Pay off mortgage and start having even more fun 😁

greent

Hope DH gets well very soon!!

newgirly

Thanks jessy and greent 😊

Still avoiding dh 😳 he won’t be visiting his parents today either of course. I’m going to pop out with best friend for an hour or so this morning and join her at the shops, I’m so desperate to get out 🤣 I did go for a long walk yesterday for some air. I’ll probably go and help mum set her Xmas table today too, plus I think I’m going to the cinema with ds2 later. 

Unfortunately there are still sibling tensions (to put it mildly) and dd is now staying home Christmas Day ☹️ so hopefully we will see her and sil later in the day or Xmas eve / Boxing Day, ds1 is in Leeds again as usual this year which will be a sad one as his girlfriend lost her BIL suddenly  a few months ago and the kids are still quite young. So a bit of an odd Xmas this year compared to last year. 

Dh got paid yesterday, he will lose two weeks pay as they shut down over Christmas but has been given an extra £400 after tax , so I’ll put it in the “pay my own holiday” pot. With this, the five week months in the year and £200 pm saved on top, we have enough pay to pay him normally for the holidays we have booked 7,7,12 nights each plus all the bank holidays and just scrape another week or so worth of days on top. Taking a day off becomes very expensive when you are supposedly self employed, but with none of the joy of being able to take a day off when you want without three months notice! Lots of the men seem to go away over Xmas, I can see why really if you are not getting paid anyway, it saves a lot vs. taking extra time off, something to think about in the future.

newgirly

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas Day🎄 we had a quieter one than last year with a total of just seven at mums, lovely dinner though, followed by a very cold walk ☃️ 

We have brought home a few leftovers, enough for another much smaller meal. Looks like we may likely go to the cinema tomorrow, this is by far the most low key Christmas we have ever had, it’s making me feel like I’m getting old 🤣 usually we would also be off to York after Xmas but we don’t really feel like it or have the spare money this time. We did receive a bit of cash but will probably have a day out next week instead.

newgirly

Not much happening here 😆 popped out yesterday and met best friend for a coffee, also spent £4 on a £24 top and £6 on a £26 sweatshirt in ch0ice sale from n3xt which I’m very happy with as I’d been on the look out for pretty much those exact items. Unfortunately the spending has continued today as our kettle was leaking this morning, it was cheap (£15) and I’ve lost the receipt which is annoying as it’s probably six months old 😩 so I’ve just ordered another new glass one for £27 for a more well known brand, it has a glass spout though so how well it survives time will tell. 

Its that time of year again, post Christmas yearly budget plan time 🥳 I guess I should do an end of year round up as well really, this is the year we cleared the mortgage, even if it only ends up being temporary 😳 
The December grocery budget has £16.30 / £350 until 4th Jan but my personal spending pot is virtually empty at £40.03 minus a £27 kettle potentially unless I take it from Xmas money 🤔 

I think January I will set a one month all in spending target for me of £350, which is usually our grocery and misc spending budget without my £125 pm personal spends, but I could just cut down and try and try and save that £125 instead! 

Greying_Pilgrim

newgirly - is the fact that January is a..... I think it's a 4 and a half week 'month' rather than actually 5 weeks (although I know what it will seem like), going to make an 'all-in' budget harder to keep to?  I know that I have had great success at keeping to a grocery budget (and having some money left over) in January in the past (pre LG!), but it can also be a rotten slog of a month ☹️  Not telling you what to do (I would never), just wondering if the length of the month and time of year could mess with your figures??

Good work on the clothing finds!  Bad news on the kettle.  We bought a cheapy one from MrA, as an interim when we moved to the rental, but it's ended up lasting for years - good job the kitchen here is shabby, I've not yet felt the need to purchase new appliances to match the decor, so the cheapy kettle lives to boil another day 😁

Greying X

newgirly

Hi GP, it is a long rough one this month that’s true 😩 But I’ll have a go anyway as we have a lot of basics in the cupboard so that should help a lot, plus at this time of year I love a challenge and this year it’s hard to make any solid financial plans while lots is still up in the air. We will see how it goes, I’m off to the shops with mum first thing and and there’s a huge m@rks there, so I’m hoping for heavily reduced meat fingers crossed. 

Dh needs to get his phone fixed as it’s playing up, other than that we don’t have many plans this week. The back bedroom hasn’t been started and I have a feeling it won’t be- I need dh to help move and clear out all the junk and store ds1’s stuff in the shed for now. He isnt exactly motivated, he has a passionate hatred of the tip and clearing things in fact 😆 

Aside from that we were thinking of going to Colchester zoo one day, we have not been since dil’s 21st in 2020 and it’s quiet this time of year. 

newgirly

Brrrr it’s cold today, the top floor is too cold I know as I have the velux near me open a bit all night and the heating off, the bed is warm though but getting up requires a blast of the heater 🤣  I said I would pop the heating on more but  it’s not really happened much at all , just a blast now and then briefly really. 

Dh is still waking up at 6 am and therefore so am I 😩 he gets up though while I laze around a bit longer. Not sure what the plans are today, not the zoo though. I was debating going for breakfast or lunch somewhere which some of the Xmas money we were given perhaps.  Yesterday we made a start on the junk room, I even got dh to the tip! We still need to arrange so called temporary storage for ds1’s bits but after that I can start decorating. I’ve already bought a curtain rail and some vinted curtains a few months ago and I will just use white paint. We do have set of matching wardrobes and two drawers that would be perfect for there but we offered them to ds2 when he moved out and he’s now decided he wants them 😩 so we will eventually have another big empty room, aka the cats’ third bedroom 🤣

Food wise we are hanging in there with Xmas frozen bits, the 5p veg I prepped has come in very handing for lazy dinners, last night I made a carrot and parsnip curry but we didn’t fancy it so will have it tonight. I picked up a free head of broccoli at asd@ a few days ago too, they were giving away veg at the door, so I will make dh some Stilton soup soon too. 

daisy_1571

Oh you are brave opening a window at the top of the house, heat rises so you will be losing your whole house worth of heat overnight ??

Dxx

Greying_Pilgrim

newgirly - that's interesting about the free broccoli, we benefitted from a (large) free head yesterday too when we passed an impromptu stall outside a house that had some sort of connection to our local food waste diversion scheme (possibly the h/holder is a volunteer/co-ordinator or somesuch).  The broccoli (origin MrT according to the packet) was in perfect condition - there were several heads, all lovely and green.  Even YS'd, M&$ were still charging alot of money for their 'roast dinner' veg, so to get something for free (that you can, and will use), feels like such a gift!

Greying X

themadvix

Thanks both - you’ve just reminded me to check Olio - it’s absolutely overflowing at this time of year (the potato Christmas is a story we like to share - I had so many crates of potatoes I was knocking on doors in in-laws road, trying to get rid of them!). Have just nabbed some bananas, parsnips and tete-tete!