Progress is...

Cherryfudge

That sounds like a very expensive week indeed. I hope you get your refunds asap. I think with a reduced immune system one has to take extra care of oneself. DH is in that position and thankfully gets exercise and a mostly healthy diet, and we do have the heating on. Not high, around 18.5 C in the day, but that's comfortable as were both able to be active. Lots of people are going to miss that cold weather payment.

Staffordia

With your energy provider, is there an option to pay quarterly by DD? I do this and save the money monthly myself. That way you are not funding them excessively. I'm notified a couple of weeks before the bill is due.

EssexHebridean

I fear that most suppliers are now stepping away from any form of quarterly billing, and I know this is disappointing to those who are used to it. I think that the feeling these days is that it can lead to debt building up faster than ideal - particularly if someone falls onto a billing cycle that bills in November, and then not again until February, for example. With the focus these days on suppliers having to ensure that they are responsible around not allowing folk to get into debt, I suspect that is a problem for them. 

rtandon27

@Cherryfudge - Its been mighty chilly this week so central heating, supplemental forced air heating and dehumidifier have all been running!  Our portable CH thermostat says it's 21 in the main room, 18.5 in the kitchen/bathroom and 17 upstairs.  At some point, I'll have to investigate supplemental insulation in the attic & resealing of the windows as the house is definitely not as efficient as it should be!  As to the claims, both the eyetests/glasses & now some outrageous dental bills need to be submitted for refund!

@Staffordia - Thank-you so much for the suggestion - I had a look at those tarrifs with my current supplier and they were much higher than what I'm on or what I could possibly make in interest if the excess was in my account!  I guess it's the principle of having money sitting with them that irritates more than the actual financial benefit of keeping the money in my own account!

@EssexHebridean - I'm surprised that it's the suppliers who have to ensure there is no debt!  I suspect their motivation isn't our well-being but the fact that they have to employ debt collectors which would cost them a pretty penny!

So today is Payday and I've balanced the books, tracked all the expenses for the month and ensured all pots are funded for the month ahead!  It was super painful to see the huge expenditures this month, even though budgeted for but at least next month the refunds will be an injection into the cashflow!

Happy to report that on the going into the new month we are mortgage neutral again, to the tune of 2000 pounds.  Of course this is only until the monthly mortgage payment and all the monthly bills show up on my bank account after the weekend, but for the now neutrality is in our favour! (sounds a bit like H. Games!)

OH is also looking forward to finally settling a longstanding financial issue with his ex so I am very much looking forward to adding goals of re-pointing the house, upgrading some roofing/eves troughs, having electric taken out to the summer house/home office and if there is enough after that, a 8 foot brick wall between us and the plastic grass neighbours! 🤣🤣🤣 (it's always good to have an unrealistic dream alongside the realistic ones!) 

ETA - OH has just had a laugh at my unrealistic goal and while he supports the concept, has suggested redoing the bathroom & kitchen as an alternative!  Nothing fundamentally wrong with either, but they have at some point been done on the cheap and a bit of quality would be a good thing!

LadyWithAPlan

Sounds like you are enjoying flirting with the mortgage neutral line!

All sounds v positive despite all the spends

rtandon27

@LadyWithAPlan - so kind of you to say!  I'm trying to keep this diary as positive as possible as of course there is always something that could be grumbled about!  I'm of the belief that a positive mindset can be cultivated even if it's not always natural or easy.

Progress is...
...eating the paperwork frogs quickly and not leaving them to fester and ferment for another day!

Lots of annoying & tedious paperwork has been completed today, including 2 eye test related claims and 2 dental claims - for a total of 278GBP incoming. 

Still to do is another eye related claim for 90GBP but this involves being logged into my work system which is not really something I like to do on a Saturday as I'd be tempted to check e-mails and messages!   My medically required corrective orthodontics will only be reimbursed by 10% - it has taken 5 months to squirrel away the other 90% of the costs. (atm more important than the exterior house repointing fund.)  Our very overdue eye tests will be completely reimbursed, as will my affordable reading/computer glasses, but the OH's eye-wateringly expensive varifocals won't be reimbursed as there is not enough left in that particular pot of my medical insurance plan! He'll be reimbursing me for this expenditure gradually over the next few months so that I can start building up the repointing fund.

Also this weekend will need to complete two weeks of delay repay and challenge (for a second time) one of the claims that has not been awarded correctly!  I do wish sometimes that I could also charge my hourly rate for all these tedious claims as they take a lot longer than I plan for.  I did a little calculating today and it turns out that over the past 10 months, I have only paid 69% of my full train as with all the delays and cancellations due to weather, strikes, trespassers and points failures.  Eye-opening and very disappointing given that my annual upfront pass costs me as much as it costs OH to run the car over the course of a year!

EssexHebridean

That's a point, I should probably check whether the train we were meant to be on on the way back from Birmingham on saturday actually caught up on time, as I may be able to claim on that (and nobody currently knows that we were only on it as far as Coventry, in the end, as they were physically unable to check tickets on board because of the crush!) We were delayed far more by having to get off, in the end! 

rtandon27

@EssexHebridean - Happy to have been of service😉 - If you ever need to check on train times for your claims, this handy website is what I use to double check official times and also use as proof when the numpties who process the claims deny or award less than I'm entitled to!

rtandon27

So here we are 6 days into the month and beginning of the month bills have been paid! 

All the medical & dental claims that can go in atm are submitted and three of them have even been paid!  I'm ruminating that one of the big one's can't be submitted as the numpty at the optician rudely didn't give me OH's PD despite me asking twice for it!  He got on his high horse trying to tell me what was needed for my claim, even though I'm the one with over 20 years practice at claiming from this particular reimbursement fund!  He's not getting the remaining 50% of the cost until I see that PD number hand written on the prescription so I can claim back a portion of the stupidly high cost of new glasses for the OH.  Grrrrr - it irritates me when the sales staff here don't take the 'customer is always right' attitude that is prevalent over the pond!  On the other hand, the very lovely young woman who served me actually said - you are the customer & what you say goes, when I asked her to send mine off for glass lenses instead of plastic!

Also (strangely) interest from OH's ISA landed in November, I think it is because they have changed his product but I'll have to read the paperwork to understand it fully.  OH also got an xmas payment from DWP in his account.

For now, the inflow of various bits of cash mean that when stacked against what is owed on the mortgage we are currently mortgage neutral by 2200GBP.  I'm mindful that all that will go when I get the gutters replaced and the house repointed, but for now it is a nice healthy number in our favour that makes it actually feel like we could pay off the mortgage tomorrow if need be!

I've been giving thought to our food & household goods stores & while it is nowhere near what we had when living at the farm with an entire room for cold stores, there are items that can be used in January's meal plan that would make the month a frugal one.  Also with just over 2 weeks to go until xmas goodies start going on sale, I'm going to try and do our meal plan from the freezer as much as possible!  There was a comment on one of the other threads that hit home and referred to excess stores being money tied up.

My Achilles heal when it comes to having to much of something, are bath products or, as they are know in this house, lotions and potions.  I went more than a bit mad in last January's sales and STILL have entire sets not opened.  This did prove handy this week, when a water main broke in our road and the result after the repair was over-chlorinated water that dried out my skin.  I rummaged and found some hydrating products that tackled the burning sensation immediately. 

I'd like to think that I will restrain myself this year, but I do love a good bargain, so think I will have to make a list of what I really need (new boots & work trousers to start off with) - and restrain myself to only needs and not wants!  I do give myself permission once a year to shop the sales, but tbh it's all budgeted for & really just a pot of personal spend money that I squirrel away over the course of the year.  Anything left over from the annual sale shopping fund this year shall be popped into a savings account where it won't be missed.

Progress is...
...knowing when we actually have enough and can curb the need to be mindless consumers!

Cheery_Daff

Yes! I'm finding it much easier to resist a bargain at the minute as we're going through a period of decluttering - it's driving me mad to have to make so many decisions about things that came into the house as bargains or 'I might use that one day' several years ago. Makes deciding to buy something, even a small thing, a more momentous decision!