Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Whatlifeis

Congrats on the weight loss Foxgloves! That’s very impressive

Regarding the waking up in the middle of the night thing, it’s caused by the 3 a.m. cortisol spike. Basically our circadian rhythm directs our cortisol (fight-or-flight hormone) to rise every day around 3am, in preparation for the next morning. However, if your cortisol levels are already high as a result of stress, then it’s much more likely you will wake up and your brain will go into overdrive, and you won’t be able to get back to sleep.

foxgloves

@Whatlifeis - Thanks. Yes, I'm pleased with 2.8kg in 2 weeks as I can often struggle to shift a pound a week, sometimes less. I think the TRE might be boosting progress, we'll see (circadian rhythms again!)
Interesting about one's cortisol jumping around at 3am. That's always been my bad wake-up time, & always worse if I'm worried about something, so I think that theory sounds perfectly plausible.
F

foxgloves

Hello Wednesday Pence Wranglers,
Icy car & pond this morning but only a handful of snowflakes. Very cold though. I'm wearing my big handknitted wool fisherman's gansey & I still feel cold.
Lots of useful financials done today, as lots going on in our various accounts atm. I sat & did the necessary number crunching on the exact amount I need to borrow from our Emergency Fund for 2 large imminent payments & wrote myself some notes on exactly how this money is to be divided when it arrives in our bank account tomorrow. Used emergency fund as it is a very accessible account. Will need to visit in person to shift it from the savings account it is ultimately going to be coming from.
Also did several general budget updates, as there were quite a lot waiting & I am hot on wanting to know exactly where we are with things like buffer zones, personal spends & grocery budget at the moment.
Did a few surveys & cashed out a £10 voucher.
On the domestic front, quite a lot of the enormous heap of clean laundry waiting for the iron turned out to be (Oh deep joy!!) stuff which just required putting away rather than ironing, so I got on with that while Mr F took Soot & Ash to the vet for their annual check-up & boosters. Was pleased to have sufficient in the buffer zone to deal with the bill from that, so have preserved the Meow Fund, which needs building up. 
Last of Sunday's roast chicken tonight, which I shall use in a Chinese-style rice thing. Didn't need to buy an expensive pepper for this, as found a chopped bagged one at the back of the freezer. 
Wrote meal plans for next week. 
Right, I think that's quite enough from me. I need to move around for a bit as have been sitting for too long at my desk.
Take care m'dears,
F x

Sun_Addict

Well done on the weight loss 👏 I had a lot of very expensive dental work done quite a few years ago - 2 crowns, one with a gold pin and post plus 2 veneers. Immediately prior to that I had to have the rest of my teeth whitened which was not the best experience to be honest. I hate going to the dentist at the best of times 🙁 Once it’s done it’s done so just keep thinking ahead to that day. 

foxgloves

@Sun_Addict - Thanks. I'm having some implant work done & I think I'm getting increasingly nervous because the next appointment will be installing the posts into my jawbone. It needs doing though. I did get a 2nd opinion & this was the best option. I will keep telling myself that once it's done, it's done. I do very much just want it over & done with.
.C x

Moorviews

@foxgloves - Well done for being so persistent with those phone calls and finally getting the information you needed. It was definitely the right option to have them put you directly through to HMRC! I too was contracted out, so despite having 36 qualifying years, I still needed to buy a further 5 years to get close to the full state pension. Fortunately, I had phoned the future pension people previously and got the required information. They had told me that I needed to phone HMRC in order to make the payment so that is what I attempted to do yesterday. I just got hung up on constantly after the recorded messages and answering the voice options, when all I actually wanted was to pay them! I went back to the website to check that it does indeed say to phone to make a one off payment. Or, at least, it can be interpreted that way. I would need the 18 digit reference number in order to pay online so I couldn’t do that either. Thanks to @Tescodealqueen making their comment about paying by post, I read on to see that it should be possible to send a cheque, along with a note of all my identifying details. As the deadline for payment has been extended to 31st July 2023, I think I shall do that. I can’t bear the thought of the phone torture again! Thank you for having the conversation on here because it all helps with awareness in helping one another to look out for our future financial security. My own ignorance and lack of understanding has definitely at times caused me to miss out on things and be worse off as a consequence. 

badmemory

Hearing peoples tales of dealing with NI has made me realise how grateful I am that I managed to kick my DS (not literally) into dealing with this in early Feb after trying to get him to sort it for 2 years.  I still had to deal with it but he had to be there to say they could speak to me.

Tescodealqueen

Thank you @Moorviews I checked website again and put a cheque in the post yesterday so will report back once I know it’s worked. 

Suffolk_lass

Your cortisol spike wakefulness is at 3.45 for me. Always has been. Unfortunately, the accompanying feature is grinding my teeth, so when my teeth break (and they do, for reasons associated with an Antipodean dental scam in the 1970s) I cannot have implants, veneers or similar!

foxgloves

@Suffolk_lass - My worst & most regular early morning wake-up is 3.15 am. Always has been, but while it was Sun to Fri back when I (& other colleagues) was having to live with a very difficult situation at work, which the senior management were unable to sort out. As this was largely due to their own cowardice, it was a combination of stress & anger which triggered the endless 3.15 wakings. 
Antipodean dodgy dental scam sounds grim, esp if it's left you unable to have certain treatments going forwards. I've never been a teeth grinder, but my friend is & has to wear a mouth guard at night to save her teeth. 
I'm interested in circadian rhythms so will research more about the cortisol.thing. The TRE diets also tie in with circadian rhythms.
F