Simple living in the country - back to basics

Cheery_Daff

Oh, and subscriptions. 

The one I use for casino offers has renewed at £134.99, so £11.25 a month. The one I used for general MB was linked to an old bank card so the payment declined the other day. Been focusing almost entirely on casino lately so only using that as a tracker, and considering it works out as another around £20 a month, I've not decided whether to reinstate it. Will think on. 

YNAB itself has renewed at £72.58 for the year, so £6.05 a month. I know it's quite ridiculous paying for budgeting software, but I've used it for years now, I like it very much, and it's worth it for me. 

Need to decide which savings pots are next to focus on, as replacement wages will be full in Feb, and holiday fund will be full early March, or earlier depending how things go. 

It'sa toss up between windows and stairs, and I think windows will win. We have several where the double glazing has blown - but one in particular which you can barely see out of. One of them has a dodgy surrounding that definitely needs making more watertight. Will investigate costs and maybe join @Greying_Pilgrim on her Pounds for Panes quest 😁

KajiKita

Windows will probably keep you warmer than stairs 😊 Also, wouldn’t you want to change any windows that need doing before finishing the sills? 

I’m with you on the sudden drop in funds when big lumps of mines go out all at once. It’s like comfort blanket being whipped off! But way better than not having it. 

Subs - I’m spending £60 p.a. on Duolingo which is arguably less useful than YNAB but I enjoy it and use it daily - on a 600+ day streak now 😊

All this talk of pots has reminded me that I need to review the car pot when my bonus lands before I do anything else - all the sensor changes I have needed to sort out the stop-start malfunction is additional, unplanned spend which needs replacing, and I need to account for an in between full services oil and filter change that I didn’t think about when setting up my YNAB target, so the overall monthly contribution will need to increase a bit. 

KK

Cheery_Daff

Ha, windows will definitely be warmer than stairs! I might have them on the go at the same time - stairs pot only needs enough to hire a scaffold tower for a couple of days so I can plaster (or possibly clad, not decided yet, but we've actually got a load of cladding that we removed from the old bedroom ceiling). Probably no more than £250 for everything actually.

Fortunately all the windows that need sills are fine. I think there are just 4 that need a single pane doing, and one where the whole frame needs replacing. So in reality neither of those things are too expensive - that's encouraging! 😊

So. 

Feb - remaining £40 ish to replacement wages pot, £370 to holidays (taking it to £670 ish). If I assume £290 extra income as planned, £130 of that fills the holiday pot, then £160 to start the stairs.

March
£410 savings plus £310 extra income = £720.
Stairs - £160 existing plus £90 to finish it off
Windows - remaining £630

OK, so if I can continue at current savings rate, and generate enough extra income, we'd be in a position to sort the stairs next month, and the windows once the weather gets warmer.

I'd also like to save for replacing the stable block roof. We planned to do this in 2020, but it obviously didn't happen, and then Mr Cheery got ill and we decided to do the kitchen instead. Local farmer was going to do it originally, but was struggling for time. Will need some prep from us. But it's got a few holes, and if we don't fix it we'll lose the building. Don't really use it now but it's a great building (which we are NOT using for air b&b before you start suggesting it! 😂😂). It has water and power but it out in a field with no access - more likely to be a workshop.

Anyway, enough pondering. Going to work today. Spent £23 on parking in January which I'd like to avoid by parking further and walking in like I used to, but given the filthy state of the weather today I might not... 😂

joedenise

I managed to halve our house insurance a couple of months ago through one of the comparison sites - from just over £300 to just over £150 with Sky Protect.  Hadn't actually heard of them but the policy itself is underwritten by Zurich so thought it should be OK.  There was actually another cheaper quote but hadn't heard of the company or the underwriter so gave that a miss!

Hope you can manage to halve your quote too.  I absolutely refuse to have auto renew on any of my policies and always shop around.

DH's car insurance has just come in at over £600 - was just over £400 last year.  Have used a couple of comparison sites and can't unfortunately get it any cheaper even with unknown insurers.  The trouble with running a big car but he needs it for the space for his golf buggy and clubs (not that he's even able to play at the moment!)

Cheery_Daff

That's reassuring JoeDenise. Car insurance has increased from about £525 to £600 (not too bad for 2 cars that are both over 15 years old, including occasional business use too). House insurance though has increased £195 to just over £600!! 

Anyway, I am delighted as I have managed to snag an unexpected parking permit which means I can park for free, right outside my office door, and I don't have to mess about moving the car at lunchtime (all the paid for spots are a max of 4 hours a day - there is a lot of tedious car shuffling here during the day 🙄)

Merlin's_Beard

With things like YNAB I just accept that logically I could do it a lot cheaper but I wouldn't, so that's what makes it worth it to me. It's easy, it's intuitive to use, it's nice to look at.

Greying_Pilgrim

Cheery_Daff said:

....... I think windows will win. We have several where the double glazing has blown - but one in particular which you can barely see out of. One of them has a dodgy surrounding that definitely needs making more watertight. Will investigate costs and maybe join @Greying_Pilgrim on her Pounds for Panes quest 😁

Lovely, you know you are more than welcome to join in - the more the merrier.  But honestly, what am I doing inspiring you at 1.07am in the middle of the night???  You should be getting much needed shut eye, and topping up your cheerfulness molecules, ready to tackle Tuesday's tasks........... 😁😉

Greying X

Cheery_Daff

Ha, you're right Greying, my cheerfulness molecules do indeed need topping up. And posting here at 1am is not the way to do it! 🙈

Anyway, hello all 😊 

Nothing much to report today. Still no job news 🙄 If they haven't contacted me by Monday I think I'll email - I think waiting 2 weeks without any communication is quite enough 🙄 

Parked further away and walked to the office today. Just 20 mins each way, it was a nice stroll actually, and it reminded me that I used to do it all the time. Obviously better when it's not pouring with rain! 

I did take dinner and snacks today, but ended up at the canteen anyway 🙄 I think it was habit more than anything- I have a 3 hour session on Wednesdays, and go past the canteen on my way back to the office... Something to watch.

Oh, and house insurance. Runs out on 13th, but twas set to auto renew, and they were taking the payment tomorrow 😠 Couldnt cancel online because it was within 7 days, so had to do live chat. Which was surprisingly uneventful! I said I wanted to cancel, they asked a couple of security questions - and then said 'I've cancelled that for you, your last day is 13th'. No attempt to put me through to retentions, or ask why, or anything. Over in 7 minutes! 

Just need to find a new policy now. Of course there's a chance I'll still have to renew that one - I just didn't want it to autorenew tomorrow before I'd checked.

And now I'm going to top up my cheerfulness molecules by going to sleep 😂 

rtandon27

Hope you slept well Cheery and are feeling yourself today.

joedenise

Hope you manage to find a better quote than your current renewal one!