£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

DawnW · 14 February 2018 at 11:47PM

Interesting that you say you don't have a tumble dryer TOPM. I don't have one either, never have had, even when my children were small. I couldn't have afforded one then, and now, when I could, I haven't bothered. I don't need a bigger electricity bill, thanks very much! Most people think it is a bit odd if I mention I don't have one

so it is nice to hear that I am not the only one

Eager_Elephant · 15 February 2018 at 6:19AM

Me 3!!

I don't have a tumble dryer either, I rehomed mine about 4 or 5 years ago. Prior to that it was just a nuisance as my house was too small for it and at times it was in an outside shed which was no good when it rained as I got wet and at others in the utility room with loads of stuff in front of it.

It's amazing how hot my landing is, I hang all tops from hangers and then hang from door frames - it looks somewhat like a Chinese laundry but it dries them quickly. I also have 2 airers in my bedroom for the rest. I find washing little and often is the key and also pegging out at weekends if the weather looks promising (I pegged out towels last weekend and they dried but then there was near on gale force winds!!!)

Treadingonplaymobil · 15 February 2018 at 6:22AM

Week 53: Day 4

Well I'm still :eek: at 1,000 toilet rolls!

We've never really had a tumble dryer - one rental place had a washer dryer, but it could only manage to dry about two tshirts at a time, so we've never got used to it, and I would rather avoid the additional bill. I also strongly suspect that DH would 'helpfully' shove everything in the dryer, so (a) costing us a fortune and (b) shrinking half my clothes. Easier not to have one! I sometimes think we'll get one when we get the extension done and have a nicer utility room, but then I think we've survived this long without, why start now? I have recently started doing a daily wash even if we don't have a completely stuffed full load (it is never less than 2/3 full) and that is helping to stop it backing up and being tricky to dry. Our machine has settings for smaller washes to avoid wasting water when doing that. The only difficult time of year is early autumn and late spring, when it can frequently be too wet to hang stuff out, but there is no real need to have the heating on to dry it. I'd like to find somewhere to store the airers in our bedroom so I could regularly hang it out in there, as it gets in the way downstairs and I barely go in my bedroom during the day, but I can never be bothered to lug the airers upstairs and hang out up there!

A day of flying solo today, as DH is away. Hoping to have a quiet-ish day, get cracking on the half term homework and pop to the post office later. Rock'n'roll. Also need to try to get the car looked at, as have just realised (how did I forget this?) I have a horrendous week next week doing hundreds of miles, so really could do without a car that might conk out at any moment.

I actually have a much longer list than three things that I'd like to get done today, but I'm going to focus on three first, get them out the way and then move onto the next things. Slow and steady wins the race (and avoids an overwhelmed tantrum from me).

Three things to do today
1. Post office.
2. Phone up and try to get the car looked at.
3. Get homework done.

Savings/Spends:
- £37.68/£28 February 'rounding down' overpayment pot (moved across the rounding down pot from my business account).
- £1,046.80/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £13.99 (entertainment kitty) buying Moana on iTunes. I didn't realise how expensive it would be when I promised to buy it for DC3 to watch this week! Has wiped out half of week 3's entertainment kitty and we're only one day into week three (I could from the 1st of the month).
- £96.85 mobile phone bill (two phones). As previously discussed, my enormous bill is partly work use and is tax deductible, but I don't bother budgeting for it in my business account. DH's bill is also fairly big (I think mine is about £55, his is about £40, it all comes out in one hit), but he is thinking of going sim only once his contract is up in April, even if only for six months or so before upgrading.
- £9.60 DH train fare so I could have the car on Tuesday with the DC.

arsenalbarnie · 15 February 2018 at 10:23AM

I missed all this toilet roll conversation, but if it helps I am a WGAC convert but we buy the premium one. I did find it a bit thin at first but now used to it so will be subscribing. I bought 40 rolls in December and still have some left which is pretty good for my house of 7 people.

As to the cleaning I use something called sal suds. Amazing stuff that lasts forever, diluted down in a spray bottle you only need a squirt. Combined with bicarb of soda sprinkled (I use a flour dredger thing) on sinks etc works a treat. Good luck with the env friendly cleaning I have been doing it for a few years now and wouldn't go back. Also white vinegar from Sainsbugs in a glass bottle ( we are plastic haters here) combined with half n half with water and a squirt of sal suds for loos and kitchen surfaces. My fam moan about the vinegar smell so tend to use it when they're not about.

I think the extra money I spend on the loo rolls is evened out from not buying cleaning products. I use the sal suds in carpet shampooer and floor washing too. I have a lovely minimalist cleaning bucket!

Good luck with the rest of half term and hope the car isn't too poorly.

Treadingonplaymobil · 15 February 2018 at 12:32PM

Oooh, I like the sound of sal suds - I use castille soap for a few things. Is it soapy (foamy)? Minimalist supplis sound great. This image, and this one, is pretty much my life goal when it comes to cleaning right now

. Suffice to say that is not how my house actually looks. :cool:

Also pleased to hear how long the wgac toilet roll is lasting. I literally have no idea how quickly we go through a roll. I was vaguely guessing a roll every 36-48 hours (we have two toilets, but only one gets used regularly, the other one maybe once a day, because it's in the utility room and always cold in there!). Never has there been so much contemplation over toilet roll.

Annoyingly can't get the car looked at until next week, but my mum is coming down on Sunday and I can use hers for my high mileage trips if ours is still acting up. Such a pain.

arsenalbarnie · 15 February 2018 at 5:08PM

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

Oooh, I like the sound of sal suds - I use castille soap for a few things. Is it soapy (foamy)? Minimalist supplis sound great. This image, and this one, is pretty much my life goal when it comes to cleaning right now . Suffice to say that is not how my house actually looks. :cool:

Also pleased to hear how long the wgac toilet roll is lasting. I literally have no idea how quickly we go through a roll. I was vaguely guessing a roll every 36-48 hours (we have two toilets, but only one gets used regularly, the other one maybe once a day, because it's in the utility room and always cold in there!). Never has there been so much contemplation over toilet roll.

Annoyingly can't get the car looked at until next week, but my mum is coming down on Sunday and I can use hers for my high mileage trips if ours is still acting up. Such a pain.

Sal Suds is made by Dr Bronners but is not for use on your body. Yes it foams. Quite dear, I buy it from Am@zon but I can't see me needing any for at least a year or longer. It's a little drying on your hands but I still don't need to use rubber gloves, I just slap a load of hand cream after. It's got a bit of a pine smell. It mixes very well with water and white vinegar, whereas the Castile soap doesn't.
Hope that helps. Love the pics, take a look at Zerowastehome that is what I aspire to but have a long way to go!

Treadingonplaymobil · 15 February 2018 at 9:43PM

Well the children's homework has somehow turned into a craft project of epic proportions. House is a total mess and it seems like we have been cutting and sticking (happily, thankfully) all day. Nice to do something crafty with the children, I don't do so much with them since they started preschool/school, and we used to do loads.

So pleased - the partnership/virgin card transfer is showing as a pending transaction, so presumably no problem with it going through. Once it's gone through I need to make a decision about which debt to focus overpayments on. I know that logically it should be the barclaycard as the 0% runs out sooner, but the balance is just over £12k, compared to the relatively low sub-£3k partnership/virgin balance. Can't decide whether the easy win of the virgin outweighs the logic of tackling the barclaycard or not.

Arsenalbarnie I have had a browse on zerowastehome - life goals! Will definitely hunt down some of the sals suds to try.

Haven't left the house today, so no spending, again. Pleased that we will limp on to the weekend without doing another food shop, and I have basically been feeding the children variations on the theme of leftovers plus frozen vegetables for the last two lunches and dinners, so we're a meal in hand on the menu plan too. We've actually only spent £122.03 on food so far this month, and still have enough to last until at least Saturday, so 17 days. If you'd told me I'd manage that this time 12 months ago, I would have laughed in your face!

Off to clear the house and do the washing up before bed (come back DH, I hate doing the evening clear up!).

Three things to do today
1. Post office. Not done. Couldn't be bothered to drag the DC out. Total fail.
2. Phone up and try to get the car looked at. Done, booked in for next Friday.
3. Get homework done. Half done, needs to be finished tomorrow or on the weekend (probably the weekend, we have a playdate tomorrow).

Savings/Spends:
- £37.68/£28 February 'rounding down' overpayment pot (moved across the rounding down pot from my business account).
- £1,046.80/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.

enthusiasticsaver · 16 February 2018 at 12:02AM

I would tackle the Barclaycard. Even if you are not going to get it repaid by the time the deal runs out the lower the balance the lower the transfer fee will be. When does the 0% expire?

AdventureWanted · 16 February 2018 at 1:47AM

I'd definitely pay off the barclaycard next. I know it's daunting when the number is large, but set yourself a smaller target - get the balance to £11k or below £10k. If you break it down into smaller chunks it won't be so daunting.

Treadingonplaymobil · 16 February 2018 at 6:06AM

Week 53: Day 5

Morning! Last day of my half term duties before sharing with DH on the weekend. It's not been the most perfect in terms of my behaviour or the DCs, but they definitely needed a quiet one. There have been absolutely no requests to do anything since we got back from my dad's on Monday! Play date today though, including a play in the park, which I think will do them good - we haven't actually left the house since Tuesday

.

I think I just needed someone to tell me that the barclaycard is the sensible option. I knew it really! Have just made a payment on there of all the rounding down money I had saved, which will bring the balance down to 12,003.07 once it clears. So nearly into the £11ks! I have already exceeded my 'rounding down' aim of £28 for the month (it was up to £38.63 when I made a payment this morning), so I'm going to set a new aim for the rest of the month of a piddly little £3.08 to bring the barclaycard balance into the £11ks. Surely I can achieve that!

Friends coming over to play today, so need to clear the decks a little bit, especially the mountains of crafty stuff kicking around (it was also nice to use some up yesterday, as it feels like quite a lot of money tied up in crafty bits when it's not being used! DC2 is a bit of a hoarder of craft supplies) and make some food - in my effort to not spend any money before the weekend I will need to supply something. Think I will make the world famous MSE hobnobs, as well as some pitta breads to have with lunch (haven't made pitta for years but I recall it's not too complicated) and maybe some plain biscuits with the rather excellent scrabble cookie cutters DC1 got for Christmas.

Three things to do today
1. Make pitta bread.
2. Make hobnobs and/or scrabble biscuits.
3. Get sourdough going - need to make another batch before my mum shows up on Sunday as she always nabs a couple of loaves from the freezer! Won't have time to bake any next week.

Savings/Spends:
- £0/£3.08 2nd half of February 'rounding down' overpayment pot.
- £1,170.43/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal. That's 23% already paid from my 2018 goal. I'm really pleased with that, considering we're not even 15% of the way through the year.

£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

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