I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, now my saving journey begins!

LittleMissDetermined

Happy Pay Day Shell! I'amazed at how many pots you have, I'm not sore I would be able to get my hear around so many... I imagine it works a bit like my spreadsheet for allocating money I need before the next pay day. 

I had never heard of a smart projector before. our house has a cinema room with a projector (it was the garage, converted from a section of it) and no windows. It's connected to the old PS4 and Xbox360 but it would be so good to get apps on there too.  We also have a sofabed in there to be an extra guest room when needed. Our sofabed was from Ikea but it was quite expensive as we wanted it to look like a sofa rather than a bed.  

shell16

Thanks LMD.  I know it seems like there are lots and lots, but I like specific pots for certain spends and that helps me to focus on whats left in that budget.  These are on my Starling App and in all fairness is one of the main reasons why I opened up the account with them.   I appreciate this wouldn't work for everyone but has so far for me especially when I was working my way out of debt.  I also like to see my main bank account with just the fixed expenses bill money in (plus any card payments I make).

It was my Hubby that suggested the projector.  They have come down alot in recent years and as its going in our spare room downstairs which is also going to be the girls 'chill out/social room', bedroom and as you have 'New Cinema Room'.  We are all quite excited about it.  I have been searching for some finishing touches and have even seen a neon 'Film Night' sign   I did look at Ikea and like you wanted something right that looks like a sofa especially as the room will have multi purpose.  I havent seen anything thats taken my fancy yet so will keep searching.  We already had a cheaper sofa bed (click clack design) which isnt the best for being comfortable when sitting or lying down for a long period of time, but will do until we see something.

Shell x

shell16

Morning All!

Not really savings related but had a lovely day yesterday for Mothers Day.  We all went to see mum in the residential home and took our own food and had a little Mothers Day party.  60's music playing, sandwiches, lovely cakes and flowers.....lots of them!  I came up with an idea to buy 10 bunches of flowers from Ald! no more than £4 each to give to other residents yesterday as mum always gets fresh flowers every 10 days or so, the staff mentioned  a while ago some dont get anything at all, which made me quite sad.   So I handed 10 bunches to the female residents of the home yesterday, some were quite clearly overwhelmed and one lady who we always talk to, asked me why....I just said because.......   I felt like Id put a smile on their faces and even the staff thanked me too which was nice.  Apparently no one has ever done that for them.  So I spent just under £40 on the flowers yesterday plus £18 for mum and another £15 on my share of the food.  It was a lovely day, although mum wasnt feeling 100%.

My girls got me Ferrero Rocher which are my favourites, a new mug which im using right now, cards and flowers, I felt very spoilt.

Not much more to report today, just have a small £3.54 in the save the change attached to my main account, so will send £3 to the Savings Pot and 54p to SPC. 

Shell x

LittleMissDetermined

Oh Shell what a lovely gesture x

EssexHebridean

Lovely thing to do with the flowers - what a great idea!

And I have to say I love all your pots! I find that lots of individual ones work well for us too - it really makes budgeting easier and because some of them have money going in, then coming out again, and are literally designed to "break even" at a certain point in the yearly budget, it really increases reassurance being able to see at a glance that things are on track. 

shell16

Morning

Not updated in a while, been really busy work wise and in the house too.  

Update on the dishwasher, it has started to work again, think it must be a sensor issue and in the time we havent used it, its managed to drain.  Hubby says he thinks he can order a new sensor and fit so emergency averted, and the current EF is still in tact at £775.

Ive closed off this weeks cash envelopes as resets tomorrow and only £15 fuel today as going to see mum.  Managed to send £10 to the Bedroom Revamp fund and now £329, plus £7.60 to penny challenge.  Would have had more but given girls some pocket money for doing some chores.

Ive bought a bed settee for the downstairs bedroom/chill-out room/cinema room and hopefully that will arrive in around 7 weeks.  This has come out of the relevant 'pot' for that rooms revamp and I still have over £400 in there.  We also bought a projector and tried out last night, its really good, not as good as a TV but it works really well.  Cant wait to get the settee in and we can really make use of that room for family time.  Im also tempted to buy a little fridge and put some goodies in there for when we have cinema nights.

Im on week 3 tomorrow of our 5 week budget.  Not into 5 week budgets at all but im very hopeful that at the end of the paycheck month I will have a decent amount to tidy away into savings.    I had also put away £75 in respect of train costs and parking for the month but forgot Im only needing to go into Leeds twice this month as its half term, so should have £45 left at the end.

Everything is still positive, Im still completing surveys and have managed to put away £92 so far in my Starling Savings pot.  Not sure what to do with that at the minute so until I decide I shall continue to squirrel away those cashouts.

Im off to Southport on Saturday with the girls as unfortunately Hubby cant get the time off.  He will drive the Motorhome, set us up and then go home in the car on Sunday.  We are stopping until Thursday next week so have a good break planned, and it gets the girls out of the house into fresh air!

Nothing much more to report here, so will sign off.
Shell x 

EssexHebridean

Have a lovely time away Shell!

My view on the fridge in the cinema room idea would be that the additional ongoing costs for a relatively small benefit would make it not worthwhile - and let's be honest, s0d's law suggests that people will always want something that's not in there anyway! A fridge will also warm the room more than you might like in warmer weather, too. 

LittleMissDetermined

Have a great time away!

shell16

Morning @EssexHebridean

To be honest what you say is pretty spot on.  Think Im getting carried away with things here!  Do we need a mini fridge - NO we dont. I definitely need to remember Martins Money Mantra!

Shell x

shell16

Morning All

Its my last day today and im off for 11 days!  I feel I really need it, its been so, so busy work wise and I will just be glad to down tools and relax!

Need to get sorted for our trip to Southport tomorrow.  Weather looks to be changable but we have blown air heating on board our motorhome and its lovely and cosy inside when the weather isnt great.  I need to pay the balance tomorrow of £148.40 and that will come out of my Holidays Pot.  Im not planning on eating out at all, so when I get there and still have the car, will head to the supermarket and buy some meals in for me and the girls.  Hubby is stopping over tomorrow and heading back home on Sunday.  We are going to get a takeaway for all 4 of us on Saturday night though from local Indian.

I wont be updating on here very much if at all next week.  The Pay all your debt off by Xmas 23 challenge will not be updated either as I will only have my phone and not the laptop.  I can update once im back next week.  

Not much else to report on savings, as I add to the relevant pots at the start of the paycheck month and only add to those if I have cash left in the envelopes on a weekly basis and then finally when I close out the months budget in respect of any monthly spending pots or envelopes.  

Have a wonderful weekend, lovely week next week and a fantastic long bank holiday!
Shell x