Progress is...

Cherryfudge

rtandon27 said:

@Cherryfudge - awwww, so sweet of you to think of alternatives for me! - Unfortunately I don't run in circles that would own properties in Zone 1 or even Zone 2 of the big smoke.  If you know of any multi-millionaires with a spare room going for 10 pounds a night, it might be an option & would save me some money. 🤣🤣🤣  I'd also need some help in telling the OH that I'd be away from home three nights a week - I'm not so sure he'd be game for that one! 😉

LOL, I can't think of anyone offhand, sorry! I recently had a conversation with someone at my workplace who was telling me how they had been locked in once and got to the point of wondering where they would sleep in the office complex. Then their phone rang so I've yet to find out how it all resolved!

I used to live in Zone 1, effectively for free as I had a housing association flat with my job. It was a bit of a dive but I loved being there. Of course that was 40 years ago so things won't be the same.  

My new plan for you is to become a house-sitter...

rtandon27

Progress is...

...making it through a H3LLISH week without collapsing!

Cherryfudge

Oh no rt, I hope that's the end of the bad stuff. Are you okay?

foxgloves

Oh dear, that's really sounding like a dodgy week. Hope you are managing at least a little relaxation now it's the weekend.
F x

rtandon27

@Cherryfudge - aww thanks hunny
...not bad per say, just more than I could handle - seemingly small things trigger my medical condition, and many small things just add up to make life unpleasant in general!  Getting that balance is hard, when by nature, I want to do all the things, all the time!  You know how it is when the head starts to swim and all thoughts happen at once!!!

@foxgloves - haha - dodgy is a good term for it!  This week has been worse to be honest BUT I'm in charge of this week's chaos unlike last week where I had no part in the chaos!  The weekend sunshine was fabulous for the spirit & I made the most of the warmth to get caught up on the backload of laundry!  It's those little wins that make all the difference!

So a little update to centre myself and clear my head...

HEALTH
*  Am taking an unscheduled WFH day - yesterday was full on and my physical self needs a chance to recover, while my mental self gets itself in order!  Despite this, my mercurial manager has already been online to do a brain dump into my Teams channel so I had to firmly say that I needed focus and concentration to get on with what I've planned for the day.  Also firmly told her that I will not be starting her new project until tomorrow or reviewing her brain dump until later today!

WEALTH
*  I'm very confident that everything is ticking along in the background, but YNAB does need to be updated.  I've projected all our bill increases, and for the next few months this means bare minimum for savings and mortgage overpayments! Also need to do Delay Repay for the past few weeks - Took me 4 hours to get home last Monday, just so unacceptable!
*  Given that the next few months will be financially squeaky, methinks a CV update and half and eye on other positions in my organization is in order.  I'm as high up as I can go in my current stream at work, so the next step is to jump to a different stream that has scope for salary increase.  The main issue is I love what I do & am good at it & am loathe to change.  I also have very decent benefits, in a flexible and inclusive environment so do not really want to change organisations.  Some serious thought is needed here.  Words of wisdom also appreciated if anyone has thoughts!

WELLBEING
*  Tied into Health above! - may need to combine this into HEALTH & WELLBEING as it appears more and more that they are directly linked atm!

GRATITUDE(S)
*  A fabulous warm weekend with lots of sunshine which boosted my sprits to no end!
*  A lovely work colleague with a sunny disposition who reminded me very simply that "It takes more energy to be angry!"
*  My chaos at work yesterday went relatively smoothly and I get to rest today!  - I got praise from the boss and more importantly from my colleagues who actually enjoyed themselves! - there were a few little blips that were covered up by my fabulous team - they do work well together and come together well in a pinch for which I am thankful - we will have a debrief next week and the obligatory treaty coffee & cake after Ramadan & Lent are over, as one team member is currently fasting, another has given up sugar and I'm abstaining from treaty things! - The joys of working in a culturally & religiously diverse workplace!

Cherryfudge

Your workplace sounds lovely. Good for you setting boundaries, though. I hope you feel better soon.

rtandon27

@Cherryfudge - The building itself is amazing, a heritage building with a tone of history!  The majority of the people are indeed lovely folks & I strive to keep my little part of that world as happy as possible.  The work itself is really taxing - the shared office space absolutely unpleasant and some of the higher level managers unreasonably demanding.  Overall though, I spend more time in the office than at home so it's sooooooo important to find joy in that environment - I'm still learning on the setting boundaries bit and also the part where I put my health first - it's a real challenge in numerous ways.  Thank-you for your good wishes, I'm feeling more rested and ready to face tomorrow in the office.  Still al lot to do over the next few hours but it's on my own terms.

WEALTH - an addendum
*  I've had a play in the mortgage calculator and now can visualize how the overpayments make a cumulative difference to the interest I'll save.  Instead of 1 lump sum of the elusive 7000 in December, I'm going to aim for 10 payments of 700 round about the middle of each month.  This will be mildly more satisfying and produce that little hit of dopamine each month that is so important with long-term goals.
*  I've also deprioritized a few other pots, that will have to wait until my cost-of-living salary adjustment in July to reprioritize them.  They can either wait until then, or tick along a much slower rate.  It's more important that basic the bills are paid without stress despite their increases!.
*  In an effort to reduce grocery spends, I've turned 0li0 back on.  So far this week there has be zero of any value to us.  Lots of bread and little else!  The days however are lengthening slightly which makes us more inclined to want to nip out of the house at weird times to pick up bits and pieces.  I may turn 2good2go back on as well, and change my bookmarks to only include quick meals and groceries.  Pastries and breads are again of zero value in our house.
*  Looking at the current electric and gas bills - winter costs have been 200 a month - this isn't going to change as we both need the heat to be reasonable for health and I need to work from home at least once a week.  Looking at the last year we averaged 135 a month, so that means 70 a month for the summer.  So atm it's 1620 a year - I can only keep an eye on the fixed rates for next autumn and hope to keep the payments down.
*Water is doubling - YIKES
*Council Tax is up by 5.4% - but over 12 months now

rtandon27

Pondering...

Since moving into our property in 2021, I've received the annual water bill the last day of February & paid the first bi-annual payment mid-March (we are unmetered and the fee is based on the size of the property).  This year with the annual fee doubling, I received a letter earlier this year, followed by 2 e-mails advising me of the increase.  Currently there is no sign of a bill either in the post or on-line.  Should I just pay the same fee as last quarter and wait for the bill or be bothered to call them up, given that they can't be bothered to issue a bill?  My account does say it is in good standing and that I owe nothing.  I'm also wondering if being on the priority register has changed something, though it should not have as from memory serves, we were on the priority register at this time last year - I may be clutching at straws.

Pitiful...

Our electric/gas company has been pretty much harassing me in regard to smart meters via phone & e-mail & bot driven algorithm, every time I log onto our account.  We've already been told that there is not enough clearance for them to install these and it is recorded on the account.  I was so very miffed by the last phone call that I blatantly asked the caller if they were literate, and also asked them to read the notes on my file.  When they did and confirmed that the information regarding our unsuitability for new meters was indeed available to them, I pointed out how many times I'd politely requested them to stop calling and also that the preference on my account is set to e-mail contact ONLY.  I've now blocked all their phone numbers!  Lo and behold, today when playing around in the app (which I only downloaded for the 5 GBP credit incentive) I found that I could opt out of being reminded about smart meters.  This option is not available online, which is my preferred method of managing my account due to the typeface size being legible, unlike in the app. So, all that to say my experience with them is PITIFUL.  Too bad they currently have the best fixed deal available to me.

Procrastinating...

I have a work claim to do for 650+ pounds the charges are currently sitting on a personal credit card.  Rather then finish the claim, I'm feeling prone to instead do our weekly YNAB reconciliation and monthly manual payment to the credit cards (not including the work amount).  My head is in the money zone, but my motivation is in the Friday zone.

Pain...

Well this is more of an ouch it hurts more than I'd like it to - but I was rather pleased with the topic alliteration...
Had my monthly Chiropractor appointment today, and he suggested that the discomfort I've been experiencing in my sternum area is due to the lack of torsion available to me due to my slowly healing spine/back.  Guess I should make more effort to do some gentle Pilates and Yoga for the next month.

Progress is...

Feeling a sense of calm in regard to finances, despite all the unthinkable increases about to be inflicted on the budget.  For the next few months our collective income (just) covers our monthly expenses with no wiggle room available.  We will be employing all the tricks we know to spend as little as possible on anything discretionary, even when budgeted, while trying to shuffle the excess towards a mortgage overpayment.

Cherryfudge

I'm impressed with the alliteration.  

The pressure on us to have the app for everything annoys me too. I do as much as I can online: a phone screen just isn't big enough for some things. So why can't they make things equally accessible across the board? At least (hopefully) you will no longer be harassed about water meters.

Re the water bill, I think if they've told you what the bill will be, it may be on the way and if it's not arrived in time, make the new payment - if it will let you. If it won't, set the extra aside, because I'm sure they will ask for it eventually.

Meanwhile... well done for getting to a point of calm about your finances! I hope you can shave a little off the mortgage too.  

rtandon27

@Cherryfudge - haha - I was having a bit of fun with the OH discussing various concepts of language use yesterday and alliteration was one of the motifs that came up.  He's currently learning my second language (French) using DuoL & I've started of all things, Arabic on DuoL, which I've since found out is one of the hardest to learn.  I've always been fascinated by the script and especially it's use as decoration in Eastern architecture.  I'm having more fun learning the alphabet and the sounds of letters than actual words or sentence structure.  If I'm not mistaken was it not you that is using DuoL - I started around xmas after reading about it here on the forum!

So bit of a financial update...
...I'm sure thoroughly boring to everyone but me, but this is a mortgage free diary after-all, so I should put my thoughts down while they are fresh

WEALTH

I've paid off the first 10th of this year's lofty (and tbh unrealistic) overpayment goal.  700 to the principle saving me about 650 in interest over the life of the mortgage.  That plus rounding up our monthly payments has resulted in a projection of knocking 11 months off it's life!  So we now stand at 15 years & 6 months until I can retire.  Given that I'd rather do that in 10 to 12 years there is a way to go, but the dopamine hit sure is nice!

Have also submitted all my delay repay claims since the 20th of Feb and am due back 60 GBP - or about 1% - if this sub-standard service keeps up for the next 11 months, I'll have clawed back 12% of my outrageous train ticket! Last year it was 19% but that included several rounds of strike days.

Have had a think about the water bill & the new amount due is in my account and ready to be paid.  Have decided that the pitance it makes in my account is still mine so the amount shall sit there until they can be bothered to get their act together and bill me, electronic or otherwise.

The council has still not sent our our tax bills, but I did go online to see the electronic version which has been up for a couple of days - there is a 5.4 increase overall and I've switched to 12 monthly payments, so that will total about 163 per month.  Again the money is there and ready for when they take it.  A bit miffed I can't use a credit card and collect points, only DD is accepted.

I'm trying to take on board what my lovely work colleague so aptly pointed out the other day - it takes more effort to get angry - as I don't have any extra energy to expend, it's only in my own interest to remain calm and collected, especially about all things financial.

...on that note, I've still to do my work hospitality claim for earlier this week - about 620 owed to me with year-end fast approaching I should get on it, to make sure my work budget balances within this financial!