MeandO's money-shuffling

MeandO

I finally got to the bank today and paid in the £80 cash from last week’s sale, that’s been added to the sports fund for now. The £25 vinted sale has been received by the recipient but they’ve yet to confirm all is ok so I can’t withdraw the money from that yet. 

It wasn’t a NSD today as I had to pick up potatoes, eggs and a few other bits from &SDA before picking DS up. The total came to under £10 which I then got down a bit further by using £1.20 in coupons via the app. I also received another £1.20 off my next shop too so that will come in useful tomorrow as I forgot to buy milk.That is all we need though and all I am buying!

I made DS some roast lamb with baby potatoes & lots of veggies for tea. The lamb was from a pre-cooked shoulder joint purchased from sainsbobs on a YS deal a little while ago, supposedly to serve 2 but it just about served 1 DS! I had everything but the lamb, we were both full. 

Tomorrow’s evening meal has been planned and I’ve made an overnight oats type thing for my breakfast tomorrow which is doing its thing in the fridge. I’m trying to get back on the healthy eating wagon again tomorrow, I’ve just felt like I’ve wanted to eat everything in sight this past week, so am going to make sure I’m getting enough protein tomorrow. 

It’s been a lovely evening here so I cut the lawn and have attacked a couple of big bushes that were getting out of control. The garden looks lovely now, much tidier and I have two full bags of garden recycling to put out this week. 

I’m struggling a little bit knowing what to do of an evening when DS is in full teenage mode of spending most of his time in his bedroom or playing with his mates, basically just not wanting to hang round with his Mum! I do cherish the times he does decide he wants some Mum company but it is getting less often which I know is normal, but it’s hard when it’s always just been the two of us and we’ve done almost everything together. I’m trying to find ways to fill my time and keep busy as a I’m not a TV watcher, in fact I wouldn’t care if we didn’t have one, The garden is proving a nice distraction when the weather’s nice but there is only so much to do out there.  I’ve just pulled out a charity-shop book I haven’t yet read so I’ll make a start on that. I’m thinking perhaps maybe to try and look at some crafts or something as I am quite arty and crafty, but I really don’t want to spend any money. Maybe I should use this time to start listing the massive stack of Pokemon cards for sale that DS sorted out nearly two years ago but I haven’t been able to force myself to tackle that job yet! Hmm, if anyone has any suggestions I’d love to hear them. I hate being bored and feel a bit redundant if I have nothing to do which then gets me feeling a bit blue. 

Ordinary_Yet_Unique

Hopefully your budget allows you some personal spending money with which you can explore some interesting leisure activities. I know I am late to this thread but what is the plan for your savings? Have you a holiday booked for you and your son? Time away together would be a great way to maintain your close bond, even if only for a few days.

dawnybabes

I’ve always a jigsaw on the go, I buy them from charity shops so never pay more than a couple of quid.  I’ve knitting in my car so if I’m ever stuck somewhere I can whip it out

MeandO

Thank you ordinary_yet_unique - I haven’t booked a holiday as it’s unaffordable at the moment. DS is representing the country in a sporting event soon and travel, expenses and kit for that comes at great cost, so immediate savings are going towards that. I also save towards a car/house pot every month, Christmas/birthdays/gifts, savings to pay the YNAB fee every year, a pot for DS school costs (uniform, shoes, trips etc) and I put a little bit away every month in DS’s junior ISA. 

Ah, Dawnybabes, thanks for the suggestions, I loves a jigsaw! My Mum usually has one one the go and I like to sit and do that with her when I go home. Unfortunately my house is quite ‘petite’ though and we don’t have room for a spare table to put a puzzle on. Unfortunately I’m not a knitter, I wish I was, I could never get the hang of it. I used to have a sewing machine and loved making things from fabric but again, unfortunately I don’t have the room for that in this house. 

MeandO

It was a testing week at work this past week so I’m glad to see the weekend. I had to put in a complaint early in the week about the way I was treated by a member of staff in the same organisation as me. A second staff member who was also involved in the meeting also picked up on the way I was treated and has put in a complaint about this staff member. I felt bullied which wasn’t a nice feeling and it really upset me, but I appreciated the other staff member’s support and recognition of the situation and them checking I was ok. The offending staff member has also treated my colleague badly in the past, he seems to have misogynistic views which I just found appalling. I was the victim of it this time.

Moneywise, I’ve gone over the groceries budget for the month with 9 days left of my budget. I’m annoyed at myself as part of it was down to overspending this week when I was feeling upset and drained. Events this week also kicked my anxiety off again and I read an article about how we should be stocking up on food with the current situation the world is in, so I bought a few extra tins and packets of food that would keep which also drove the cost of the shopping up.  I’m not reading any more articles and the news is being left unread for a while. We now have plenty of food in and my aim is not to spend any money on groceries other than things we have run out of, and need, for the next week. 

I have transferred some money from my spends pot for the month and leftover funds in this month’s petrol budget to cover overspends on the groceries. It leaves me with about £24 left for the next 9 days though before having to dip into another pot. I’ll try my best…

OH and I did offer to host a BBQ for friends this weekend, but we changed plans as neither of us could afford to spend money on catering for several others, nor was either of us really in the mood as we’d both had difficult weeks. Thankfully, friends are understanding and made other plans. OH and I spent a quiet night in watching the rugby instead. We cooked food from ingredients compiled from both our houses and had a free (money) night instead. 

I sold another item on eBay in the last few days. It went for under £5 so I was a little disappointed as I was hoping bids would go higher, but it’s better than nothing. That’s wrapped and will be sent off tomorrow. The £60 funds also cleared for the last item sold too so that has been shifted into the ‘sports’ pot. 

I returned to my fitness classes this week after a few weeks off and I’m so glad I did, I’m aching like mad today but it really helped to lift my mood. I’m looking forward to next week’s classes already.

My garden has continued to bring me joy and we have had rain today which has saved me from watering the plants. I have a few tomatoes coming on my tomato plants so look forward to picking those when they’re ripe. I’m also dead-heading the marigolds as needed and am drying out the flower heads to harvest the seeds to plant next year. There are hundreds so will give some to my parents too as they like marigolds as well, especially planted around tomato plants as it keeps the bugs off the tomatoes. 

I’ve sorted a few more items to donate to charity this week and have given away some wine as fund raising raffle prizes. I’m not much of a drinker, in fact I rarely drink, so it’s not missed and will be better used to help raise funds. I’ve also earmarked one more top to sell on vinted and I’m trying to persuade myself to start listing the flipping’ pokemon cards of which there are hundreds….

So, ahead lies a frugal week for me. I also need to give notice on my broadband/tv/ phone contract as that’s up next month. Will definitely be shopping round for cheaper. 

I also need to chase up DS’s free gym membership as we haven’t had the card for that yet and I want to cancel the paid for membership before the next payment is taken. 

Happy rest of weekend, all x

1stTimer

I never got the hang of knitting either, my nan used to knit some fabulous bits! Have you ever tried cross stitch? She always got me to do cross stitch whilst she knitted, in fact this has prompted me to go and find a small little kit to give a go…

MeandO

Hi 1stTimer, yes, I used to do a bit of cross stitch years and years ago and remember enjoying them. The only thing now is, I don‘t really know what I’d do with them when they’re done. It’s not the sort of thing I’d display or hang on the wall, so it all seems a bit pointless. Perhaps I’ll look for a cheap kit on vinted or something though just to dabble! Thanks for the suggestion xx

MeandO

So much for not spending this week… I’ve just realised we’ve almost run out of dishwasher tablets and DS has presented a list he needs for cooking at school in a few days.. Mince, sun dried tomatoes, bacon, pastry, golden eggs from a golden goose…and several other items    and there was me thinking there was a cost of living crisis! I’ll definitely need to buy the pastry, meat and tomatoes, am hoping I can conjure up the rest from what we have in. 

MeandO

Hello budgeting buddies, I hope a lovely weekend was had by all.

It’s pay day tomorrow but I’m pretending it’s not and am keeping to my 1st of the month budget instead. It’s worked well for me in that I can better see what I’ve spent and where, but I have still gone over the groceries budget. At least I can now see what I’m overspending on and work on it for the next budget month. 

Today I’ve planned next month’s budget in my trusty notebook and updated YNAB. There’s quite a few changes this month to reflect some savings and some rising bills, but thankfully more of the first than the second. 

The mortgage payment has dropped by £51.63 but I am planning on overpaying this. DS’s gym is now free for the next 10 months so I’ve cancelled the DD and saved £25 per month there. I’ve reduced my haircut/dye saving pot by £10 per month as I’ve built up some ‘credit’ in that pot. The school dinner money has been reduced by £10 next month as DS is away for one week and then the school hols kick in around the 3rd week of July. I should be able to reduce this by a bit more actually but I will see how much is left in the account come the end of the month. Lastly, and the big win of the day, I’ve arranged a much better deal on the broadband/TV/Landline calls for the next 2 years after haggling with sky. It will now be £44 per month which includes evening and weekend calls which I use to call my parents, so I’m more than happy with that. Our broadband speed will be doubled too. So £24 per month saved there, more if you count what they were going to increase the price to from next month. 

The only bill that has increased is the water bill, going up by a whopping £21.50 per month but there’s nothing I can do to reduce that, we are not big water users anyway, the extra costs are due to the planned hike in prices and not our usage. 

I will also be sending a bit less to the gifts pot this month to cover a gift for a big birthday coming up that I purchased this week and paid for by CC. That will be cleared by the 1st of the month.

Lastly, I’ve dropped the amount I’m sending to my ISA by £75 and will instead be sending it to the mortgage as an OP as part of my plan to pay the mortgage off in under 9 years instead of the 16 it currently stands at. This month’s OP will be £206.71 to make the mortgage payment up to £550 this month. Any extra money made will then go as an additional payment. I have £1700 left of my 10% allowance this calendar year so I am aiming to reach that target. 

Today I’ve sent another £75 towards the cost of DS’s sporting event to where it needed to go. That’s come from the sports fund pot which I’ve been saving the funds made from vinted/eBay into. I will be glad when everything has been paid for and it is all done as it’s costing a lot of money. 

MeandO

Morning all,

Mortgage OP of £206.71 sent to the mortgage this morning. 

New scores on the door:

Mortgage @ 03/2019: £125,000, Now: £52,375.08
Mortgage OP’s: £20,525.99
Remaining 10% OP allowance 2025: £1493.29

I've shuffled money to the ISA, Car/house, Gifts, School, YNAB and haircuts pots. I've paid this month's school trip instalment and dinner money, the latter of which had a lot more money left than I thought when I checked the account so have only topped it up by £20 which leaves £30 surplus, now split between the sports fund and mopping up a little on the CC.
The CC has been cleared and I've transferred DS's allowance to his account.

Now to wait until 1st when my new budget month for all the other bills/groceries/spends/fuel starts.