Saving lots in pots!

~FlowerPot~

thanks MovingForwards, i will take a look at premier seeds.

So The guy that came today is from the insurance company, well he is and he isnt! They seem to have a crazy out sourced system. First guy comes round makes notes and takes photos then passes it on to structural engineer and they decide what needs doing next. So now we wait and see.

I really do hope the the insurance pay out. eek!

~FlowerPot~

So i finally bought all the lego downstairs from DS1s room we have boxes and boxes decied over a year ago it was time to sell/pass it on and its been waiting for me (or someone!!) to sort it out. Now its all the in lounge I cant ignore it! So we have decied to make up the kits and sell the,. Well at least try and mkae them up, haivng about 50 differnet kits all mixed up plus bonus bits of lego and some from the 70s there s a huge pile and its painstakingly slow going to find the correct pieces! Inorder to help we have colour sorted it all, which is helping. So far started 3 kits over the weekend. I will updatre as they are finished and then listed on the bay of E.

Its going to take a while, DH was alsoe helping but the DC all made themselves very scarce all weekend!!!!!!! ~ typical.

These funds when they sell will go into the uni fund. There were bought for the boys and so seems right to use them to help their uni fund get going.

~FlowerPot~

Morning, I got a £9.00 PA study yesterday and its paid this morning so will poop £10 across to the tax pot. yey! I love PA it just feels like free money, of course it isnt, i have had to put the time and effort in to complete the study and this one was alot of concentrating on moving shapes!! But it is a bonus that has really helped in saving that extra tax money and its been a good motivator.

Also made up a lego star wars kit up yesterday evening after work (a small one) and started another, its very tedious, but determined to do it. DH has is well on with a very large kits with several different models and DD has started gathering the pieces for a large set too. The other challenge is puppydog constantly nicking bits and running off. largely for attention because he is being ignored while we search for lego!

~FlowerPot~

oh gosh i am hating lego!!

Literally thousands of pieces and the pup constantly keeps nicking pieces

We have only finished 1 kit, after hours and hours Several others nearly there, trying to find those elusive pieces to complete the sets, i might actually go mad! Be it should get easier the more we right????

Plus its in the lounge untill its sorted out, so thats a motivator because its taking up way to much room!!!

~FlowerPot~

theres more lego on the cards for this evening, but I also need to get on with my side line of work this morning. Plus I need to get a grip on the clutter and mess all around the house, its a bit overwhelming!

AS well as making a start on that Im taking DD to the gym. We signed up to the very expesive well known gym for a 14 day special for £14 pounds and we have been every other day to use the gym, not even made into the pool or sauna. Today or possibly tomorrow will be the last day and we need to make a decision or whether we renew. Its blooming expensive, but you do need to weigh it up with the benfits phsycially and actually mentally too. I signed up mostly because my DD wanted to go to a gym, has been asking for many many months and I have been putting it off because i didnt want the cost or to actually go to the gym!! BUt it has been great for her mental health, shes so happy when shes there. ANd the bonuse is Ive actaully enjoyed it too.

However, if DH DD and I do join its a whooping £232 a month with a 12 month contract. Which is just too much. SO im going to have a look at another couple of local fitness centres and see what they are like, they are all cheaper than the one we are currently using and also onlu have a months notices to stop going. I hate the idea of being on a 12 month contract and then falling ill or gettting an injury and not be able to go but still have to pay, or 3 months in just get fed up going, which with DD is quite a possibility!!

offski to make a list for the day

FLowers x

~FlowerPot~

Happy friday and its a bank holiday weekend, trying a new recipe in the slow cooker today, have a bit of a love hate relationships with my slow cooker!!! I always want to love it and use it more but what comes out always seems a bit meh! Plus I have autistic childern and they moan when things are mixed together. Well its all being mixed today, save the tagetelli (sp) and brocoli, so not completetly mixed. A client was cooking this when I was there on Weds and shes given me the rough recipe so Im going for it. Fingers crossed it will be nice
Here fridays savings round up, had a couple of nice prolific studies which have gone to the tax pot plus 20%od earnings:

• The tax pot now has £242.45 left to pay of £2700. 
  
• 50 this week EF £300 and £382.31 total 682.31
  
• Xmas 1p challenge, £290 / £667.00
• Health pot plus 10 this week £50/£500
• Car Maint plus 10 this week £40/£500
• Holiday pot £0/£1000
• Pension Pot £15 added
• Uni fund £0 STILL !!!
• ISA £0 added this week.
  

NO lego kits ready to sell yet, but hopefully buy the end of the weekend will have at least 3 up for sale.

ALso need to do lots in the garden this weekend, get more veggies started

shell16

Morning, I have just read through your diary. You are doing well and you shouldnt feel disheartened when things are moving a little more slower than you would like.

My daughter joined the local councils gym, it was £12.99 a month no contract (Just had to give 30 days notice to cancel) and she has full use of the swimming pool and gym, maybe you could look into that as an alternative cheaper option?

With regards budgeting, Im really into this. I started out watching you choob vids of other budgeters and this gave me so many ideas to set up my own. Some have regular incomes and others dont, but one of the main things that may work for you is to start cash budgeting. Im personally paid monthly but I have weekly cash envelopes which reset every Friday. I did this in the main to keep a check on my overspending for Groceries and Fuel in the car. Now more often than not I have cash left at the end of Thursday evening before I reset the weekly envelopes again for Friday morning. I use the left over change towards penny challenge, any cash notes go to savings. Its really surpising how much this adds up on a weekly basis and this is in addition to the monthly savings I make when Im paid.

You also mentioned budgeting and using a literal book rather than using excel, I can so agree with you there! Again after watching several budgeters on you choob, many have their own Et$y stores which is budget based and have budget planners (amongst other things like saving challenges) most have designed thereselves. If you start to watch some vids you may see one of the channels using a planner that may work for you, most vary in earnings too. I can give you some names to check out if you wish?

Ive now subscribed to your diary and will be cheering you on.

Shell x

~FlowerPot~

Thank you Shell, i really appreciate you taking the time to post. Cheered me up.

We've not signed up for the expensive gym, just couldnt justify it, even if it was lovely and DD is now pining for it! ALso holding off joining up with the other health club I looked which was half the cost, as the nearby hotel is reopening soon after a take over and massive refurbishment, so thinking we could join that when it opens and then could walk/rife bikes theres. But not sure when it actually will open. Will check out council gyms, I did see something called 'active nation', which seems to operate at the big town not too far away, which would beabout £38 a month, so much more than the 12.99 your DD has paid!! and not reallyvery close. The search continues, but dont want to wait too long and lose the monetum we had begun!

I will find and watch the budgeting videos, I defeintwly need to find a better way. But it is tricky because my income is so varied, I have to work on the lowest amount, but that just doesnt cover my outgoings. Actually i might consider looking at it monthly and sharing out the funds that way, it should even out the lows with the better weeks! SOmething to consider, thank you!!

Flowers x

~FlowerPot~

CAnt get into the bank on my app this morning as its telling me there an 'error' !!! As i check my bank everyday, and sometimes multiple times im feeling quite unerved!!

Hopefully it will be up and running in a bit.

Today entails decluttering some hair and getting a colour and cut, haven't been to the hairdressers since August, so its well overdue and muchly needed, as Im looking like a scarecrow!!!

The lego has been sitting in a rather large pile, we needed a few days off as it was taking over our lives as well as the lounge. But we have made a lot of progress on alot of models but annoyingly, as is the case with lego we are looking for those elusive last pieces to makeeach set complete! DS2 had a major sortout of tht figures and groupded them all into piles and found the right head for the right body and leg and the right equipment for most. We have 15 minifigs ready to list. The first couple have gone up on the bay of E, one for £25.00 ! SO lets hope they sell!!

I was shocked when we looked up how much some of these sell for!!! others are only 80p. But it will all add up!!

So the plan is to resume lego activites this evening and work on it over the bank holiday weekend whilst also getting out into the garden if the weather is dry. We have alot of box hedging which has been massivley attacked by the box moth caterpiller and we have started digging out the worst affected parts, but it is very sad the plants are trying really hard to come back but the caterpillers are just munching their way throught the whole hedge, you can actaully hear the click click of them munching!! We are looking at what to plant instaead. SOme of the hedge is a boundary with out neigbour so will need another shrub to replace but in other places we could do something different, so are looking into a trelis and climbers. Hopoing to decide on something this weekend and get the first part of the trelis and arch ordered.

Have a good day

Flowers x

~FlowerPot~

morning, happy friday and yet another bank holiday weekend, although I have chosen to work this monday beacuse monday is my clinic day and with 2 other B/H in may its just too much to work miss and catch up to do !

Wether is pretty wet out there this morning, i hope it bucks up a bit for everyone tomorrow, street parties will be a bit soggy if its like this!!

• The tax pot now has just £183.99 left to pay of £2700. 
  
• 50 this week EF £301 and £432.31 total £733.31 this is good, feel like im getting somewhere, not too far from first target of £1000
  
• Xmas 1p challenge,                £305 / £667.00
• Health pot plus 10 this week   £55/£500
• Car Maint plus 10 this week    £50/£500
• Holiday pot    £0/£1000
• Pension Pot                            £45 added £100 moved across
  
• Uni fund £0 STILL !!!
• ISA £0 added this week.

So progress is definetly being made, but it is defeintly slower than i would like. But then i hardly had any work this week at all, less than £200. Have managed a PA payout of £17.00 this week which is good and there is £6 cleared now, but will hold off and see if any other studies payout today before i transfer. I did a £2.33 with 78p bonus already this morning and its cleared, so nice when they clear almost straight away. PA has worked out so well for me I set a target of £500.00 for the year when I started out thinking that this would be a push, but Im already at £486 and its only May. woohooo!!!! I know you have to do the study and work for it, but it still feels like free money! Once Ive cleared the tax payment money I am going to use PA money to fund my S&S isa so that will at least soon start to see progress!! Plus Any lego sales will go into the uni fund which is still sitting at zero, poor boys will have no money at this rate!!

Flowers x