I'm back from holiday. It was lovely, I have a bit of a tan, and I'm still off for a few days before I go to work.
I've been doing house stuff since I got back on Wednesday, working on a big time-consuming garden project. I ended up spending about £20 on tools and materials, but if I had got someone else to do it google tells me it would have been at least £100. I got it finished this afternoon. I've also dug a bunch of weeds out of the lawn to re-seed, and saved some flower seed ready for next spring. I'm also planning to build a compost bin from some wood I have in the garage.
Yesterday I went to the dentist for the first time in years. Hooray for finally getting an NHS dentist! Clean bill of health and next check is in 12 months. That's good and money-saving.
On the down-side, I have ordered some feliway since I got back, as the cats are still separate. Hopefully it will help them to integrate.
I managed to go to the library to renew and return books without getting a fine. This is a massive achievement for me, as I am rubbish at remembering. I also took the opportunity to remember to take my plastic bag recycling to the supermarket. I'm trying to have a clear out of things that haven't quite made it out of the door yet.
I don't think I have made as much progress as I would like financially this month. My credit card bill is sitting higher than last month, but I have borrowed less from savings. I will have a closer look when I tally everything at the end of the month.
I've had a look at my total spending for this month, and overall I've just moved money from my credit card to my savings account. I've not gone into debt, but I have pretty much spent my whole income this month. That means in October I'll be borrowing from savings again to pay the credit card bill. On the plus side, I spent £150 on three tickets for a halloween event, and £100 should come back to me, plus I am fairly sure my company will be paying me back my professional registration fee.
I came across the phrase today of "post traumatic broke disorder" and I really feel that I identify with this. I know logically when I look at the numbers that I'm really in a good place financially, but emotionally I can't square that with myself. I saw family while I was on holiday, and they clubbed together to buy me a suitcase as a gift. The price wasn't extortionate, but I have only ever had hand-me-downs before and somehow spending so much on one case has made me really uncomfortable. I wonder if I will ever get comfortable with buying or being bought expensive things.
Wash up and tidy kitchen Hoover through Get up the courage to try using the big circular saw Completed 7/10 Prep sandwiches for next week
Longer term to-do list (by Christmas)
Use the saw to make a compost bin Use the saw to make some shelves (vertical space for cat harmony) Integrate cats fully Sand, repair and wax my interior doors Get new handles for the doors 7/10/22 Paint the wardrobe frame Decorate the bedroom Swap bedrooms Find a lodger
So I still haven't tried the saw, but otherwise I managed my Sunday to-do list plus some baking.
Integrating the cats is coming along. They can get along with only a bit of hissy-batting while I am there. Not leaving them unsupervised yet though.
Last night I ate dinner and vegged on the sofa for the evening. Little bit overwhelmed after doing most of my re-registering paperwork yesterday for my job. Also realising that the company I work for might not be trying very hard to retain their contract, so there might be redundancy/TUPE/turmoil coming in the new year. I'm going to batten down the hatches by joining a staffing agency to do some weekend overtime that can maybe be converted to fulltime if needed in the future. Fingers crossed my amazing job doesn't disappear completely.
I've had a good evening of crackers for tea followed by cleaning some of my windows. The previous residents seemed to use stickers and sticky tape on the windows quite a bit, so it's been a bit of a long slog getting all the little bits of sticky off. I did a few of them while on the phone to my friend and then my mum this evening.
Tired now though so going to have hot chocolate and head to bed. Night all.
Ugh, I am really not enjoying the shorter days. I have dug out my big blue blanket for the sofa, but I haven't yet found my daylight lamp or my hot water bottle. I need to have a really good look for them, as they must be around somewhere. I'm refusing to turn the heating on yet, so I have added the electric blanket to the bed. It was originally for the cat, but she never really used it so I stole it.
I've accepted overtime on Sunday at work, so that is a positive. I'll maybe see if I can find a small project to take with me to keep me busy in the down time. I've not got any studying to do at the moment, all my paperwork is in. Maybe I can use the time to fill in my mileage claim.
Having a morning meltdown. I forgot to wash my uniform for today, so I put it on last night and figured I would just turn the heating on for half an hour this morning to dry it on the rad. Get up early, and the boiler isn't talking to the thermostat, so I can't get the heating on!
After googling for remedies, I've tried new batteries, and pressing reset, and warming the batteries under my armpit and then installing them, but I am just not getting any signs of life from the thermostat. I've just put the thermostat unit on the electric blanket to see if warming it up can get it to come to life.
So effectively: Problem a - might need a new thermostat Problem b - don't have uniform for work today.
Well after my Friday morning drama I managed to use the work tumble drier to dry my uniform, so that came right. The thermostat stayed dead though, so on Saturday I ordered a new one from Screwfix. £76! It was the cheapest one that was right for my boiler and current setup. It arrived today so I have picked it up, and I'm feeling immensely proud of myself for getting it wired in and working. It's good, because an electrician would have been more expensive, but it's also frustrating as it's just another thing on my credit card until payday. <sigh>
So month-end update:
July Money taken from savings £1,300 (not repaid) CC One £974.29 CC Two £311.54
August Money borrowed from savings £450 (repaid on 25/8/22) CC One £795.70 CC Two £125.27
September Money borrowed from savings £200 (repaid on 25/9/22) CC One £1,102.26 CC Two £451.42
I'll end up borrowing a lot from savings in October, to make sure I don't pay interest on the credit cards. Pets, cars and houses are such money drains.
Replies
I've been doing house stuff since I got back on Wednesday, working on a big time-consuming garden project. I ended up spending about £20 on tools and materials, but if I had got someone else to do it google tells me it would have been at least £100. I got it finished this afternoon. I've also dug a bunch of weeds out of the lawn to re-seed, and saved some flower seed ready for next spring. I'm also planning to build a compost bin from some wood I have in the garage.
Yesterday I went to the dentist for the first time in years. Hooray for finally getting an NHS dentist! Clean bill of health and next check is in 12 months. That's good and money-saving.
On the down-side, I have ordered some feliway since I got back, as the cats are still separate. Hopefully it will help them to integrate.
I managed to go to the library to renew and return books without getting a fine. This is a massive achievement for me, as I am rubbish at remembering. I also took the opportunity to remember to take my plastic bag recycling to the supermarket. I'm trying to have a clear out of things that haven't quite made it out of the door yet.
I don't think I have made as much progress as I would like financially this month. My credit card bill is sitting higher than last month, but I have borrowed less from savings. I will have a closer look when I tally everything at the end of the month.
I came across the phrase today of "post traumatic broke disorder" and I really feel that I identify with this. I know logically when I look at the numbers that I'm really in a good place financially, but emotionally I can't square that with myself. I saw family while I was on holiday, and they clubbed together to buy me a suitcase as a gift. The price wasn't extortionate, but I have only ever had hand-me-downs before and somehow spending so much on one case has made me really uncomfortable. I wonder if I will ever get comfortable with buying or being bought expensive things.
Wash up and tidy kitchen
Hoover through
Get up the courage to try using the big circular saw Completed 7/10
Prep sandwiches for next week
Longer term to-do list (by Christmas)
Use the saw to make a compost bin
Use the saw to make some shelves (vertical space for cat harmony)
Integrate cats fully
Sand, repair and wax my interior doors
Get new handles for the doors 7/10/22
Paint the wardrobe frame
Decorate the bedroom
Swap bedrooms
Find a lodger
There we go, accountability.
Integrating the cats is coming along. They can get along with only a bit of hissy-batting while I am there. Not leaving them unsupervised yet though.
Last night I ate dinner and vegged on the sofa for the evening. Little bit overwhelmed after doing most of my re-registering paperwork yesterday for my job. Also realising that the company I work for might not be trying very hard to retain their contract, so there might be redundancy/TUPE/turmoil coming in the new year. I'm going to batten down the hatches by joining a staffing agency to do some weekend overtime that can maybe be converted to fulltime if needed in the future. Fingers crossed my amazing job doesn't disappear completely.
Tired now though so going to have hot chocolate and head to bed. Night all.
I've accepted overtime on Sunday at work, so that is a positive. I'll maybe see if I can find a small project to take with me to keep me busy in the down time. I've not got any studying to do at the moment, all my paperwork is in. Maybe I can use the time to fill in my mileage claim.
After googling for remedies, I've tried new batteries, and pressing reset, and warming the batteries under my armpit and then installing them, but I am just not getting any signs of life from the thermostat. I've just put the thermostat unit on the electric blanket to see if warming it up can get it to come to life.
So effectively:
Problem a - might need a new thermostat
Problem b - don't have uniform for work today.
ARGH!
So month-end update:
July
Money taken from savings £1,300 (not repaid)
CC One £974.29
CC Two £311.54
August
Money borrowed from savings £450 (repaid on 25/8/22)
CC One £795.70
CC Two £125.27
September
Money borrowed from savings £200 (repaid on 25/9/22)
CC One £1,102.26
CC Two £451.42
I'll end up borrowing a lot from savings in October, to make sure I don't pay interest on the credit cards. Pets, cars and houses are such money drains.