Small steps lead to big changes...

jwil

Today's PAD - £2

Jan - £141
Feb - £139
March - £89
April £149
May - £79
June - £270
July - £253
August - £173
September - £120
October - £133

jwil

Today's PAD - £2

Jan - £141
Feb - £139
March - £89
April £149
May - £79
June - £270
July - £253
August - £173
September - £120
October - £135

savingholmes

Well done on the PADs - you've done really well - especially as this is the time of year when schools seem to ask for the most funding! Glad you got some time to yourself too.

jwil

Today's PAD - £2

Jan - £141
Feb - £139
March - £89
April £149
May - £79
June - £270
July - £253
August - £173
September - £120
October - £137

jwil

savingholmes said:

Well done on the PADs - you've done really well - especially as this is the time of year when schools seem to ask for the most funding! Glad you got some time to yourself too.

Thank you   Yes, definitely a spendy time of year!

jwil

How sad about Matthew Perry.  I love Friends and still go back to it for a bit of comfort blanket tv.

I've had a busy weekend.  On Friday we all went to a NT place, so that was a nice day out, and we're well in profit now of our membership which doesn't expire til April or May, so it's been very good value for us this year.

I'm on a mission to give the house a good spring (Autumn) clean as it just feels grubby and messy.  I've had yet another rant to everyone about the 'stuff'.  DH's seems to be creeping out into previously cleared areas again which is very annoying.

I've been getting myself organised for Christmas, as I want to be done by the end of November.  This weekend I have sorted out everything I need for 'external' gifts, i.e. those for people outside of the house.  I've also started getting bits for the kids, and bought my wrapping paper so that I can get it all wrapped as I go.  There are a couple of bits I am waiting to see if they come on offer on Black Friday, but the rest will be sorted beforehand.

Yesterday I lost a filling.  It's a big filling and there's not much left of the tooth.  I really dread to think how much that is going to cost, as our dentist went private and there are no NHS dentists left here at all.  I've booked an appointment with a new surgery for tomorrow, and if I like it I will move the kids there.  Our last two appointments with our current dentist have been cancelled by them (since they went private, so I'm not very impressed anyway).  That new patient appointment is £89 before I get anything done!  They have good reviews though and seem slightly cheaper than the current dentist, so I'll see how it is.

My job security looks increasingly wobbly, so I'm considering my financial plans.  They currently involve me staying where I am, but things will have to change if I have to find another job.  Looking at what's around locally, I'd have to either take a significant pay cut to stay local, or wind up losing any extra with a commute if I had to go further afield.  Not good.  I'm debating on switching my pads to savings rather than the mortgage, but the mortgage going down represents security to me, so I'm not sure.  Of course if I didn't get made redundant I could just use the savings to overpay the mortgage anyway, so it probably makes sense.   It's all very unsettling.

NeverendingDMP

It's difficult isn't it when things are so uncertain. The heart wants you to get the mortgage down as you've been doing so well but the job insecurity makes you rethink doesn't it. Whichever method you choose your mortgage is a lot less than it would have been without the pads! 
Good luck at the dentist. A friend at work became a member of his private dentist scheme as it gave him reduced rates. He signed up for six months got all his work done and then became a person just on the normal private list again. Do work or the dentist or anyone have any plans you can sign up to that might make dentists/opticians etc any cheaper. It can be so expensive can't it. I'm very lucky that we are all still NHS at our house-touch wood it lasts a bit longer. Although two out of three the kids will only have NHS  till they are 16 as that's the only contract the dentists are given now near us. And we are registered at three different dentist surgeries so it's a bit like organised chaos to keep up with it all.

teapot2

Sorry to hear about the job uncertainty.  Makes sense to save rather than PAD just at the moment and to put it somewhere with high interest.  It would make a wee buffer fund in case things do go tits up 😥.  As you say, you can always OP it or the interest if things settle.

in_need_of_direction

Could you put the first half of the month’s pads to overpay your mortgage and the second to a just in case fund.  Maybe set a limit on the just in case at which you will do a transfer to the mortgage.  Having uncertain income, I was happier knowing outgoings were being minimised than money was being saved.  

beanielou

Sorry to hear about the job uncertainty. 

Nothing worse. 

Hopefully if things come to the worst you would get some sort of payment which you can use to reduce your mortgage. 

Big hugs xx