say to her that I would take her first thing but she doesn't want to get up that early! Honestly! It's no wonder I am grey!