Five Year Fix, Five Year Plan

Merlin's_Beard

Finally at the end of the socialising run! Not that I haven't enjoyed it all, but I am looking forward to crawling back into my cave for a bit and regrouping.

Very expensive week this week. Car scraped through its MOT with some repairs and a major service (£500), then I failed my MOT and needed new glasses (£250). The most expensive hour I've had for a long, long time.

Cue some major reshuffling of YNAB categories to cover the car (I hadn't budgeted enough) and the glasses (I hadn't even considered that I might need new ones, which is daft because I often do).

Also realised that the boiler service is overdue (whoops) so am in the process of organising that. More expense. And gutters, maybe I need to think about them? (I don't care if it's not MSE I'm paying someone because I'm terrified of heights)

Now there are more defined pots I'm starting to realise how many things I just covered for out of general savings that I should have anticipated.

In the name of more free things, new book club is starting up in my village as well, so I'm going to try and get to that at the end of the month - sadly the day has changed from my day off to one of my longer working days (I'll finish half an hour before it starts and I live half an hour away from work...!) but I'm going to try and make it because honestly, I haven't done much else in the way of finding new people to socialise with. I just need to read the book now. The first one they've chosen is one I own already, so no extra expense there.

savingholmes

Ouch to those bills. 

Paying someone to clean gutters is sensible. No point taking unnecessary risks yourself when they have the right equipment.

While it's unfortunate you haven't serviced the boiler on time - your house is new you are likely to be fine. I would get a carbon monoxide alarm though to always be safe. I'm sure you'll soon organise the check regardless.

Enjoy the book club. It sounds a good way to meet people.

KajiKita

One of the things that the YNAB book stresses is that it is a dynamic process - as things change or we learn more about how we spend and what we need to cover, our budget changes; so well done on the Dynamic YNABing! 😊👏
(The comment about *you* failing *your* MOT made me chuckle 🤭)

100% agree on the gutter cleaning! 

And yes, to the book club. I think that’s a really good idea 😊

KK

South_coast

Always disappointing when your car is in better shape than you are 🤣

SH is right that your boiler is likely to be fine, but if you have a breakdown your builder may ask for proof it's been maintained before they send someone out under warranty

VintageHistorian

Unless you have a lot of moss on your roof or some big leafy trees very close by you might be able to get away without the gutters needing to be cleaned this year.

killerpeaty

Nothing wrong with getting someone else to do the gutters! For one,  you don't want to do it and you have the money. That's good enough.

It's so annoying all of these activities are usually when you can't go. Hopefully you will still get to the book club!

Merlin's_Beard

I will try on the book club, but I did get home 90 minutes late today so not entirely in my hands. And I also need to read the book, but my head is full of bees (which is why I'm eating dinner at 11.30pm as well)

Hoping a nice quiet weekend will settle things down. Maybe a lie in, whatever philosophising Romans say about them. Have also been reminded to restart vitamin D over the winter by fortune's diary, which might be part of it.

savingholmes

Eating at 11.30pm isn't ideal. If that is a regular thing can you batch cook/ prepare so not repeated?

Merlin's_Beard

savingholmes said:

Eating at 11.30pm isn't ideal. If that is a regular thing can you batch cook/ prepare so not repeated?

This was batch cooked - but I only got in at 8.30 and it took me a good 2-3 hours to calm down/settle enough to want to eat. Definitely not a regular thing but some tricky stuff at work in an already crazy day (a colleague called it "literally the worst day ever" and they may have been right)

savingholmes

Not a typical day then at least. Hope your weekend goes better.