Paying down the mortgage, motherhood and the marvels of life. Welcome my beautiful diary friends

mumof3.12kindebt

Hi everyone hope you are all well. 

Since I last posted my low mood / depression has stayed away. 🤞 It stays that way 

First day back at school. 
We are going to the lake / Park after school today 

Partner has a sickness bug so he's staying at home. 

I'll do some of my diploma tonight as I didn't get chance today. 

I thought with the cost of living crisis it might be helpful for people to list ways they save money (big and small things) 

I'll try and make a list today to post later 

On of the things I do is I charge my phone in the car or at work as much as possible ... I'm thinking of buying a solar charge thing 🤔 

mumof3.12kindebt

Morning all. 

Really starting to get abit anxious with the cost of living crisis. Energy bills specifically 

I might sit down with the family and make a game up and see how many ideas we can come up with that will save us money 💰 and tell then they will get a reward if they stick to our goals. 

Anyway 

Cash stuffing again on Saturday 

We needed a few extra bits for lunch boxes today . 

I'm keeping a tight ship on the spending as much as I can. 

I need to start saving for a vape. And stop smoking. I've tried patches etc but because it's more a habit than addiction they don't work for me. I need something I can hold. I'll also try to implement a new routine over the next few months to cut out the routine of smoking. 

Maybe I'll put Any money I save in a sealed envelope. And at the end of this year or next year 12 months from whenever I officially quit I'll open them. And put it towards a holiday. This sounds like a good plan for me because I love a good 'secret' saving 

Anyway not much to report between school work housework and my diploma we havent had time to spend money 

The only catagories we have spent money this week is 

Food 
Petrol 
Tobacco 

 

badmemory

You haven't mentioned your amazon prime membership for a while.  Do you still have it?  If you have it is going up in price on the 15th.  If you have the funds you could get an annual one for the old price of £79 before then, that will save you almost £30 over the year.  Or can you get the student membership due to your studies?  £47.49

LadyWithAPlan

You are doing so much it is no wonder you get tired and stressed. I think you are doing brilliantly and so please stop being negative to yourself.  You are getting up every day and doing the best you can 
and decluttering, studying and Cash budgeting ! 

Wonder Woman alert  

I have just started this 30 day to a clean and organised home by Katie Berry  that seems to have me focused on small daily doable things and my flat is looking amazing already. And much less stressed!

I use cetraban ointment (not the cream) and Aveeno  oat moisturisers and creams and it has really helped with my skin allergies and reactions 
the gp allergy test was useless 

mumof3.12kindebt

badmemory said:

You haven't mentioned your amazon prime membership for a while.  Do you still have it?  If you have it is going up in price on the 15th.  If you have the funds you could get an annual one for the old price of £79 before then, that will save you almost £30 over the year.  Or can you get the student membership due to your studies?  £47.49

Hi we pay annually. We get toilet roll and the dog food from there via subscribe and save. And we often read books via kindle prime. Kids use the prime video. 
I will have a look at the student one thank you. 

LadyWithAPlan said:

You are doing so much it is no wonder you get tired and stressed. I think you are doing brilliantly and so please stop being negative to yourself.  You are getting up every day and doing the best you can 
and decluttering, studying and Cash budgeting ! 

Wonder Woman alert  

I have just started this 30 day to a clean and organised home by Katie Berry  that seems to have me focused on small daily doable things and my flat is looking amazing already. And much less stressed!

I use cetraban ointment (not the cream) and Aveeno  oat moisturisers and creams and it has really helped with my skin allergies and reactions 
the gp allergy test was useless 

Thankyou I have used aveeno before. I will try it again. I find my skin likes something for a month or 2 and then decides its not helping 🙈 its a nightmare. I'll have a search for Katie Berry. 😀 I do try I sometimes find it hard to get a happy medium. 


Hope everyone is well. I broke out in a rash on Thursday at work. It was as if someone had drawn red patches all over my neck and chest. Then about an hour later I got a terrible headache, almost like a migraine. I went to work on Friday and it seemed to flare up again. It wasn't at all itchy but I'm thinking it was possibly a hives rash. I haven't felt right since the headache is in the same place all the time and won't shift. I've been really tired and nauseous and my mouth is what I can only describe as sore. But there is nothing to make it sore if that makes sense. And I'm now left with redness and shiny patches abit like sunburn or excema without the flaking or dryness. I don't know exactly what it was/is because I haven't spoken to the gp as the actual patches at their severity only lasted about 48 hours. 

DD has also not been well since Friday. DP had to go and pick her up early. She hasn't been right since.  Took her to get checked over they think she has a stomach bug. 🤷‍♀️

I was suppose to cash stuff yesterday but I just haven't got round to it. 

I'll do it tomorrow or Tuesday which is fine because I was adding an 8th day throughout Sept to get us back to a Monday for cash stuffing. 


Such sad news about HM I was at work when I heard it on the radio. I've felt quite emotional about it 😪 



Have a lovely week everyone 
Iove hugs positivity and prayers to you all

mumof3.12kindebt

Afternoon my beautiful diary friends 
Hope you are all well. 

I still have an absolute corker of a headache. Was suppose to be working today but I just don't think I'd of managed. Especially as I was in charge so most of the shift I'd of been reading mar charts and writing paper work. 

I've just noticed our gas and electricity bill is  mainly based on estimated readings as our smart metre broke so I've told DP we need to start submitting monthly metre readings so we don't end up over paying.  

I've managed to put up £615 for Sept mortgage overpayment (I think I've already mentioned) so that's in a hyper jar pot now. I'll try to add to it monthly and then ill make a large overpayment at the end of the year. 

We also recieved a cost of living payment because we get tax credits which we are extremely greatful to have received so that Is also in a separate hyper jar pot ready for when we get our next bill in March. (We pay by direct debit, but I'll use the colp if we owe a large amount) 

Basically I have the following pots

Spare change (the spare money left over each month after dividing equally into 5 weeks for our cash budgeting goes here)

Mortgage overpayment pot (we aim for £615 a month from Sept to dec in this one, but ultimately put what we can, ready to make a large overpayment I'm December to the mortgage) 

Cost of living payment (this I'd where I put our cost of living payment we recieved ready to go towards our gas and electricity bill next march) 

Kids each have a pot for pocket money 

Make £10 a day challenge (this Is for extra money we make. I started the pot on the 1st of sept. Nothing in it yet. But hope to have £1200 by the end of the year which works out to £10 a day) 

British gas refund (I set up this pot the other day as I read that british gas are refunding a total of £400 between now and I think next march split into each month, because we pay by direct debit it will be 'refunded' into our bank account so this way I can transfer it and make sure it doesn't go "missing") 


I was planning to unstuff my cash envelopes at the end of the year. (I now do youtube videos for it to keep me accountable) but I think alot of youtubers do it then. I cash stuffed in June and July but didn't record it until I started again this month.. I'm thinking of maybe doing it in 6 months so in February instead. I'm not sure yet but we will see. 


I'm continuing to work on side hustle projects but it's a slow process as the kids my diploma and work all come before it. 

I'm thinking of dedicating 3/4 weeks a month to my diploma and 1 week to my side hustle project. 

I'm also going to do surveys, make sure I use top cashback etc for purchases 

At the end of this month I will have an extra cash stuff as we made our first weeks money stretch an extra few days and I only have 3 Mondays left of Sept so with the 1 cash stuff I have already done that brings it to 4. So on the last day of Sept or the first day in oct I'll be doing the "5th" weeks money. I have Sept cash stuffings all planned out on a spreadsheet. 

As we have now close to the last quarter of the year I thought it would be good to do a reset so tonight or tomorrow I'll post my new goals for the rest of this year 


Have a lovely day everyone 

Love hugs positivity and prayers to you all 

mumof3.12kindebt

mumof3.12kindebt said:

Monthly goals for 2022 

September 

⭐️ 15 no spend days
❤️Make £10 a day extra goal £300 / for far £0 
⭐️Use up as much as possible in the fridge , freezers and cupboards 
❤️Stay on track with diploma 
⭐️4 youtube videos ✅️ 1 so far 

September goals 

mumof3.12kindebt

mumof3.12kindebt said:

Goals from 01/09/22 - 31/12/22

1. Make £10 a day extra 
Goal amount £1200 / so far £0.00

2. Food budget £1360

3. Make £3500 in overpayments to mortgage

4. 60 no spend days - so far 0

5. Stay on track with diploma 

6. At least 1 video a week 

7. Finish setting up side hustle project 

8. Stick to cash budget 


I will update this each Time I do my cash stuffing 

Goals for the rest of this year 🤩

savingholmes

On the rash - could it be withdrawal from using creams?? I read an article about it this week and it sounds similar.

Good luck with your goals.

mumof3.12kindebt

Hello my beautiful diary friends 
I hope everyone is well. 

Is anyone else getting increasingly anxious about the cost of everything going up. 

We are on a fixed mortgage deal at the moment 

Interest rate (Fixed)   2.19%

Deal end date    31 March 2026

Term remaining   23 years, 8 month

Balance £113,343.08p 

This is our mortgage breakdown as of today. 

I'm already worried about when our fixed term comes to an end. I have 3 and a half years I fear rates will still be high in 3 years time. 

For now I am keeping our out goings as low as possible. And continuing with cash budgeting. I hope by the end of next year to have a 6 month emergency fund and the mortgage in the £110,000 bracket. 


How are you all cutting costs? 

We go away at the end of Oct but other than that all our days out will be free or low cost as possible now between now and Christmas. 


I'm getting in a panic already. 


Have a good evening  all