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Comments
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I got it, the addresses must be from the electoral register.
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Seasidegal58 said:I received a survey recently. It was actually from Rishi!🤣. Enclosed was a questionnaire on my views in NHS, economy etc. it reminded me a bit of the sort of survey I fill out on the Opinium website. Perhaps they got my details from there. None of my local friends appear to have had one yet. 🤷♀️
I think a bit of sunshine is good for frugal living. (Cranky40)
The sun's been out and I think I’m solar powered (Onebrokelady)
Fashion on the Ration challenge, 2024: Trainers 5 coupons, dress 7 coupons = 12/68
20.5 coupons used in 2020. 62.5 used in 2021. 94.5 remaining as of 21/3/221 -
badmemory said:I got it, the addresses must be from the electoral register.
It's been really freezing today, I'm so glad our heating is working. DH did his stint at the charity shop then made dinner (tuna pasta) and put some of the filled Christmas decoration boxes in the loft, and we watched more of Digging for Britain. I got a few groceries and have been setting up my new spreadsheet.
The categories are: housekeeping, household, utilities, Council Tax, Phones/Internet/TV, donations, home & contents insurance, clothing, car, bike, other travel, entertainment, holidays, books, DH's credit card, medical, pets, garden, toiletries, post & stationery, CPD.
There are income streams too: wages, interest, DFiL's flat (a small amount as the flat is co-owned by the beneficiaries of his will) and refunds. I know refunds should probably not count as income but I don't have the skills to deal with them any other way.
DH's credit card is separate so he can spend without me having to have access to his statements. He doesn't spend excessively apart from when he buys and sells paintings but he does have a turnover of them, and this is meant to be about the shared finances.
Am I missing anything? The house is owned outright and its upkeep comes under 'household'. My credit card is paid off regularly and what I spend on it is categorised as I spend it (in theory - I will have to be sure to reconcile that as well as bank statements).
I'm finding some spending is hard to categorise, for instance, parking to attend a medical appointment - is that 'car' or 'medical'? Is the hotel to attend a wedding celebration 'holiday' or 'entertainment'? I know I could juggle things between categories if I felt the balance needed to be adjusted!
Oh, and one specially for you people who speak spreadsheet: please could someone tell me how to get the date to stop formatting as '1900'?!
Expenditure
Housekeeping £7.72I think a bit of sunshine is good for frugal living. (Cranky40)
The sun's been out and I think I’m solar powered (Onebrokelady)
Fashion on the Ration challenge, 2024: Trainers 5 coupons, dress 7 coupons = 12/68
20.5 coupons used in 2020. 62.5 used in 2021. 94.5 remaining as of 21/3/222 -
I'm already having to add categories: Miscellaneous into income (that will cover the £10 survey money), Union dues into expenditure, also gifts and CPD.I think a bit of sunshine is good for frugal living. (Cranky40)
The sun's been out and I think I’m solar powered (Onebrokelady)
Fashion on the Ration challenge, 2024: Trainers 5 coupons, dress 7 coupons = 12/68
20.5 coupons used in 2020. 62.5 used in 2021. 94.5 remaining as of 21/3/222 -
i feel quite miffed - Rishi hasn't offered me a voucher for completing his survey!🤣
Re your categories, the car parking could go under 'Other Travel' as it's travel related. I'd put the hotel under 'Holiday' if it was me.Sorry I can't help on the spreadsheet! My Excel skills have evaporated since I retired. I haven't used it in two and a half years! I used YNAB for my budgeting.Finally Debt Free! - July 2016 🌟
Finished Emergency Fund- £10,000 April 2017
🌟
RETIRED: MAY 2021!!!!😀🎆
My diary: “Seasidegal's Scrimpy Retirement Diary!”1 -
Well if no-one else is putting their oar in with the spreadsheet, I'll have a go. Firstly can you see a date when your spreadsheet was last updated? If that date is correct then obviously it must be something else. Have you tried formatting the cell, as in right click, format cells, select custom & go down the list until you find the date format you want. Absolutely no promises as the last training I did on spreadsheets was back in 1998 anything since was totally self taught.
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Thanks @badmemory, though alas! it doesn't solve it. I now have auto-save, which is very useful and seems to work well, so it's not that. When I formatted the cells, the samples to choose from were all modern dates and I just clicked on the one I liked. It will accept this year's dates if entered manually, it's the automatic dates that revert to 1900. Thank you for the suggestions though - it shows I wasn't too far out in what I checked, which is encouraging for a beginner like me!
@Seasidegal58, it was Rishi in collaboration with a University and some Government research that offered me the shopping voucher, rather than the more local survey which is him and another local politician. Oddly, I decided just the other way from you when adding the numbers to categories. I don't know quite how that happened! Nothing personal! I suppose the parking costs were made necessary by a medical appointment, and the hotel is kind of a social obligation rather than a holiday we've chosen... perhaps I should have a category for social obligations!
We had a dusting of snow this morning that settled, but was very fine. I had to pour boiling water in the bird bath so they could drink and this evening it was slightly rainy with black ice in places.
Today DH went to buy the big bookcase, and I've had a headache since I helped him carry it the short distance from the car. I think it was around £80 but I'm not checking tonight, I'm tired.
In the afternoon we went round to A and H's and got them flowers as it's a sad anniversary for them. It's also been L's grandad's funeral: apparently about 150 people attended, which is quite a tribute to him. We gave DGD1 her Christmas stocking (she had too many presents at Christmas) and enjoyed watching her open things, though in these few weeks she has moved on to anticipating the next gift not just playing with what she's opened. She's also taken to weighing the parcel in her hands and announcing it's 'heavy'.
DH stayed to tea with them but dropped me back to the shops as I had my friends coming round to tea. Original plans were slightly scuppered as what looked a like a vegetarian pizza wasn't labelled as such and I had to search for other option. In the end I fed four of us for about £13 and had lots left over. Some won't fit in the fridge so I've had to cover and prioritise. One of my friends brought some posh chocolates too, so we've done nicely. I have put this under 'entertainment' as it was about food chosen for friends, though leftovers will bulky out our meals for a few days. Some of that is about having chosen budget-friendly options that I knew would be too big for the one evening's meals but were suitable, e.g. a big bag of tomatoes - some for the salad but some because DH loves tomatoes.
I had a nice time with my friends but also found it a bit stressful getting ready for them. I'm not sure how much is due to a year of 'quiet' and not many social encounters during winter, and how much is possibly a subconscious awareness that I didn't have enough time to get everything ready! I apologised to them for running late and whisked the ironing pile out of sight!
Good news in that I have a morning's work on Thursday. I must check emails tomorrow and hope the details are straightforward. I also had a text from the boiler man to say he could fit the Hive tomorrow so I won't be galivanting till he shows up.
Expenditure:
Gift £8.38
Housekeeping £1.88
Entertaining £12.47I think a bit of sunshine is good for frugal living. (Cranky40)
The sun's been out and I think I’m solar powered (Onebrokelady)
Fashion on the Ration challenge, 2024: Trainers 5 coupons, dress 7 coupons = 12/68
20.5 coupons used in 2020. 62.5 used in 2021. 94.5 remaining as of 21/3/223 -
A gloriously sunny day but oh so cold out! And so bright that attempting to use my work laptop on the warm and sunny side of the house has been a struggle.
Another offer of work: eight or nine weeks of once a week classes running from next week.
On a less positive note, it looks as though the digital skills class will be pulled due to insufficient numbers. I was offered a place on a parallel course but turned it down as it clashes with my Tuesday group, and I can't abandon them for six months straight. I've emailed the course provider to indicate where I feel I need training and see if there's an alternative.
There are 101 things I could usefully be doing but all I've managed so far is to open a YBS Christmas saver and put money in from what I inherited. They've halved the amount that can be saved in it this year, possibly because it must have paid out a lot last year, but at 6% I'm going to put what I can in there. I'm also going to mark in my spending diary when to put money through as I need to do manual transfers.
Acouple of odd things that have happened recently: I located a toy box lid that's probably been separated from its box since DS1 had a big clear out at least a decade ago. Even odder: I went to pay for things in Iceland yesterday and said my loyalty card might not be right as I hadn't registered it yet. The cashier said 'Well, it's showing as registered here, Mrs X". Well, I'm not Mrs X. He asked me where I got the card, which was from that same store. In the end I handed it to him in case the real owner shows up. I've no idea how I came to have one that's registered to someone else, and I've now got a new one (which I must register while I remember).
I think a bit of sunshine is good for frugal living. (Cranky40)
The sun's been out and I think I’m solar powered (Onebrokelady)
Fashion on the Ration challenge, 2024: Trainers 5 coupons, dress 7 coupons = 12/68
20.5 coupons used in 2020. 62.5 used in 2021. 94.5 remaining as of 21/3/222 -
Just delurking as a regular reader of your diary to say thanks for mentioning the YBS Christmas Saver - have just appliedChoose kind1
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You're welcome, @Hazelnutty! Thanks for reading, and I must admit to having benefitted from @joeyjimbles on @Sun_Addict's thread, who made the discovery before me and was kind enough to mention it.
What I can't work out is whether the monthly limit on paying in runs from the beginning of each month despite the account opening mid way through.I think a bit of sunshine is good for frugal living. (Cranky40)
The sun's been out and I think I’m solar powered (Onebrokelady)
Fashion on the Ration challenge, 2024: Trainers 5 coupons, dress 7 coupons = 12/68
20.5 coupons used in 2020. 62.5 used in 2021. 94.5 remaining as of 21/3/223
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