Fix Up, Look Sharp

savingholmes

Sounds good. Thanks for sharing.

astrocytic_kitten

Thanks for the paypal returns thing, that's really useful! I'm sure I've seen it before but never really investigated it, good to know it works

GeorgianaCavendish

July 2022 Round Up 

Savings

House Repairs Fund - 39.83%

Extra Income 

Prolific Academic - £46.94
Ipsos I-Say - £10 (Amazon Voucher)
Delay Repay - £30.38
Interest on Savings - £3.40 

No Spend Days

18/16 for July
Target for August - 10

GeorgianaCavendish

Slower month for savings as we're going on holiday in August so have diverted a bit to the holiday fund. I'm also due a tax refund but haven't received the cheque yet and I'm not counting it until I've got the cash in my bank account! 

Extra income from surveys has also slowed down a bit and will definitely slow further in August as I'll be off for 3 weeks (2 weeks abroad and 1 week to work on the house) so won't be online much.

Work on the house has slowed down as we needed a structural engineer's report on the wall we want to remove. That visit went ahead at the end of July so we're just waiting for the report to come through.No more pro work until September but there are a few things we can done ourselves in that extra week at the end of August. 

On my radar over the next month is to watch oil prices as the oil tank is now below 25%. I'm going to chat to the neighbours and keep an eye on some of the websites like Boilerjuice for extra discounts. 

EssexHebridean

Great info about that Paypal refund thing - and also 100% agree about never counting money owed until it's physically landed and is staring you in the face! 

GeorgianaCavendish

EssexHebridean said:

Great info about that Paypal refund thing - and also 100% agree about never counting money owed until it's physically landed and is staring you in the face! 

I've used the Paypal refund twice now - once was really easy, once was a bit more faff (retailer for the 2nd one was Cotswolds Outdoor and the way they process refunds made it a bit trickier) but got there in the end. 

I'm glad I didn't count the HMRC refund as it has still not arrived, I will give them a ring tomorrow to chase. 

We had a lovely holiday and came in about 1/3rd under budget! I would say that we were aware of what we were spending but we weren't stingy, but as the weather was so nice we often ended up having picnics or visiting food markets rather than eat in restaurants so that naturally saved us quite a bit of money. This was the first holiday that we've saved for entirely in advance and it is a great feeling to be able to clear the credit card completely when we return. We've decided to use the left-over money towards a couple of trips to see friends in the coming months rather than roll it into the house repair fund. The trips should be fairly modest, but it will take care of petrol and eating out so it is nice to have it there. 

savingholmes

Great result - lovely holiday without bringing the bill home with you.

GeorgianaCavendish

August 2022 Round Up 

Savings

House Repairs Fund - 41.74%

Extra Income 

Prolific Academic - £28.73
Ipsos I-Say - £10 (Amazon Voucher)
TopCashBack - £17.20
Interest on Savings - £3.28


No Spend Days

14/10 for August
Target for September - 15

GeorgianaCavendish

August was a pretty quiet month given that we were on holiday for 2 weeks and then chipping away at a few small jobs on the house for nearly a week. Added a little bit to the house repair fund, no payment from HMRC in August but I finally got the cheque this morning so will pay that in this week and it will count in my September figures. 

The electrician is starting work in a couple of weeks so one of the big three jobs will be underway soon. Hoping for the engineer's report any day now so that we can also schedule the builder for wall removal. 

There isn't much financial admin to do in the coming month, just keeping on top of savings pots for annual expenses and keeping an eye on costs. The annual review process starts at work towards the middle of the month, and I want to make the case for an above-inflation pay rise to my boss. I think that I should at least ask even if I think it to be so unlikely as to be impossible (also who knows what inflation will be by that point? scary figures in the news about 22% by the beginning of 2023 and there is no way I will get that) so I'm going to do some research and planning on talking points. Otherwise, keeping on with surveys etc where I can and keeping an eye on any savings we can make on regular expenses. 

I realised that I haven't spoken much about the mortgage in this diary. I'm making an £85 overpayment each month which is tiny in the scheme of the balance but I hope that by putting a pin in it now it will keep it on the list for attention when we've finished the work on the house and can reevaluate the budget. 

savingholmes

Good luck with the payrise conversation