MeandO's money-shuffling

MeandO

Thank you Drawingaline and HSL2 xx

I’ve just had to turn the heating on for half an hour as I’m absolutely freezing despite having two jumpers on. My hands are ice cold and I can’t seem to warm up. Meanwhile, DS is in shorts and a t-shirt under a fleecy blanket.

I’ve had a birthday this weekend which I’ve tried to forget, but was very kindly gifted some money and vouchers. I’ve sent the money straight to the EF so it now stands at £3306.44, with £35 sent to the mortgage. 

I was also given so much chocolate which was very kind of everyone but I’ve already blown the diet by eating way too much of it so send the bulk of it to OH’s house for him. I need to get back on track tomorrow. 

MeandO

£10 arrived from last week’s Vinted sale so I’ve transferred it to the EF. 

I logged on to my tax credits account today and it’s gone from them saying I owe them £1500 to them paying me around £75 a month from now on. I just don’t know how it works. As I didn’t receive any payments from them between the qualifying dates in jan/feb (because they told me they’d overpaid then changed their minds) I think I may miss out on the cost of living payments which will be disappointing as it would really help with everything going up in price so much. 

I’m still waiting on news of my Mum’s condition tonight. She made it through surgery which I’m so thankful for but she is at risk of serious complications for the next 6 weeks at least. A day at a time is the way forward at the moment. 

Four_Seasons

Thinking of you lovely, sending lots of love and hugs x

Honeysucklelou2

Happy belated birthday. Glad to read that your mum has come through the surgery. Thinking of you all…

enthusiasticsaver

Glad your mums surgery is over and hope her recovery goes ok. 

Chrystal

Thinking of you and sending healing thoughts to you and yours.  XXX

MeandO

Thank you Four_Seasons, HSL2, enthusiasticsaver and Chrystal xx
By the end of yesterday I felt emotionally drained and was hoping for a good night's sleep, but that didn't materialise unfortunately so I'm feeling shattered this morning. 

The weather was beautiful here yesterday which did help a little. I sat in a sunny spot and read for a little while before picking DS up, warming myself up as I felt so cold despite the warm weather. I gave the grass it's first cut of the year too after tea so the garden is looking much better now. I would like to develop a few more planting areas this year and make a few changes in the garden. It was lovely to be able to walk round outside, feel the sun and make plans for new projects. It's a shame the weather hasn't lasted as it's wet and miserable out today.
I received two free trees from the Woodland Trust yesterday after applying earlier in the year. I was sent a Hazel tree and a Silver Birch so I'm looking forward to getting those planted this weekend. I need to think about where to put them - the garden is large enough and in desperate need of some taller structure as it's effectively a new garden as of last year, but there is no obvious spaces for the trees at the moment. I need to do a bit of research on the best places to site them and buy some compost this week.
I have some Easter decorations that I bought a few years ago when DS was smaller. I wasn't going to bother getting them out this year but I might just do that today to make things feel a little brighter. DS won't be with me for the Easter Sunday and he's really not bothered about Easter other than a couple of weeks of school, but I love Spring and a little bit of cheer won't go amiss at the moment.

£13.25 hit my bank account from a sale of an item so I've rounded it up to £15 and sent it to the mortgage. The mortgage is now at £72,435 with OP's for 2023 at £909.45 so far.

MeandO

The tax credit payment reached the account this morning so I've split it between the mortgage and the savings. I've also combined 2 pots in my signature as these are both technically an emergency fund but I just need to keep them physically separate to keep one of the savings accounts open.
EF now: £3557.85, Mortgage now: £72,400. I will do my best to get the mortgage into the £71,000's before next pay day which means finding around £100 extra.

MeandO

A few more pennies have been shuffled to the EF via Save the Change and £10 sent to a collection for families who have been affected by a horrible incident locally. 

Yesterday I used a £20 voucher I'd kindly been given for my birthday and put it towards something I'd intended to buy anyway (and was also on sale) so I'm pleased to have ££'s off it. 

DS also had a friend round yesterday so spent a few £'s on a couple of pizzas from Asda and some treats for them. I also picked up some YS smoked salmon trimmings, smoked cod and prawns which I've frozen. 

I'm just waiting on the mouse man to turn up now to see if we're now mouse free or whether the bait has attracted all the neighbourhood mice in for a feast. I still can't figure out where they've got in which is the worrying part.

SW tonight, so I'm hoping I've lost a few lbs rather than just £'s...

bizzie

hello

just delurking to post a snippet from the CoL 2023 guidance factsheet found on gov.uk in case you weren't aware of its existence

hopefully this will apply in your situation

Tax credits

You are eligible for the first Cost of Living Payment of £301 if you received a payment of tax credits for any day in the period 26 January 2023 to 25 February 2023, or you are later found to have been entitled to a payment for this period.

hope SW went well