Buying a little piece of Middle England; Manifesting my way to mortgage free.

debtfreewannabe321

I took the afternoon off penny I deserved it! Although I have sat and done around a tenner's worth of surveys whilst watching HP- I know it word for word and I am prob doing DD's head in as I keep saying all the words alongside them seen it too many times. 

So I have also sat and done my YNAB, sheesh, you leave that thing for a couple of weeks and it takes hours to put right. I have also called YBS as forgot my password and locked myself out. So that was reset, I have £2223 in there which is more than I thought I should have so I am confused as to what some of the money is for now 😏🤔 I thought I had £1100 ef, although I have been putting the ski money/ driving lesson fund/ holiday money in there for two months so perhaps that is right....£1100 EF, £200 DL, £200 Ski, £200 hols, £1700 total.....still over......hmm...I need to go scour my budget and see what that money is for. Although £200 extra would be EF as i have been adding to that so it brings up to £1900...so £300 over? Right I will see if I can figure this out. I love having extra money and all but I don't want to reassign it and then remember it was for something else  

The budget for March- so my Gas and elec has been put up as expected, I renegotiated it though and have agreed to £153 not £180 that they wanted. I have halved my daily bill so I don't think I need to pay that amount, and once the heating goes off it will right itself.
The glasses DP bought are something like £24 a month added to our bills.
His dentistry work though has all been agreed to be paid for by work insurance 👏 £700 worth! Not sure how long payment takes though so we may have a bill or two there to pay before the insurance pays out.
I am also putting aside £100 for starting the garden raised beds...
....need to see how much DP owes on CC we at the mo have £300 spare in the budget after paying my CC off completely next month.
Ideally I would use it all to pay down the carpet loan (£494 outstanding now) so we have a teeny amount outstanding for April but will check with DP we have nothing else to pay first.

I am leaving the groceries at £700 it was so nice this month to not be utterly depressed/ stressed by the first week of the month thinking I had blown my budget already. I was able to let DS pick up extras today without too much worry or stress and let him have a few snacks. I could also afford a few takeaways with this budget (I have lumped groceries and take out budget altogether and £700 seems sufficient).  I have around £195 left in the food budget for one more week of food so may have enough for a cheap take away and groceries too. 

Pots like xmas, ynab (although not sure if I will renew but saving for it anyway), prime (same again), car insurance and skiing, driving lessons are all coming along nicely and I haven't needed to raid any in a while......
DP is expecting a bonus of one month's wages next month so around £2500 after tax....I want to use this for buying us a cheap hol abroad somewhere, cheap flights, and accommodation probably self catering but want to do something with the kids   so that money is earmarked. The hols money I am saving each month we have decided can pay for half term treats as we go along, i.e DS ski lessons he had the other day (which he said he loved btw so great use of money).  

Right HP is finished I will go get on with the dinner now. AND try to work out what that money is for in my EF......

debtfreewannabe321

I made the dhal last night from the recipe list I shared on here. Honestly thought it was a bit bland so I added more spices and tomato and basically did my own version. I did try though....but I'm noticing most of the recipes on there so far are bland 🤣🤷🏻‍♀️. As I was making it I was thinking this is HUGE there is far too much?! I hadn't read far enough down and before you add coconut milk you half the portion and one half goes in the fridge for the next dinner on the meal plan 👌🏻😁 and the other half has spinach and coconut milk added before serving.
I managed to make the leftover rice do for last night dinner. There wasn't a lot left so I portioned it equally and put into some small bowls and tipped it onto the plate in a nice posh round shape and everyone was impressed 👍🏻😁 without realising it was probably a third of what I would usually serve ( distraction was key there 🤣).

Paid across £6.25 to the OPs. So I've hit my Feb target of £100+ 
If the rest of the surveys pay out before Feb ends I will pay that across too. I have around £19 pending. 

Thinking about taking the kids to play pool today, bit last minute though so I need to see if they are up for it and don't have other plans. Just us three which will be nice. DP has a meeting somewhere in the Middle of the country (he keeps saying and I keep forgetting where?) 

Going to sort my wardrobe out this morning whilst I wait for kids to get up ...it's as big a disaster as the kitchen. This is what comes of moving and not having anywhere to put things really...then things being built but me having no time or energy to sort it all out. However we've lost a toothbrush charger and I'm sure it's in the wardrobe somewhere (don't ask 🤣) so will start my look there.

I've still not figured out what that extra money was for and if I haven't done so by pay day I think I will use it for the carpet loan..I want it gone!!! 

debtfreewannabe321

Right before DP disappeared for the day I sat down and we tried to figure out the extra money, it was a good problem to have he said, and he's right...I think having scoured my YNAB and bank account it is SBF money therefore put aside for the carpet loan. So I have bitten the bullet and taken out £300 this morning. Once it arrives in my account I will pay it across to the loan. We then owe £194.43 which we will pay off next month and that is it. NO ONE needs to hear me mention those two words again..........carpet loan. I think I have done DP's head in talking about it  

So this leaves in the EF account -
£200 skiing hols money for DS
£200 Driving lesson money for DD
£1300 for the EF. (and in a real emergency I have access to around £2k cash at the mo). 

So I will update my sig with the Ops for the month and also the EF/ SBF. This is what happens when you take your eye off the ball for a few minutes and don't make meticulous notes along the way  

After the loan is paid off we will effectively have around £400 in to the budget each month as I have been paying our usual of £93(ish) and also snowballing all extra money we had into getting rid of it. I will make sure all our CC are cleared over the next few months. Mine will be paid on pay day (DS suit and DIY shopping on mine) and DP hopefully can be paid in two months (£1000+ on his but £700+ is dental work which will be paid very shortly as it's already been processed ) 
THEN I must make DP realise those CC are dangerous things and not use them at all. If we have to we will up entertainment budgets, or DIY or wherever we are spending too much. Because we get caught up using them then before you know it £400-500 out of next month's budget is spoken for paying the bloody things off and we are in a cycle of never having that £4-500 back. Ranting at the wrong crowd here I know, but DP doesn't always listen. He will agree to almost everything which is a nice change from Ex but then he just doesn't think and goes ahead and buys what he wants regardless....more work needed on this...how to get around someone who impulse buys 🤔...

Oh last night I put my ear phones in and went for a walk in the dark on my own. DP didn't come, he brought the huge bag of air cadet stuff back to their HQ for me so I have a nice clear hallway now! And I went off for a walk as I need to get my fitness back up. The bug has cleared from my chest without antibiotics so I am glad of that, and I am able to walk up the stairs now without feeling faint, but I am unfit. So I went off for around 2.5miles last night. I will try to do the same today as it did help me sleep having all that fresh air right before bed  

I want to make a new chart today too to colour in squares as I pay things off. One for DD driving lessons and one for DS skiing, one for the EF, one for MOP. 
I have had a thought too about driving....I wonder if it would be worth my while getting a second car, just a cheap run around paid fully, put DD on the insurance and DP & I teach her to drive in that. DL are so expensive now, I would love a run around and DP would never agree to putting DD in the audi to learn to drive ....just a thought at the mo but I have seen very cheap run arounds on FB and locally...and DS will be 17 one year after DD so potentially it could work out better for us all and I get to have my own car that I can take without having to make sure the other one is free (tbf it usually is as DP new job is 95% home based). Right I am caffeine'd up so I am going to tackle some jobs for the day. 

debtfreewannabe321

I've spent more time on this than I probably should have done 🤣 but I have a visual aid to help me now...which always spurs me on with saving. I have photocopied one and pinned it to DP board so he can see it too 😉

CrazyBee787

I love it, what a good creation, you have inspired me to get creative...but first I must get a job!!

Watty1

I love a visual like that.  I'm now thinking about a visual for my retirement and savings pots that I'm building

debtfreewannabe321

https://www.thelittleblogofvegan.com/2024/01/healthy-blueberry-oat-bars.html

These are 😙👌🏻

Pool playing done. We walked into town and did a few jobs at the bank first then went to play. DD actually took part this time and had fun for an hour...second hour she sulked as she wasn't very good at it. Thankfully DS was having fun and carried on. None of us were brilliant 🤣 but it was more about having a bit of fun..
I made us all lunch and smoothies before leaving and just bought us a drink in there. So less than £30 for two hours play. I thought that was okay for three of us. It was nice to do something with them both and I think I'd like to take them more regularly.
DP just happened to be driving back through the city on his way back as we finished. Timing was perfect! So we got a lift home 😊. Home for a cuppa and the little treat above...then I will make some dinner. 

It's so nice to have a bit of disposable income to be able to treat the kids. I've had too many holidays where I've had to find free things to do because we had not a penny spare. So I'm very grateful for my job for the holidays off with the kids and also my wages 🙏🏻 not much to many on here reading I'm sure but it means the world to us to have a few extra quid. 

CrazyBee787

I am glad you are having a good time and with your earnings, you deserve to enjoy it with what you have had to put up withXX

KajiKita

Might it work to allocate DP £xxx per month ‘pocket money’ but that’s it and if he wants something bigger / more expensive then he has to either not take it out of the bank until that pot is full up for the thing or not have it ...? Might make him ore aware of how he is spending? 

KK

KeepOnKnitting

I love your little picture chart, it's adorable!