MeandO's money-shuffling

Mrs_Money_Penny

well done on the vinted sells x

MeandO

Thank you Mrs_Money_Penny x

Vinted sales are up to £66.50. I'm debating whether to pay it off the mortgage or to put it towards the new roof window blinds I need to buy as they'll be around £150 for the cheapest option. The recent hot weather has turned our kitchen/diner into an oven recently without blinds up and it makes it hard to see in the kitchen at times as it's so bright. The sun also shines directly on the fridge/freezer for a time too which can't be good. I can afford the blinds from the House pot though and it would be a great morale booster to get the last bit of the 10% allowance paid off the mortgage this year. I'll have a think and make a decision later.

MeandO

The mortgage OPs won, so £15 has been sent to the mortgage so far. More will follow as it clears on vinted.

I found a 20% off discount code for the skylight blinds which brought the cost down to £130, so I’ve ordered and paid for those using money from the House pot. I think the problem is I don’t like spending from the pots and seeing the balance go down but I guess this type of thing is what the money is saved for after all.

I’m feeling absolutely exhausted again the past couple of days. Today is particularly bad and if I could go to bed and rest, I would. My gp surgery is currently changing systems so getting an appointment is even more difficult than usual, but once they’re up and running properly again I’ll definitely be requesting blood tests.

MeandO

Another £10 cleared from Vinted so I’ve just sent that to the mortgage as well. I need to find/make and extra £1737.02 this year to reach the 10% target. It will be difficult and I’m not sure if it will be achievable at all, but I’ll try my best.

I’ve just walked to the post office to post another vented parcel, I’ll drop the last one to send off to the courier drop shop a bit later.

MeandO

Morning all,

A further £10 sent to the mortgage this morning from another vinted sale clearing. Another item sold for £25 overnight so that will be another £25 paid off eventually. I'll get that parcel packed and sent off today.

£10 (from my purse rather than the bank account) has gone with DS to school to buy a new piece of equipment needed for a lesson. I forgot to mention that I won £5 and a lucky dip on the lottery last week after buying a ticket on a whim, so £5 of the £10 was paid for with that. Fingers crossed the lucky dip is lucky tonight!
I will need to pick up some fruit and bits we've run out of today but there's £57 left on last month's Asda gift card so that should more than cover it. Mince is out of the freezer for this evening. Not sure what I'm making with it yet but it's a start!

The third load of washing is already in the machine this morning, two loads are on the line as it's a lovely sunny, breezy day today.

I'm just having my first coffee of the day in the hope it makes me feel a bit more human and less shattered. It's not kicked in yet…

Have a lovely day, all. xx

MeandO

A further £20 cleared from vinted sales so it’s just been sent to the mortgage; £36.50 of sales still to clear. I dropped the latest sale off at the lockers this afternoon on the way to the supermarket where £27 was spent. There was £47, not £57 left on the card as I first thought, so £20 ish left which I’m hoping will see us well into next week now. I’m away for a few days next week so no groceries for the house to buy, but we’ll be self catering so will try and keep spends low.

There’s a portion of hoisin noodles leftover tonight which has been boxed up ready for the freezer unless DS comes home from school hungry tomorrow and wants something before going to his father’s.

All washing including bedding has dried lovely outside today and has been mostly put away. I’ve ironed all that needs ironing, given the bathroom and downstairs loo a quick clean, dusted DS’s room and the dishwasher has just finished its thing so will I stack those when it’s cool enough. I just need to water the new plants in the garden this evening and then all jobs are done for today.

MeandO

I’ve just revisited my budget over a hot cuppa whilst DS is busy at the gym. After all bills, savings pots (sinking funds) and groceries, fuel and misc spending budgets are allocated there is £79.47 left over. That’s assuming I clear the credit card every month so there is no credit card bill to pay. If my water or energy bills were to go up too much then that is literally all I would have left as a cushion. I find that a bit of a worry to be honest, especially when my sinking funds are not as high as I’d like them to be at the moment. There would be a few things I could cut back on if need be, such as not having my hair cut/dyed in a salon and doing that myself, plus the Christmas pot would have to be reduced, but it does confirm that I wouldn’t be able to go back to my lovely fitness classes now even if I was able to logistically. :(

I am paying AVCs of just over £300 a month but wouldn’t receive the UC if I wasn’t doing so. It’s a bit depressing at a few years off 50, but I am grateful for what we have and that I’m able to pay for everything and we live comfortably. It’s a good job we very rarely eat out and never order takeaways, I don’t know how people afford to do it on one salary!

MeandO

I decided to turn my negative thinking (above) into a positive and see it as an extra £79.47 I can allocate to a savings pot. :) I thought about saving it towards something fun, such as a holidays but then we don't really do holidays as such especially as DS isn't interested in travelling with him Mum anymore so I don't really need a fund for that. I've decided to call it a mortgage OP pot for now and if it gets used for something else then so be it.

I popped to the supermarket again this morning as I saw on the loyalty app that I was a £1.06 spend away from receiving a free £2, so 94p for free basically. I picked up rice cakes for DS which were out of stock when I went shopping the other day, a big punnet of strawberries on offer and a huge tub of greek yogurt (which I eat for breakfast but had run out of) 'yellow stickered' at £2.71 instead of the £5+ it usually is (which is why I normally buy the cheaper version!). It wouldn't scan at the checkout so I sought help from a lovely lady and got chatting to her, in the end she put it through and kindly took the 71p off for me too so it was £2! My 'pot' at that supermarket is now up to £17.73, £17 of which I've just transferred into a Christmas pot to save towards a few extra bits at Christmas.

£10 won on a free spin game last night which I've withdrawn and transferred to the credit card to clear it as there was a very small balance on it. A small vinted sale has been received by the buyer today so hopefully that should clear soon. I have one other item to list today but that belongs to DS so any money made will go to him. :)

No cooking for me tonight - woo hoo! - OH is cooking for me and DS should be at his Dad's although has already asked if he can take a meal from the freezer with him for some 'nice' food. This is happening a lot now and whilst I don't mind at all, DS can have anything, I don't think his father fed him for more than one meal last week if at all.

It's a beautiful sunny day again today but really windy. I'm freezing sat in the house so have a blanket over me. I'm hoping to get out in the garden for a bit later and potter round if it's not too cold. I've been suffering a bit lately with very cold hands and feet (I have the start of reynaud's :( ) and am longing to feel warm and toasty. I believe it's supposed to rain tomorrow so will be good for the garden, at least.

I hope it's sunny where you all are today x

MeandO

Another £4 sent cleared and sent to the mortgage. DS's item listed and sold within minutes, making him £10. :) All packed and ready to send later today. Two other items listed on V, fingers crossed for some more sales. :)

Newstartforme

You really are doing so well at the moment with your positive outlook . I have to say nowadays if you can afford to heat and eat you are doing well ! Things will get easier as your son gets older and less dependent on you and you will be in a position to build up your savings , for now well done