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

redofromstart

We run a big dehumidifier fairly regularly too.  Cheapish to run and it definitely raises the core temperature nicely.

debtfreewannabe321

Good morning,

Redo I don't know why I didn't think of this before but I think I just let DP do his own thing in his own space. Ex used to always say I never let him do what he wanted (when we were trying to pay down debt and save a deposit!) and I feel like I don't want DP to do the same thing, so even though I had already thought it would be cheaper and I know it warms the area up I let him buy the oil radiator anyway (second hand thankfully and we sold on for slight profit). Lesson learned I will just speak up now as DP is not Ex. Must remember this at ALL times 

Today and I suspect ALL week I will be limping along to pay day NEXT week.......waiting, working, cleaning, cooking, waiting. I cannot wait to get to a place of financial freedom and it will happen and it will stay that way unlike last time! One where I do not have to be poor for the last week in every month.

Being on top of my bank account every day, i.e checking it obsessively every morning and evening to see what has come in and out has been really helpful. I noticed last night that a payment for N0w Tv came out - a booster. A !!!!!! more like? I don't recall even signing up for this so was straight on to the b0t chat which I hate. First one didn't work. I started to flap. Then took a breath, closed it down, tried again and it worked. She told me under no uncertain terms she could not process the refund it was my mistake and I would have to suck it up. OR words to that effect anyhow. So, I used the only leeway and bargaining chip I had and told her my children would be going without food if she didn't process the stolen money back to me. She refunded me straight away. AND it was not totally a lie on my part, I am down to my last tenner and they took £6! Every penny and all that. So it takes days to refund apparently. Of course... But still it was a win. And the boost has been cancelled. One which I don't even remember signing up for. We barely use the n0w tv hence me cancelling it at the beginning of the month (and failing to see whilst I was on there a boost membership and cancellation option.) I also cancelled an order on amazon. It was a subscribe and save I don't use any more so that is also being processed and sent back to me. All in all, being very obsessive over your bank account in the early days of re-MSE'ing is very useful.

I have put another wash on this morning, needed to do the bedding and also I am washing the duvet. A friend said it might help with the overly hot feeling of being smothered by it every night (It is a new-ish duvet). I am hoping it helps because it doesn't seem to breathe very much at the moment. 

NSD today. I've food in, don't need anything and have work in a few hours which will keep me out of trouble - well I hope so anyway  

I have dinner sorted and I will just make a small bowl of salad before going to work. Anyway hoovering and washing up is calling to me so I'm off.

debtfreewannabe321

I have had confirmation that my council tax is paid for the year so I have some money to play with in the budget for the next two months!

beanielou

Good news 😊

debtfreewannabe321

Morning all!
Well yesterday was NOT a NSD! My friend messaged me and was really down so I met her in town for a cuppa to cheer her up. I bought us some cake and tea and it was still a LSD at less than a tenner and so worth it to see a friend smiling. 

My new paper budget planner arrived yesterday, my version of ynab it is better than last year's planner with more useful sections so hopefully will help me organise myself. 

I spent last night putting every penny to work as you would with YNAB. I will pop it down here and refer back to it in a few months to see if it worked or not. I know these things can take a bit of tweaking.

So our fixed DDs (I have estimated two as I am working on reducing one and the second is the council tax bill which I don't have for the new year yet) come to £1040. Our other DDs for kids expenses and music streaming is £76 per month. And this is where the other changes are mostly which is what I will put down here, budgets for food, household, clothing, birthdays & christmas, mortgage OP, EF, pocket money for kids & us. 
I won't bother listing the fixed DDs they're pretty much the same as the initial post I made on here. 
Food                                £500 (we have been spending anywhere from 6-800 a month
Household                       £50 (this will be for things like laundry liquid, washing up liquid, loo rolls and any small items that are needed )
Clothing                           £100 (I stopped budgeting for this when ex left as I didn't have the money any more, going forward I need a budget for prom, air cadet uniforms, new college uniforms and that is just for the kids never mind DP & I)
Birthdays & Christmas     £150
Mortgage OP                   £300 (would like to carry on with a PAD too to top this up)
Emergency Fund             £100
Pocket money for kids     £40 
Pocket money for adults  £200

Not exactly super frugal but I don't want to fall at the first hurdle either. I haven't given the kids pocket money in years regularly and they are 14&15 now and continually complaining about the lack of jobs round here for their age so I guess it's a bit of a bribe really in a way to placate them a little longer. They can luckily get a train straight into the city in 20 mins or so so it isn't too bad really if they have some spending money. I also intend on telling them once the snack cupboard is empty I will not be re-filling it until the next shop so they will have to use their money for more.
DP & I like to frequent the boot fairs, the antiques centres and charity shops, we are good window shoppers and don't always buy something, but it would be nice if we had some guilt free money to buy something if we wanted to. I also want money for getting my hair cut etc which will come out of that money. 

Emergency fund I will carry on with the TT and putting across the £100 a month. And I hope to be able to reduce the clothing budget by the end of the year really but we have a lot of stuff we need to buy (I was already supposed to have the air cadet uniform sorted beginning of Jan.) 

This is just a normal month, on months where we have bonuses we will organise that money separately. This month's bonus is paying off our smaller loan (£768)so that we can have £125 back into our budget. I am also tempted to get the kids air cadet uniforms from that so it's done. And perhaps DD prom stuff. We have a small budget for Ikea too as I have been holding off on buying a few kitchen essentials. I also have budgeted £250 to get a DIY project done. Not sure how much will be left after that, if I can I want to pay £300 OP to mortgage so that accounts for the month I missed OP (Jan).

I haven't budgeted for a new car yet, I will see about that one in a couple of months when I have this one in control and working. 

According to my budget I should still have a small amount leftover. We will see....best laid plans and all

This morning it was so cold here, I see other people have had snow. We have white clouds but I see some blue behind them, it is freezing outside, I had to break the ice in the fish pond and I am topping it up as the water seems to have evaporated by nearly a foot the running water from the hose is helping it break up too so that is good. Working early today, we had a resignation yesterday. This is the problem with menial work, you get half hearted people turn up and when they realise the amount of work involved they don't stay long. I walked 6 miles in a three hour shift yesterday. Was absolutely shattered when I got home last night. I have a new starter today that I need to train, I sometimes feel it is pointless because I put a lot of energy and effort into training and then they last five minutes it feels like. Ah well, I suppose I shouldn't moan too much there are worse jobs to be had. 

Today's dinner I am getting leftover cottage pie out of the freezer, I will make mash before work for it. I am supposed to be collecting kids today too, excited to see DS I haven't seen him since before Christmas, it is the longest he has ever been away from me! I am supposed to be collecting them after work, I will need to eat first though, hoping DP can put the dinner in the oven whilst I am still working so it is ready to eat when I get in. Then I will have to do the 100 mile round trip to meet ex. Our fuel expenses are going to be astronomical this month. That's another reason why I didn't budget the whole bonus money, I thought the bonus could absorb some of the fuel expenses for us so we start the new month with a clean slate (IN THE BLACK!! Not OD!) We are both still in the black at the mo so that is good. I cancelled the hairdresser appointment I had this week until first week of Feb so we won't be left short. Any spare money at the end of the month will go in the EF. 

Okay enough rambling from me, I will go have a catch up on the board and seek some inspiration from those further down the line than me! 9 days to pay day.....I can do this

debtfreewannabe321

beanielou said:

Good news 😊

Definitely! That will get my EF off to a great start!

debtfreewannabe321

£2 paid across PAD to OP.  

beanielou

Could you get any of the air cadet bits second hand? Vinted? 

debtfreewannabe321

beanielou said:

Could you get any of the air cadet bits second hand? Vinted? 

Yes! All so far are from eBay shops or private sellers barely used and much cheaper. It's sourcing for the right size that's a pain as ds is tall and skinny and DD is smaller and seems to be a popular size that always seems sold out lol. I hunt on there weekly though for the right sizes. We've no military shops near us as i think that would have been the perfect place to get it. I asked ex to source it he is in a military town. He is military. And he knows and understands the sizing. It was a flat no. *Rolls eyes* but not surprised.

beanielou

How helpful. Not.