My journey to health, wealth (well, saving for works to house, so not really!) and hobbies

[Deleted User]

Urghhh. Last month was NOT good spending wise. We totally broke the bank by our general spending, booking a holiday (so having to pay ferry costs in full and deposit for accommodation) and having visitors (brother and his wife - it was her birthday whilst here so felt we had to take her to dinner and pay - £230(!)). But we had a good time whilst they were here.

Still no quotes from builders but we just felt we needed something to look forward to so booked a uk holiday for a few nights in may

Person never turned up for item but sold some more of DC’s clothes for £10 yesterday so that’s going in the pot.

Trying much harder this month to reduce costs - will have to pay holiday balance but as long as no other unexpected expenses should be fine

DH has his salary/bonus discussion week after next so will see what that brings. He doesn’t think he will get anything but if he does, it’s backdated to 1 January.

Tonight is crab and chilli linguine - we have a voucher for local seafood place so should cover the crab. DH making pancakes with an orange and sugar syrup for pudding - cheap and delicious plus we have eggs to use up.

All ver boring. I’m so bored at work agsin. 

[Deleted User]

Urghh. Still no quote from builders. Chased twice this week. We had a different builder come by Friday but will be 3-4 weeks for quote he said. We know him as he did our old neighbours extension so is good when you can get him there! He did say “it’s nice easy building work” which is good. We have great access and parking too which makes life easier for them.

2 other builders coming this week. Would just be great to get even a vague idea of what it is going to cost!

Been doing quite well spending wise though had an epic fail today. A cake stall we like was selling my favourite -£12 for a box of 6 (was £10 last year!) and I bought them. DH was a bit cross but I have reminded him that recently he has broken the dvd player, the pestle and mortar and the plastic measuring jug. I have had to order replacements of the latter two and we are going to see if we can get the old PS3 to play dvds before replacing that.

can’t remember who said to watch Bosch but absolutely loving it and now onto Bosch Legacy so thank you! (And if you have any more recommendations….).

DH’s salary review next week so fingers crossed he gets a rise/bonus. We have now put in for DC2’s nursery hours from Sept (DC1 will be starting school). Luckily MIL still willing to take him once a week so having to pay for 4 days 0815-1530. It’s still £1128 per month!!! Cheaper than now but will be glad when nursery is done with! 

[Deleted User]

Gah so I have been MIA for SO long! What has happened:

* DC1 got into catchment school. He’s had a few settling in sessions and seems ok so everything crossed;
* I go back almost FT from 1 Sept so glad not to have to fill full days with the DC anymore (it’s so hard) and also increase in pay;
* DH got a pay rise and bonus - minimal but better than nothing;
* I am now formally raising me bring in middle of bracket as boss and recruitment agents agree that’s not right so fingers crossed for an increase;
* 2 building quotes were obtained, one was not worth the one side of paper it was written on. The other was from the builder who had made the saving suggestion re stairs. Third one who said Feb quote for Sept start had produced nothing despite chasing. Needless to say we are going with the stair builder;
* Originally he couldn’t start until March but has now given a start date of end august/start sept (though appears to be MIA at present). So less time to save!;
* We think we can do bottom and top floors now but didn’t then have any contingency. So we went to bank to get some extra borrowing (at an extortionate 5.44%!!!!). We have until
Mid dec to draw down and think we will just do it and then get whole house sorted as we only want to do this once (includes a section of roof which needs doing)

So we are trying hard to save but it’s always tricky as we constantly seem to be hosting folk!

We also need to put a plan in place for after works done to save/pay down as much of mortgage as possible - we are on a fixed of 1.29% until end April 2027.

We also need to think about saving more for retirement as I do not want to go past 60 (almost 45). Having seen my parents and DH’s dads health decline so rapidly, I want us to have s good decade of travelling/eating/exploring.

DH spent about 1700 on a poly tunnel but we’ve not had as much success as we’d have liked due to ants and the rubbish weather. He assures me it will pay for itself but I am yet to be convinced.

can’t think of anything else to update for now but hope everyone is doing well! 

[Deleted User]

Morning all!

Not going tooooo badly this week. My parents are here, it was their 50th wedding anniversary last week. Shopping bill more than normal as 2 extra mouths to feed but using all our produce from garden to create meals. Last night DH did a moussaka using home grown aubergines, potatoes, tomatoes etc. I also made them a cake. I rarely bake these days but think they appreciated it - had ordered a special topper for it.

Taking them out for lunch today so expecting that to be around £200. Both DH and I driving so won’t be drinking but it’s not a cheap place but we do want to make them feel special

Then just a run to next weekend and start of new budget. 

DH has been told off for spending £4.95 on a blinking sandwich as we do need to be judicious until these blinking works are done. We still haven’t got the final quote yet but builder has at least come back and is sending contract through

We’ve taken Weds off to ourselves (kids both in nursery) so have an appointment with kitchen lady to finalise. We’re down to two suppliers both similar designs and prices. Sadly the one we prefer design wise (as in doors not layout) we’ve heard horror stories about from friends and the builder so we think we will go with the other one who we’ve heard good things about. Of course we will pay some of deposit on credit card to give us the requisite protection if things go wrong. DH is also going to clear down side of house in preparation for builders starting.

Work was manic yesterday with 2 massive requests to me very urgent so I did not leave my screen apart from to go to loo for 4.5 hours. Afternoon was calmer but then loads of random problems with systems driving me mad.  I will certainly be glad not to be working a full week next week.

Hoping I can cope with the increase in hours - going from 28 to 33.5 but more evenly spread instead of very long days so hoping that will work better

Humdinger1

Lovely to hear from you @[Deleted User]! Sounds full-on.  Look forward to hearing more about next steps love Humdinger xx 

[Deleted User]

@Humdinger1 awww so lovely to see your name pop up! Need to catch up on everyone’s diaries but hope you are well my lovely x

Blackcats

Hooray! You are back.  Great updates and good news about DC getting their school place.
I smiled at how I interpreted your sentence "apart from to go to the loo for 4.5 hours" - gave you plenty of time to catch up with diaries 🤣

[Deleted User]

Ha ha BC, yes when I re-read that I was a bit like errrrr

So not the best of weeks budget wise - we just cannot seem to keep it under control. I have cheated a little and starting new budget from tiday instead of tomorrow as just felt really meh about it. DH is under strict instructions not to spend but this month is another expensive one as:

*Need to send parents an anniversary gift even though they are insistent they don’t want one;
*Need to buy gifts for nursery workers;
*Out for dinner with friends in Sept;
*DC1 birthday in Sept so presents;
*DC1 needs school shoes and trainers

Today is food shop. We “don’t need much” but it will be ££ still as need things like loo roll, dishwasher tabs and washing powder. Then beach with friends, but rather than buying food there we are going to take a picnic lunch. DC1 has a party this afternoon - present and card bought a little while ago.

We really really have to get a hold on our spending. Still waiting on final quote from builder (which was supposed to be with us this week) and no further on in knowing when they start.

Havr almost finalised kitchen now - just queries and slight change of layout scoped out this week. Also cutting things out where we can - they had quoted for an integrated neff fridge that will just be for soft drinks/mixers so we said we don’t need that, just whatever’s cheapest. Also managed to bottom out that other certain features cost much more so changing those too 

But we seriously need to rein in the spending.

DH banging on about going for a different job which likely doesn’t pay as much. I honestly don’t think he realises that we really do have to hit it hard for the next 10 years at least if we want a decent retirement but nothing will happen until end of year anyway so that’s a conversation for another day 

[Deleted User]

£83.73 shopping which included 3 boxes of dishwasher tablets which were reduced to clear at 2.97 each (45 in a box). DH questioned my buying these but I’ve never seen them that low and of course, with all the cooking we do and DC, they will get used.

He also questioned my buying essential (as in WR essential - we don’t have Aldi etc here)  brownie bars for beach. However, we were having a picnic lunch so sandwiches made (did have to buy ham for this but plenty left over for lunches this week) with home made chutney and we took plums from the garden plus bought crisps but they were cheapest ones (seabrook) at £1.41 for 6 packs. I am glad I bought these “extras” as the DC were bemoaning hunger all morning and if I hadn’t, we’d have been forced to buy from kiosk. We also took flasks of coffee and mugs (unheard of for us) so didn’t spend anything whilst down there and gave the kids a mini milk when home

However, today it has been expensive. Took DC1 for school shoes - £45!!! Then he needed trainers and DC2’s feet have also grown so he needed new shoes, so another £70. So £115 on shoes! Just hope their feet don’t grow again for a while.

Dinner is moussaka from freezer and home made chips made with potatoes from the garden. Then meringues with home made plum compote and whipped cream. Lunch is quiche from freezer and corn on cob from garden.

Blackcats

Shows for children are so expensive!  My mum always bought the back to school shoes for my children and it always made the costs in September so much easier.  

Well done on the sourced from home picnic.  
Meringue and plum compote sounds delicious.