museumworker's quest to consign mortgage to history!

museumworker

Right, have decluttered DD's room for over 2 hours now - exhausted!! have a large box of toys to go to charity, things in the recycling and stuff for the bin.... will estimate about 50 things in total! Have one box of stuff I couldn't face sorting, three more toy boxes and under the bed to do, so one more day on that and it will be sorted :j Her behaviour has improved, and OH apologised. Shop came to £50 :eek:, but included a mop and some ridiculously expensive eye makeup remover wipes (champneys - £4 :eek:, never get a man to buy eye make up remover, I would have been happy with a bottle for £1.50 from Lidl!)

Hung one washload, and another in the machine. Need to get dressed now!

[Deleted User]

mw..I hear you on men and shopping!!
glad your day is getting marginally less stressful with OH and DD and both are now behaving themselves!
hope you have a relaxing eve...when do you get to pick up your new clothes?
tyo

museumworker

eye make up remover now returned, a £2.20 bottle bought instead! Just had lovely meal at friend's house, two friends from masters are living together, and another came over too. Lovely place, great food, and I don't get enough time to see them all so was great to catch up. Took a bottle of wine at just under a fiver, and some red roses from the front garden tied with ribbon from DD's clear out today

Another 20 things put in charity box, and about another 40 pieces of paper recycled or shredded this afternoon. Am exhausted! Takes me to about 110 for the day :j - although am not feeling very jumpy about it, I'm finding it physically and mentally exhausting and am ready to give up . Did enter 10 + comps today though.

tyo - shopping date tbc, am hoping I can get a day off this Friday, but need to clear it with work on Tuesday *fingers crossed*

museumworker

Had nice lie-in today , and have done the shred this morning :j, although feel a bit queasy after so having a 20 minute sit down before getting on with the rest of the day!

It is just over a month til my birthday, and I've hardly exercised recently due to holiday and infection, so the plan is to do the shred for 30 days in a row. I have now done 1/30 :j. Will amend signature to add.

OH is going to friends engagement drinks this afternoon/evening, I have been invited too but as is on other side of London would take about 3-4 hours to get there and back :eek:! And have DD, so wouldn't stay more than about 90 mins or so (don't want her getting too used to bars at her age ). Feel like have a lot of catching up to do at home as our house is littered with unpacked cases, boxes, piles of books...:eek:. I am also working tomorrow, giving a talk on a new subject at an open weekend at another museum. Have done the powerpoint, but need to firm up what I am going to say. Am looking forward to it as it is one of my favourite subjects, but want to be fully prepared.

Today I need to

• [STRIKE]finish writing my talk I am giving tomorrow (1 - 1 1/2 hours)[/STRIKE] done :j
• [STRIKE]finish tidying dd's room (1 hour)[/STRIKE] done, but no cigar
• t[STRIKE]ackle boxes in spare room (1 hour)[/STRIKE] done!
• [STRIKE]take dd to park (45 minutes)[/STRIKE] well, about five:o
• get dd to write some of holiday diary sigh
• put away clean laundry (30 mins) oops
• [STRIKE]enter 10+ comps (25 mins[/STRIKE])
• [STRIKE]one more washload (15 mins)[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]eta: feed neighbour's cat!![/STRIKE] done

Lots more I'd like to do - pop in on friend round the corner, unpack case, catch up on surveys, put more books on RISI, take box of toys to charity shop... but don't think I can fit it in to one meagre day!!

museumworker

Quick afternoon update - have tackled boxes in back room with OH. Managed to get down from 9 to 3 boxes :j, packed up almost all my too small clothes to charity as realised even if did lose weight would probably not wear them again anyway! One box was already meant to have been given to charity ages ago , and another box had a load of videos which we haven't missed for the last 2 years. Lots put in recycling, shredded, and binned. Didn't count exactly, but was about 35 videos, 25 items of clothes, and lots for recycling - will count as about 20 items, probably more, but will total as 80 today. Have driven them over to the charity shop - three large boxes and a bag of clothes.

Bed turned and stripped, one load hung out and mattress on cover washed too.

OH just shown me the Victoria Plumb website as an option for the fittings for the en suite in the loft conversion - seems very reasonable and nice enough stuff - any readers here ever used them? Looking at about £700 for shower, enclosure, tray, sink, toilet and waste, VAT and delivery, which is about £700 cheaper than bathstore were looking!

Now plan to do an hour in DD's room to finish that off. She has been an angel today, is reading the lemony snickets at the moment so seems quite happy getting enough time and space to do so!

museumworker

Close but no cigar on DD's room - did about 1 hr 20 minutes, but STILL a little left to sort... lots of old pictures recycled, bits of plastic old toys chucked out, and some more fancy dress items passed on - am going to estimate at another 30 items. Needs a final hour, although given am giving a talk tomorrow, doubt it will be then!

Popped round to see friend round the corner, dd played with excitable kitten, we had homemade cake (yum), caught up with another friend who was over. DD went on bike, and we stopped in the park on the way back (but only for 5 minutes, bad mum ).

Have entered 10+ comps, and remembered to feed neighbour's cat , dinner was lidl salmon, red skinned potatoes from the allotment, and peas.

Have to start on talk, am feeling a bit nervous now!! Wish me luck...

[Deleted User]

good luck!!! am sure you will do great!!
all you are achieving with the clearing etc is making me feel exhausted just reading about it....;)

museumworker

thanks for the good wishes - I'm sure it'll be fine . The sorting is definitely making me feel exhausted too! It is amazing how much you can accumulate in life. My biggest weakness is paperwork, I have no idea what to do with it so just leave it in a box! But now loft is due to imminently start, am due to get rid of as much as possible as no stashing places left for them! And with DD growing up, she has grown out of lots of stuff. Her room feels so much lighter now though.

Right, have got up at decent hour, and done day 2 of the shred :j. About to get up rest of the family and have breakfast, shower and then set off for talk! Only other things I want to do today are 10+ comps, and tackle putting away clean laundry with OH when get back. Have a good bank holiday everyone!

Lula-Hula

Hello you,

just wanted to say that I've read through all your achievements on this thread & you are such an inspiration. I'm so determined to make the leap from DFW over to here & start a Savings Quest of my own. Expect me some time around May next year

I'll keep lurking until then

xx

museumworker

Aw thanks Lula Hula, feel a bit taking such compliments from another member of the MFW royalty! Look forward to seeing you on your Savings Quest soon - to rip off that diet phrase 'nothing tastes as good as debt free feels' :rotfl:.

To be honest, I often feel like I'm not achieving much, so have to remind myself that it is the little things that accumulate. Hopefully this diary will help me to recognise what I do.

Been paid today :j thank goodness, was very close to the bone this weekend! Didn't spend anything on Sunday or Monday though, so made it through. Talk went well yesterday, lots of good feedback , which is a relief as I was quite nervous! I can pay £200 into savings straight away - then OH gets paid on Friday too, so more will go in then .

Not sure if I've explained how it works, but OH and I both get 'pocket money' each month in our personal account to spend as we wish, with no comment from the other. Meant for pub trips, discretionary spends etc. The rest goes into the joint account. We need about £1k there a month to cover our expenses :eek:, anything left over at end of month goes into savings. We also need just over £1,100 pm in the mortgage account. Any overs go into the savings account at beginning of month. That is probably clear as muck, but there we go! :rotfl:

Bit of a funny day, my first back in the office after 2 weeks . DD had to come in with me as ran out of childcare options (no holiday scheme at school this week). Found it really stressful, DD is back to being snappy and rude to me, getting up early (normal time!) wore me out, and I felt like crying most of the afternoon. Sometimes I am so short with her I feel like a terrible person. . I just wish she'd listen and not answer back all the time.

On a more positive note, have done day 3 of the Shred :j

ps I love your diary too, and the nicknames you give the people in your life. Wish I could think of such good ones for people, did try but gave up!

pps keep up the clothes challenge, it is genius!!!