A blissful home - mortgage_girl's MF diary

mortgage_girl

Just having a break after an afternoon's worth of gardening and clearing the shed so I thought i'd settle myself down with a cuppa and post a quick update.

I've had a couple of days in the garden, just getting it ready for winter and spreading the compost onto the veggie patches. Amazingly, the outdoor tomato plants still have ripening fruit on them (the ones in the greenhouse are dead!) so i'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll keep going just a little bit longer. I found a stash of potatoes in the compost heap and after my little gardening endeavours I returned to the kitchen with a tub full of jerusalem artichokes, and a handful of tomatoes, peppers, carrots and root parsley - I think i'll be making a pot full of stew later this week!

The chooks are still laying, i've heard that they're supposed to stop at some point due to the days getting shorter but i'm still getting 2 or 3 eggs a day which i'm pleased with I feel a bit sorry for them at the moment as by the time I get home from work they're usually tucked up in their coop so I only get to let them out into the garden on the weekends, but they do have a large run and I have to remember that they have a better quality of life now than they had before.

I was comparing my mortgage spreadsheets the other day and this years overpayments have cut an extra 8 months off my mortgage term so far which i'm over the moon about - i'll definately be keeping up my overpayments next year! I've still been busy ebaying and amazoning so the money i'm making is slowly being drip fed into my overpayment account ready for next year - the big 5k challenge! I just need to keep up the momentum and make sure that I get at least 5 things listed every week. I also need to make sure that i'm cooking from scratch and batch cooking wherever possible as the takeaways have started to creep back in - not because I actually want them but just because I can't be bothered to cook when I get home from work. So I need to start meal planning on a weekly basis again to try and keep my eating habits on track.

Right, I think that's about it for today. Time to go and cook some tea!

MGx

Sepa74

I've still go the odd tomato ripening, and also chillis. Glad the chooks are still laying, but where are you from that you say that? Are you Australian as well?!

CathT

I think seeing your mortgage term come down is the best motivation, keep up the good work!

mortgage_girl

Sepa74 wrote: »

I've still go the odd tomato ripening, and also chillis. Glad the chooks are still laying, but where are you from that you say that? Are you Australian as well?!

Haha no i'm not Australian - I think I maybe watched too much Home and Away when I was younger! Although I do remember my grandparents always calling eggs 'chooky-eggs' so maybe that has something to do with it.

I'm off work with labyrinthitis at the moment so i'm feeling quite sorry for myself as I literally can't do anything without feeling dizzy. I've sold quite a few things on ebay but thankfully my Mum's taking the parcels to the post office today as I was starting to get a bit stressed as to how I was going to get them to people. I sat and did an online shop with Mr A last night so I don't have to worry about going out and getting any shopping - my trip to Mr T's on Saturday was just awful, it felt like everything was moving and I felt so disorientated. I suppose it's just a case of letting it run it's course as there's nothing the docs can give me. It's weird though going from a state of constantly rushing around to one where you can't do anything - especially when you know there's so much that you could be getting on with! I might try and get a few xmas pressies wrapped later, just so that I feel like i've done something.

Ok rant over, I think it's time to go and get dressed.

MGx

sparklystar_2

Hi mortgage girl
hope you are feeling better soon. Just read your diary - your veggie patch sounds impressive! we managed a few tomatoes and spring onions this year, and one strawberry! hope to improve on this next year! my target for OP next year is also £5000.
sparkly star

mortgage_girl

Thanks for your kind words sparklystar - I know what you mean about the one strawberry thing, the birds got most of mine before they'd ripened this year. I'll be more prepared with the netting next year! Good luck on your 2012 op goal

MGx

Sepa74

I had labyrinthitis after a viral infection once. It took a couple of weeks for me to learn to compensate for the damage caused. I don't think it every repairs itself, but your brain is gets better and better at compensating - which is why they say you should try and do as much moving around as you can, so your brain has as much opportunity to learn to adjust as soon as you can.

I found that for a long while after it had cleared up that when I got tired I would feel a little dizzy, but now (7 years later) I have no problems even when I'm really tired.

I love the name of it, labyrinthitis sounds like a very cool thing to have!!

mortgage_girl

Hey Sepa, yeah i think you're right, the doc did say that when you've had it once you're prone to flare-ups, usually after being ill. I had it years ago when I was at uni and I have had mini flare-ups since, but not as bad as this one. It has eased a little but i'm still not good when I leave the house but thankfully it is improving and thankfully it does have a cool sounding name With all this time on my hands i've started a blog about my mortgage free journey, I might add it to my profile page when i'm feeling a bit braver.

mortgage_girl

I'm feeling a bit more human today, thank goodness. I've done a load of washing and have a big batch of chilli simmering away in the slow cooker. I think i'm going to get snuggled up on the sofa this afternoon and write my xmas cards and that'll be another job I can tick off my list before I go back to work.

I've still been decluttering and selling my extra bits and pieces and so far i've made about £130. Not quite as close to my £500 target as i'd like to be but I am expecting £50 to hit my account sometime over the next few weeks from some survey payouts. In the meantime i'll carry on decluttering whatever I can and keep heading towards my target.

I've also been playing around with my mortgage spreadsheet and have discovered that my dream of being mortgage free by the time i'm 35 may still have a glimmer of hope. If I want to achieve this i'll have to make overpayments of £900 per month. My monthly savings and current overpayments add up to about £450 so that means there's another £450 to find. It's still a lot but if I make some tweaks to my budget I may be able to get a bit closer to it, it's definately worth a shot.

Right time to write some cards. Have a good Monday everyone

MGx

icontinuetodream

Hi MG...:wave: thanks for dropping by my diary....just caught up with yours....definately an inspiration

I am aiming to pay off £3600 next year....but considering joining the 5k challenge now....:whistle::D