Fresh Start At Fox Towers.

lellybun

Hi Fox

Just wondering how things are going? 

Hoping you are managing to settle some of the debts and that your new budget is working well for you.

Lelly

24ta

Hope you are settling into your new home

foxandflowers

Hello Foxcubs! How are we all doing? Sorry for being so quiet over the last month, the whole moving into a new house thing has been rather chaotic! Things are going swimmingly, everyone seems much calmer and more content since moving. Mini Fox has been able to have friends over for a sleepover for the first time, FIL has visited for the first time in months, and things are settling down. 

We are having a new shed built on the 7th April which I am very excited for. We have not got a whole load of storage, but we do have a nice long garden, and rather than keeping the storage unit, we are going to pay for the shed, and hand back the unit keys next month. Anything left to be sorted can then be sorted from the shed, which will pay for itself in a couple of months. Most of the stuff left in the unit now is for camping or general outdoorsy-ness, or leftover furniture and things that I keep meaning to list for sale... I am still missing a box of my items too, somewhere in there, which annoyingly includes all my shipping bags for Vinted! I did sell our wardrobes from there this morning though. 

We have bought a new van (21 plate) that is very reliable and are slowly converting that. The insurance was paid for upfront in one hit which is lovely. We are currently seeing if our son in law wants the other van as he is very mechanically minded. I have been rather relaxed about the budget for the last month, whilst we were living in utter chaos, but now we are properly "in" and I get paid later today, we are going to be noses on grindstones for a bit. I cannot tell you what a relief it is to have money in savings for emergencies and to not owe friends and family money. I don't think I truly realised how much pressure that was putting on me until it was gone.  

Debt negotiations are rumbling on slowly in the background. Some of them are rather larger and rather less willing to accept settlements, which is very silly as I have done a new SOA with Stepchange and am now paying £56 a month... So according to them will be debt free in about a century. That's okay though, because there is still plenty of money in the savings pot and I will be approaching them all again in six months to try again. 

I'll be posting up a new SOA once all the rates are confirmed for April, and then diving into my latest plan of attack! 

Off to Lidl's shortly to trial a proper meal planned weekly shop.

Take care x

foxandflowers

Good afternoon!

My last act of rebellion before knuckling down to the budget was to buy a new to me dry robe on Vinted. Shame it isn't here yet, as it's awfully drizzly here. 

First of the personal spends have been spent this month - I got some books from the charity shop, and some wool to make pompoms with Mini Fox tonight. I also redeemed a free coffee & sausage roll at Greggs. £5.79 down, but hoping to get out of my reading slump and enjoy some one on one time with my daughter. She went to the park alone with her friends yesterday for the first time - she's getting awfully grown up all of a sudden and I don't think it will be long before she decides she doesn't want to hang out with me in the same way. 

Lidl's came to £128 for the week, although this is our weekend with all the kids. My budget for a week "with" is £125, and my weeks "without" is £100. Our meal plan for this week is as follows - last night was Nando's fakeaway, tonight is salmon stir fry. Friday we are making pizzas with the kids, Saturday is lasagne, Sunday is a roast, Monday sea bass & veg, and Tuesday is fishcakes.  It feels nice to be organised and know what needs cooking, but also know that we are eating healthier. I have dug out a whiteboard, and just need to hang it in the kitchen to show what is on for each day. Takeaway apps have been deleted, baking supplies have been bought, jam and cheese sandwiches and cups of tea will be consumed in alarming quantities. 

I've officially given notice on the storage unit, and my son in law is coming to see the old van this weekend, so by the end of April we will be a further £200 a month better off. I've also only got another 3 or 4 months left on my phone contract (handset) so my bill will be dropping to £13 a month then. 

I do need to book our late May bank holiday camping weekend this week, but that will come from the holiday pot and the older kids are expected to pay their own way. 

Love, 

Fox

24ta

Sounds good  😊

Hazelnutty

Hey Fox, just to reassure you, they do still love quality time with parents when they get older. I'm taking my 15 yo (16 in September eek!) to see Flow at the weekend, and I read to her in bed last night to help her settle Am sure little fox will have similar moments as she grows up

millymolly22

Well done Fox ...it sounds like you have got good control over your spending at the moment.  Long may it continue.  Good luck.  Loved making pom poms with my mum back in the day.   Childhood things that you never forget 

foxandflowers

Morning! It's Monday and I am utterly discombobulated by the clocks changing. I made raspberry fools to take to work as breakfast, but unfortunately it didn't set properly (I don't think I whipped it long enough), so it has leaked inside my bag. Not off to a great start! At least it still tastes delicious haha.

Have had a very busy few days, which is becoming the norm. I had a desk I got off Marketplace delivered on Friday, and got a great deal on office chair on Argos. Had a thorough dig in the storage unit and in the very last box was my keyboard. My work set up is now really nice! And typically, after all that, my rota has changed and I am in the office today and tomorrow. Pompom making was a great success! I need to go to the charity shops on lunch and get more wool.

Mini Fox and I went to the local fish market on Saturday morning whilst Mr Fox and son were at the football. It was great fun, we ended up with red snapper fillets, crab, and tuna steaks, and Mini Fox has decided she wants to be a fisherman when she grows up. We then went home and got a bit carried away baking... the aforementioned raspberry fool, lemon meringue pie, peanut butter chocolate bites, fudge, stained glass cookies and almond macaroons. I then spent the evening on the sofa watching Killing Eve and sewing. Very domesticated!

Woke up on Sunday to flowers and a giant milk tray from Mini Fox. Absolutely lovely surprise. Cooked a roast dinner whilst Mr Fox was taking son back home, and then sat on the patio with a glass of wine in the sunshine. 



Caddy went to the scrappers around 7pm, they gave me £1000 for it - half of which has gone to the Premium Bonds Emergency Fund, and the rest has gone into the "new" van fund, towards the saving for a rock and roll bed in the back. Must remember to cancel the insurance today!

TSB have paid me £100 for switching to them as well, so my Personal Spends account is looking rather healthy. Found my shipping bags in the storage unit, so it's time to get listing on Vinted again, sooner rather than later so I can start decluttering. We are donating our old dining table & chairs, and my old pink desk chair to a lovely girl who lives nearby. She's a single mum with 2 kids under 5, and I feel really good about being in a position to help someone.

I discovered a thing with Monzo called ITTT [If This, Then That] and I set up a couple of automations which has been fun. If I spend on things deemed 'transport' it will pull it from a specific pot for that, and once a week it sends me a round up of everything I have spent on my card. Given that whatever is left in the 'main' bit of my bank account is for unaccounted spends, it's quite fun to see what I've spent on! And then I can replace it from the correct categories.

Lets hope for a stress free sunny week ahead!

Love, Fox  

dawnybabes

Your whole post sounds so much less stressful and calmer 🥰🥰🥰

londoner2019

dawnybabes said:

Your whole post sounds so much less stressful and calmer 🥰🥰🥰

Echoing this. And sounds like a great few days anyway, focusing on nice things with family. And the references to finances all sounds collected and organized. Very pleased to read your updates!