Money-managing Masterfully into May - Frugaleers unite!

[needastrongone]

Thread continued for old faithfuls, new posters and anyone else that would like to contribute.

Financial talk, tips and discussion, with quite a lot of other stuff too.

We are a friendly bunch and there's lots of support for new and old.

Thanks Girlie. I got that idea from Prince William who talked about it on the BBC news the other day, and I think he may be on to something.

That's brilliant about all your dd's clubs. I think we might end up that way a bit too. Ds struggles with no sibling to play with, but I totally agree that being an only child opens up more opportunities too. There's more money to go round and more chance of being taken to things if the Mum is not busy with another child. It's funny to see the differences, having grown up with a sibling myself.

Cag fingers crossed for you .. they make this stuff so humiliating though , we hear such terrible stories where I work ( a housing dept).

Em sorry to hear that but it looks like they are trying it on abit then by the look of your comparasons

I spent £50 today on bedding for DS flat .. for that I got a double duvet , a duvet set a mattress protector and two pillows. Pretty good eh? .. Ponden Homes , all reduced and all nice stuff..

DS moves into his flat Friday so tomorrow ill be paying out over £1100 of my savings in deposit and advance rent (eek!) , but DS says he will give me back the advance rent over weekend and we've come to a deal that he pays me back £50 a month for the deposit ..

I've paid a few deposits for him before but this time Im being a tough parent .. I couldnt before when he was on benefits and apprenticeship wages but hes earning now so its time he took full responsibility (i am keeping my fingers crossed he will manage in this flat) .. I also told him that the bed, bedding and 2nd hand sofa I paid for was his birthday present.. He took it pretty well.

Thanks for all the house advice. Dh is going to look at somewhere tomorrow. Unfortunately I cant but it's same location as yesterday's and a slightly different layout. If he likes it in real life (we both like the pictures) he's going to put offer in. It's 4 bed. On for £546k So only £4K less than yesterday's. For a whole extra bedroom and a better more useable layout.

I adjusted my searches to include up to £600k. And more gems over £550 came up. Yay!!

We don't want to move again. To move it'll cost us about £20k once fees to agents and lawyers (to buy and sell) and stamp duties/court costs/surveyors have been paid. It's not a cheap old game this.

The right place will be out there. And the reduced hours may be doable depending on what we go for.

I forgot about stamp duty. It really is such a lot these days isn't it? I think it's so daft because it deters people from moving which really ties up the labour market. I think it's a very short-sighted tax really from a national economy point of view. Good idea to buy a big house.

Moving is expensive, part of me wishes we had pushed for a bigger house when we bought this one, but it has allowed me to be off work for nearly two years. It's such a tricky one, I never expected to not want to work and having a smaller mortgage has been a plus. But I now want a bigger house and a utility!

My little greenhouse heater turned on in the night and the electricity shows on my loop energy monitor along with the temperature bars that show the outside temperature falling below zero. The house heating turned on too on the thermostat. Neato!

I'm the same as you mummy a small mortgage had been great but i wish we had pushed as it wouldn't be such a big jump now

I have moved a few times now. We've been very lucky and done well from property over the years. I think the one house that we ought not to have bought was the one prior to this one, we didn't push hard enough and we ought to have done. This was my fault, I was more nervous than DH and we had only just started the business. DH was never really settled, it didn't increase an awful lot in value and of course, as Em says, the moving costs are high.

Plus, as others have suggested and put simply, an 5% increase in property worth 100k is obviously less than a 5% increase on a 500k property. Then, as Life very sensibly points out, the jump is higher when you do move.

You are right Em, our physical moving costs to move here were over 20k (similar property values), we then spend a further 25k making it exactly how we would want (new build but the builder was a small and wonderfully accommodating sort). The latter was our choice but aimed at saving long term, ie fully tiling the bathrooms, 'upspecing' the kitchen. I think the initial spend have made an overall saving overall for us. So I get you wanting to go for your forever home at this stage.

As others have pointed out, quality of life is very important too and should be considered for sure but I think that depends on folks overall character. DH is the sort to want to push on if possible, it's intrinsically him and our previous house made him dissatisfied and a bit unsettled that he should have pushed harder. It's not about material goods or money in the bank, although it might come over this way sometimes, it's about feeling you gave your best in all things. But I can't think of the best way to say that!!!

I'm not saying stuff very well, but I think Em and her DH might feel the same if they decided to stay in the flat for example?

It's a very individual thing for sure though, my DB for example is the polar opposite of DH and that's totally fine too.

Exercise is definitely brilliant for mental health. There's a programme on at the minute on BBC1 that takes folk with serious MH issues and gets them to run the london marathon. It's totally inspiring. And of course you don't need to run a marathon but the physiological benefits of exercise, not to mention the mental release you get are brilliant!

And in non financial related matters, DH feels the 'fog' has lifted from his brain finally. He's felt it clearing over the last few days. It's very weird but I can see that he's back.

And in non financial related matters, DH feels the 'fog' has lifted from his brain finally. He's felt it clearing over the last few days. It's very weird but I can see that he's back.

And in non financial related matters, DH feels the 'fog' has lifted from his brain finally. He's felt it clearing over the last few days. It's very weird but I can see that he's back.

And in non financial related matters, DH feels the 'fog' has lifted from his brain finally. He's felt it clearing over the last few days. It's very weird but I can see that he's back.

Got you the first time need. Glad to hear that about your Dh.
It's a tough one Em, I'm sure you'll come to the right decision for you, no one of us properly knows your situation.
Cag sorry you had to have such a horrible experience, hope it comes through for you though
Girlie every month seems like that for us at the moment, unexpected spends, not managing to claw back as much as we'd hoped.
creme congratulations, what a topsy turvy week for you.
Busy busy at home today, shouldn't be too many spends. Already spent £12 on a goats milk moisturiser though as a last ditch attempt to help my rosacea which is really bad at the minute. I really don't want to go back on oral antibiotics if I can help it (the only thing that has worked in the past)
Workout already done today, feeling good

Weird as keyboard didn't go funny, can usually tell if I've double posted ha ha!

Hi everyone, have only read back last page or so, sorry, don't have much time.

DH and DGPigs and I are all back home in our flat now, we got back yesterday. But tomorrow DH and I are away for the weekend in London finally! I am looking forward to it and telling DH to forget about money a bit cos obviously it's going to be expensive but it's a nice treat for us and we're not going on a holiday in summer or anything so this is our little holiday really. We are staying with a friend and his partner so no accomodation costs and I'm looking forward to seeing him. We are planning to go to the Dungeons tomorrow, need to book online to save money, we have a 2-for-1 voucher as well to use for it. Then we are getting a tour around Parliament as my friend works there. Saturday we are thinking we will visit the Tower of London. Don't know about Sunday yet. Maybe British Museum. Spendy. At least we booked our trains in advance so got good deals on them, just need to pick them up from station. Pet-sitter all paid for and gave keys to them this morning too: £35 so not bad.

In news more in Cag's vein, came home to find my mandatory reconsideration was rejected for PIP again. They sent a really snotty decision which said if I have a grievance with the health professional I need to raise it with Capita and they are well qualified etc etc, which makes no sense as I literally didn't say anywhere I had any kind of grievance with them . They just don't read any of the evidence I supply properly. They keep saying 'the health professional said x, and without medical evidence to the contrary, I am agreeing with them', even though I provided medical evidence to the contrary when I first sent my claim form off!! So I will have to appeal to the tribunal which last time was horrific. My anxiety is awful at the moment as you can imagine which is really not great given my exams are soon so it's like the worst time for this to be going on. I'm literally shaking typing this and I can't sleep at night properly etc. Cag sorry I don't mean to worry you as you've just had your assessment, last time I applied for PIP my assessor was great and I got high enhanced daily living and enhanced mobility no problem, it really is just pot lock so by no means will your experience be like my current one.

Also busy filling in forms for the uni hardship fund. My welfare advisor said he thinks I should be able to get some money from them as I get the max amount of student finance but no bursary or scholarship from uni. The forms are quite long and I need to get all our payslips etc but I'm about halfway through maybe. It would be great if we got a little something from them. Probably would put it towards moving costs in a few months time.

Em hope some of your viewings coming up are promising and you find your forever home soon. DH and I will be moving in a few months again but only renting again like.

Missed a day there!

Have been having a tough time re bike shop and club. We're getting a lot of local petty bike club crap, that frankly we could do without. Had a serious "shall we bin the whole thing" chat, the first for 3 years (in year 6 of our business). But we're both stubborn (over different things!) and will hang in there a bit longer.

Our tt was cancelled, so we went for a club ride instead! Lots came out to support us, which was good, and I got a ride too, I'm usually the time keeper, so this was great and burned some calories

Today has been a nsd so far, and I got home to two pairs of runners, and two tomato plants, so I'm quite happy. Will try them on now. The shoes, not the plants...

Need glad he's feeling better

£4.50 parking

I lost my car keys today 😭😭😭 poor Dh had to drive a forty mile round trip to give me his. Lucky we had a spare one.

NSD again, hooray! Plus I get paid tomorrow. It's like a guessing game to see how much I'll get each month now I'm on mat leave.

Need to post to keep you guys on tio!
Still busy busy at work.
Tayto what's the minimum spend for the Tesco delivery for €1, haven't had a delivery in months I much prefer Aldi now but might be handy to get a few bits. Actually got a €12 off €120 code last week & threw it in fire as figured I wasn't going to use it.

€36 spent in butchers this evening.

Oh dear Wrecked, think they will turn up?

I'm sorry about the appeal being rejected Meadow and how it has made you feel. Try not to let it upset your lovely break if you can.

We do also have that conversation Lonely, I think it part of the territory with running a business. It sometimes hard to wonder why you bother when your staff and customers have been particularly difficult.

Spends.
£60 Ocado.
£22 M&S.
£15 feed shop.
£10 race entry fee.

Paid for the art too.

Had a lovely run with a friend today but done a lot of miles in the last 3 days and my legs are trashed.

Early night I think for me.

Made home made thai curry tonight.

Payday which isn't anywhere near as exciting as I hoped it was going to be and also my tax credits appear to have gone down another shit month then!!

North that is exactly how it feels, I made the mistake of looking on the RCN link at how much I should be getting paid if the Government had kept our pay in line with inflation and it would be an extra £3000 a year I fucking hate Tories, how anyone can vote for them is seriously beyond me (rant over )

Yes Sunny being an only child has benefited dd is lots of ways, although she sometimes gets upset about not having a dad she has never wanted a sibling!! She loved high ropes tonight so despite it being a logistical nightmare getting her there its worth it.

£50 petrol today, no other spends.

Oh no meadow! That totally sucks I've heard mandatory consideration is basically a waste of time TBH, makes you wonder why they spend money on facilitating it when it seems like they don't even bloody read the stuff you send! So... does this mean you'll take it to tribunal now? Xx

Thanks everyone BTW. 💐💐

Spendy day as picking up the last few bits for DD's camp tomorrow, and also a Lego reward for DS - his new dermatologist suggested it as the new treatment regime was pretty horrible (included really nasty antibiotics).

I also may have stocked up in the hotel chocolat sale. Maybe. The good thing is that with nausea I don't actually feel like eating chocolate much (let me tell you, for me that's a big thing!!!) so it will last a looooong time.

And missed our bus home and having a sod-it dinner in wetherspoons. DH is out tonight seeing the midnight screening of Guardians 2.

Did teaching today though for the first time in a while and more tomorrow - starting to get back into a routine now.

Cag I think so. I'm not sure if I will actually be able to turn up because of my anxiety and last time I had to wait about 12 months for a tribunal for DLA a few years ago so I'm not holding my breath about how soon it would be. Also we are relocating in a few months time so I'm confused about how that would work because if it gets passed to the nearest tribunal to here, there's no way I would be able to travel back in say 8 months time just to attend the tribunal. But paper-based tribunal cases are far less successful than ones in person...idk what I'm going to do. I have a few weeks before I need to submit the forms to ask for a tribunal appeal so will probably contact the welfare rights organisation who helped me with the MR and see what they say about it all too.

In more awful news, DH got a meter reading which was really high again, we've been worried about why our electricity bills are so high recently given we turned the heating off in February, they're so much higher than they've ever been before that we are seriously concerned the meter isn't working properly or has been tampered with...DH rang them and said that with the new meter reading we owe them £300 electricity bill for March . How can two people in a one-bed flat with no heating on use that much electricity? It's our biggest ever monthly bill ! They said they could arrange someone to come and check the meter but if it turns out the meter is correct, then we would have to pay them £150 for calling them out! We don't know what to do . DH is really stressed about it.

meadow that is not a good day

£300 cannot be right. I think you will have to risk calling them out. In the meantime, can you go round and turn off as many appliances etc as possible unless you need to use them?

Has anyone else been reading the extreme effort to save a few pennies thread? Sorry don't know how to link to it. I may be finding it a bit inspiring

NSD. Not been well so haven't been to work.