And the month is at an end
I don't think that we did particularly well :-(
But I have learnt some valuable lessons and some new habits (I no longer automatically go and get the paper everyday, and that has cut down lots on other spending) and we have spent less money on day to day things. We even spent a week away and didn't eat out or buy lots of stuff! Having car and carpet and stuff happen altogether didn't help though. And my children have discovered the delights of charity shops and they have become the places they think of going 'shopping' as meaning (although they still expect a drink whilst out, but are happier with a bottle of water in the park than they used to be).
The downside of all this has been that cutting down on trips to town has also seen a downturn in the time spent in the local library, and them wanting more not less time in front of the TV/computer as the weather takes a turn for the wet! So working ourselves back into a library schedule is a task for October, as is getting our books and magazines here at home organised so that we can use them more easily as well. I'm going to get together the craft stuff in one place as well, although that may need to be at the storage unit (which will rather cut down on spontaneous use :-( ) but once altogether I should be able to work out what can move out to the unit to enable it all to come here :-)
The other 'project' for October is going to be investigating how etc. to go about letting our house. We've given up on selling it for the moment. Locally people 'our age' are going from flats to diddy 3 beds and jumping straight past houses like ours (a 2 bed with more sq ft than most of the local new 3 beds, and a decent sized garden as well) because no. of bedrooms seems to count more than whether you can get a bed and a chest of drawers in them. But the rental market for houses like ours is very strong with more demand than supply :-) and the going rate seems to be more than our mortgage payment is so we will come out even. So I have to find out about the various long-let schemes that the local HA and PCT administer (where they let the house from you and then manage one of their own tenants or staff-let in it, and take the hit on any voids :-) ) and 'audition' lettings agents as well.
But I have learnt some valuable lessons and some new habits (I no longer automatically go and get the paper everyday, and that has cut down lots on other spending) and we have spent less money on day to day things. We even spent a week away and didn't eat out or buy lots of stuff! Having car and carpet and stuff happen altogether didn't help though. And my children have discovered the delights of charity shops and they have become the places they think of going 'shopping' as meaning (although they still expect a drink whilst out, but are happier with a bottle of water in the park than they used to be).
The downside of all this has been that cutting down on trips to town has also seen a downturn in the time spent in the local library, and them wanting more not less time in front of the TV/computer as the weather takes a turn for the wet! So working ourselves back into a library schedule is a task for October, as is getting our books and magazines here at home organised so that we can use them more easily as well. I'm going to get together the craft stuff in one place as well, although that may need to be at the storage unit (which will rather cut down on spontaneous use :-( ) but once altogether I should be able to work out what can move out to the unit to enable it all to come here :-)
The other 'project' for October is going to be investigating how etc. to go about letting our house. We've given up on selling it for the moment. Locally people 'our age' are going from flats to diddy 3 beds and jumping straight past houses like ours (a 2 bed with more sq ft than most of the local new 3 beds, and a decent sized garden as well) because no. of bedrooms seems to count more than whether you can get a bed and a chest of drawers in them. But the rental market for houses like ours is very strong with more demand than supply :-) and the going rate seems to be more than our mortgage payment is so we will come out even. So I have to find out about the various long-let schemes that the local HA and PCT administer (where they let the house from you and then manage one of their own tenants or staff-let in it, and take the hit on any voids :-) ) and 'audition' lettings agents as well.
