MeandO's money-shuffling

MeandO

Disappointingly, the extra £70 a month I receive from my pay rise means UC payments will be down by £40 a month so, just £20 a month from UC now. Don't get me wrong I'm grateful for it, but it's a much bigger reduction than I'd budgeted for. I've decided to build my savings up again now instead of mortgage OPs as it seems I'll soon be ineligible for UC and won't have to worry about the savings threshold, plus I feel much more secure with a decent sized savings pot to cover house repairs and emergencies. I can choose to use some of the savings to pay a chunk off the mortgage then when I've built the savings up again. My mortgage rate is also very low for nearly another two years, so I'll re-asses when that changes.

The item I listed on vinted sold for £15 yesterday and has been sent off. I'll send the £15 to the savings when it clears. I've also sent the £150 I was holding onto to the ISA.

Sarahwithlove

The UC threshold will rise again in April i would think and whilst it may not seem like much it's the other benefits that come with it. So it may be worth doing a mixture and keeping savings below the 6k threshold and overpaying the rest to your mortgage whilst you are still entitled

MeandO

Thanks sarahwithlove, I didn’t think of the April changes. It will probably take me to the end of the year to build my savings up to the £6k mark again, so will get it to £5k and see what the UC situation is then. X

MeandO

I’ve decided to return a cookbook I bought before Christmas and haven’t touched, so it’s all wrapped and ready to go back for an £11 refund. I’ll post it tomorrow. It’ll go back to the cleared credit card but will go towards something else. 

MeandO

Morning all, 

A pretty pointless post, but I just need to get it off my chest I think!
 
For the past six months or so I've been feeling impatient for change as if I want to improve things and make life better but I don't really know where to start and I don't really know what it is specifically that I want to be so different. It reminds me of the feelings of impatience to pay off all your debt as soon as you start debt busting, then feeling a bit down in the dumps when you realise it's a long haul and you're doing all you can for now. I hope that makes sense.

I've made positive changes to my health and feel like I've made inroads into dealing with the anxiety I used to suffer so badly from. I'm more relaxed about things and have stopped worrying about what other people think for the most part. I'm also trying very hard to let things go more - I am trying not to let the behaviour from the Ex affect me so much and I'm learning to navigate the tricky path of raising a teenager! 
 
After a bit of soul searching over the past few months, one thing keeps surfacing which is that I'm not happy in the house we're in. I know I've tried absolutely everything I can to appease that but it just keeps bubbling up under the surface and if it wasn't for DS, it would've been on the market a long time ago. Long term readers will know the issues I've had in the past with houses and why we had to move twice within a very short space of time, but despite everything I've done to this house it doesn't feel like mine and it doesn't feel like home. I don't ever feel relaxed here, there is road noise which I find stressful, especially WFH all the time now, and every issue that arises feels like one more huge thing to deal with (and there seem to be A LOT of issues lately). I can do no more to it other than to paint a room or two (I even have the paint but can't motivate myself to do it). I don't want to spend any more money on this house, not that I have the money to spend on it anyway! I've toyed with the idea of moving again but I don't want to increase my mortgage as I'm already impatient to get that gone as it is, but I spend a lot of time on property websites looking for a new house. Two house that I love have come up for sale recently - one that I definitely can't afford and one that is about the same value as this one, but again I know that moving is just going to swap one set of issues for another.  I don't know what I can do to make myself feel better about it but I am just getting so frustrated by it and it is affecting me and bringing me down. I guess there's no magic wand without a lottery win unfortunately.  

Oh, and my car has started playing up again.  It's only 3 years old with £20K miles on the clock, but that seems to be issue after issue too. I've already had to have 2 things replaced that shouldn't have failed and now I think there's an electrical issue with it. 

In an attempt to feel like I'm doing something positive, I've listed a few things on FB, a couple for free to get rid of them and a couple for sale. I've also zapped some books/games and packed up a parcel for WOB which should return just over £6. A couple more items I've been holding onto have gone in the charity bag too.
The windows are all open to let the fresh air through as it's sunny but cold (I'm trying to ignore the road noise...). I'm not sure what else I can do, perhaps list a few more things later or sort through a cupboard? Anything to feel like I've achieved something really.

MeandO

I listed a couple.more items on vinted this afternoon and they both sold within an hour or two and i've sent them off already. That's £28.50 made on vinted this week which i'll put in the ISA. I also returned the amazon book today snd received notification of the £11 refund. 
Three items have been collected today for free, glad they could be of use to someone else  

I spent just over £5 on shielaces for DS's school trainers yesterday which should arrive tomorrow. I don't know what it is about 'mike' trainers but the laces don't seem to last 5 minutes, especially considering the cost of the shoes! 

I'm making a batch of veggie/tomato pasta sauce tonight to go with DS's meatballs for tea but have made extra to freeze in portions for a later date. I.don't buy pasta sauce jars etc, it's cheaper and healthier to make it. 

foxandflowers

I am a chronic house-mover. I have yet to find a house I feel settled in. It's wasted HUGE amounts of money over the years. However, as you know, we are due to move again this month. This is the final move. The most important thing for me was that the house was affordable on my wages. 
For me, my mental health suffers so badly when I am unhappy in the house I live in, especially when I can't afford to do the work the house needs. So for me, it means I will spend less in other categories, as I will be happier. 
I think that children are resilient, often more than we give them credit for, and it may be worth exploring. Your home should be your sanctuary, and not contributing to your stress. Also if you've been there more than a few years, you shouldn't lose money - it's only if you move every 18 months like me! Haha.x

MeandO

Thanks Fox, I have everything crossed that your move is finally the right one for you. 

I can relate to a lot of what you're saying. I don't feel settled or at home either but I think a lot of that is down to not having family or a big social circle here. I'm also not from this country and experienced quite a bit of xenophobia when I first moved here many years ago and the ex's partner still indirectly makes comments to DS about how she dislikes people from where I'm from. I find that hard to shake off and I think it rooted something in me of not belonging here and being an outsider. I am here until DS is an adult and makes his own choices though, so I guess I just have to get on with it. 
I renovated the house when I moved in - externally and most of the internal spaces, The outside cost a fortune and was done by professionals as a lot of work was needed, but most of the inside I did myself to a tight budget. Most of the choices were made with a low budget in mind and so I didn't necessarily choose the options I would have liked as I was aware of the professional works escalating and did end up having to borrow more against the mortgage. Now I feel like parts of the house are looking tired and I just don't have the enthusiasm to redecorate all over again.
The bathroom was also completely ripped out and redone by a plumber who was recommended by friends, but it only came to lights over following months/years that he didn't do a good job and there are issues with every part of it. Ideally I'd like it all ripped out and redone by someone competent as I don't trust it at all, but I don't have the money and it seems such a waste. 
DS is happy to move as long as we are within walking distance of his school (we're not presently), and closer to his friends! I'm just aware I'm never going to pay this mortgage off or be able to save if I keep increasing it and I'd be up the creek if I lost my job. We've been threatened with redundancy so many times over the years so it wouldn't come as a shock if that happened again.
I did phone up about the lovely house within budget today but as expected, it had gone already.

MeandO

Another FB sale was collected this morning which made £10 and cleared a space. I'll take the £10 out of one of the online pots and send to the ISA in lieu of the cash in my purse.
I've decided to postpone my next hair cut/colour appointment so that I can save a bit of money and it will come from next month's budget instead. It also doesn't really need doing yet, it's looked a lot worse! I do have the money saved for it already but may divert £50 to the savings instead.
I've listed a high value item on vinted for £120. It's something sport related I've had for a couple of years, used once and unlikely to use again. What a waste of money that was. It is large and bulky and gets on my nerves where it's stored as it's in the way but I have nowhere else to put it so it's going. I'm not sure if it will sell but at least I tried.

I've given the house a thorough hoover through today in an attempt to feel a bit better about it and one load of washing is done and dry. I've taken some YS chicken out of the freezer to cook for DS tonight and I'll use up some leftovers from last night's pasta I made DS. I've also cleared a kitchen cupboard out and thrown out some vastly out of date coffee (see below!!!) and got rid of a lot of packaging. OH is a s0d for picking up those little packs of coffee and sugar when he goes anywhere and keeps bringing them over here, along with out of date things he feels bad about chucking out as it's 'wasteful'! I found one pack of ground coffee BBE 2017.   That was 4 years before I moved in here and I know for sure it wasn't there last year, so the little *** has snuck it in my cupboard to use when he's here and never does! It's now in the bin, along with some crackers for cheese BBE 2023 and tinned pre-mixed cocktails BBE 2022. 
I think you now may understand why we don't live together...

Sarahwithlove

If you did get made redundant would you be able to find another job? I don't know what area you work in as to how easy that would be. 

I have a similar dilemma myself, I don't feel like this is my forever home so am reluctant to shovel more money into it. But also don't really want to take on a bigger mortgage either which is what I would probably have to do. Part of me feels like I'm stuck here unless I get a big promotion at work (unlikely), win the lottery (never play) or fortunate enough to get an inheritance big enough (who knows??) 

It is horrid when you don't feel at home in your own home though. Have you had a valuation on yours and seen a mortgage advisor to know what your potential options would be? I think if you knew whether it was feasible or not that may help.