In the nick of time

smallholdingsister · 13 December 2015 at 7:55PM

Hello and a belated welcome.
Your life sounds super busy and somewhat stressful.
Dave Ramsey is very good on the topic of couples "being on the same page".

Moneyfordreams · 15 December 2015 at 8:44PM

Thank you for making me welcome

Life has always been busy. Working with so many parents who just juggle everything I know I'm not on I'm not on my own .

Will give Dave Ramsey a read. I think we are generally good but OH does need reminding gently and often that luxuries are luxuries, but then I probably do too. I have given him total control of the housework and the kitchen this is not always successful but a useful get out clause for me

for that he gives me the finances.

We have been away a couple of days, budgeted for on the whole. I have spent £250 on clothes this year for me. I managed to add another £92 for that. pretty much because of nothing fitting me.
The Christmas markets were fabulous. refrained from buying cheese and salamis that only I will eat.
Bargain shoes for OH at 33% off. Should last him years.
Our 18 year old DD won't say what she wants for Christmas. We went to a fabulous underwear shop and bought her some lovely new underwear. She is a quiet girl and not show offy, Tried to pick pretty but sensible sets with shorts. Got a free teddy bear for spending over a certain amount then asked for student discount of 10%.

I don't think present wise I have any more to buy. Need to pick up a tree tomorrow and decorate. mind you we have the baby tomorrow, all day, so that will be a challenge. And other half back at work tomorrow for 8 nights. I'm not in work until my extra shift on Sunday as I'm on annual leave. Should do a bit of studying exam in January..

My husband works night shifts for a supermarket. his next night off will be Christmas eve.!!! He swapped a couple of shifts to get time off this last weekend. Having a film night at home before we are back to working opposites.

newgirly · 15 December 2015 at 10:19PM

Hello :wave: another belated mfw'er wishing you best of luck with the new diary. I have a dd the same age as your youngest studying the same thing

Moneyfordreams · 16 December 2015 at 11:02PM

Thank you Newgirly

She got a university offer today. Very pleased for her. Now I hope she pulls her socks up and stops begging me to let her leave school.

I put the Christmas tree up today. I finished decorating it then it fell over

so had to fix it.

I'm a bit twitched with all the lights being on. I'm hoping the predicted mild December will balance things out with the gas bill. Our gas & electric bill was increased to £200 pcm a few years ago. I switched providers and reduced to £175 at that time. Since our lodger has moved out, summer and a few radiators have been turned off we've reduced some more. My recent swap is £111 pcm, however they were 2 months late in collecting payments , even after I emailed to remind them.

I have pretty much spent our Christmas budget and have £100 left in holiday fund. My December payday is next Monday, then it will be the usual long wait until January's salary arrives. I'm determined not to add to the credit card.

Moneyfordreams · 19 December 2015 at 1:46PM

I seem to have spent all the money in the various pots.

I have my EF down to £1700,
CB £83 (not to touch until January) January's and onwards will be diverted to DD2 uni fund
£17 in my purse
Car service money of £99 (due mid January)
Payday Monday but a basic wage without OT

But I have a full fridge and cupboards
I only need one more token gift for my DD1's BF

I also think my husband has moths in his wallet. January I will be keeping my purse closed and pointing him in the direction of the supermarket.

I worked out our budget again (do this weekly out of habit and because I like it ) and we should be all systems go for a £500 mortgage OP
Hopefully I can put £200 in the EF also. However I do seem to be using this as a overdraft lately, so it may not stay there long.

Our Airbnb booking cancelled this weekend so no extra £60 unfortunately. Hopefully in the new year this will pick up again.

Moneyfordreams · 22 December 2015 at 2:24PM

Payday yesterday. I can't wait until the 1st to see whether by estimates are accurate.
I don't need to buy anything for a while. Hoping to keep my purse sealed shut for a good few weeks.

Moneyfordreams · 26 December 2015 at 4:48PM

'twas a lovely day, yesterday, and a peaceful start to day.

I've made turkey soup with the scraps and OH has carved up the other half a crown enough for 3 family dinners. He's having ham and chips (and pigs in blankets) just now.

We bought more than required as we were supposed to be having visitors who had to cancel. Their son in hospital sooooo I bought him a "tablet" to watch and restarted skygo.

Our friends have invited us for a drink locally. it will only be one or 2 as we are babysitting this evening. It will be my only festive outing as I'm working New Year.

norfolkdream · 26 December 2015 at 5:24PM

Another belated welcome from me. Im an old rebranded and almost finished my mortgage so like to come and say the end might seem far away but the more you work at it the closer it will come.

Airbnb sounds great, I was told about it years ago (to stay not to rent out) but was too chicken to use it. I am really curious how it all works. Do you get people from all over the world? Have you had any language barriers yet? Do you have to do them breakfast? Do they have their own key to come and go?

Good luck with your early retirement plan

Moneyfordreams · 29 December 2015 at 1:30PM

Thanks Norfolkdrream,

Airbnb is almost too easy to do. It has an app easier than facebook were you can upload pictures of your room or area, you put up your price and your listing is visible!! I did ours on my phone.

We haven't met any language barriers yet. We bought a small fridge, kettle, microwave and toaster. We leave tea, coffee bread, butter and biscuits in the room and are rarely disturbed. We list on site which parts of the house are available to use, and we have listed the kitchen as out of bounds, however we have had lovely conversations with guests in the kitchen as its the first room you see when entering our home.

Airbnb want honesty and you can pre-approve or decline guests. Although we live in a lovely quite spot, we are a short distance from a popular city. I will explain to people the difficulties they will face during there planned stay if it's for something specific.

We do give guests a house key and a room key, but our rooms are unlocked. Airbnb insure for £600,000 I believe, a lot of trust is required. Mind you after years of struggling financially we don't have much of great value, everything is very old

They book on their card and paypal payout the day after their stay.
We have a booking tonight. They are travelling from Scotland to London and want to stop half way to visit the city. My husband is busy making the beds as I type.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can overpay the mortgage what I need to on Monday next week. I did stump up the cash for my nephew sick bed pressie,. mainly to give my sister a break.

My husband is due to treat me today, due to unplanned booking our day out has turned into evening out. I will leave my purse at home

£30 can then go to cc tomorrow. If I overpay £230 more than I do already this will bring the balance down by £1000 per month. I'm hopeful but apprehensive too..... role on Monday

Moneyfordreams · 31 December 2015 at 11:39AM

As they left yesterday, the guests said they were so pleased they will rebook in March. Nice our efforts, however small are noticed. OH was thrilled to bits.

I seem to be either thinking I have more money than I have then forgetting bills I need to sort out. It must be the early December pay that's thrown me. School lunches, school travel, my travel...

Anyhow the upshot after going around in circles is I have less than I thought. I will still overpay, but it will scrape to £200. I will probably add the extra £20 to get the round £1K off but it will leave the rest of the month tight. We will need to eat from the cupboards and the freezer and stick to a shopping list. Kinda normal then

I do have my ISA that I put in and withdraw most months so we won't quite be on the breadline.

I'm conscious of the fact that if I don't make a bigger impact soon, the knock on effect will be more years at work. My husband is 56 and I'm 45, I'm really hoping he doesn't have to work nights in a supermarket by then. He is currently buying shares in said supermarket which seem to be half the selling price. I have told him if he could get to a year or so annual bills he can early retire at 65 !! (I'd insert aghast smiley if I could).

I don't want to get to 55 and spend all of my reduced lump sum on an outstanding mortgage, (reduced because I would be taking 32 years not 40 and also reduced because I will be booted out of the good pension in April as I'm 2 years too young to stay and put in newer rubbishy one. Luckily I get to keep the 55 rights).

So I'm already 9 months behind. My OH gets paid in a week...it'll be fine

I'm looking forward to January's pay already. It will be a healthy one with 4 extra shifts in

.

I just have to get through work based training, a mock exam, final exam in uni, couple of hospital visits for mother, a week of nights for the first time in 6 years and stick to a diet before it arrives.

Happy New Year everyone xxx

In the nick of time

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