Prosperous soul, mortgage neutrality & creativity Year 2

WelshmansDaughter

Lol at first I read that as Gluten Free grill and was very confused. I used to love the George foreman grill 

savingholmes

Thanks Merlin, Skint and WD. 

I put the compost in one raised bed yesterday - It took about 170 litres even with the stuff I'd put underneath. I still need to plant out the garlic bulbs and the flowering bulbs.

Yesterday's meal went well although they arrived later than planned. The kids played hunt the cat and the cat avoided accordingly.  After the meal, we toasted marshmallows over the fire pit which was lovely and played with sparklers. I've said BIL can take the fireworks from my shed when he's ready for them - as I wouldn't risk lighting them in our garden but theirs is longer. I handed out telescopic nets (only about 1 metre long) to the 3 kids  and we also fished some of the leaves out of my pond. When they went to have their baths - I carried on playing with the net like a true child. Meanwhile BIL cleaned up the kitchen. Gold star right there.

They also did their washing while they were at mine - as someone had been over-enthusiastic in preparing for the plasterer and taken out all their sinks and left them with just one toilet! Their upstairs bathroom and ensuite are due to be fitted this week. They are still waiting on new windows, underfloor insulation, some bricking up and a whole load of other stuff. Definitely eye opening how long things like that can take. 

Even with the heating on all day - my lounge struggled to get warm - it always has. I'm debating buying some rugs - as I brought an old one down to lend sis and it made a massive difference to the warmth of the floor. Note to self - if I ever do wooden floors in future, insulate, insulate, insulate.

SandyShores

Sounds like a lovely weekend savingholmes, the children will have such good memories.  Agree on the wooden floors, we stripped some back in an old victorian home we owned and froze to death with all the draughts as well as the floor itself being really cold.  There was a deep space underneath the floor, and an airbrick under there which let the freezing air straight in and up through the gaps in the floorboards.  I prefer the cosiness of carpets these days, but I do love to see a wooden floor.  I'd definitely put a rug or two down - you could put it on top of underlay to add to the insulation.  (edit - I just looked up airbricks in older houses on the internet and it looks like there were things we could have done to lessen or remove the effect - wish I'd known that back then).

MovingForwards

Food shopping has worked out well, meals will be scrumptious.

Sounds like you've had a good weekend too.

Definitely large rugs if you do bare flooring, keep toes warmer.

WelshmansDaughter

Under floor insulation was one of the jobs I attempted in my flat. There wasn't enough clearance for a company to do it. Never again!

savingholmes

Thanks Sandy, MF and WD

I've been watching a series on utube that @LadyWithAPlan introduced us to 'Until debt do.... ' It's eye opening in that while I've improved hugely - pre LBM we could have featured on the show. While I now have savings - I still feel I am wasting £ which is reducing my future choices.

I have a forward plan that shows where I want to be in 5-10 or even 12-15 years but my fritter spend has been creeping / jumping up and eroding that. Because I'm getting extra pay in Dec and Jan my spend has gone up when originally I'd intended to use most of it for savings. Some of my extra spending is sat in my FF or tin cupboard or has gone on the garden. A little went on clothes. Most of it has been small bits here and there that add up - not helped by the upcoming festive season.

I'm debating whether to go to cash and/or stop using CCs at all. Really scarily today I got sent a replacement CC card and they'd upped my limit to £15K. I don't need that level of temptation - especially added to all my other existing CCs. I've been hoping my older CCs will close themselves down due to lack of use - but there's no sign of that happening. I need to ring round and close them down. The problem is that I can rarely remember my passwords for things so they are not easy to shut down at all!! They also want you then to tell them what your credit limits for things are etc - when I'd only know by checking credit reports anyway! They should have easier ways to close down accounts.

I've also earned 8p in interest on my new current account. I'm going to investigate the cashback terms of a couple of my accounts to see if I can get points through them instead of CCs so I can reduce the habit. I've also just sent £200 to my CC for in month spends - and sent £62 yesterday. 

My various savings have been added to the account - plus the interest I mentioned on an earlier post and my savings now add up to: £4719. I've overspent on CCs although by about £400 if I want to keep a current account float of £200 - but that will be repaid in 10 days - which is before the statements are due.

My no/low buy list from my previous diary - was a nice idea but I haven't really made it materialise much. I need to re-focus on that in the new year.

EssexHebridean

I thought that these days the CC co's were meant to offer a rate increase but not apply it unless you asked them to - a bit naughty if they're just applying it like that! That was the very way I got into debt when I was 18 - 20. Got a CC because that was what everyone did then - full of good intentions to pay it off fully each month - and at first, I really did. Then they started increasing the rate, and I saw the potential for being able to afford stuff before I'd saved for it. till would have stayed under control probably if it wasn't for a couple of chunky car repairs. Still - it was a lesson I learned re cards! 

Can you set a specific budget for fritter spends if you know they're going to happen? Or reallocate some of your household budget for incidentals like bits for the garden? 

For closing CC's - the last couple I've done I've done in good old fashioned writing - including closing one that I literally could only recall the final 4 numbers off. Santander, I discovered last week, will happily close card accounts for you via online chat too, which is helpful! 

Blackcats

Sounds like a nice weekend.
do you have a personal spends category in your budget?  It's then guilt free spending and helps prioritise what you want to spend it on.  As @foxgloves says "once it's gone it's gone".

I'm using mine to buy body shop festive spiced orange toiletries this month and rather than spend on myself for the sake of it I donated to the Salvation Army Christmas appeal.  

LadyWithAPlan

savingholmes said:

Thanks Sandy, MF and WD

I've been watching a series on utube that @LadyWithAPlan introduced us to 'Until debt do.... ' It's eye opening in that while I've improved hugely - pre LBM we could have featured on the show. While I now have savings - I still feel I am wasting £ which is reducing my future choices.

I have a forward plan that shows where I want to be in 5-10 or even 12-15 years but my fritter spend has been creeping / jumping up and eroding that. Because I'm getting extra pay in Dec and Jan my spend has gone up when originally I'd intended to use most of it for savings. Some of my extra spending is sat in my FF or tin cupboard or has gone on the garden. A little went on clothes. Most of it has been small bits here and there that add up - not helped by the upcoming festive season.

I'm debating whether to go to cash and/or stop using CCs at all. Really scarily today I got sent a replacement CC card and they'd upped my limit to £15K. I don't need that level of temptation - especially added to all my other existing CCs. I've been hoping my older CCs will close themselves down due to lack of use - but there's no sign of that happening. I need to ring round and close them down. The problem is that I can rarely remember my passwords for things so they are not easy to shut down at all!! They also want you then to tell them what your credit limits for things are etc - when I'd only know by checking credit reports anyway! They should have easier ways to close down accounts.

I am with you on the no cc's idea - I definitely only have one to up my credit score for my house buying .. but it is amazing how it creeps up! I budget all my categories each month and have a pot called CC so when I spend on the card, I transfer that amount from the right pot -eg grocery, clothing etc into the pot so when the bill is due I have enough ready to pay it off. Yet somehow I am always out and have to add in more.
If I didnt need to show I can handle debt I would not have a cc. I only got it last year - and have managed to travel the world without a credit card for over a decade so. I cant wait to stop using it.

They just encourage you to spend ... Glad you have a new frugal hobby 'Til Debt do us part' thats enough to put everyone off credit cards. 

I like EssexHebridean and @blackcats idea of a personal spends pot. I do have a odds and ends pot and also a blow money one - £20 in each a month but I hate spending from them ... 

WelshmansDaughter

I like Gail's idea of percentages. It's like what you were saying before about DS living by a set of principles but for money. You put 25% or your own percentage in the Life category and then it goes on all the little things that make up life like gardens and fritter spends. Or even just go back over your spending and categorize it like that and see how much goes where.