Flying solo

stymied

Do you have access to a van? Internal doors seem to come up quite frequently on the free sites.

twiggy86

Morning all! 

Feeling a bit chirpier today - maybe its the healing powers of a Christmas tree! I love how my tree represents me - completely random! It's got mushrooms, robins, a fairy duck, mince pies etc!!! I do normally make a few things to put on it but running out of time do to much - may make a little mini sweater with some leftover yarn. Plus I must paint the air dry clay gingerbread houses that I made so I can hang those on there! 

Today's bits and bobs:

• Make advent circle (will form a pillow cover when it's complete)
• Make lunch to take to work 
• Update Jan budget sheet as I have received another payment from the court - not sure if I'm due anything else (probably not)  until I receive the letter but at the moment the total is a measly £420 for 12 days of jury service!
• Ordered something using some money received for Christmas 
• Must call council today to see if I can get the reference number needed to complete the sole occupancy application - DONE! Except now I can't log in online!!! 
• Dinner will be quickly grabbing the leftover pizza from last night as then popping round my friends house  

twiggy86

Strike that - I managed to do the application for single occupancy council tax! Just need to wait for a revised bill to tell me the amounts. Of course, if/ when I get a lodger I will have to update this again but would be silly to not have the discount in the interim! 

twiggy86

Hello!

Feeling more back to myself today! Few little rambles for today before I get into the "bits and bobs"!

I decided to get my friend (only one I buy for at Christmas) an escape room for Christmas but don't know when or if anyone else will come along. So I was going to buy a few random things to point towards what we were doing, rather than give her a gift voucher - as figured it will be easier for me to just pay for her when we actually book it. However on chatting with another friend, I found out you can create crosswords online - so you input the words and clues you want to use and it generates a crossword. So I did that yesterday (with all of the words being clues to the activity and certain letters circled which when spelled out say "pick a date") - I will put the piece of paper in a box and wrap that! No further explanation included! So no additional cost on top of the actual escape room! 

I have been slowly painting the air dry clay gingerbread houses that I made, however haven't had much time! Must get them done though as I want them on my tree! I also want to make another mini sweater decoration for the tree with some scrap yarn (left over from socks!). I played a fun Christmas netball tournament last night - it was 5x 7 minute games and we came second overall! It was good fun as had music and most people had some type of Christmassy attire! Tonight I am possibly going to a festive market - I may buy something but I will be sensible! Budget is still looking on track for the month! 

Ramble over... on to today's bits and bobs:

• Make lunch to take to work - left over chicken from last night in a wrap... lovely! 
• Work on Christmas present at lunch - really hoped I'd have this finished by now! 
• Possibly make a CC payment - I won't hit my target for the year but I'm only £30 away from having paid of £4k for the year! 
• Enjoy the market tonight, treat myself if there is anything I really want but don't feel obliged to spend! 
• Do some more painting on clay houses if I have a chance
• I am also making a hat which I really want to finish by Saturday (potentially going ice skating - not idea if it will be hat weather but want to wear it anyway!) 

That's enough waffle for now! 

PennysIntoPounds

Aw glad to hear you sounding cheery. The power of the Christmas tree! £30 away from 4k for the year is excellent, especially with all you've been contending with. Have you got it allocated from a budget? Gotta get that nice round number before new year 😂

twiggy86

@PennysIntoPounds - Yes, Xmas trees really do have healing powers I've decided! I "pinched" it from the pot of money I'd been building up for my "known unknowns" - i.e. to cover the shortfall in my wages for jury service, any monies associated with ex leaving etc. Meaning I have paid off a nice round £4k for the year! However, now looking I'm "only" £87 away from meeting my target to get my total debt under £13k! (My original target for the year was to get it under £10k but then the year really didn't go how I planned so I re-assessed and changed this). Now £796 sat in that pot (plus another £1000 EF) - plan is that once the situation is settled down, if anything is remaining it will be sent to debts. 

Had a lovely evening with my friends! Ended up buying some beautiful glass tree ornaments for £20 - I'll say it's for medicinal purposes!  I also shared a pizza with my friend and bought myself a lemonade. So total spend was £29. 

Today's bits and pieces...

• Hit the payout amount of Shpp*x so claimed the £5 - will shuffle this to the "misc savings" pot 
• Received a £50 Amaz0n voucher from bosses for Xmas 
• Finishing work at lunch time so didn't bring anything with me as will eat when I get home
  
• Parents have been at mine this morning - dad fixed the switch on the tortoise lamp so I'm pleased I never bought a new one! He's also fixed the radiator in my bedroom which wasn't coming on! 
• Afternoon will be spent finishing the present, finishing a hat for myself, finishing the clay houses - then if I have the energy will wrap presents! (Lots of late nights this week!) 
• Quiet night in front of the TV and a proper dinner is in order tonight! 

Tomorrow I am possibly going into town and going ice skating with some friends, which will be fun! 

PennysIntoPounds

That £87 to meet your target is a tempting number isn't it?! Ten days including today til the new year, so £8.70 a day... are there any pots you'd be comfortable skimming a little off? Any other survey cashouts you could do? A few quid sitting in paypal or your purse you've not allocated? Look down the back of the sofa!

twiggy86

Happy Christmas Eve everyone!

Ive had a productive few days and managed to get all my Christmas crafting done! Clay houses painted and hanging on the tree, dragon finished and wrapped, hat complete and already been worn and lots of little decorations made and added to the tree! 

I didn’t end up going ice skating yesterday and instead had a day at home and then went round my friends house for dinner. Today has been another quiet day at home watching films. My house is looking very festive but if I’m honest, I don’t really feel it. But accepting that this year will be a bit rubbish. My plans for tomorrow will be dinner at my parents. If I fancy it I may pop to my bosses in the morning as they have an open house and will be cooking bacon sandwiches for anyone who pops by - expected to be about 30 people apparently! They’ve asked me in the past but I’ve never been, but maybe I will tomorrow. 

I then have a few plans over the break but nothing set in stone - and I will be doing frugally where possible. My ex’s mum sent me £50 for Christmas which was unexpected and lovely of her - I may go to see her if I feel like it but the issue is that ex is living back there and I don’t want to face him yet (I’ll have to at some point as he needs to collect the rest of his things). 

I don’t want to end this post by talking about him so I’ll say that I’m excited to get my air fryer tomorrow - as that’s what I asked for from my parents! Very adult present but will save on gas heating up the whole over for a small amount of food. Although not a small amount of food was eaten by me for dinner! I cooked one of those meaty cheese pots and demolished the lot with two part baked baguettes! But it is Christmas after all!

twiggy86

Ooops - I didn't intend to go awol for a week! 

Had a nice break from work - it was a mixture of seeing friends and having quiet days at home! Yesterday I went out with friends and whilst I spent more than I would have liked, I've actually spent very little over Christmas! So I was still under budget for December - will have a little sweep up of my bank accounts and put anything in my "misc savings" pot. 

I did "steal" the £88 from the misc savings so that I reached my target of getting my total debt under £13k!!! So the starting amount for 2024 is £12,999.91! At the moment I am going to continue just paying the minimums off the CCs and pop extra in my savings account until everything is finalised with ex. (I haven't heard anything over Christmas). If I've understood the letter correctly, I don't think I have to pay any council tax this month and then only have to pay £15 for the next 2 months (because of the single occupancy discount). I have still put the £182 aside but if it isn't taken, then that can be shuffled off to the savings! 

Oh and I got another payment for jury services (seriously their letters are so unclear!) - meaning that because I got paid so little from work, and therefore paid much less in deductions, in total I actually have more money this month than usual!! Crazy given that I wasn't sure if I would have enough to cover my bills! So I have just budgeted the amount I am normally paid and shuffled the extra off to savings. (I also need to remember that I could potentially pay more tax next month when my salary goes back to normal). 

I did spend a bit of money (from the "house pot") on paint and bits so that I can re-decorate a few rooms - the first one being what will become the lodger's room. Once that is done then I can advertise for one - I'd love to not have one but it will help speed up clearing up my financial mess! 

Overall, I'm going into the new year feeling positive that I can sort this and determined to do so! 

twiggy86

Right so I'm thinking about a few things I want to get done this week:

• Return some yarn that wasn't needed for a project 
• Count up jar of pennies I found whilst sorting - will pay in when I pop to the post office with return 
• Take a couple of bags of clothes to the "cash for clothes" place (it's nothing that is worth listing)
• Start sorting out kitchen cupboards (so that I can clear some for when a lodger moves in)