Now for a healthier, wealthier me

[Deleted User]

LittleMissDetermined said:

[Deleted User] said:

I am impressed that you get so much reading time in! I am retired, but what with keeping the house and garden in good condition, other daily chores, exercises and shopping plus caring duties I am lucky to get in 10 to 15 minutes reading time a day!

I think this year I've basically stopped watching the TV, I even read whilst hubby is watching the footy as I can keep an eye on when it gets interesting. It also made me realise just how much time I wasted on my phone. Most importantly, I read when I have a lunch break, so I now actually have a lunch break!  

I do not watch very much live TV either. I do make use of iplayer, My4, My5 and ITVx though.
I would not countenance paying for any of the subscription services.

LittleMissDetermined

Good morning and happy Monday!  It's a bit chilly here today, although we do have a bright blue sky which looks lovely

It feels a little strange that I'm not stuffing an envelope this morning, but that challenge is now done and dusted so it'll just be my dice rolls on a Wednesday.  I have a really busy and spendy week this week as I am out tonight and tomorrow night and then on Thursday I am away for the weekend with family... plans I had forgotten about until a few weeks ago. 

It was a very busy weekend with one thing or another so I've not done any reading really, but hopefully over the next day or so I will get a few chapters in.

Hubby is hoping to get his work laptop today to allow him to start working from home, it depends if the person he needs to speak to is on shift - I am hoping they are!

My PAD today is just £5 to the sabbatical fund - some things never change! 
That's all for today
Hope you all had a great weekend
LMD x

LittleMissDetermined

So, I have just been looking at my budget and I have made a slight error this month... My new cash budget day is Friday and I had accounted for 4 Fridays between pay days for October, however due to how the pay days fall (I was paid early in Sept) there are actually 5.

So, I can either
a) save any left over budget each week to go into week 5, or
b) use some of my sealed pot (which gets opened a day before I need it) to cover the shortfall

Not sure yet as I have a busy first week and the weekend away, and I know in the back of my mind I will think about the shortfall.

Any advice?

I mean, it's not the end of the world, given the amount I have saved. But I hate dipping into my savings, which is a good trait I feel!

[Deleted User]

Savings are there to help you over bumps in the road. 

AntoMac

I would suggest aim for option a) but if you have to invoke option b) don’t feel bad about it as you have done fantastically well with your finances for months

LittleMissDetermined

Thanks both, I will see what happens this week. Yesterday was a low spend (under £10) and I am driving tonight so aside from a raffle and the cost of a lime and soda it will just be fuel used... I think I might just take £10 from each week to put to week 5, I could do this anyway so that on 4 week months I have £50 and on 5 week months I have £40, that actually seems quite a sensible thing and means I don't have to alter the monthly budget.

I have a really busy day today so this will just be a short update but as it's the last day of the month I will do my totals.

Sealed pot	£ 7,390.53
Emergency fund	£ 1,006.10
Sabbatical	£ 3,677.74
Travel pots	£ 1,832.62
Sinking pots	£ 3,107.68
Total	£ 17,014.67

All looking OK at the moment and still increasing, due to the party costs I had a very frugal August/September and as everyone is aware of our circumstances, nobody is pestering us to go out and spend unnecessarily, and when we do go out, no one questions our choices.  We have a good support network

Still on book 54 but almost half way through so it's all going well PAD was the usual £5 to the sabbatical and is included in the above.

Have terrific Tuesdays!
LMD x

LittleMissDetermined

Just a quick update from me today, I have a busy day ahead and then I have to pack for the weekend. It was a late night last night and I am very tired this morning. 2 late nights in a row isn't doing me any good, and I am already yawning and wanting to go back to bed.

Today is bill day and interest day AND dice day, so my PAD went off to various places and the accounts are all looking good.  The sealed pot gets opened on 23rd of October and then I will start all over again. This year seems to have flown, but thinking back to when I opened the sealed pot last year it seems ages that I've been saving up.

It's a no spend start to October for me which is good! Hubby should be arranging his laptop today to work from home so all in all, it's a positive day  

That's all from me, have nice days!
LMD x

LittleMissDetermined

Things are still manic at work and I'm off tomorrow so I have a feeling today will be even more crazy, I have already been working since 6:15am.  I will be travelling to stay with Family after work so it will be a NSD today and then I think it will be a spendy few days. 

My PAD today was covering some of DH bills and then the usual £5 to the sabbatical fund for me

Hubby officially started working from home yesterday - whoop
Book 54 done and dusted last night so at lunch I will start book 55 - go me!

Toodles for now
LMD x

LittleMissDetermined

Happy Monday! I've had a lovely weekend spent with family and I only had one spendy day thanks to my generous dad. It's a no spend day for me again today too as I am very tired and have no intention of doing anything but mooch on the sofa tonight and read.

Today's PAD included £5 to the sabbatical and that's it for savings as my envelope one has now been completed. Hubby is now working from home, but also driving me a little to distraction as he has lots of computer related questions as it's not his usual role... I feel like I should just suggest we both go work at the dining table together as it would save a lot of backwards and forwards between our offices!

I had a lovely weekend but it was busy and due to the storm I didn't really get peaceful sleep which is why I'm so very tired today.  My day is pretty much back to back meetings too so there's definitely no rest for the wicked!

I hope you all had lovely weekends and didn't get hit too badly from storm Amy
LMD x

LittleMissDetermined

Good morning everyone, I hope you're all doing OK? 

I had a nice relaxed evening last night, but instead of reading, me and DH got comfy on the sofa watching a film, which we haven't done for ages so that was nice. We even had popcorn

PAD today was just £5 to the sabbatical, we don't have long now until the sealed pot is opened, just 2 weeks on Thursday... I know I keep a note of what I have saved in there, but I am looking forward to opening my physical tins and challenges and bagging up the change to take to the bank.  As I said to my family at the weekend, it doesn't take a lot to make me happy

I will be using some of it to provide spending money for holiday for me and DH, he's been worrying about it as he's not been getting any more than SSP but I've reassured him I have it covered.  It's just a relaxing holiday anyway so it shouldn't be a fortune in spends, and I'll transfer him the money so he still feels like he's paying. I don't want him to feel awkward.

Anyway, that's it in terms of my updates. I didn't get much reading done yesterday and I am out tonight (not a NSD) so it'll be tomorrow when I can read for a good amount of time now.

Catch you all later 
LMD x