MeandO's money-shuffling

debtfreewannabe321

Ah we've missed you @MeandO glad to 'see you' back and having had a good Christmas and start to the new year! Well done for being so on top of everything. Glad things are a bit better for you now ☺️

MeandO

After work today I picked up a full-ish length mirror for DS’s room from Dun elm at a cost of £12. He’s asked if he can have one in his room now, he’s not content with posing in the bathroom mirror or full length one in our hallway anymore! I may get into the bathroom quicker now, at least! My Parents are going to give it to him for his birthday so I have wrapped it up from them and hidden it away for now. I also wrapped a few more things I was yet to wrap so it’s all ready for him now. I love his birthday, it’s my favourite day of the year. ❤️
I also collected the two mattress toppers and have put one on my bed. I’ll see how it is tonight and if I think it is thick enough and comfy enough to help my Mum, I’ll keep it for them, if not I'll return it and look for an alternative. The two serving dishes I ordered were bigger and heavier than I thought but they will be useful and are a bit quirky, a bit like me I suppose! 🤣 I bought two as I was planning on giving OH one for his birthday as I know he’d also like them and could do with one . They were reduced to £5 each from £20, so won’t break the bank.

I had a 40 minute window of time free as DS was staying to school late for sports, so quickly dashed to Asd@ to do the shopping for the week using the gift card I’d bought. I’m pleased to say I stuck to the list, other than £2 of chocolate for OH and I to share tonight as a treat and a milkshake for DS 😋 and ended up spending £39 ish which I’m really pleased with as I thought it would come to more. There’s over £60 left on the card which should cover another week to ten days of shopping, two weeks if I’m really frugal, but the freezer is running quite low on meat at the moment so I’ll see how it goes. I have bought extra eggs and butter this week to make DS’s birthday cake but couldn’t get the yogurts he liked so will try somewhere else over the weekend.

I’ve prepped all the veg for tonight for OH and I and made DS a snack to keep him going before his Dad picks him up later. We are having a belated Burn’s Night meal of haggis, neeps and tatties tonight after not getting to it last weekend. :)

The shopping has been put away (I hate that job 😑) and the recycling is out for tomorrow before the rain started. The roofer is coming tomorrow morning now too so if your fingers are at a loose end I’d appreciate a bit of communal crossing that the fix will be cheap yet effective. 😐️

Have a lovely Thursday evening all, keep warm, dry and safe xx

MeandO

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81860587#Comment_81860587

I think we crossed posts, DFW321! Thank you for the lovely welcome back, I’m off to catch up on a few diaries later too, but what’s this I see? You have a new diary! I’m gone for 5 minutes and you’re onto pastures new! 🤣

I hope things are better for you now too, will catch up with your news asap. X

debtfreewannabe321

🤣 new year, new me rubbish 🤪

MeandO

Well I obviously didn’t cross my fingers hard enough as the roof repairs are going to cost just shy of 2.5K. 😫 Both roof windows need replacing, basically, or it’s going to be a constant case of patching them up time and time again. Scaffolding is needed too which drives up the cost. My car and house fund will be depleted, as will my ISA savings. I may have to look at lending some money or adding a bit to the mortgage to get the flippin windows/roof sorted once and for all. I’m looking forward to getting it done though, it’s been a constant source of concern.

DS is home from his Dad’s ❤️ armed with two loads of washing. That’s on and will be in the TD later as some is needed for sports tomorrow.
I’ve cooked DS, OH and myself breakfast this morning and now we’re all relaxing, no busy days planned here today. :) I had the best sleep last night that I’ve had in months, I slept for nearly 10 hours! I would have slept longer if my alarm hadn’t woken me up. I had a lovely dream about dear relatives who passed away many years ago, it was lovely to ‘see’ them but a bit sad when I woke up and remembered they weren’t here anymore.

I sold an item on vented for £5 yesterday so need to wrap that up and get it sent off. £18 should clear within a day or two as well so that will go to the credit card balance reduction pot. I returned the mattress topper last night so that will be just over £50 going back to the card.

The car was running on fumes yesterday so I filled up at the cheapest garage and got points too. That was just over £55 out of the £100 fuel pot for the month. I popped into Te$co whilst there as I couldn’t get a few bits at the other supermarket. £18 was spent there on the bits I hadn’t been able to pick up at Asda. I still feel I’m doing quite well with the grocery budget this month, it’s definitely more mindful spending.

I’ve taken chicken out of the freezer to cook for DS’s tea tonight, I’ll have a jacket potato or something simple. I will need to stock the freezer up soon so need to factor that in the grocery budget,

Other than some chores, a lazy day is planned here with perhaps some baking to stock up snacks for DS for the week. Happy Saturday all xx

Mrs_Money_Penny

sorry to hear about the price of the roof repairs. Everything is so costly these days. Hopefully once fixed will that be all the jobs done. I do hope so.

Miserable day weather wise here pouring with rain for a change!

Take care xx

MeandO

Thanks Mrs_Money_Penny, yes, nothing comes cheap these days.

It’ll just be the windows to do then, depending on the cost. There’s only 5 windows that need doing but two of them are really big and I doubt any of that will be cheap!

OH has gone home now and DS and I are having a very lazy day. I have done some baking for DS for this week’s snacks, but he’s tucking into them already so au may end up cooking more midweek! I have everything in for another batch anyway as I stocked up when the ingredients were on offer.

I’ve posted the £5 vinted sale and took return an item for £33 back to the CC. I may have a look at spreadsheets etc later as I’d like to quit YNAB due to the ever increasing cost, but I definitely need something very similar to help me budget. I’ve not found anything previously, guess I’ll have another look. unfortunately I’m useless with Excel etc so couldn’t set anything up myself!

RedLipstick

Sorry to hear about the costs. Make sure to check about the warranty, for both work and materials, and even check the company, how old it is, etc. E.g. they may hand over 10 years warranty for work, but may not exist in two. Good materials should last 10+ years at very minimum. Get invoices for everything. Don't ask how I know all this 😟

With Excel, see if that could be of any use to you - you can set it up very easily, below is an example of what I have, you don't need anything fancy, tables, or extra formatting for that. You can add extra rows with anything you need. Start with your balance on top and then play around with expenses/savings until you hit 0. I do it for every month, so I can play around with the numbers before assigning in YNAB, as I prefer to budget payday to payday (20th to 19th) which YNAB does not support. Can start any day, with balance on top, and can easily be used without YNAB, but it's very simplistic. I just move things around and zero my main account the evening before payday, or just let the leftovers be added to next income. Can add, or subtract as you please.

Date (cell A1)	Assigned (cell B1)	Expense / Savings (cell C1)	Left (cell D1)
1 Feb 2026 (cell A2)	£1,000 (cell B2)	Starting/Current Balance (cell C2)	£1,000 (cell D2)
3 Fab 2026 (cell A3)	-£500 (cell B3)	Some Bill (cell C3)	=(cell D2)+(cell B3)
etc	-£200 (cell B4)	Another Bill (cell C4)	=(cell D3)+(cell B4)
etc	-£200 (cell B5)	Some Savings (cell C5)	=(cell D4)+(cell B5)
etc	-£100 (cell B6)	Some other bill (cell C6)	=(cell D5)+(cell B6)
etc	etc	etc	etc

MeandO

Thank you for going to so much trouble for me RedLipstick, I’ll definitely take a look at that format of Excel document as it looks like I could handle that without messing it up too much! Although they may prove to be famous last words… 🤔

Yes, good call about the company and warranty too. Sorry to hear you may have had problems in the past along those lines. I’ve done all the research I can on the roofer and he’s been recommended by several people in the community and some people I trust, but then so was the plumber who renovated my bathroom and that’s turned out to be a shocking job. 😫 As for the windows IF I can get them done, a dear friend and colleague of OH’s has used them several times over the years and recommends them, so I’m quite confident about them.

I’m a bit disappointed a piece of storage furniture I listed on marketplace has had no interest at all, even with the price reduced now to practically giving it away. It’s a really useful piece and we love it, but now have no room for it, so I guess I will get the local furniture charity shop to pick it up if they want it and it hasn’t gone within a week or so, it is bulky and in the way a bit.

DS has been lethargic today and hasn’t wanted to do much, not even go to the gym as usual which is extremely unlike him. I hope he’s not coming down with something. He has quite a bit of homework and revision to do for mock exams coming up and I know he’s worried about them. He’s a terror for leaving work to the last minute if he doesn’t know where to start, so I’ve been trying to encourage him to get stuff done today without ‘nagging’ as he calls it, but I don’t think I’ve been that successful. He seems extremely tired so maybe today is not the day. I think we will both be glad to get in our beds tonight. Speaking of which, I’m off to have a shower, get my PJ’s on and try and steer us towards an early night. You never know, miracles may happen!

Sleep well all x

1stTimer

Hi MeandO

Not sure if this will help at all but a new post has just been created in the savings board, it may be of some help?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6652859/the-banking-savings-spreadsheet-discussion-thread

ooff I only wanted to post a good old fashioned link sorry! This new editing will take some getting used to.