Getting the balance right

elantan

yep every day he doesnt have a drink is a day his liver,kidneys,heart and brain get a break so I am happy, but I am not going to hope it will continue or improve, I'm just going to accept it for what it is. 

Have sat down with budgets for the month of August, have taken money from house repairs, new cars and a few other things and have got £75 for adventures, this is mainly going to be for diesel/petrol spends as I think Skinty and I are in agreement we will take some food with us and save money, that way we get to have more adventures. 

Havnt managed to put any money towards hillwalking/camping gear, kayaking gear ( we want to get a canoe at some point) garden, clothes, haircuts, appliance replacement and am@z0n buys

I worked 10 hours yesterday on my standby so that should give me an extra £90 or so (when I think about what I have to do in order to get that money) so may try and bung some money into one of those things then ( should get the money end October) or I may try and atleast pay some decent money into the pots I already have ( some are more just a couple quid thrown in to try and keep up a habit) 

oh and in annoying news, I have used 28% less in gas this last year ( will be due to having a new boiler) and 15% less in electricity this last year, but my monthly payments are quoted as more than double what I am just now ... sheesh how on earth are families without as good an income as we have or many kids etc gonna manage, my heart goes out to them 

skint_spice

Although there may be a ferry in there too…

Savings we are not north at all both fairly central but that shows how gorgeous Scotland is.

elantan

oh yeah the ferry is a must this year we have to do that island ... we need to book that soon mrs ... 

and I can always take the cooker with us for hot food

Moralpanic

That’s good news about Mr El.  You sound like a lovely couple.  

I have to apologise for almost plagiarising your post title.  I’d obviously read it and it had sat in my unconscious when i titles my thread.  Sorry.  

elantan

Moralpanic said:

That’s good news about Mr El.  You sound like a lovely couple.  

I have to apologise for almost plagiarising your post title.  I’d obviously read it and it had sat in my unconscious when i titles my thread.  Sorry.  

No need to apologise we are both trying to get the balance right for ourselves, I had a quick read of your diary, havnt had a chance to post on it yet as I was arguing with the tax man ... sigh 

good luck on your journey  

elantan

It's been one of those days so far. Because I'm on a go slow after 10 stressful hours and little sleep yesterday I decided to deal with things...  

phoned the tax man twice, they hung up on me twice after I waited 35 mins on hold the first time and 45 mins the second time, but apparently I am getting a new tax code to take into account the 1% Scottish tax rebate for my pension, i should be getting it back dated by 2-3years, let's see if that works. 

i have contacted Student loans and still owe them approx £4k which will take me to retirement to pay off but it is at 1.5% interest so thats ok 

have contacted my employers pension dept to see how much they pay into my works pension, will await their reply
and I think that's it ...  

gonna try and do housework now 

savingholmes

Well done on all the MSE stuff you got done.

Well done on the elec and gas reductions - and yes we all feel the pain. I feel for people like DS and his housemates who already didn't use the heating as they couldn't afford it. What more can they cut back on??

I've spent some time when I was younger around Loch Ness and Fort William - but not been in that area for yonks now either. 

elantan

Thanks @savingholmes ... I live about 2.5 hours south of Fortwilliam, my niece is there just now, she climbed the Ben today, I'm rather proud of her 

elantan

Hi all, 


Not away anywhere just working away ticking off the shifts. 

Havnt been up to anything finance wise but have decided now that I have a start of an adventure budget I am going to start putting tilly tidies shopping savings etc into savings of some sort, it isnt much per month maybe £15-£20 but it's all savings for things needed. 

its tweaking at the sidelines, the hard work has been done 

elantan

The weather has clearly turned.... our neighbour has their fire on and the other side of us have their heating on .... I'm panicking about the 548 a month bill so under the covers