Taking it slowly, but doing it well.

12357106

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  • Evening all. I've blown the budget (again!!!) I am evidently rubbish at this daily budget thing.
    Today's culprit was the spensive supermarket (again) and the end of gig technician's party. The gig finishes tomorrow night but the techs go straight into the get out so have their party tonight.
    £43 on 2 bottles of wine, 3beers, 3ciders & cheese & biscuits. Thankfully I'd miscounted by budget days and, although this spend is 3 days worth of budget, there is still 2 days worth of budget in the pot for tomorrow and Saturday when Pickle and I travel home.
    Once this transaction had been ynab'd I Tilly tidied to the Mop pot.

    Once pickle is down (just having bed time settling cuddles now) I need to party proof the house and I'm going to crack on with my knitting until they finished working tonight and head round.

    Today's updates.

    August's goals

    1) reduce Mortgage capital by £340 (this means an op of about £115
    £27.46/£128
    2) keep an accurate cash spending diary
    £1 car park charge, refunded to shopping
    3) cash out £30 of survey site rewards
    £24.80/£30 (£15 voucher & £9.80 cash)
    No. hangs to cashed out totals but 3vo surveys and 1pa study completed so far today
    4) reach the middle of July on the temperature blanket.
    Creeping towards the end of May, should get a bit more done tonight
    5) get a job or sign up to 1 agency
    No progress (or any efforts put into this today

    Have a good evening

    Wish.
    Outstanding mortgage: £23,181 (December 19)
    MFW 2020 Challenge Member #10 0/£2318
  • last full day away today, so some serious packing has been done and still needs to be done. Pickle just being settled to sleep, hopefully he'll go quickly hen I can crack on. Mostly it's kitchen stuff to pack then the car to load, so shouldn't be too much faff.
    I've sorted all our clothes for tomorrow and hubby's overnight bag.

    I'm going to make notes on the asd! delivery note to show where I overspent/ordered too much. It might help me be smarter next year.

    Few bits and bobs of spends today, but within budget
    I did treat Pickle to a new noisy book and a bridge for his railway track as he hasn't had lots of treats while he's been here so I've taken those spends from the child benefit pot and there's a 2p Tilly tidy to the mop pot to make.

    Tomorrow is packing the last bits, brunch out then travel home. And back to reality., whatever that looks like.

    Today's updates.

    August's goals

    1) reduce Mortgage capital by £340 (this means an op of about £115
    £32.48/£128
    2) keep an accurate cash spending diary
    Breakfast, sweets & ice cream
    3) cash out £30 of survey site rewards
    £24.80/£30 (£15 voucher & £9.80 cash)
    No changes to cashed out totals today, but some surveys completed on both sites and a receipt from the other day scanned.
    4) reach the middle of July on the temperature blanket.
    Did quite well last night, just a few, cold days at the end of May to go (until May is completed)
    5) get a job or sign up to 1 agency
    No progress (or any efforts put into this today)

    Have a good evening

    Wish.
    Outstanding mortgage: £23,181 (December 19)
    MFW 2020 Challenge Member #10 0/£2318
  • Quick (late post) to say that I 'spent up' the 'holiday' money as we left yesterday, finished off with breakfast for both Pickle & I.

    I also stopped at the wool shop at spent £95 (ouch ouch ouch ouch) on really beautiful wool for lots of Christmas presents. So that came from the Christmas pot money- which I think will need some additional topping up this year as it's been raised for birthday presents too.

    When I got home I took a 'bread & milk' trip to Ald! Which was obviouly more than those two items as I didn't take a list! But £11 damage isn't bad and I've got lunch bits for a few days.

    Today is a pj day! I am sore (Pickle ended up in my bed and slept horizontally across the bed) and tired (Pickle wasn't sleeping which is why he ended up in my bed)
    Outstanding mortgage: £23,181 (December 19)
    MFW 2020 Challenge Member #10 0/£2318
  • Today was a nsd!!! It has a lot to do with the fact it's also been a pj day (for both me and Pickle) but a nsd is a nsd!!

    I hadn't budgeted August's spending money while I was away as I wanted to keep it searate from our 'away' money, so I spent some time sorting out YNAB today. I've budgeted £250 for groceries which seems massive (plus £100 for 'household goods' but I've been outspending this, so going to bring the spends down gradually.)

    There's £100 for my spends, £100 for restaurants, coffee shops and takeaways
    £200 has been put into 'stuff I forget' as a bit of a buffer, then the left overs have gone to the mop pot.

    Now I'm home I need to create some short term goals as well as monthly ones (Although we do go away again next week.

    Tonight
    Clear up from tea
    Hang up 2 loads of washing
    Unpack by clearing the dining room table
    Bit of knitting

    Tomorrow
    Dry washing away
    More washing if space to dry
    Meal plan
    Shopping
    Pick parcel up from post office

    This week
    Unpack everything
    Pack for holiday
    Send parcel to friend

    August's goals

    1) reduce Mortgage capital by £340 (this means an op of about £115
    £63.73/£128
    2) keep an accurate cash spending diary
    Nsd woop woop
    3) cash out £30 of survey site rewards
    £24.80/£30 (£15 voucher & £9.80 cash)
    No changes to cashed out totals today.
    It's been quiet on the survey front today, think that's normal for a Sunday though
    4) reach the middle of July on the temperature blanket.
    3.5 days of May to go.. keep plodding on!
    5) get a job or sign up to 1 agency
    No progress (or any efforts put into this today)

    Have a good evening

    Wish.
    Outstanding mortgage: £23,181 (December 19)
    MFW 2020 Challenge Member #10 0/£2318
  • Viking_mfw
    Viking_mfw Posts: 569
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper
    Forumite
    That's a busy day for a pj day! Hope you recovered from your poor night's sleep as well :)
  • Thank you Viking last night was much better, no disturbances until 5:30am. That's manageable.
    Outstanding mortgage: £23,181 (December 19)
    MFW 2020 Challenge Member #10 0/£2318
  • Evening all,
    Not much to report today. Cafe catch up with a friend this morning, and a park trip this afternoon. Few jobs done and to do this evening, I won't bore you any longer, I'll just update my goals...

    Tonight last night!
    Clear up from teadone
    Hang up 2 loads of washingdone
    Unpack by clearing the dining room tabledone today
    Bit of knittingdone

    Tomorrowtoday
    Dry washing awaynone dry yet - check again tonight.
    More washing if space to drytwo more loads done and hung up
    Meal plan tonight & tomorrow's
    Shopping done
    Pick parcel up from post office

    This week
    Unpack everythingprogress but not finished
    Pack for holiday
    Send parcel to friend

    August's goals

    1) reduce Mortgage capital by £340 (this means an op of about £115
    £68.45/£128 £4.72 TT
    2) keep an accurate cash spending diary
    £4.45 cafe spend recorded
    3) cash out £30 of survey site rewards
    £24.80/£30 (£15 voucher & £9.80 cash)
    No changes to cashed out totals today.
    just £3 away from £20 on pa, over £3 pending so as soon as that clears I can cashout
    VO up to £8.25 think I'm going to go for a boots vouchers this time so target is £10.50.

    4) reach the middle of July on the temperature blanket.
    2.5 days of May to complete. Also frogged a jumper I started before going away as I need to put button holes in it and I failed when trying, so needs to get some scrappy wool and do some samples for practice, job for after the holiday I think.
    5) get a job or sign up to 1 agency
    No progress (or any efforts put into this today)i have checked the job website today, nothing suitable for me to apply for.

    Have a good evening

    Wish.
    Outstanding mortgage: £23,181 (December 19)
    MFW 2020 Challenge Member #10 0/£2318
  • Oh, need to do tonight's list (and tomorrow's)

    Tonight:
    Cook & clear up tea
    Check for dry washing and put away
    Sort kitchen bomb site
    Sort bedroom bomb site
    Meal plan (including checking cellar freezer)
    Knitting

    Tomorrow
    Dry washing away
    Food shop (hopefully including Roamler tasks)
    Write holiday lists

    This week:
    Unpack everything
    Pack for holiday
    Send parcel to friend

    August Goals:
    1) reduce mortgage capital by £340 - require overpayment of £128
    2)keep an accurate cash spending diary
    3) cash out £30 of survey site rewards
    4)reach the middle of July on temperature blanket
    5)get a job or sign up to 1 agency.
    Outstanding mortgage: £23,181 (December 19)
    MFW 2020 Challenge Member #10 0/£2318
  • I'm feeling very ranty, I do have a plan, I hate confrontation, so please don't tell me to confront this issue head on.

    We have a cleaner, she's very cheap (£10 an hour providing her own cleaning materials)
    She's not the most reliable (son with mh difficulties, elderly mum, own ongoing Health issues)
    Her quality of work is variable due to above (but when she's on it, she's awesome)

    We stick with her because, I wouldn't be able to find anybody else for the same rate of pay, (I'm currently not working so couldn't justify the additional expense) even on a bad week she does a better job than I would, when she doesn't come I just count it as an extra op on the mortgage.

    Ok ok, I'm not working, and I only have 1 child so I should be able to manage cleaning a 2 bed terrace house. I probably could, but I don't want to. I read a BBC article over the last few weeks that said spending money on things that give you time, makes you happier than spending money on stuff. I agree. Husband is untidy enough as it is, I know he would be worse if it was me doing the cleaning.

    Anyway! We've been away for 3 weeks, prior to going away I had our annual conversation about cleaner doing a deep clean while we were away, under beds, behind sofas, cupboards, under the bath, doors, skirting boards etc. I even left her a list (that wasn't there when we returned)

    Last year's deep clean was a bit iffy so I'd already ummd and ahhd about asking her not to come while we were away, and getting a cleaning company in to do a one off deep clean. But thought, 'no, with a list, she'll be fine'

    Guess what??? No, it's not fine, it's not really any better than a normal weekly clean. Very irritating. Now, I know I should speak to her about it, but I hate confrontation. I'm just annoyed at myself for not sticking to my guns.

    So, this is my plan (one of my skills is solution focused planning, the downfall is the solution always avoids confrontation)

    I always budget £100 a month for the cleaner (5x£20) some months are not 5 Monday months, and some mondays she doesn't turn up (see above) normally I would use the spare that comes for this as treats or to op the mortgage. Well, no more! I'm going to redistribute (oh how I love ynab) the extra money to a new budget category of 'annual clean' then book in a company to deep clean when I have enough in the pot (£150 maybe??) and I've done some good old sorting out.

    I've already put £40 in the pot because August is only a 4 Monday month and we asked her not to come last Monday as we knew we'd have cases and flight cases and tech gear everywhere.
    One Monday will be bank holiday, and she doesn't always work bank hols, so I may have another weekly sum to add to the pot at the end of the month.

    Rant over. And I feel a lot better

    Have a good day everyone.

    Wish.
    Outstanding mortgage: £23,181 (December 19)
    MFW 2020 Challenge Member #10 0/£2318
  • CathT
    CathT Posts: 7,113
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Forumite
    Hi Wish, just found your diary and caught up. It's a difficult situation with the cleaner.

    I know your SOA was a couple of pages back but are you not entitled to tax credits due to income? I know you were working previously but my understanding from when we qualified in the good old days that if your income dropped by 10k you could apply for this year. Does that make sense?

    Will be following your journey :)
    Mar 2024 - part 1 - £31,656 part 2 - £25,019 Total - £56,675 44 months to go!
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