Ding! Ding! All change, please... (now replaced with new diary on MFW)

EssexHebridean

A bit more shuffling of funds done today - I opened the C0v3ntry regular saver and have transferred the first payment to it, plus set up the recurring payment for the remainder of the year too. I’ve also set up the monthly payment to FD so I don’t need to remember that one going forwards - as we only now have one monthly payment to C0v3ntry we can now cover that one straight from the joint account.

MrEH had to fill the car again today as expected - he did use the cheap petrol station on his way home though, he’s well trained! Other than that a NSD - I went out for a decent walk earlier but no shops enticed me in. 

It would appear that the grocery challenge this month is a bust - albeit not by that much but still pretty poor considering it was a short month. I’m chalking it up to everything having been a bit up in the air over the last fortnight. Having said that MrEH has just walked back in the door armed with YS’d pitta breads (9p) and hot cross buns (19p), plus a 4 pint bottle of skimmed milk for 52p - see, I told you he was well trained didn’t I! 

Right - as I’ve just put the first episode of Happy Valley on to see what all the fuss is about - I’ll sign off now. Start of a whole new week tomorrow! 

lucielle

Just watched the final one, enjoy!  

L

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Sorry to hear about Mr EH's dad, the loss of a parent is one of life's big shifts.  Hope you're both doing ok

EssexHebridean

Morning all - thanks for popping in L and for the condolences OhSh... 

Today is already not a NSD as I travelled in by tube this morning (MrEH dropped me at the end of the line 7 miles away) and needed to feed my Oyster. Did it in transit though so will see it hit the card when I touch in this evening to travel into London for this talk we're booked on to. It seemed a little pointless for me to bring a car into town this morning just for MrEH to have to do the same thing later- then we'd no doubt both have issues getting parked again when we get home later - as it is he will drive in later and park near my office so we can travel up together. We'll make a decision later based on timings whether we try to find something to eat up in London or whether we head home and have an omelette or something when we get back.  If we do decide to eat out then there is money in the joint fun account that will cover it. MrEH will top up his Oyster tonight too. 

Just done a quick once over the joint account balance - on the face of it a little lower than at the same time last month but all good as things are accounted for. I've opted to not shift money from the "feeder" account for our Sant-and-er reg savers this month either so I have that "in hand" if needed - I may well use it when the money for the FD saver goes out. The mid month DDs will also be £150 lower due to no council tax payment too - and that money has already been shifted out, so with that in mind too, all is well in the world! All end of month surplus will be shifted to the new house pot - by the end of the month we should be within touching distance of having the stamp duty amount in there which is excellent! (Although realistically I should probably be accounting for the things we'll need sooner - searches on the purchase, leasehold pack on the flat etc!) 

Other than that - things are ticking over. Hopefully we'll hear back from the agent today on the rocket I sent last week - MrEH is going to back that up by asking him to get the EPC graph on the listing pronto as well. whether they like it or not, they are going to be working for their commission on this one! 

enthusiasticsaver

Property management packs are horrendously expensive (or at my least my DD1s was as she is selling at the moment too). I think she paid almost £450 for her 2 bed in Bristol. Bonus having the council tax savings to go to new home pot.  Hope you get an offer soon. Hope your DH and MIL bearing up ok.  

I have just watched last episode of Happy Valley recorded  from yesterday.  Hope you enjoy the series. 

milann

Hope you enjoy the talk tonight. 

Finances sounding well under control as per usual 👍

Humdinger1

My subscription to your diary fell off @EssexHebridean; I don't know why! So sorry for your loss.  As ever, you have a firm grip.  Sending love to you all Humdinger xx 

Humdinger1

Also to say that I moved my whole 5k out of PBs last week.  Immediately afterwards, I won £25 but that still makes a colossal £50 for the year; 1%!  I hope that this marks the end of my 'magical thinking ' hangover; feet on the ground and realistic, achievable plans are the way for for me at any rate.  Love Humdinger xx 

EssexHebridean

Morning all - Milann the talk was excellent, really interesting! Humdinger I've enjoyed having the PBs and would consider holding them again in the future but for us they're definitely not even delivered close to the "average" so getting rid is probably a no brainer. ES I was pleasantly surprised to see that our leasehold pack will be around £150 - I was fully expecting higher than that! 

I get the nasty feeling we are about to lose our purchase - the sellers are (reasonably enough) getting twitchy about no offers on ours. It's been "gently" pointed out to the agent this morning that the sellers would have seen that we are still keen to try to progress things had he got round to responding to our solicitor when he made contact three weeks ago... Our place now has a much better looking listing with some actual information, and is being changed to a premium listing today as well. We have one possibility to explore for someone who may be interested in buying it although they would be an investor so the current climate may not be good for them...worth exploring though. Our Solicitor (my Mr Boss) also now has contact, which is good. I'm trying to be very realistic about the purchase - if they go back on the market, unless they drop the price they won't immediately show in alerts on RM at least, which will help, but honestly I'd be surprised if it doesn't then go under offer from someone else before we can get back in position again. Sigh. 

Other than that - we did opt to eat out last night. Just a 'Spoons, but otherwise it would have been somewhere about 9pm earliest before we'd got back and then I'd still have needed to cook. £24 well spent. I'll transfer that from the joint fun account to the CC once it goes through. Other than that the only other cost for the evening was the travel so it was a very reasonable night out. The monthly payment and the EBSS money have both now hit the account with the Octopods so just over £300 credit in there - allowing that we should hopefully now be moving towards slightly lower energy use I'm fairly pleased with that - it certainly looks like we'll emerge from winter with some credit intact which I'm slightly surprised about. 

Mostly quiet on the financials side now - MrEH handily forgot to pick up his Oyster card last night so used his own contactless card for the travel - which means no top up now until next week - hurrah! I know it's only delaying it but it all helps doesn't it. Next DDs are the RSPB donation, the broadband and then the service charge and garage rent. My car MOT is coming up for needed too - but I've just checked and that can't be done until later in the month as I don't want to lose time off it. I do need to keep an eye for the tax renewal though because even though it's zero tax I still have to do the "paperwork" of course. I'll most likely get her serviced at the same time - Neil will advise what's needed - and money is stashed in the car account as always. 

milann

Fingers crossed for the house 🤞