And now we go again...

EssexHebridean

I used a mooncup for a bit before the fibroids raised their annoying heads greenbee - loved the idea of it and just how convenience it was, however now let's just say it is very much not an option any more. Trust me, you don't need or want to know more!   Starnac if you are middle aged then by the sound of it so are the rest of us as we all seem to be enjoying the waste related chat! 

Smug points here today as I got Wordle in 3 and MrEH took 5. 

I confess also to still having a single string of fairy lights up on the mantelpiece in the front room for a bit of extra cheerfulness in there - the main reason for everything else coming down when it did was having the opportunity on Sunday to get the boxes back in the loft - rather than needing to have them hanging about for best part of a week waiting to go up there. I'm quite pleased to have the tree space back again in the living room, too - as much as I love it when it's up and all sparkly, it's nice to get everything back where it belongs again! 

Right then - how are things faring on an MSE front...: 
- Banks checked and all fine
- Small transfer of odd £'s and pence to my savings from my spends account to round down
- CC now back at zero again
- Small personal spend in T's last night - came straight off my personal spends though
- Food spending for the week so far is hovering around £15 - MrEH will need to get milk at some stage though I am hoping he will go into the shop, get just the milk, and leave again! 
- There will be a chunky spend as some stage in the next few days as we will need to pay the balance for the new door that's been fitted to the office - that was done today and MrEH says it looks good. That's all budgeted for though - and in fact they are super-efficient and I have just realised I already have the invoice...
- ...now paid - on the CC as we may as well have the money earning interest for a while longer yet! 
- Money transferred from both the car and holiday "holding" accounts - the money lands there first, and if not required for paying anything within the month it gets transferred out to somewhere to earn a bit more interest until needed. 
- Payment to the grocery account adjusted to the new slightly higher amount
- "Start of month" OP sent to the mortgage and we are now sub £102K! 
- Food is under control and we are cheerfully eating our way through stuff we have in the house - I've been reminded that MrEH is out on Friday evening so I will have to re-think my plans for tea, but it may be as simple as get a pizza out of the freezer as we have several that were bought YS'd - I will probably see what I fancy nearer the time. Any leftovers from that will go towards either lunch or tea on Saturday. 
- Money committed to booking a hotel room for an overnight stay next month - there is travel to book for that too although we should be able to reclaim at least most of the travel on expenses. We decided to stay one night rather than two as that was more budget friendly and in any event we would not be in a position to get there at any sort of sensible time the night before anyway.  
- emailed about our magazine not having arrived (a subscription) and they are going to re-send this edition as they assume it was lost in the post. 

I am debating opening a Sant-and-Er regular saver at 5% for some small savings of my own - I think I would just be able to trickle money into it over the month, and I may as well have some earning 5% as less. Done on that basis it wouldn't be any particular hassle, and I wouldn't be fussed about not maxing it out either. I'll ponder a bit more and have a quick look and make sure there's nothing else that suits to open instead, then make a decision.  At some stage we will also need to look at Regular Savers to replace the two Pr1nc1pality ones that will be maturing next month, too - although we do also have the option to let that sit for a while and instead filter money into the ISA to top that off for the year. 


I think that's about us for the moment. I'm always very happy at this stage in the year for things to just trickle along really! 

milann

It’s a nice feeling when finances just trickle along nicely 

Makingabobor2

I managed Wordle in 3 as well. Couldn't get yesterday's at all though.  

EssexHebridean

Isn't it just milann!

I did a 3 again today MAB - and again, (more importantly!) beat MrEH. More smug points! 

Makingabobor2

EssexHebridean said:

Isn't it just milann!

I did a 3 again today MAB - and again, (more importantly!) beat MrEH. More smug points! 

You beat me today then. 5 for me.  Do you do the mini crossword on there as well?  I love that. 

badmemory

5 for me too, usually 4 but I have had those days when even 6 wasn't long enough.

EssexHebridean

MAB I'm resisting the temptation to find ANY more puzzles of that type to do! Today is not looking so good on the Wordle front as I'm on my 6th go and struggling. MrEH took 6 so if I can get it on my final go at least it will still be a draw. 

MSE Stuff:
- Banks checked and all fine
- Some shrapnel swept across to the VSP/my savings as appropriate
- Agile pricing horrific yesterday - ended up 53p down against SVR over the day and that was even without cooking in the evening!
- Agile pricing more reasonable today, but back to looking painful again tomorrow and saturday. 
- Used some semi-reasonable price slots overnight to get a load of washing through as it's starting to back up.
- washing on the airer before leaving this morning. It'll have to just dry naturally at room temperature as I won't be putting the dehumidifier on at the pricing tonight (it doesn't go on when we are out, ever) 
- Requested £100 of our credit back from the Octopods as at this stage of the winter we really don't require over £400 sitting there.
- Changed the SO for the food account so the extra money will go across automatically next month (did I claim that when I last posted?!) 
- Reverse meal planning is still working well - although would work better with some more reasonable electricity prices! Still tonight's not so bad so a tub of ragu is out and defrosting (and has made another chink of space in the freezer!)
- The well priced dishwasher tablets arrived - we'll do the next few washes using those, then alternate for a while until the old ones are used up. 
- MrEH fed his car on Tuesday evening when he only had his own bank card with him and so needs to transfer the money ex the joint account - I'll remind him about this as I'm such a nice person!   
- My car will probably get fed tomorrow which will see me through to the end of the month. 

Spendiness (but considered spendiness):
- Thanks to greenbee for the link to one of the oil filled rads they bought, I ordered one yesterday (should be delivered tomorrow) as that will give us more flexibility on heating when prices for electric are lower than gas or even - hurrah - negative. That will be paid for from the fuel account which has a healthy balance. £29.99
- Eye drops as recommended by my optician - apparently my long term issue with dry eyes has now moved from being just a bit annoying to being fairly significant, but apparently a drop a day per eye of the ones she recommended should really help. £11.98 from my personal spends.
- The magic mouldy stuff from the people with the must-have ideas - first time ordering from them, but that stuff does come well rated so hopefully it will let me tackle the little bits of black on the bath seal and in the grout in the bathroom which have been there since we moved in. If it doesn't, then there is a money back guarantee which I will be making use of!
- At the same time ordered a twin pack of their sealing strip stuff - I am hoping that this will sort the shower screen, and also block a draught coming in along the edge of the front door. If it works there we will also see if it will work on the front room window - although we also need to work out precisely where the draughts are coming from, there. Those costs (£26.98 total) will come from the household account. 
- A replacement for our rather knackered outside mailbox (no letterbox on the front door, so needed). We only got a single key for this when we moved in, it leaks, and it's too small so stuff gets left sticking out of the top! All in all, a necessary spend. £29.99 - will be delivered tomorrow so hopefully we can switch them over at the weekend. 

A fairly quiet weekend is planned now - although if MrEH's rugby match gets cancelled on Saturday we will probably take the chance to pop into London to meet some pals who are down from Edinburgh for a few days. I need to nip to Mum's at some stage to add some pressure to her boiler as it's low, I'll probably combine that with shopping tomorrow morning though I think. We are heading to the pub this evening - we've decided to make January "Try January" with trying some different pubs to our "usual" through this month for Thursday evening beers - although this evening's will be one of those we drank in and enjoyed when we were over this way at the end of the christmas break. 

Makingabobor2

6 for me on Wordle today.  Really stuck on the mini crossword though, and can sometimes do it in under 2mins

badmemory

I too didn't need more puzzles to do but just tried the mini for the first time.  2.18 minutes it said.  So now I'll end up doing that every day too.

Makingabobor2

badmemory said:

I too didn't need more puzzles to do but just tried the mini for the first time.  2.18 minutes it said.  So now I'll end up doing that every day too.

Ooh, let me know how you get on with it. I am still well and truly stuck today. Will try again later. I like that it stalls your time if you leave it and come back to it later.