MeandO's money-shuffling

Honeysucklelou2

Well done on the Vinted sales. 

MeandO

Thank you HSL2, it all helps. Unfortunately it’s looking like one of the vinted parcels has been delayed, possibly lost. It had to be the one of highest value too didn’t it. According to vinted, they will cover the cost but it does mean I’ll have to wait another 3 weeks at least to get the funds for that one when I really could have done with it now.

DS and I are having a bit of a house-based day again today, mainly because the weather is just awful and I have very little money spare. We popped out to the local out of town shopping centre yesterday to pick up a piece of winter kit DS needed for his sport club and also a new football as his other completely fell apart - it was only a cheap one originally. We need to change the kit today as it’s too small and also pick up some boots I’ve ordered to try and replace mine which have holes through them. I also need to drop a box back at the same place to return to Amazon for a refund. I also nipped to Aldi yesterday as we’d run out of milk, biscuits, bread etc. Ended up spending £40, but that included around £8 of Christmas gifts which I’ve wrapped this morning. 

Yesterday I cancelled my SW online membership as I’m not getting on with it and I can’t justify the spend atm. I received a refund which has gone straight back the CC and also a voucher for free membership when I am physically able to get back to groups. The situation with DS’s Dad is still ongoing so DS is still with me FT but will hopefully be resolved this week. I have loved having DS full time but it has meant I haven’t had 5 minutes to myself and I have found money hasn’t stretched as far.

Ah, OH has just sent us some free cinema tickets to use so maybe we will get out of the house and have some fun today after all! 

Mrs_Money_Penny

Good news on the cinema tickets. Take some treats from home and have a lovely cheap time. xx

MeandO

Thank you Mrs_Money_Penny x We did enjoy and it did us good to get out of the house.

Two more items sold (to the same person) on vinted overnight so that's  £12.50 made and another parcel wrapped ready to send with the boots I have to return today. I'll drop them off later before picking DS up.
I also need to pop to the post office to return a parcel for OH but that's just a short walk. 
DS has cooking at school again tomorrow so I also need to buy a few things today but I have most of it in the cupboard already so hopefully a minimum cost as there's only £50 left in the account to last me until Friday. 

MeandO

The velux in the kitchen roof has been leaking on and off since New Year’s Day this year. The lovely builder I know came out and sealed around it for me early in the year as a temporary fix (and wouldn’t take any money) which seemed to cure it for a while but it’s started leaking with a vengeance again lately, is coming through the ceiling and I’ve realised the water is tracking down from above, under the casing. I had a roofer out in January who quoted £900, just had one out today who quoted £450-£500 to strip it off, try and find the issue and fix it. There goes a chunk of my savings again but I guess that’s what it’s for.  Every time I almost reach £5k, I seem to have to pay out for something! It’s really disappointing but I’m thankful I have the money and am not worrying how I’m going to pay for it like I would have done a few years ago when I wasn’t so good as savings regularly. 

A few more vinted sales have cleared so there’s a little more in the bank account but £9 odd was spent in Asda today on DS’s cooking ingredients, more milk, garlic bread to go with DS’s tea (as there was only a small portion of meatballs left so needed to pad it out a bit for him) and some YS chicken and YS salmon. I’ll have a jacket potato later this evening when I’m hungry.

Thankfully, the vinted sale which was feared lost has turned up and has been delivered so that should hit my account soon. I also posted yesterday’s sale which will bring in £12.50 and returned the two left boots… 
I’m impatiently waiting for refunds to hit my CC account as the balance should go down quite considerably when they do. 

3 days until payday… 

MeandO

I'm in the wrong job... roofer came, was here less than an hour and charged me £400 to fix the leak. I just hope it is fixed, we'll have to see when it rains, Can't help but feel a bit ripped off though.

My payslip has been published a few days early and although there's a nice chunk more thanks to the backpay, I was expecting a bit more. I've queried whether the OT I've worked since April has been accounted for as I can't see that it has. I've done over 100 hours, and they should now be uplifted to the higher rate. The payslips are not clear at all so perhaps it has been included, it's worth the question though.

£3 more received from the vinted sales, just £12.50 left to reach me now from the sales so far.

MeandO

I'm so glad it's finally payday, it was a bit squeaky for the past couple of weeks. I have still yet to hear an answer about whether I am owed extra in my salary but they seem to have gone quiet on that one. I will chase it up next week. I have received the standard backpay, I just don't think I've received it for the 100+ hours of overtime I've also worked.

The usual £150 has gone to the car/house pot, another £150 to the gifts pot, which had been completely depleted thanks to Christmas shopping. I forgot to say that I decided to use the Car/House pot to cover the £400 for roof repairs instead of taking it out of the EF savings. The EF account has a limited amount of withdrawals a year otherwise the interest rate drops, plus I didn't want to see it go down by £400 as I was so close to £5K. I use the Car/House pot for car and house insurance, tax, MOT, car repairs and appliances that go wrong etc so it's kind of what the money was for anyway. It's now down to £375 but I have paid the car insurance this month already and there are no major planned expenses to come out of it for a good few months, so hopefully I will be able to build that up again asap.

£100 will got to the mortgage OP by SO early next week, as will £125 to the PB's account and £25 to DS's ISA. I've cleared the credit card by sending £532.49 to that  and sent £60 to DS's school dinner account for the month. I've allocated £70 but with the Christmas holidays in this pay cycle I'm hoping £60 will be enough.

I've allocated an extra £50 to mortgage OP's this month (so will be £150 in total) as it should then take the mortgage down into the next £1000's bracket. I always feel like I've achieved a little something then and it motivates me to keep going with the OP's. £300 has been sent to the EF as normal, but I've been able to send an extra £74.98 to round the total EF pot up to £5000! I'm so pleased, I'm a third of a way to my target.
A little extra has gone to the 'spends' pot as DS and I are away for a couple of days soon, so I've swept the leftover bits of money to that to help cover any extra spends. Now to keep to budget for the month! 

MeandO

Hello all, 

This week hasn't been the best so far but I'm trying my hardest to make it better. I feel like I've been walking round with a real sadness inside of me and I think I've cried every day so far. This week brought the anniversary of me moving into the first house I bought alone, which DS and I absolutely loved. We were really happy there and I put so much time and money into making it our home, it was a real retreat away from everything. Long term readers will know it didn't quite go to plan and was the start of an unforseen nightmare after which life kind of took a domino effect downwards from thereon. I still struggle to think about that time, it is a real trigger for anxieties, sadness and feelings of hopelessness which are all plaguing me this week.

The ex is also back having DS for a couple of nights a week after almost 6 weeks and the time without seeing much of his Dad has meant that DS is returning from there with his narcissistic father on a pedestal and wearing a halo which is not really what I needed this week. He's also been pushing me away and being quite unkind at times which I know he doesn't mean and is just a response to suddenly having his Dad back and the emotional manipulation he is subjected to by his father, but it hurts. A lot. There has been a lot of biting my tongue and counting to ten. The ex has also used this current 'god like status' to manipulate DS with regards to Christmas, to which DS has been coming home and trying to argue with me about things. I've given in. I have no more fight for this left in me. So it means I won't be seeing my family for Christmas for the 5th year in a row which, could well be my parent's last Christmas considering their health, and I will see DS for a couple of hours max on Christmas Day. I've been so upset and I can't stop the tears falling but I just can't do it anymore. I can't keep revisiting this same battle. I've really just felt like leaving them all to it this week, walking somewhere and not stopping, does that sound awful? Then I feel so guilty for thinking that because DS is my world. 
I am so tired of my life and I feel so worn out. The best way I can describe it is that I feel like I'm covered in bruises, I feel bruised and battered by everything.
As I said, I'm trying to drag myself out of it but it's hard.

The house has been getting me down. I found that some items on a shelf in DS's room had mould on them last night and a trinket I have he made me when he was little was also covered in mould and had to be thrown out. Looking into possible causes, it seems that a high moisture environment is the culprit. The house isn't damp as I eradicated that when it was renovated, but we do get a lot of condensation on the windows every morning which I vac with the window vac and then I keep the windows open if it's not raining. The windows are double glazed, but they are old, so I guess I need to think about how I'm going to afford to replace them sooner rather than later. I've got a dehumidifier running today to see if that helps. I know there is a problem with the DPC around the door in the hall (ie, there isn't one) which is causing a few issues there, but that's nowhere near DS's room. It's brought all the previously mentioned 'house' anxieties back too, thinking I'm not providing a suitable safe and dry home for DS. I've gone through and cleaned the house and floors through today to try and make myself feel better about it. The washing is on the line and the house smells lovely and clean. I just need to hoover upstairs shortly and then clean the bathroom floor. 
I've sorted some more books for charity or to scan for a little bit of money from Ziffit and have put a blanket, some clothes and toys for charity too. There's a bag full now which I'll put in the boot of the car later to drop off and get out of the way. There is no room in this house to store anything unfortunately.

Four_Seasons

Sending you gentle hugs, you are a lovely caring person and deserve so much more xx

Mrs_Money_Penny

Sorry to hear your feeling down. I can understand about another Christmas without seeing your parents and not much time with your Son. Take care xx