Daffy's 'a nice cup of tea cheers you up' diary

Lemon_Tree

hi i'm behind as i've been offline all weekend but thought i would comment on the charity thing.
I had to stop my DD's to get on top of my debts so now i donate in other ways:
I donate my blood three times a year,
i audit the accounts for my mum's british legion group
i audit the accounts for my mum's community group committee
i used to also do the accounts for my sister's playgroup.
I also seem to do lots of baking for various fund raisers

i can't give cash at the moment but i do try in other ways, but then i'm sure once i've caught up with all the other comments that a lot of other folk do just the same sort of thing.

Cheery_Daff

Yep LT! :T Good on you, sounds like you do an awful lot!

At work, blooming freezing here today! Brrrr. Just had an email from a woman asking for lots of things she doesn't really need but we're not really in a position to refuse, so best get my head down and finish them off!

Karmacat

Bah to the email - and yay to LT, that *does* sound like you do a lot. Unfortunately they don't want my blood, it isn't good enough

Cheery_Daff

Nope, don't want my blood either KC For a couple of years anyway - I had to take anti-thyroid drugs (and thyroid replacement...) for a while, and apparently they stay in the blood - and the last thing poorly people want is my drugs suppressing part of their immune system! :eek: (I'm sure that's not the exact scientific explanation, but it was something like that...)

Lara44

Eeek I should really give blood. I never have as I don't like needles, but that's not a very good excuse! My dear sister wouldn't be here if it wasn't for some lovely people giving blood donations

Just wanted to suggest Cheery - if you want to take a few years off, it might be good to overpay the mortgage instead of building up the savings. If you could repay the full whack in 2 years it would bring down your household expenses significantly. Would you both be able to live on p/t hours from then? Or freelance work between the two of you? (Are you thinking of having some mini-Daffs per chance )

L x

redsquirrel80

Helloooo.. sounds like you've been really productive and I love your budget - definitely good to factor in fun there! It sounds like you've got it sorted out really well :T

Cheery_Daff

Lara44 wrote: »

Just wanted to suggest Cheery - if you want to take a few years off, it might be good to overpay the mortgage instead of building up the savings. If you could repay the full whack in 2 years it would bring down your household expenses significantly. Would you both be able to live on p/t hours from then? Or freelance work between the two of you? (Are you thinking of having some mini-Daffs per chance )

L x

I may well consider overpaying the mortgage Lara, once we've dug out the paperwork :rotfl: Thing is, it's only £280 a month, and has less than 4 years left on it anyway, and as far as I know all the interest was paid upfront, so overpaying won't make any difference. But we'll see when we've dug out the paperwork tomorrow, and if that's the most sensible option then we'll do that.

We've both been living on the equivalent of part time hours for several years now, so no problems there!

No thoughts of mini-daffs in the near future (or ever, for that matter!) Mr Daffs gave up his office job a couple of years ago, and has had a merry old time doing musical projects since then - he earns some money, but it's very nice for him not to *have* to. I'd like to be in a similar position (not that I'm musical, mind you :rotfl: And he does point out that he worked in an office for 20 years before he could give up, and I will have only done it for 2 years, but still :rotfl:)

I also know my contract only runs until December 2012, and after that I have no guarantee of a job. I'd like to have the space to consider my options, do some voluntary work, take on a bit of part time stuff or whatever, rather than be forced to take a full time job I wasn't sure about, or worry that I wouldn't be able to find one at all.

Basically, I'm fundamentally idle, and it suits me very well to work a couple of days a week, do a couple of different projects, and spend the rest of the time drinking tea and pottering I've spent most of my life doing that - and it would just be nice to do it knowing I've got a little bit of backup in case the boiler breaks :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

Bleurgh!

Spent all morning making boss's changes to those blithering documents from yesterday <yawn> If I could have done it in the office yesterday it would have been a lot quicker, but it takes AGES to save things onto the work file system from home - so opening things for tiny little changes turns into rather a fiasco. Still, needed to be done. I'm just attaching them all to an email - taking an equally long time <yawn>

I'm actually still sat here in my nightie I thought I'd just quickly get this done then get dressed :rotfl: I've been sat here for 3.5 hours :rotfl:

Which means it's probably about time for a proper break - so I'll tog up and trot out for a little run :j :j Then a quick lunch, then I'll crack on with the thing I was *meant* to be spending the entire day doing...

Lara44

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Mr Daffs gave up his office job a couple of years ago, and has had a merry old time doing musical projects since then - he earns some money, but it's very nice for him not to *have* to. I'd like to be in a similar position (not that I'm musical, mind you :rotfl: And he does point out that he worked in an office for 20 years before he could give up, and I will have only done it for 2 years, but still :rotfl:)

I know just what you mean. Chasing dreams and enjoying life are most important. Time is the most precious resource we have in our lives, and we need to spend it wisely .

My OH and I worked to keep our overheads low so that we could always be really flexible. I worked part time for years to study and he became self employed to do the projects he loved instead of working for a boss. So many of our friends quit their day jobs and went self employed in the same year that we coined it 'The Quit Club'. Glad I joined in May last year :j

The good thing is that everyone is a lot more happy, fulfilled and even making more money than before.

Lemon_Tree

giving blood isn't everyone's cup of tea so people shouldn't feel guilty if they medically can't or are too scared. For me it's an easy no problem way of helping someone and i get a biscuit at the end of it. I'm also registered as an organ doner which will probably be my last charitable act but one which i do have strong opinions on.

The other stuff doesn't really take up too much of time time, but does always seem to come at the wrong time IFYKWIM.

I aspire to your lifestyle Cheery, i'm stuck in an office 5 days a week, i should be able to work from home sometimes but they won't give me remote security access so it makes a mockery of the whole principle. One day i'd like a little part time job, and to do peoples accounts as self employed but i think that's a long way off.