Money-shuffling towards mortgage freedom

MeandO

Thank you savingholmes. I've given up with our GP surgery to be honest. It takes around 400-500 calls on re-dial to them in the morning just to get through to someone, only to be told all appointments have gone. It's like this every day too. I'm going to change surgeries again soon to one who offers a web based non-urgent service so at least have a chance of corresponding with a doctor even if it takes a few days.

Lovely of you to invite your neighbour last year, unfortunately I don't know my neighbours very well other than to say hello to in the street. I tried to engage more with them in the first year of moving in, but they are mostly much older and all seem to have large families that they obviously adore and spend lots of time with and they really don't seem interested in getting to know anyone new.
One neighbour is becoming a bit of a pain with their 6 cars and refusal to park them on their ample driveway too, choosing to park outside mine and my immediate neighbours house so we struggle to park. It's just one more annoyance to deal with most days. 

It is likely that OH will be around at Christmas but he pretty much hates Christmas so is not the best person to be around on Christmas Day. Last year was awful as he fell out with his mother and sister and made me cry too, so I wanted to avoid that again.
I am not being entirely fair as he does have a very valid personal reason as to why this time of year is very painful for him so I know it's a very hard day for him.
I do actually live about a ten minute walk from his parents and although we get on well I've never actually been invited for Christmas. In fact OH hasn't either since I've known him which is one of the issues why he's so miserable at Christmas in addition to the main reason. It's odd, she invites his sisters and their families but not him, even knowing he is potentially on his own. She does treat them very differently, I feel sorry for OH as he has is the one that does the most for his parents too. We walked over last Christmas morning to give them their gifts and the table was all set and decorated for the whole of OH's family, minus him. I can understand why he got upset. My parents would never be like that.
I'll just paint on a smile and do my best to get through the day whatever the arrangements are. I keep telling myself it's just one day.

I've sold another item on vinted this morning, only £3.99 but it's better than nothing. I'll post it with the other sale today - I tried to post that yesterday but their parcel-scanner-thingy wasn't working.

Had a really nice evening with DS yesterday which was lovely and much-needed. I hope we can have lots more like that.

I definitely didn't get enough sleep last night, I need to work on that tonight and try and get to bed earlier.

Have a good day all x

Drawingaline

We don't have a Christmas dinner on Christmas day, I refuse to be stuck in the kitchen cooking a meal two of the kids won't eat! (I normally do it aometime in the days after) For years we had pizza 😆 now we get takeaway pizza on Xmas eve and have Xmas tea buffet instead. If ds is having Xmas Dinner at his dad's, then maybe offer him a buffet style tea, and snuggle down to watch a Xmas film? Make your own traditions. 

MeandO

DS loves a Christmas Dinner and says it's not Christmas without one... but I'll probably do a little buffet with his favourite foods in the evening like I did last year. Hopefully his Dad will feed him Christmas Dinner but he's fussing about timings atm. His new partner, her kids and family won't seem to make any allowances to accommodate the fact that DS sees both parents at Christmas. The longer he's with her the more I see manipulative behaviour from her too.

The builder/plumber couldn't make it after all  so I have a plumbing firm coming out tomorrow. They're going to charge me a lot more than the other guy I'm sure, but it needs doing as is getting worse. I've taken £100 out of the bank, hopefully it's not more, but have a feeling it will be.

I've updated YNAB today as the bulk of the bills come out on the 1st of the month. I've overpaid £34.20 off the mortgage to round it down to exactly £74,300, this means it will also be in the £73,000's after the next payment. 

I sent the two Vinted parcels yesterday so should have £33.99 coming my way within the next week. I'll probably have to send that back to the house pot to try and recoup the cost of this leak. There's always something to cover isn't there.

I need to go in the loft in the next few days and get a dehumidifer down that's up there and also the Christmas decs. I'm hoping the dehumidifer will help with the condensation we're getting on the windows in the morning. I have a window vac that I 'hoover' it up with every morning but it just comes back almost immediately. The trickle vents are open on the windows all the time and I open the windows in the daytime unless it's raining, I don't dry clothes on radiators etc and always have the fan on when cooking/bathroom window open and door shut after baths/showers so not much else I can do about it. The solution would be new windows and/or a PIV system installed - I had one in a previous house and it was brilliant - but there's no chance of affording either for the foreseeable. The windows are uPVC but are probably about 20-30 years old and could do with replacing in some rooms but we have massive windows in this house so will be extremely expensive. I'm 5'9" and I have to stand on a chair to open some of the smaller windows at the top of the glazing and they come down to shin height, so pretty much floor to ceiling in the 5 rooms that need new windows. I might get a quote out of interest though, just to see how much I need to save. I have a feeling it's unreachable amounts for me though.  

MeandO

£150 to fix the leak  

badmemory

They know they have you over a barrel.  With your double glazing is it possible to have just new panels if they have blown or possible to have the lower part blanked off with UPVC instead of glass & hopefully also be able to have standard size glazing fitted rather than special sizes.

MeandO

Hello all, I hope everyone is keeping warm and safe. We don't have snow here yet but it is very cold. I'm doing my best to wear lots of layers in the daytime but I have had to put the heating on for half an hour this morning as I was just so cold. 

Money has been really tight this month so far and I'm glad we're getting paid a bit early this month even though January's payday will likely seem a long way away. I can't even say that I've overspent in lots of areas, the money just seems to have gone so quickly. The leak hasn't helped and I've bought some Christmas gifts and paid that straight off the credit card so I guess that's where any extra has gone. I've had to transfer £100 from savings to help cover things but at least I don't have any credit card debt.
I will hopefully be £100 better off at the end of the week thanks to a FB sale - if the buyer turns up. It is a bulky piece of furniture that I really like but don't have room for in this house so needs to go. I've advertised it for a while now and, whilst lots of people have been interested, none have ever got round to collecting it so I'm really hoping it goes this week. £100 would be very welcome at the moment too.

I have £30 allocated in YNAB to finish buying Christmas gifts which should cover everything, unless I've forgotten anything. Some people are having very pared down gifts this year which I feel a bit bad about, but I know they will understand. 

The big hassle around Christmas and who is where on what day continues too. Quite frankly I just feel like sleeping through the whole affair.

In other news, I was offered some free counselling via a local anxiety charity last week. I had my first session last week and the counsellor was quite surprised at everything I have dealt with and continue to deal with day to day whereas my opinion was that I feel like a bit of a fraud and people deal with much more than me. I'm not sure if the counselling will help but I am willing to give it a go. Anything to improve things at the moment. She has made me realise that my feelings are valid.

Things with DS are up and down but I am trying to be as calm and easy going as I can be and not take his change in behaviour personally. It's not easy though, I feel like I've lost my best friend and little shadow of the past 11 years and instead have someone who seems to hate my very presence at times. I'm sure it's exacerbated by being a single parent and feeling it so very much as it's just the two of us in the house together all of the time. I'm trying to keep busy though and keep myself occupied when he doesn't want to be around me, which is quite a lot these days.

At the weekend, OH and I had a meal with a voucher he had been given for his last birthday. We'd been looking forward to it, but unfortunately it was a bit of a disaster from the off. We got stuck behind a pile up on the motorway so were 40 minutes late for our booking so had to rush. The place was absolutely freezing so we both kept coats and scarves on at our table and then the food came out stone cold and was pretty awful so we ate and left as soon as we could. We were going to go for a walk around the City as we'd travelled for an hour to get there but the weather turned and we just came home instead. At least it didn't cost us anything other than £2.90 for a coffee as I was so cold. We did stop at c0stco on the way home and I picked up some groceries which were a good buy and something for a Christmas gift for DS to give his Dad.

I am also now no longer eligible for any tax credits after the recent payrise we had. I notified them this week, I just hope I don't owe them any money. I will be ok as long as work continue to allow me to work the extra hours and to actually pay me for doing so. If they falter again or change the arrangement then I will just have to go back to my normal hours and reapply for tax credits. We should hear whether we still have jobs in the next few months too.

Oh, I have also had to get in touch with the company who did the major external work to the house last year as I've noticed quite a big problem which has reared up again in the cold weather. So far they have agreed to look into a resolution. It is likely to be costly and a lot of work involved but I am not paying for it - it should have been done properly first time round. Why is nothing ever simple?

MeandO

Morning all,

I finally found a suitable Christmas gift for my Mum last night so that has been ordered, along with OH's last remaining present. I still have a couple more people to buy for, but the funds are in the budget or will be after payday.

I made a difficult decision about Christmas Day last night which means I won't be seeing DS at all now on the day. The thought really upsets me and I did shed a few tears about it but have suggested it to make life easier for everyone, reduce a bit of stress, to ensure DS has a lovely Christmas surrounded by people and fun (hopefully) and so that we can travel to my family early on boxing day and have a better time with them. My Christmas Day will be boxing Day and the day after. I keep telling myself it's just one day to get through.

This morning I put £50 of diesel in the car as it was running on empty. It's not full, but that's all the budget will allow at the moment. I also spent around £17 in Asda on a few bits we'd run out of, a couple of YS items, a few Christmas snack treats and a couple of small token gifts to wrap up for OH. Payday is 6 days away but I should only need to buy milk and possibly bread before then and there's still £40 in the groceries budget. Anything left over will get sent to a different pot, probably the gifts pot as it's DS's and OH's birthdays early in the New Year and the pot is currently empty.  I say it every year but this year I need to continue paying in £150 a month to build up a good amount of money in that pot.

Tea tonight will be the YS katsu chicken I picked up this morning with some noodles & veg from the fridge. I'll have some of last night's leftovers for lunch. 

I still need to cover travel insurance, transfers and spending money for DS's and my short break in Feb. I need to make sure I do this from the next two paydays - it's doable with a bit of discipline.

Have a good day all x

MeandO

I've been decluttering a bit the past day or so and listed more things on FB & Vinted. Two items have sold on Vinted already making me £17 and a buyer has arranged to collect the FB marketplace item today at 12.30pm which should bring in £100 and clear a piece of furniture downstairs. 

MeandO

£100 received and banked. I've sent £80 to the mortgage to round it down to £74,200 exactly and £20 to the gifts pot. 

I've posted the two Vinted parcels too. 

Mrs_Money_Penny

Your doing so well.I really need to go through my things. Not sure anyone would want them though but will ebay again.
sorry your Christmas plans aren’t turning out easy. You will have a lovely time with your parents so make the most of that time. xx