Changing my life, goals and finances!

savingholmes

Ouch to the £1K bill - as you say rotten timing. Good you had the money in your savings but well done for breathing in and carrying on... 

As long as the food isn't wasted - that's the main thing... 

leftatthetrafficlights

Thanks @Blackcats and @savingholmes 😁 

The boiler installation is still ongoing - it should hopefully be completed by the end of today! 🙌 my house looks like a total bombsite- dd, sil & grandbaby have been here since Saturday morning, my kitchen has been overtaken by 'boiler stuff', I've had no hot water or heating since they arrived and removed the old boiler and its all a bit chaotic really!! 😳😂😂 

I'll be glad when it's done and I can get my house back in order - I'm a bit of a clean freak so despite it all being necessary and temporary, it's starting to make me slightly frazzled! The other good bit of having it completed will be knowing where I stand financially- I think we're done on the expenses but until it's completely up and running I'm not counting my chickens! 😉 

I'm still running with the meal plan although there have been a few alterations due to having the family for the weekend so I'll do a rejig tomorrow when they are back home and I can see what I need to repurpose - the repurposing of leftovers will mainly be for dh as they are all meat eaters and I did them a bolognese Saturday and a roast dinner yesterday.  I did sardinian lamb yesterday but served the lamb as a traditional roast so we still have the sauce from it - they've had lamb sarnies for lunch so I'm not sure how much remains but I'm thinking that I'll do dh an individual shepherd's pie for dinner tomorrow and pasta with lamb sauce on Tuesday if there's enough 🤔 I'll probably send the kids home with the rest of the bolognese so they can reheat that this evening to save them messing about. 

My intention tomorrow is to have a big house blitz then sit down and go through all the finances to see exactly where I stand. I want to have a clear plan from the start of our new budgets at the end of this week. 

Following that  it's going to be an inventory of food in the freezers/fridge/storecupboard/garden and a meal plan for the next few weeks will be written - I'd like to complete the main part of the meal plan to cover us until the visit to relatives near the end of October- obviously the veg will be interchangable with whatever is cheapest/readily available but I can get the basics sorted regardless.  

I'm also going to write a list of the things I need to make; for a variety of reasons, I didn't get the elderberry cordial sorted and I only started the veg boullion yesterday so more needs to be done with that. I've got chocolate mint sauce to sort too and I need to make some cashew and macadamia 'cheese' which means starting a batch of rejuvelac...basically,  it's a busy week ahead!! 😳😂😂

leftatthetrafficlights

Had to have a change of task list priorities today as the finances were weighing heavily on my head so I've worked out where I stand with those first! 

I currently need £1665 to get me back to where I was when I left work so that's what I'm concentrating on before I start on the Debt neutral fund.

It will be known as the BTB fund (Back To Basics) and I will put every saving I make into it...I should be able to clear a large chunk of it when I get my tax refund (claimed that this morning 😉) in a few weeks and I'm hoping to clear the rest by the end of the year. 

It's going to be a bit of an uphill battle but on the positive side, the money was there to cover it, I have a plan to rebuild it and it gives me even more incentive to stick to a frugal lifestyle! 😁 

Unfortunately,  I'm going to have to use the tumble dryer today as we have mountains of laundry to do die to the weekend disruption and the weather is pretty rough at the moment - financially it would make more sense to try to spread it out over a week or so but for the sake of my sanity I'd rather just get it done and absorb the cost...I really can't cope spending any more time in chaos 🤦‍♀️ There isn't one room in my house that doesn't need totally blitzing at the moment 😳😔 Anyway, on that note  I'm going to finish my latte and get on with it!! 😉

leftatthetrafficlights

£75 to the BTB fund today! 🙌 I'd overestimated what I needed on something so have transferred the additional sum back. I get cashback on my spending from my bank so I'll put that in at the end of the month too. I have no leftovers from petrol or groceries this month but that's okay, it has been a very expensive month so I'm just pleased that I've managed to come in pretty much on target! Now that everything is done and paid for I'm feeling back in control of the finances despite having to make up for unexpected spending 😉

Dh had his car serviced and MOT'd yesterday- considerably more expensive than expected but thankfully we had the money in the MOT/Car Maintenance pot so no problem with that. 

Blitzed the upstairs of the house yesterday and got through about half of the washing mountain- today I'll do the rest of the washing and the downstairs of the house then tomorrow will be the food inventory as I really need to get the meal plan sorted as tomorrow is when my new budgets start 😁 

I have decided that as its been a Scary September (it has been a bit of a nightmare month for me financially and in lots of other ways! 🤦‍♀️), I'm going to aim for an Outstanding October! 😂 

It's going to be (other than the holiday week) my attempt at having the most frugal month possible and really concentrate on my health (physical and mental) at the same time. Since leaving work, things have been pretty chaotic and I'm desperate to actually get on and start my new existence properly.

Getting the house, finances and food inventory sorted this week will mean that I can start fresh next week with a sense of calm and will be able to spend it reviewing and setting my goals ready for October 😁

EssexHebridean

Happy new diary LATTL - although I was sorry to read about your bereavement. 

On the finances - as you say, you had the money there to cover the unexpected spending, and that is after all what emergency funds are for isn't it. Taking action to replace the "borrowed" funds as fast as you clan is also sensible of course, as is a healthy aversion to having to dip into such "standby" funds in the first place! 

savingholmes

Love the sound of outstanding October. 

As EH said - be kind to yourself along the way.

cinnamon123

You are doing great despite the initial unplanned events this month. Rock on Outstanding October!

leftatthetrafficlights

The laundry mountain has been conquered!! 🙌🙌🙌 I've also completed all the  housework so I'm feeling pretty happy now- order has been restored 😁 

It's the autumn equinox tomorrow- I'm looking forward to resetting and starting the autumn/winter period fresh. It's my new budget period and other than my week away at the end of October (and my usual grandbaby times) we have no commitments prior to winter solstice so I can really concentrate on looking after myself, my home and my finances.

I've started a list of things I want to achieve before the solstice so can focus on those from this weekend- tomorrow is my reset day so it will be all about cleansing myself and my environment.

In the morning I'll do a dry skin brush, defur and exfoliating shower then I'll do a yoga session,  have a quick whizz round the house then spend some time at the beach. When I'm home I'll sort food then have an Epsom salt bath. Tomorrow evening will be spent listening to relaxing music and meditation- I'm looking forward to a completely indulgent day! 😁 

I've started on the food inventory but have decided that I'm leaving the freezers until the weekend when dh can help - some of the suff in there is his lunch stuff which I have no idea about! 🙄😂 So far, it's looking good, I'm starting to formulate some menu plans so hopefully by next week I'll have October sorted 😁 

EssexHebridean

Loving the sound of your indulgent sort of day - that sounds just fantastic! I confess I’m well and truly missing being by the sea at the moment, so envious of folk who live properly near water! 

Blackcats

Outstanding October sounds great.   A really positive approach to a frugal month.