Sepa seeks freedom

Sepa74

Hi SmlSve,

My strawberry plants were babies last year, so hopefully they will be a bit more productive this year, and then if your experience holds for my plants too they should be good for another 3 years or so.

I should probably have said the presents came from Australia! Because Oz is out of the European Union, you have to pay VAT on anything that has a value of over £36 if it's couriered. If it comes through the mail the rules are different, but because the mail is so unreliable (at Australia's end, not here), mum has had to resort to couriering things, and I always get stung with a VAT bill a couple of days after the pressies arrive!

I had a fairly good day today. I worked from home, and the only thing I bought was some milk because I ran out, and I NEED my tea! But I went for two walks today and managed to resist lots of temptation:

I DIDN'T buy a pain au chocolat and a coffee for breakfast from the coffee shop down the road
I DIDN'T buy a gingerbread man from the bakers when I went to get the milk
I DIDN'T use the 40p change from the milk to buy any chocolate
I DIDN'T go to the greengrocers and buy anything for dinner, having resolved to use up what was in my fridge instead and go shopping tomorrow. I also resisted the tempation to buy some bulbs which have just arrived at the greengrocers, which also doubles as a flower/garden shop.

Aren't I good!

I did eat rather a lot today, however, always a major danger when working at home. I also made a cappucino for myself with real frothed milk and espresso coffee, the way Italians make it. It was GOOD!!!

The flat above me has a history of leaks, and I'm terribly worried that another leak has formed above the bathroom. The ceiling has started peeling and staining and there is a lot of mould. I had a very bad leak in the kitchen over a year ago, and I claimed on insurance for it after the housing association who manages the flat repaired the leak. But if it's back I might not get any insurance again. The housing association are also very unresponsive to these sorts of problems. I had to get my lawyer involve last time <sigh>.

Luckily this has all happened before I renovate the bathroom and kitchen, not after, but it does mean I need to get the leak sorted soon otherwise I can't get started.

One other piece of good news today is that my garage purchase has completed and I should get the keys either tomorrow or Monday! Hooray. I can now get a quote to repair the roof, and then start saving money by buying kitchen and bathroom appliances when on special and storing them in the garage in preparation for when the work starts.

Life is very complicated, but taking it in chunks does help!

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

Sepa74 wrote: »

Does anyone have any other suggestions of things I could try out in my little garden?

I have only put two things into my garden so far. The corriander died instantly and the basil was eaten by slugs in about two days...:(

Sepa74

He he, that's funny, I've just read through your diary... and just posted a long post. We seem to have a fairly similar background and lifestyle, so I'm looking forward to following your diary.

Sepa74

I have been very good this weekend. I was up early enough to do a yoga class at nine, and then walked to my opticians appointment (25 mins there and back). I picked up a pair of reading glasses at the Heart Foundation for £2.50 AND managed to resist buying any second hand books. I only had one treat yesterday, my regular Saturday morning gingerbread man, which is allowed!

In the afternoon I caught up on paperwork, which is a long overdue chore - some of that stuff had been sitting there since October! Most of it was just filing, but I did have several bills to pay, subscriptions to cancel etc.

This morning I went to a spin class, and have just waxed my legs and underarms, and washed my hair. I am now exhausted!!!! If I have any mental energy this afternoon I might start trying to write the next article I promised.

So where has all this energy come from? I think a big part of it is not having to do the cleaning. If I'd not had the cleaner in earlier this week I would have spent a lot of the weekend psyching myself up to doing it, and I probably wouldn't have made it to the spin class this morning.

Given that the gym is £30pcm, it's important I make use of the membership. In order to get value out of the gym, my goal is to get to 6 classes a month - I've done 4 so far in January, so that's not too bad.

So on balance, I think paying for someone else to do the cleaning has definitely paid off this weekend in terms of increased productivity, which is important because if I don't do my books myself I have to pay someone else to do them, which will cost me money.

So I will forthwith stop feeling bad about it! At least this week

Sorry my diary is so boring! And my lifestyle probably feels quite self-indulgent to a lot of people who are struggling to manage, particularly if they have kids. It is definitely the lifestyle of a single woman with a stressful job that takes up a lot of the mental and emotional space that would be taken up by kids if I had a family. But unfortunately I didn't meet anyone when I was in my 20s and early 30s, and am still struggling now (just in the process of splitting up from another boyfriend, unfortunately) so that door is nearly shut to me. In some ways I'm sad about it, but in others I'm not - I really enjoy my life on the whole, and will even more when I'm mortgage free!

Radish72

Hi Sepa

I'm telling myself that being on here whilst the dishwasher and washing machine are on, still counts as doing housework. If having a cleaner leaves you stress free to concentrate on other things that make your more money and happier, then go for it. I paid a decorator, when I could have done it myself, but he did it in the week whilst I was at work, where as I would have taken many weekends and got stressed about the mess whilst it was being done, so to me the benefits outweighed the costs

I need to file, think I might go back earlier than you :eek: but its all in once place so I sort of know where it is. Went through all catalogs and chucked all the old ones in the recycle, so a bit done

Sepa74

lol... yes, my recycling bin is very full after yesterdays effort too.

Probably ex-boyfriend is on his way round, and we're going for a walk... I need to go and get changed and begin my 'I will not jump into bed with him' mantra. :eek:

Sepa74

Got my annual mortgage statement today. The headline amount is down to £140K, and if I add in my OPs it comes down to £139,180 - it's so low because I've made allowance for the repair of the roof of my new garage which will cost £1200.

Hooray! I have about £12K in savings sitting in an offset saving account, so I'm only paying interest on £126K, which is fantastic!

So the time to payoff is now 29yrs and 9 months if I continue my current payments.

It's exciting getting a new mortgage statement

Radish72

Sepa74 wrote: »

Got my annual mortgage statement today.

It's exciting getting a new mortgage statement

Yep you are definitely 100% hooked to MFW :rotfl:

Sepa74

lol... yes, although I have always been pretty careful about calculating the mortgage balance and checking how much I have spent or saved each month. The difference now is that I'm not doing it alone!

I've been pretty good this week. All workdays were NSPs except Thursday, when I went to the dentist and treated myself to a coffee and croisant.

I have just realised how wrong that is! Treating myself with a sugary, fatty breakfast the day I went to the dentist. How funny!

I was expecting to have to buy my lunch yesterday, but ended up being so busy with back to back meetings that I didn't get to eat anything until 4pm. Fortunately one of my colleagues let me have one of his leftover pitta breads which I toasted and had with butter, as my blood sugar level was pretty low!

But being so busy you don't get a lunch break is one way to keep costs down!

I had a new fold up dining table delivered today, along with some coffee tables and some bar stools. It's hard work unpacking things on your own, especially tidying up afterwards - I usually peel the tape off the boxes and fold them up so they can go in the recycling bin, which a takes a bit of strength.

I'm off to do my saturday morning shop now, and then I need to make lunch for Monday - it's my turn to cook, and I'm busy tomorrow.

julliff

Hi Sepa

Just read your diary.

Love the gardening stuff - I wish I could get myself organised to grow fruits/veg. Every year I say I will,but never get around to it.

Re the company. Each month I transfer all my tax money into a seperate business saving account. That way, I'm never tempted to think of it as money I can use, and it gives a clearer picture of what is actually in the company. Do you have an accountant? My accountant sends me a monthly statement showing what my tax liabilities are for the month. I pay a fixed fee, but it is money well spent.