Single mum - sink or swim!

1911131415

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  • In spite of colds I still dragged myself to a New Year's Eve party. Just lovely to see old friends and catch up. Definitely want to do more social things this year.

    Instead of a treat I'm going to add my Christmas money to my January op - still with annoying Spanish bank and can't op til later in the month.


    Jan OP

    £60 (money saved on night in)
    £1.50 (money saved on Xmas cards)
    £45 (estimate - enough petrol for 400 miles?)
    £125 - Xmas money
    5p x 1 (carrier bag tax saved)
  • selloptape
    selloptape Posts: 632
    First Post Combo Breaker First Anniversary
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    Just having a very quiet dry January weekend at home... Have found myself single again this week so just trying to keep busy and not spend or eat too much. I'm definitely a comfort eater and spender.

    Things to feel positive about...
    • Stuck to my meal plan this week
    • Have started decluttering
    • Cliche but true - new year and new start ahead - feeling positive about life in general
    • Quite a few savings so far to add into the Jan OP

    Mini goals for next week...
    • Meal plan
    • Take lunches to work
    • Sell 5 items online
    • Apply for 1x new job
  • Happy New Year sellotape. It's good to see you back. :) Don't worry about falling off the mfw bandwagon - we've all done it from time to time - just remember that with the effort you've already put in you're probably miles ahead of those who don't op, so don't be too hard on yourself.

    Sorry to hear that you're single again - try to focus on doing one nice little thing for yourself each day (think nice hot bubble bath, hot choc with marshmallows etc) :)

    Take care,

    MGx
    :jMortgage free 08.08.19 :j
    2018: £19410.25 / £9,300 2017: £7646.64 / £11,000 2016: 4557.98 / £11,000 2015: £10,230.37 / £11,000 2014 =£6703.26 / £11,000 2013 = £4288.51 / £8000 2012 = £1600/£5000 2011 = £2579/£3000
    MF date was Nov 2041 - mortgage neutral 23.07.18

  • Was so tempted to start a new diary to pretend I hadn!!!8217;t been quite so flaky last year! !!!55357;!!!56904;

    No excuses - it!!!8217;s just very hard being a single parent of a teen. And I!!!8217;m fairly lucky as I!!!8217;m amicable with my ex.

    Still worked hard to cut back last year and did over pay £5k. Not too shabby even if I was struggling to make the time to pop back and update.

    Thanks for the lovely comment mortgage_girl, I do feel a little less pants even though it!!!8217;s from over a year ago !!!55357;!!!56838;
  • Had a lazy Saturday morning so far. Seem to spend a lot of time at weekends recharging after hectic weeks at work. Would love to hear any tips on recharging and switching off!:o

    Mini goals for today -
    • 10,000 steps
    • Sort new life insurance, cancel old policies
    • Meal plan for the week
    • Motivate teenager to do homework :eek:
    • Clean bathroom
    • Make beds
    • T3sco shop
    • Sort all laundry
    • Sort receipt pile and update spend diary
    • ..... And relax
  • Been having a bit of an MFW ponder this eve.

    This year I’m aiming to OP £3k.

    That’s £300 per month to find.

    This should be do-able :)

    March - OP money stashed so far - £263 - nearly there :j
    £100 overpayment returned by Student Loan Company
    £150 birthday money
    £2.50 tcb (still not sure how this works )
    £10.50 t3sco clubcard vouchers paid for shopping

    However - I really need to start thinking of the future - pensions, investments etc. Every few months I start to look into it and then become overwhelmed by info overload.
  • Today I made pack up AND I resisted the chocolate and crisp machine at work. Not bad for a Monday :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

    Am going to make pack up tomorrow. If I’m not snowed in...
  • MeandO
    MeandO Posts: 2,899
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    edited 27 February 2018 at 10:57AM
    Hi Sellotape

    Thought I'd pop by and say hello as you'd posted on my diary.

    It sounds like we have fairly parallel lives... I think we're about the same age with similar amounts left on the mortgage (although I think you're winning a bit on that one!) I'm a single Mum too, although I do have a lovely man of almost 2 years, but we don't live together and each have our own houses. My boy's about half the age of yours though, guess I have the joy of the teenage years to come! His Dad and I get on fairly amicably, although lately that's taken a lot of effort to do so! :mad:

    How's the dating front going? I dipped my toe into the world of online dating a few years back and it was a real eye opener! There's a few more crazies out there than I envisaged...:eek:

    I feel your pain on the 'not switching off' too... I think it's harder to do so when you're on your own evenings as there's no-one to distract you or talk about other things with. I try and keep busy and concentrate on other things. If I sit down, I start to think about things and it all goes a bit pete tong...

    Keeping an MSE diary definitely helps with motivation for all things financial though!

    Good luck with it all! x
    Mortgage @ 03/2019: £125K, Now: £67,390
    Mortgage OP's 2024: £612.94/£2000 Total OP’s: £8823.50
    SAVINGS: EF: £6423.55/£15,000
  • Hi MeandO! Lovely to hear from someone who’s in the same boat:) looks like we have a lot in common even down to staying amicable with our exes (maybe we deserve a medal for that one :rotfl: )

    So great that you’ve met someone nice, I’m just having a break from dating, i find all the apps are full of the same faces... but maybe they think that when they see me :rotfl:

    Thanks for popping in - hopefully we can cheer each other on!
  • I’ve been struggling to keep the house warm in the cold weather - currently keeping all blinds and curtains shut all day to try and help hold some heat in. Need to find the duct tape to tape over the crack in the front door :D Also curled up with hot water bottle, a blanket and a cuppa to take the edge off. Not sure how I coped when I first moved out and had no central heating :eek:

    Payday today so an exciting evening of meal planning, in between nagging about homework.
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