MeandO's money-shuffling

benbenandme

Hello I've just sat and read your whole diary and am so impressed with your consistency - you keep going no mater what comes your way and the results speak for themselves, well done you! xx

MeandO

Thank you for your kind words, BenBen. I have followed your diaries over the years and think the same about you! Your extra money making skills are amazing! xx

MeandO

I hate Mondays, I really do. I’m shattered as I didn’t sleep well last night. OH and I had a bit of a disagreement late last night and I knew I had to get up early for work so didn’t switch off very easily. 

Work was just miserable - sitting on my own all day in my box room - I just felt like I didn’t have it in me today. I failed at wrapping the vinted parcels but will get it done tomorrow. I pretty much didn’t do anything productive other than work today, but DS is fed, happy and we’re having a cosy evening of it under a blanket whilst he’s playing the new Spider-Man game he bought himself and wants me sat with him.  I’m so happy he’s in the mood for hugs tonight, I really needed one. 

I’ve got one more day to get through until payday. Typically, one bill comes out the day before I get paid every month but it’s under £12 and there’s only 2 or 3 months of payments left as it was a 0% deal for DS’s phone I bought him almost two years ago. Anything left over before I get paid will be swept into the YNAB fee pot as that is payable in February. 

Aimingforthegoodlife

Wow sales and spins are going really well! Also, amazing cost for aldl shop. Hope you and OH have a well deserved lovely evening.

MeandO

Thank you Aimingforthegoodlife x

Another pretty rubbish day but I forced myself to tick a few jobs off the list. I dusted and wiped down the bedrooms, stairs/hallway/landing and hoovered through the house, I just need to dust two rooms downstairs tomorrow now. How my house gets so dusty so quickly, I don’t know. This has to be the dustiest house I’ve ever owned. Two loads of washing were done and dried on the line today and I changed DS’s bed linen so will wash that tomorrow if the weather’s nice. 

Spends today we’re on blueberries, milk, muffin cases and vegetable oil for DS’s cooking assignment at school tomorrow. Three bags of crisps may have snuck in there too but some have gone to OH. 

I’m going to try and speak to a doctor tomorrow as my exhaustion is getting unmanageable now. I was diagnosed with pernicious anaemia this year, had a loading dose of B12 and then injections 3 months later, but the dr then said I didn’t need it as may or have pernicious anaemia after all. I had a blood test in the summer and heard nothing more from them, they’re useless. They’ve also lost DS’s tests from a month ago and caused a delay of 6 months on my CT scan as they didn’t sign the form. I really need to change us to a different surgery but they all seem as bad as each other locally atm. 

MeandO

Oh, and I also wrapped and posted the 3 vinted sales this evening, so £30 should be credited within a week or so. 

MeandO

Payday! Finally! Phew...

I earned just over £200 in overtime this month (which I worked last month). There won't be as much extra in my wages next month as I have only worked a third of the hours in comparison as the workload has calmed a bit but it all helps though and I'm grateful for a bit extra. I very much doubt OT will be an option now moving forward as it's not needed.

Savings have been shuffled from one pot to another today, with the two SO's for the mortgage OP and holiday pot going out tomorrow. I've only put £150 into the EF this month instead of £300 as I want to clear the credit card first, so the other £150 plus £350 from the gifts pot has been sent to the CC to pay off £500 of the balance. It's mostly Christmas gifts put on there anyway so the money from the 'gifts' pot has been used for the correct purpose. I should be able to clear the CC completely tomorrow when another bit of money comes into the bank account, combined with the £30 from vinted towards it too. I'll be happy to see the balance at £0 again, I really hate having CC debt these days and it plays on my mind and makes me anxious. I should be eligible for the £300 COL payment to be received soon, so I'll most likely pay that into the EF or perhaps split it between that and the gifts pot which is now severely depleted.

DS's music lessons have been paid for too which the ex has gone halves on. £60 has also been sent to DS's school dinner money account for the month. As it's half term next week, I'm hoping that balance will last a week longer too and I can put less on next month.

My signature's been updated although I'll update the mortgage total once the regular payment comes out and interest is added (boo) on the 1st of the month. The EF should go up in small increments too as the pennies are rounded up automatically when I use my debit card and are sent to that account. Now to be as good as I can with money this month! 

MeandO

I've been looking at the savings challenges today and have decided to have a go at the 52 weeks envelope stuffing challenge myself, albeit virtually. Basically, you number envelopes 1-52 (or in my case, print out a little chart numbered 1-52) and each week pick one of the envelopes and fill it with the corresponding number of £'s. By the end of the 52 weeks there should be £1378 in there. I've started today and picked 22 so have sent £22 over to an online savings pot. I may be committing myself to trying to save too much here alongside the other savings I stash away, but I will see how I go. I'm hoping it will be an incentive to try and make extra money along the way.

I've also printed out a free 'weight loss jar' sheet to colour in a token every time I lose 1lb. I'm a fan of visual progress charts and am hoping this will spur me on a little more and be a reminder of how well I've done so far as my motivation is waning weekly at the moment and I tell myself I've failed again.   I've coloured in the 22lbs I've lost so far, although it would have been more as I have put on a couple of lbs before re-joining. At least my teeny tiny office space looks a bit more lively with colourful sheets stuck on the shelving unit!

MeandO

I've paid the credit card off this morning  and sent an extra £25 to the pot I use for DS's clubs and school clothes etc. There's only £40 in it at the moment as I've just had to pay out for a few things but will try and build it up again. £40 a month goes in there presently when I get paid.
Just under £2 has been swept to the EF automatically via 'save the change' and I've sent a couple more £'s to the YNAB fee pot to go towards the subscription in Feb.
I had second thoughts about the envelope challenge thing - as great as it sounds, I just can't afford to save it on top of everything else and it was already causing some anxiety so I've scrapped that idea for now.

I have DS with me tonight unexpectedly due to an ongoing issue with his father, so have got a batch cooked meal out of the freezer for us both tonight. I'm thanking my past self for that as I'm really running out of energy this week and I was looking forward to not cooking tonight. In fact, OH and I were going to go out for a bit this evening but I've had to cancel those plans for now. It's money saved I guess.

I ordered myself a new duvet a couple of days ago as I noticed mine was ripped and threadbare when changing the bedding last. It was only a cheap one to start with and is probably years old so definitely got good use out of it. It was never a warm duvet so I sleep with a big thick blanket on the bed too for most of the year and still feel cold sometimes, so have ordered an extra warm one at a cost of £22. I have a thin one for the warmest months stored under the bed in a vac bag (which never seems to stay 'vacced'!) DS has a warm snuggly duvet but unfortunately his room is the coldest room in the house thanks to an undersized radiator and no room to put a bigger one in without running pipes around the entire room (and pulling floor boards up), so he also has a blanket on his bed on top of his duvet too. It is the same blanket he had on his previous single bed though and now he has a small double it's too small and often falls off. I've ordered him a double size warm snuggly blanket for his bed which was £13 reduced from £27. This was paid for on the credit card a couple of days ago and has been paid off with the funds this morning.

DS's sports kit had to be washed today after a muddy evening last night but unfortunately the weather is not great so it's drying on the airer in the kitchen. I also threw a pair of his school trainers in the machine as they ponged! They've come up nice and fresh, thankfully.

I still haven't managed to get a doctor's appointment either. I'm downloading the forms to fill in to change surgeries today and will try and fill them in this weekend.

badmemory

Have you thought about getting DS a vertical radiator.  I have one in my kitchen only 30cm wide but 6ft tall.  It is the best radiator in the house now.  Why do we still have to do things in cm one way & ft the other.