Pay off mortgage and start having even more fun 😁

newgirly

Awake early today as I’m meeting old work buddy at the big midweek bootsale, he’s in retirement now which he didn’t know was going to be so soon, so I’m interested to know how he’s getting on, i know at least financially he’s getting by but it’s a big change of lifestyle and the time scale between deciding and being retired was about two weeks. 

Not much to report here, I’ve not tottted up this weeks spending so far, but I did go to tesc0. Went to the gym yesterday and had a cuppa, afterwards which I paid for, poor best friend had to have her poorly old dog put to sleep at the weekend ☹️ he was a rescue from Cyprus so he’s a had a great life being spoilt here by her. 

Right time to get up and get off to the bootsale for a chinwag, will be taking my own coffee in my travel cup of course 😬

daisy_1571

Sorry to hear about doggy, always very sad

Dxx

newgirly

It’s not been a great week, poor ds1 and girlfriend have had to rush up to Leeds where her BIL was rushed to hospital suddenly, he sadly died. They have two very small children, my heart absolutely breaks for them ☹️ we only met him the once but he was a lovely guy, it’s just so sad I can’t stop thinking of them all ❤️

I’ve been trying to get out everyday for a walk lately, some days a long walk some days not so much. It’s defiantly making me feel better mentally, not sure about weight loss but it must be helping fitness levels. It’s a good time of year for walking, I’m not too keen in the heat so don’t tend to bother in summer, I’d rather be wrapped up in cooler weather, which it’s certainly becoming now. 

Off out now for a walk and then a coffee with friends and then home to look through the shambles that is currently our finances 🙄

Queen_of_the_Hive

Morning @newgirly,

So sorry to read of your friends pooch and the poor chap. Thats quite a shock for all involved. Sending condolences. 

Autumn walks are the best, i'm a sucker for a walk in the woods crunching leaves underfoot. Saying that its quite a long walk here to the nearest woods. Too much beach and sea instead! Actually my fav walk here is when its a bit stormy and walking on the beach. 

themadvix

How awfully sad about DS1’s gf’s BIL and family. Life is so precious and fragile. 

We have faith in you NG - you will turn the shambles around!

newgirly

Thank you thank you Queen of the hive and Vix 🙂

Ds1 and girlfriend came home yesterday, hopefully I can see him at some point this week, will have to see as they have a lot on. This weekend was quiet, we had a takeaway with most of the kids Friday around my parents for mums birthday (dad paid) and then I went for a walk and coffee with friends a Saturday. 

I’ve had a look at the finances last night, the £1000 challenge is now at £382.58 spent, so I’ve overspent and probably won’t catch up so there can still be £10.99 per day left, so I’ll just now I think stop chasing my tail and attempt to live off the £617.42 over the remaining 63 days at  £9.80 per day now. 

Dhs wage is now weekly and 20% tax is taken before he gets paid, we need to allow for NI but as he’s not on payroll the tax free allowance is not being used, so I don’t think we need to budget for the NI really now. I am basing his pay on a four week month and every fifth week will go into a pot for holiday/sick pay, I’m also skimming off one months pay and spreading the cost over 12 months of that too so we will be saving £200 a month into the holiday /sickness pot. So eight weeks a year put aside for, this will hopefully cover any enforced bank holidays and Xmas etc. as well as actual holidays. It’s possible that if there’s no work or short hours his pay will obviously be less, this happened one day last week, but he ended up helping fix a ceiling with another worker, so it’s probably going to be quite rare that he’s not paid. He’s actually on more money than before now, plus he’s home by about 5pm! 😃

Tomorrow is the big day to find out if he’s pad his finally “extra” months salary, one month pay instead of redundancy that we didn’t bother fighting for 😒 will they pay it I wonder? I hope so as I’ve kind of spent it 🤣 it’s going to pay for most of the northern lights cruise next year! I’ve had a surplus this month due to dh being paid weekly, so yesterday I logged on to see how much we are looking at for internet charges etc. for the big family trip next year and found that excursions were for sale. So I booked us all (except me!) on a kayaking trip in Olden which we have visited before and it’s stunning! £70 each which is a lot but ship excursion wise is cheap. I’ve not even asked them all yet if they want to do it, but as it sells out fast I thought I’d just book as it’s refundable anyway. I’ll also book a chocolate making experience for those that want to join, I’ve managed to find it independently for £16 instead of £60 each 😱 at the same place. Sadly not so easy with some experiences as they only book out to travel companies when shops dock. Other than that they can choose and pay to do what they want, son in law will probably want to do something hair-raising and expensive 🤣 

Right off out now to take mum and dd to the shops, will do a little cheap top up only as we are off to York this weekend, I’ve already done some batch cooking this weekend, including for dhs dinners for the two nights we are indoors up there 😁

newgirly

Well you could have knocked me down with a feather yesterday, dh has been paid his “extra” months wage! And there was about £400 on top, no idea why and if it’s extra or a tax thing, but I’ve allocated it already 🤣 I was convinced they would string us along in this but I was wrong 😁

So, I’ve jumped ahead to the end of the month assuming that dh works everyday and pays out the usual amount from the business- recommended by the accountant but this will stop very soon and I’ve moved the money into premium bonds for now. It’s covered the Arctic cruise nov 2026 £1489 and £1794 off the anniversary one in sept 2026. I am so happy as this really helps a lot. 

Day to day finances are still very hard work, I had no idea it was be as hard as this now to manage on £10 a day for everything, when I used to do it years ago I’d perhaps got used to being more frugal and prices being a lot lower! I used to make my own washing gloop, bake bread, make wine etc. but that was also with three extra people to feed compared to now. I should say however it’s not really even the food element that makes this hard, it’s the not spending on anything else. The odd coffee out, cat litter, shampoo, all those little bits that add up, at the moment I am running at £407.50/£1000 leaving £592.50 until the end of November. 

Greying_Pilgrim

I think it is the prices newgirly.  I'm not even convinced 'frittering' is at fault these days.  I don't have coffee/tea/hot chocolate whilst I'm out and about - simply have never got into the habit/mindset, and I realise I'm an oddity in not doing it.  But with a 'conventional' hot drink nudging £3 if you drink in, or take out - it's easy for £10 to go '!!!!!!' in a blink I think.  I don't buy particularly branded shampoo, but again, the prices have shot up - and I've noticed that with the 'basic' stuff I do buy.  Soap is another thing that's hiked in price and stayed hiked - and loo paper has lowered in price again - but we're nowhere near the prices we were paying pre c'vid.

Regrettably, I don't have any answers or work-arounds - wish I did!  I'd be utilising them myself!  But I do think we're trying to operate in a different landscape - even from a few years ago, never mind when we all started on our journey with MSE-ing 😱

Greying X

themadvix

I agree with GP, it's definitely the price increases that have made this so much more difficult for you. Knowing you sometimes buy for you and your friend - even if that's without a piece of cake - I doubt you get two coffees for much less than a tenner these day - what are you going to eat if you've spent it all on coffee! So don't be too downhearted, but don't give up either - it's the attempt that will make the difference.

Excellent news about DH's pay!

daisy_1571

the soap i buy hasn't increased much in price and looks the same when you break open the outer plastic BUT when you open the paper round the individual soap bar its somehow cleverly constructed to pouf out making the bar look the same size but they now scoop a huge amount off the middle.   I'm sure they must save a bar of soap per 4 pack doing this