The thriftyish way

newgirly

So sorry to hear about your health worries and that the operation has just been cancelled thriftyish, it must be a very stressful time for you all. I think focusing on the positives and knowing you have a back up of going private must be very helpful when stuck waiting. 

As for the kids it’s sounds like at some point you may have to trim things back a bit regarding the gymnastics, it sounds like they are good kids that would understand which is pretty amazing! I know it won’t stop you feeling guilty as that’s what we do but trust me it won’t do them any harm to be a but different to the other kids at school when it comes to things like holidays etc. Ours had a lot of uk breaks growing up but only went abroad once for a week their whole childhood, my eldest now travels for work, and one of my younger ones goes off for European weekends a lot now , it’s not held back their sense of adventure 😁 

As you are an ex DFW there’s probably no money saving tips you don’t already know 😆 but best of luck with trying to get the mortgage down before the rate ends, hopefully things will be a bit more stable by then both for you and also the state of the mortgage market! 

thriftyish

Hey @newgirly thanks for dropping by.  It’s really, really reassuring to read about your children, and you are right that I feel a lot of guilt. My SIL and her husband had a rough financial start but both work good jobs and have a lovely house and usually a 2 week foreign all-inclusive holiday a year. We usually look after pets and I know DH feels incredibly guilty that he isn’t providing me & the kids that. I have said many times that I’m happy not having those things, that it isn’t a case he’s ‘not providing’ that we have different plans and I am happy with our life & plans for the future - I’m also really happy for SIL&family they are truly lovely people and work hard for what they have. I feel guilty that he feels like that, and guilty that the kids haven’t experienced that. On the whole though I’m happier we are living within our means! Thank you for your lovely comment

Infection.

It is probably a good thing that my operation was cancelled because my toothache proceeded to get worse and my jaw started to swell. A trip back to the dentist on Monday confirmed it’s still infected and I have antibiotics. I’ve been in bed since, last night was the first night I’ve managed any sleep, and I’m not clock watching for pain relief today. I had to collect the antibiotics with 2 other prescriptions that cost £28.05. I asked about the prescription payment scheme which I think she said is about £35 for 3 months or £100 for the year so I will sign up to one of those today. She gave me a form and I should be able to refund the £28 back, and it will definitely save some money in the long run - that’s next on my list. The operation is rescheduled for the 29th November. 

Bank account switch. 

We haven’t switched bank accounts for years. I thought it’s a good time to look for myself and DH, with the aim of throwing any bonus at the mortgage. We both have sole accounts we don’t use so I was looking to switch them but no DDs come out of them. I was looking at what direct debits we could switch to the sole accounts to meet the terms. This led me down a rabbit hole that ended with me swapping mine and DH’s phone contracts with thr33 to sm@rty. This did not help my DD dilemma at all because I pay sm@rty through PayPal, and will need to cancel both thr33 DDs but it has saved us £8.72. We now pay £25.20 for 4 mobile contracts. DD2 wants a contract too but she’s 9 so not getting one until Sept next year. She wants one so she can go the park & walk home alone etc. I am discouraging it atm but she’s desperate for independence

Gym cancelled. 

I cancelled the extra gym classes, so back to £66, DDs not too fussed. DS doesn’t really want to cancel football, so leaving that one for the moment. 

DH job

DH has been looking at other jobs. This scares me greatly but he needs to think of his career and for what he deals with he’s already massively underpaid, also he’s amazing so I am 100% behind whatever he chooses. Current job is quite secure. He found a job in his current jobs parent company and had been speaking to someone about the role and says there is nothing he couldn’t do, he’s ready for a new challenge and it’s the direction he wants to go with his career. His boss has asked him not to apply yet. He held off but asked why. They said there might be something in the pipeline. He checked yesterday and the starting salary has been added to the advert. $130,000-$150,000. That’s a min of £104k, he’s on 33k now. That’s so crazy I can’t even imagine. Especially has 3 years ago he was on 18k. I just want him to be happy.  He’s talking to his boss today about what they have planned because he wants to apply but not tread on toes. The job he was looking at would be wfh with 20% global travel. 

Thrifty.

thriftyish

Hello!

I sent last months overpayment of £353 to the mortgage. £250 from the car account because I’ve yet to finalise the new budgets and £103 from the insurance account. We save £30 a month for house insurance, and I realised it was about to auto renew for £525 up from £300 last year. I cancelled the auto renewal and after several comparisons decided to go with a unheard of company as they were over £100 less than the next cheapest. Added home emergency and lowered the excess before paying £240. £340 in the account so overpayed the mortgage with the rest. Also found last years cashback of £38 in quidc0 so will send that to the mortgage when it clears. Should earn £28 on this years payment to send in March.

Switched two old sole accounts (mine and DHs) to N@twest for the switching bonus. Looking at direct debits to meet the criteria, and decided to go with Park Christmas vouchers and ecol0gy savings account. Also looking at p1um and m0neybox for another switch.

Overspent on shopping last month because I forgot to edit the first shopping delivery, so ordered a second (have a pass so ‘free’ delivery) and then forgot to edit the second too in half term. I am a prized idiot. We still have about 7kg of potatoes, 4 green peppers ( from 4 family bags!) and 9 over ripe bananas. Most of the rest was basics store-cupboard or freezer so will get used up in time, I just have a basic list so filled the trolley and bought intending to edit, twice, doh.

I cancelled this weeks delivery as it was on operation day, before operation was cancelled. Fridge looked like mother Hubbards cupboard, so DH had to nip to Lid1 for basics. Hoping to last till next delivery on Tuesday.

I am refusing to buy chips at £1.50 a kg, when I can buy potatoes at 46p a kg, hence so many potatoes. We had sausage in onion gravy, mash, carrots and peas tonight, aiming to use up the smaller potatoes and I made 3 lots of banana bread for pack ups to save the bananas. DS eyes almost popped out of his head. He stopped talking mid conversation to ask if he could smell banana bread - not seen him look so excited in ages. DD1 declared its the worst thing ever. I still am upset at the cost increase of cheese.

I have a washing dilemma too. Refusing to use the tumble dryer I want to sell, but stuff isnt drying fast enough indoors. Heating is not on, which is the issue, we would usually dry on radiators. 

Mortgage now £150,745

Cornish_mum

Hi Thriftyish, wow great opportunity for your DH; and we have the same issue with drying indoors currently (and it’s been too wet outside). Haven’t thought of a solution yet. CM

Bluegreen143

If that happens again @thriftyish, remember you can just give anything you want back for a refund. 

I’ve been known (only this week!) to forget to cancel a delivery and the driver was nice about me refusing the whole delivery… well my holding items are always 2x packs of whey protein 😆 cos it was always £20 each (now £24!) and you need £40 to check out.

QueenJess

Hi @thriftyish. Have you worked through the calculations to compare whether it’s better to overpay the mortgage within the period of overpayment or have a buffer to save up to pay for the potential increase in payments when the fix ends?

Is there a neutral point of overpayments to aim for that might not increase your mortgage payments (although a small crystal ball is needed to guess at different interest rates)?

I love that our mortgages are almost identical in size!

Good work in the accounts. I hate that kind of admin and always put it off.

thriftyish

@Cornish_mum It would be amazing for DH. He works in IT and is the IT manager for a huge manufacturing plant. But his dream is programming, specifically software integration (where he gets two or more bits of software to communicate/send data to each other), his other dream job is cyber security. It’s a really specialised role but he has done some bits before and loves it. Plus this current job requires a certain level of fitness and his back isn’t up to it.  I have not found a solution either for drying clothes and with 6+ loads of washing, washing from earlier in the week not dry, and rain all weekend I have resorted to central heating. I think I needs to relent and use the heating a tiny bit more but this is a big solid wall house with 3m tall ceilings, the boiler is bigger than my washing machine (just) and the cost scares me! DH is a comedian - I put the heating on and he called me urgently saying there was a problem. I attempted a run, fastest I’ve moved in weeks and when I rounded the corner - he was holding the radiator and exclaimed ‘It’s getting hot!’

@Bluegreen143 I didn’t even think of that as an option! I’m the sucker who keeps the dented tins because I’d rather use up than it potentially be wasted  We told the driver and he said it happens lots, he says he now calls the people who only have 1/2 things in their basket  I will remember this for future inevitable unedited deliveries!

@QueenJess I think it’s definitely better to overpay, but no hopes of drawing neutral. I just hope that we don’t see increases above 6%, I worked out we would be able to afford 10% but would have nothing except food. Anything higher and we risk the house. It’s scary, feeling awful for people who are facing this already.

Less than 24 hours after refusing to buy frozen chips, I bought frozen chips. A friend who expected me to be in recovery from operation spent £40 on fireworks for the garden. DD3 remembered last years bonfire celebration and asked for individual steak pies from MR M. Last year they were ys bargains. This year full price and obv bought extra for friend. Also bought handmade MR M pizza for Friday night as they are better than takeaway pizza and cost much less - also due to mother hubbards empty cupboard and two exhausted parents. Spent an unplanned £22, but had a lovely weekend. We have never done fireworks at home before, kids naturally enjoyed the two rockets that didn’t explode in the air and instead on the ground more than the stuff that went to plan. No injuries but a very near miss, easy to see how accidents happen even with due diligence.

I think I have made a error. I think I have attempted to switch a joint account to a sole account because I forgot it was joint. Then I have forgotten the password I have chosen. My brain isn’t functioning since covid1, I think covid2 two has made it worse. I keep joking about it but it’s reasonably scary! Also I am exhausted, behond normal exhaustion. Like sit down and unable to stay awake in my seat tired. I suspected MS earlier this year due to this and other numbness/nerve/cognitive issues (also because my mum&aunt had ms) which would also explain this. But then it could also be explained by Covid/migraines/infection. Still no news from neurology, I phoned in Sept and they said they were still processing scans from April, my scan was sept, so am not expecting anything soon. No news is good news because neuro suggested next step was lumbar puncture which does not sound fun. 

I was talking about the operation to remove the mass from ovary and decided to watch a video. This was a mistake. Also realised that since op is on 29th, and recovery 4-12 weeks, I need to have Christmas sorted before op. And decorating finished and decs up if possible. Some decorating progress although DH has hurt his neck and is unable to turn it so not as much progress as planned, he needs to rest. I am not much use, I look 6 months pregnant due to said mass and it would not be sensible to climb ladders. This is when I realise I usually do 90% of decorating, DH hates it. DH also talking about needs/wants from upcoming nov sales. I have not budgeted for this beyond Xmas presents. 

We have £100 ‘household’ budget, which is mostly intended for small appliances, decorating, odds and sods. Last month we spent -

£5.36 - paint brushes
£3.99 - masking tape.
£28.29 - replacement blades for multi tool ( to remove some scrap wood that had been screwed and glued to the window surrounds, then plastered up to, to hold the old blinds.
£16.48 - reusable batteries
£1 - stamp
£30.00 - Christmas tree topped and decorations (this was wanted and beautiful but in hindsight super expensive)
£21.98 - two cheap but excellent reviewed security cameras to replace broken ones in front and back garden.

Overspent by about £8

This month I need a kettle, mesh filter has gone on the one we have had for 5 years, can’t see a replacement for just the filters and we live in an hard water area so, yuk.

Was hoping to buy a new light and 2 x wall lights for living room but that might be optimistic given our other list of thing we would like. Need to make a new list and prioritise. 

Sorry for the rambling, it really does help me to focus though!

thriftyish

Excitingly I have found replacement mesh for the kettle, so I can rescue the kettle for £2.99. Crazy that I could have bought a new kettle for £7.50. I am saving the world instead. I think with how much mesh is in the post, the mesh should outlive the kettle. I think I should probably find my stash of white vinegar and descale today.

Today's job is to edit the shopping (third time is the charm) and start a list for Christmas. Including a meal plan for xmas week, and a plan for advent.

I wanted to sell our huge wooden advent trees, but kids are against it. They take up a huge amount of room to store! Plan B is to find somewhere for them to live at Xmas. Maybe see if DH can build a ledge for behind the sofa. We have talked about this for years, a simple 15cm ledge, slightly lower than the sofa to put drinks, a nice subtle backlight/fairy lights at Xmas, plus the wooden advents. They are more eco-friendly than plastic ones, which is why we bought them in the first place. 

The meal plan is:
Mon - jackets
Tues - toad in the hole (DS request)
Wed - soup / egg on toast 
Thurs - curry with naan bread
Fri - chicken and chorizo jambalaya
Sat - cauliflower burgers with wedges and possibly cauliflower hot wings if I have extra energy
Sun - Stir fry beef with ginger and peanuts
Mon - More jackets

Lunches are, sandwiches, pitta pizzas, quesadillas, pretend snackables, and wraps. Weekend lunch will remain a fridge scavenger hunt. Breakfast are cereal, toast, crumpets, and possibly a bacon/egg/sausage sarnie at the weekend.

thriftyish

Another shopping disaster. I managed to edit my Christmas order instead of my weekly delivery. Less said about that the better! I did send back all the unneeded stuff and reordered the extra for the next day. I will get the hang of this. Just ordered this weeks shop to arrive tomorrow, and spent £93 for the week. We have about £170 left of our monthly £450 budget. Hoping that stretches to 1 more weekly shop (that has to stretch 9 days, so our next order falls in the December budget) and a meal out.

We have booked and paid for the polar express train ride experience (while the little two are young enough) and I want to have a meal afterwards. We are going to the one near Leeming Bar, I need to investigate good restaurants / deals nearby to stretch the pounds.

My phone is broken too, it’s quite new and DH can’t fix so we need to head back to the store to see if they can help. Annoyingly it’s the phone with all the banks set up, so it’s been a huge faff swapping to my old phone.

I’m still not well, and today only 2 out of 4 children made it to school, and they sent another home before lunch. It was the youngest who was victorious and managed a full day in school. DD1 is hormonal, full of anxiety and cold - it’s not a great mix.

savingholmes

Best of luck on your journey. It sounds like you are making the best of difficult circumstances. If I were in your position I would work on the basis that cashflow is the most important thing and personally I would put the mortgage overpayment into high interest savings instead of overpaying directly. That gives your budget more wriggle room later if you need it - and you may earn more too.