10 years later yikes

weenancyinAmerica

I did the carwash route with my car too - and it didn't look like anything had gotten cleaner. Had to go the hand-washed route by someone else not me. I am too short to reach parts of the car. It made a big difference.

1stTimer

Cara_ said:

That's good news about the online spend free weekend and well done with sorting out a spredsheet that works for you. 

I hope this week is better than you think.

Thanks Cara! The spreadsheet nearly got the better of me but so glad I stuck with it

weenancyinAmerica said:

I did the carwash route with my car too - and it didn't look like anything had gotten cleaner. Had to go the hand-washed route by someone else not me. I am too short to reach parts of the car. It made a big difference.

Now I can understand why there are not as many around anymore, lesson learnt and think I too will be taking it to the local hand wash this weekend. Once they have cleaned it all up I have decided I will do it myself once a month to stay on top 

1stTimer

My watch broke yesterday, I knew it was coming as it has been behaving erratically for a good couple of months now so I’ve just got a cheap replacement from Amazon I also ordered some new earphones for my wfh setup. I have a good over the ear headset now which has been working perfectly but a couple of times a month I have to join an all day conference call and I only have little ears so they end up feeling extremely heavy and make my ears sore. These will be to swap over to as and when the others get uncomfortable. £30 all together so not too bad.

I have a really close friend that accepts my social isolation and has never once tried to push me into anything, we have been friends for 30+ years and she will always come to see me rather than suggest I go to hers and just really seems to understand my boundaries. 

She will randomly take a day off work if I have to go to London etc or something comes up and my dog is left home alone for too long.

she has a wedding to go to on Monday and it’s 2 hours away, she’s been let down for transport and so I’ve decided I’m going to help. I originally offered to drive her and pick her up. Thinking about it yesterday, taking her isn’t a problem as it starts at 7pm and it’s BH but I’m not too keen on driving all that way again at some silly o’clock hour to collect her and bring her back.

After a lot of googling cab prices etc I’ve gone ahead and booked a hotel for the night 20 mins away from the venue, it’s worked out cheaper than the cab would have been and I feel better knowing she doesn’t have to get in a random car whilst drunk in the middle of the night.
I haven’t been away from home in years so feeling a bit apprehensive lol but I’m going to make the most of it and at the end of the day will feel better about myself knowing I have finally done something for her.

so petrol will be over budget this month and now I need to find the funds for the hotel (she is paying 1/2) but go me for doing something I wouldn’t normally do!

1stTimer

Forgot to mention I set up an AVC for my pension yesterday, it was an off the cuff decision and it’s only £75 a month currently but I need to do some more research to figure out what the ideal amount should be for me.

have never looked into my pension before so I expect it will take a while to understand it all

Cara_

That's a lovely thing to do for your friend and I am sure she will really appreciate it. I know you might feel apprehensive about being away from home but try to focus on how you will feel better about yourself for helping your friend. I am sure you will feel great for stepping out of your comfort zone.

As you are sorting out your finances, it is a good time to think ahout retirement and start making more contributions to your pension. 

Everything is going in the right direction.

1stTimer

And just like that it’s Friday… happy to see I was wrong thinking the week would be a slow one.
not much really to report, nearly all direct debits have come out only BB and mobile left but these come out towards the middle of the month. The money in my account is what I now need to keep a close eye on and see where it goes.

i am working Sunday so hopefully a very low/no spend weekend again before Monday and our little trip.

edit: needed dog food -£142 ouff that’s creeping up month after month

1stTimer

Ahh this is bliss… currently sitting in what feels like the middle of know where having a coffee and listening to the birds.

I have to give myself a pat on the back here for hotel choice. Although it is an hotel they have what I would call almost apartments also on site that are specifically for dog owners and I am loving it. So much land surrounding this place you can’t hear any traffic or noise it truly is a stunning area.
we are sitting here now watching the bunny rabbits just hopping around I love it!

all in all I’m very glad I chose to take my friend to her event, she loved it and I expect her to have a raging hangover this morning after that lol. I picked her up at 1am this morning and she finally talked herself to sleep about 2 hours ago😂

I haven’t spent much either which is great, I got a microwave meal from the local supermarket and some snacks last night and have had to pay a £15 fee for the dog to stay, so all in all I’m happy.

off to go for a good stroll with the pup now and give my friend a bit more peace.

1stTimer

Just had an email for my insurance renewal, they have quoted £113 less than last years annual 😃

I'm still going to run some price comparisons to see if I can potentially get it any lower. Meanwhile I’m now home and absolutely shattered, tried to nap in bed for a bit but after sleeping at the hotel my mattress feels way too firm and hard! I only brought a new one in Jan and I’ve not really been satisfied with it but last night made me realise just how firm it is. So I’ve ordered a mattress topper to see if that helps

1stTimer

End of another week and still 2 weeks to go until payday, it seems like such a long way off.
I'm not counting down the days to be paid as such its more about being able to do a full and accurate SOA and for once I’ll really be able to pin every penny down.
My pots all still have enough in them, and I’m still waiting for the final 2 DD’s to go out but all in all it’s been interesting seeing it all written down. Updating my spreadsheets has been a bit of a faff some days as I have forgotten to do it daily and then play catch up so last week I bought a budget planner notebook from Temu. It’s so much easier, it comes to work with me and I just jot down spends as I go, I think sometimes you can’t beat pen and paper.
so spreadsheets will be updated at the weekend.

1stTimer

Spreadsheet all up to date. I have just under 2 weeks to payday and what a month to start recording it all…
It feels like this month has all been unexpected stuff, it started with the car then the break away last weekend, now I have a plumber booked in next week and I’ve now I’ve had a £150 FPN through the door 🤦‍♀️(I won’t go into details about that but hold my hands up and lesson learnt)

My dog pot looks likely to be short by £18 but that’s because his food was needed on my first month and I should have accounted for that. I also will need to top up petrol from the car pot which is something I never need to do but that was due to last weekend’s trip.
Not sure how much the plumber will be yet but hoping for the best.

part of me wants to delete it all and start again next month but this is exactly the reason I need to do this. Maybe every month has something “unexpected” because I just don’t acknowledge it and the reality is I gloss over the things I don’t want to take responsibility for?

On a good note I renewed my car insurance and it’s £100 less than last year but it also includes breakdown cover which means once the policy starts next month I will cancel my AA and that will be £8.90 a month I will not have to pay out.