MeandO's money-shuffling

MeandO

Thankfully DS’s phone was repairable, but at a cost of £40 rather than £30, I’m still happier with that than the price of a new phone. DS is chuffed to have it back, thanked me and said he was very grateful to me for sorting it out for him which was nice to hear, he’s a good kid. 
I had to pick up milk and sellotape whilst out as we were almost out of milk and had run out of tape which I needed to pack the vinted sale to post tomorrow. That and the eBay parcel will be posted tomorrow. 

OH and I have been invited out with a group of friends next weekend which would have been nice, but we’ve declined. We don’t want to spend much money and none of that group are very budget-conscious on a night out like us. Neither of us fancies crowded, loud places at the moment either, I think we both are in need of rest presently. It’s been a tough few weeks for OH and it has affected me too with regards to sleep and mood and we both feel pretty drained. In fact I’m off to bed now to try and get a good night’s sleep if the wind and rain don’t wake me again tonight. I just hope everyone is safe and well and out of this weather. I feel very grateful to have a warm house for DS and I. 

Night all x

MeandO

Morning Campers,

I had a great sleep last night and feel much better for it and much more positive. It's shocking how miserable a few nights of bad sleep can make me feel. The alarm woke me up and I could have stayed there sleeping for another few hours to be honest. I did have a strange dream that I was in Disneyland with two best friends I had in secondary school and they kept wandering off without me and I was on my own and didn't have any battery left on my phone to call them. I say 'friends,' but they always made me feel like I wasn't good enough and it's only when I grew older that I realised their behaviour towards me was not nice. Probably where a lot of my self-worth issues come from. If I saw them in the street now, I would walk past them. I recognise now that one in particular was a bully. Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it.

The ebay parcel has been posted, unfortunately the Vinted one was rejected by the post office as the postage label wasn't for the right size parcel. I'm not entirely sure how to correct that as I selected the largest option upon listing. I've messaged vinted to see what happens now. 

One load of washing is done this morning and in the dryer. I've stripped DS's bed this morning so have put that all in a second wash so will be able to put his fleecy sheet back on his bed for tonight as it definitely makes it much warmer for him. 

MeandO

The vinted parcel is now posted after a load of hassle. I have to cancel then re-sell the item to the buyer again but chose the same postage size as last time and it worked fine at a different post office. I also made £98 instead of £100 as I compensated the buyet for messing them around but never mind. 
I've take an item back for a refund of £8.10 today and dropped the two bags to the charity shop, not before adding another pair of jeans to the bags first though, so another item cleared. I also browsed round the charity shop and found another 4 tops for £12. Three fit lovely, one is a bit tight but will hopefully fit me soon. At least I have a few more clothes to wear now.

I popped to the supermarket and picked up a big tray of YS eggs for £1.69 instead of nearly £3. They will be used to bake DS's birthday cake. I've also ordered almond flour which I've run out of and need for the cake, it was cheaper to buy a kg bag online as I use it quite regularly.

Off to pick DS up from his activity, sure he'll be starving when he gets in! 

MeandO

Another sale made on vinted, £19 this time.

MeandO

Morning all,

I posted the latest vinted sale on the way back from the school run so up to date with everything that needs posting now. I ran into a lovely friend I met when I was doing SW that I kept in touch with but haven't seen for ages, it was so lovely to see her. She's one of these people who has been through so much but continues to have a positive outlook on life. Her joy is infectious, she is such a caring person too. We've agreed to try and make a date for a cuppa out somewhere along with another lady we keep in touch with too. Another friend also rang me for a catch up this morning too - the one that bought me flowers last week - I feel very popular already today! 

Strangely, the friend I ran into this morning was talking to me about her pension as she is 10 years older than me and we work for the same employer. Prompted by @foxandflowers post on her diary the other day, I have been contemplating setting up a small AVC towards my workplace pension for the past few days. My friend was saying how beneficial it has been to her pension pot and how she is now planning to retire early because of it. I also caught a bit of the discussion about pensions on the ML Money Show last night, so I think the universe is trying to tell me to start contributing to AVC's! I can't afford to part with a lot, but I think it's worth setting up even a small monthly amount.

foxandflowers

Def set one up if you can - even £10 a month will make a difference and you can vary your contibutions as and when you need to. I aim to retire at 60, so need to start planning for it now - hopefully with a good AVC pot it will offset my deductions from retiring early.  

So glad you are getting to see friends - it will do wonders for your state of mind. I went for lunch in Wetherspoons yesterday with a friend who left work last year, and it made me feel much better afterwards, even if I did feel a bit bad about spending the £8.50 odd on a meal. x

MeandO

foxandflowers said:

Def set one up if you can - even £10 a month will make a difference and you can vary your contibutions as and when you need to. I aim to retire at 60, so need to start planning for it now - hopefully with a good AVC pot it will offset my deductions from retiring early.  

So glad you are getting to see friends - it will do wonders for your state of mind. I went for lunch in Wetherspoons yesterday with a friend who left work last year, and it made me feel much better afterwards, even if I did feel a bit bad about spending the £8.50 odd on a meal. x

Thanks Fox, you've inspired me to look into it and I'm pleased to say I've just set up AVCs. My pension is not as good as it should be due to being part time for several years and not paying into at first when I was supporting the ex whilst he went back to education and we couldn't afford the bills otherwise. What a mug I was. He has his full pension...
Anyway, onwards and upwards!

Please don't feel guilty about spending £8.50 on yourself. I'm sure the mood boost was worth so much more than that. You are worth treating too. xx

MeandO

I forgot to mention I changed mobile providers for myself & DS last night. We are sim only and it was originally good value at £6 a month each but over the past few years it's crept up to £10.50 each per month. The new deal with Tosco will be £3 a month cheaper plus double the data and £25 cash back via TCB which has already tracked. I'm wondering if I can argue for double the CB as I took out two sim only contracts or is that pushing my luck?!

I have also just set up an AVC agreement. I worked out that I could afford to be around £70 a month down as it would just mean not saving into the holiday pot which is low priority now. We have no holidays planned and I'm paying separately for DS to go abroad with school next year on an amazing holiday so he won't be missing out. If I do decide to take us on holiday which equates to anything more than a weekend away, I won't feel bad about using funds from the ISA once I've built it up more as I'm already saving over £800 a month to other various pots. Once I've stopped paying for DS's school trip, I will be £50 a month better off too.
Now please don't shoot me down anyone, and at the risk of annoying some people, I think the reduction in net income for AVCs will mean my UC will increase, so I have worked out that £200 out of my salary to AVCs every month will equate to me being around £70 a month worse off. That will also mean around £280 is paid into my pension pot. I will only be able to do this for a few years until DS is out of full time education, at which point I'll have to drop the AVCs right down again. I hope that's correct as I've just set it up, so March will be a very poor month if I'm wrong. 

foxandflowers

I hope it works out for you - the bonus of the UC can't hurt either I'll keep fingers crossed it pays off the way you've planned it x

MeandO

Thanks Fox x 

Yesterday took a bit of a nosedive as DS's school called me shortly after my last post, saying I needed to pick him up as he'd fallen and had a nasty injury. Three hours in the local hospital later he's had the wound seen to, stitched up, is on antibiotics and now has to go back in a few days to get it re-dressed and checked for any signs of infection. I'm thankful my work allowed me to leave at no notice and that I had flexi built up to be able to take the time off.

The £98 vinted sale funds hit my account today so I've rounded it up to £100 and sent it to the ISA. I've decided to combine the holiday pot totals with the ISA as I won't be paying into the hols pot for the foreseeable now I'll be paying AVCs, the application for which has been approved today. 

I've taken mince out of the freezer to make a chilli tonight, there should be plenty left over for another couple of portions to freeze or have the next day too. I do need to stock up on more mince as that's the last pack I have along with a few other bits, but I still have one of the aldi gift cards left so will use that tomorrow to go towards it all.