Simplifying Life - Mark II

mardatha

Weird you're not
*******
Well Mary, that's not what most people say !!

Charis

ceridwen wrote: »

Once you have paid off your mortgage too - then you know for a fact you could never be "at the mercy" of a landlord giving you notice or not giving you a tenancy you had decided to have - you've GOT your roof over your head and thats an end of it.

Unless you are unfortunate enough to live near the river Severn, like the good folk of Tewkesbury, last year. I know some were still in caravans this summer, waiting for their homes to dry out enough to be repaired. Some people who were flooded last year can't get insurance now.

Also, as you said the other day, those of us fortunate enough to have our own homes in our dotage are left without any help once on a state pension, should the property need a lot of upkeep or emergency repairs.

mary43

mardatha - well if some folk think you're weird what the heck....................lol I've got to that age when I don't care and look forward to being an eccentric old lady.........(not so sure about the 'old'though).........:rotfl:

charis.......you're right about repairs. Thats the bit I'll dread. (always have) and often thought thats an advantage with being in rented property -someone else pays for new roof, leaky guttering etc. -though I know its not that straight forward. I know a lot of people who have to wait for what seems like forever to get the simplest thing done.
Maybe the option for us will be to eventually move to a smaller low maintenance place..............to be honest, one of the retirement villages similar to where Mum's placed would be ideal. There's some brilliant ones been built, two bedrom places to rent or buy and the chance of 24 hour care should it become necessary. Oh we'll see. Don;t want to look that far ahead yet.
I do feel for the people who suffered so in the floods last year.Same thing happened in Hull and people are still not in their homes. Must be awful - I can;t imagine what I'd feel like...........except I'd be filled with dread at the forecast of rain !

ceridwen - it'll be a lovely feeling to be able to say 'its all ours, every last bit of it'............first time in my life..................mind you, if I totted up the interest we've paid on top of the original price we supposedly paid for it I dread to think what it's actually cost us !

Young lad continues to run amok and attempt to be a mean and moody little man................I've mostly ignored the bad behaviour (difficult at times) just explained what's what, and got on with what I'm doing. Hoping he'll learn that to get attention behaving badly just won't work.
Thankfully, the older lad has calmed down since Monday nights warfare between them - but then he's a different kind of persnality altogether plus a few years older. Makes a lot of difference.

ceridwen

I added this tip on another thread - but think 'tis an idea to put it here too.

For next year onwards - I am planning on having 2 diaries - instead of just my usual small personal one.

So - I'll have the usual small personal one I carry round in my handbag for events and reminders of things to do at specific times.

I will also have one of those medium-size desk diaries - to be kept at home. This diary will be a spending diary. I'll write money spent on food in the left-hand side of each daily entry slot and money spent on everything else in the right-hand side. I notice there is an accounts section at the back which may come in useful on that front as well. This will help me keep track of how much money I need to live on and where my money is going. It will prove better methinks than the intermittent keeping a notebook for a few weeks to see where its going - said notebook duly gets tatty/lost/etc. In a diary - at any given moment I will be able to instantly locate what I spent on 7 February for instance.

With this - I will instantly be able as well to see if there is any mismatch between what I need to live on and what I actually have.

Greenshieldstamp_2

Hello everyone,

Sorry I haven't been posting for a while, but am still definitely enjoying this thread and trying to put it all into practice.

Ceridwen - I like the sound of the two diaries. I still struggle with how and where to record everything I need to. Are you still keeping the two blogs, as I think you said you were using one as a private record for yourself?

Mary43 - Sorry to hear about OH's Mum. Have you had any more news? Is she home from the hospital yet? Hope you and OH are both OK. Daft as it may sound I think of you both when I have to change my peppermill settings! (works fine by the way and I am doing lots more cooking from scratch.)


Not sure I am very psychic or anything like that but I am enjoying the discusssions with Mardatha and everyone, and always love Aril's quotes.

Take care anyway and have a good weekend
Greenshield

LameWolf

ceridwen wrote: »

I added this tip on another thread - but think 'tis an idea to put it here too.

For next year onwards - I am planning on having 2 diaries - instead of just my usual small personal one.

So - I'll have the usual small personal one I carry round in my handbag for events and reminders of things to do at specific times.

I will also have one of those medium-size desk diaries - to be kept at home. This diary will be a spending diary. I'll write money spent on food in the left-hand side of each daily entry slot and money spent on everything else in the right-hand side. I notice there is an accounts section at the back which may come in useful on that front as well. This will help me keep track of how much money I need to live on and where my money is going. It will prove better methinks than the intermittent keeping a notebook for a few weeks to see where its going - said notebook duly gets tatty/lost/etc. In a diary - at any given moment I will be able to instantly locate what I spent on 7 February for instance.

With this - I will instantly be able as well to see if there is any mismatch between what I need to live on and what I actually have.

Sounds pretty much like what I do on Excel spreadsheets. And it sure does concentrate the mind on where the money is going!:rolleyes:

ceridwen

Greenshieldstamp wrote: »

Hello everyone,

Sorry I haven't been posting for a while, but am still definitely enjoying this thread and trying to put it all into practice.

Ceridwen - I like the sound of the two diaries. I still struggle with how and where to record everything I need to. Are you still keeping the two blogs, as I think you said you were using one as a private record for yourself


Not sure I am very psychic or anything like that but I am enjoying the discusssions with Mardatha and everyone, and always love Aril's quotes.

Yep - still keeping both blogs - the public and private one. Havent added owt to the public one for last few days - as I put a "post" on as and when I feel that I might possibly have summat useful or whatever to add...have got one or two things "brewing" but am struggling slightly at present with the how to mention what I am doing on blog/maintain degree of anonymity....I'll get there;)

Well...I, for one, am far from "very psychic" - I wish...or do I? (the jury is still out on that one....it would be useful to know whats what v. "Ouch....I wish I hadnt realised that")....just the odd once in a blue moon "flash" in my case. Maybe others do better than me on that one..:D One of these fine days I'm hoping/planning to "work on that" a bit....too many ideas, too little time...theres times when I wonder if I would still find there wasnt time for everything I'd like to do even once retired from TBJ (aka "That B....y Job").

Indeed.....I always look forward to Aril's quotes and tales about "the small person"......:D

mary43

Hello all !

Greenshield.............nice to be thought of even if it is in the guise of a pepper mill................glad its working ok...............lol

ceridwen - like the idea of a spending diary. I intend to get one big enough to make notes of appointments in plus expenditure for next year. I'll get one of those with the expense section at the back, month by month.

I also intend to start keep a day to day diary of things that happen in our household, how it affects me, my feelings etc. Normally if I start doing this nothing in particular occurs until I stop for a month or two then all sorts of stuff goes on...........by which time I've gone off the 'diary' idea............lol
So, next year, determined effort...............be an interesting thing to look back on in a few years time to see how I handled a particular situation etc.

mardatha

Ceridwen, you can become psychic at any time of life, sometimes in middle age. But you need to take time out to smell the roses and watch the clouds, or it will never happen

Aril

Hello virtual friends:j
I've come scurrying back here for a bit of light relief after all the turmoil of these past few days. It's one thing hearing the news but when it affects you directly it's a completely different story. Ah well things will settle and resolve themselves and I meanwhile will just have to sit tight and bake cakes to keep me overactive little imagination occupied. Anyone for a ginger cake with toffee fudge icing? :D
The small person is hale and hearty and his current love is.....knots. He's learnt a couple at Scouts and has now borrowed some books from the library. I kid you [k]not he spent an entire Saturday a fortnight ago just tying different ones...each one that I dutifully admired "look Mum this is a particularly attractive one this one's a Turk's Head!" With his Aspergers he does become very immersed in something. When he was younger it was very difficult but I do truly see it as a gift. His enthusiasm for things is infectious although by the time I had seen the 450th knot [or at least it felt like it:rotfl::rotfl:] I had to rein him in a bit.
Tonight I leave you with an email my lovely sister law sent me . Some may have have seen it from a couple of years ago when I first posted it on the board but I think it's worth repeating:
Things are not always what they seem:
Two travelling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion's guest room. Instead the angels were given a small space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angle asked why, the older angel replied "Things aren't always what they seem"
The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they hadthe couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest. When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field. The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel "How could you let this happen? The first man had everything yet you helped him" she accused. "The second family had little but was willing to share everything and you let the cow die"
"Things aren't always what they seem" the older angel replied "When we stayed in the basement of the mansion I noticed there was gold stored in that hole. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune I sealed the wall so he wouldn't find it."
"Then last night as we slept in the farmer's bed the angel of death came for the farmer's wife. I gave him the cow instead. Things aren't always what they seem."

And in a similar vein a slightly pithier one:

"To assume makes an a$$ out of U and ME"

Hope you all have a great weekend...apologies for overrambling as usual

Arilx