Trying to make my dreams a reality!!

icontinuetodream

Peonie wrote: »

Congratulations on the new job and I'm sorry to hear your DH and DD lost theirs too. To take the pressure off you could you have a word with DD about her and the bf staying vat his more often?

Thanks Peonie In all honesty, they are only here a couple of days a week and the rest of the time they are either at his house or out with friends so I shouldn't complain really....it's just that because her hours have been reduced (and will probably stop very soon) she has stopped paying any rent- coupled with my lack of income it has been a bit of an annoyance that she a) didn't tell me that she wasn't going to pay any rent and b) that she has the expectation that I will still feed and house her bf a couple of days a week regardless!!

It's my own fault though....historically, I have always made enough food to feed the five thousand at every meal, so her understanding is that nothing has changed. But, in the past few months I have made a real effort to reduce what I make or to freeze proper sized portions for later meals and having someone who has such a massive appetite suddenly descending upon the household has thrown me off my game!! Not to worry though....I will get used to it again soon!!:D

I am feeling really rubbish today....it appears that ds and I have some sort of bug which means that we have nausea, aches and are lurching between feeling like the heat of the sun and the cold of the arctic every few minutes!:( On the plus side, I will be staying in bed all day so won't need any heating on....negative side, puppy is not going to be impressed with the lack of walkies today!!:o Oh well, at least she will enjoy her bed slobbing!!:D

It looks like I have about two weeks before I start the new job...yesterday I cleaned the house from top to bottom, decided on the meal plans for the next two weeks (pretty much all from the freezer so minimal cooking required) and dinner is already sorted for tonight, so all I have to do now is keep the house in decent condition and enjoy my last couple of weeks of holiday!!:D

Once I feel better....that's exactly what I intend to do!!:rotfl:

icontinuetodream

Still feel like poo so decided to cheer myself up by paying an extra £380 off the mortgage!! :D

Now that I know that I will have an income again soon, I am going to start shifting cash to it as much as possible....I have been slightly reluctant to pay off what I have 'surplus' just in case something happens and I don't have the cash to deal with it No real reason why, we have emergency funds, but psychologically it has felt much better just having it as a 'float' - the brain is a bizarre thing!!;)

I know that my income is going to be half of what it was previously, but I am pretty certain that I can still hit my targets and get this mortgage down to the 10k level by the end of 2015 as intended....it will take a lot more work than previously, but being made redundant (however welcome it was) has really impressed upon me the urgency of getting rid of this debt burden....I may have less coming in, but I have learnt how to make it go a great deal further and also where I tend to haemorrhage cash too so if nothing else, I am richer in self-knowledge!! :rotfl:

Food wise, I am still keeping to the £15 per week and the stocks are slowly but surely diminishing....dd's boyfriend arrived with a couple of bottles of wine for me last night which was really sweet of him....shame I don't feel well enough to drink them yet, but it will be nice to have at the weekend!

I cooked Sardinian lamb on Sunday night, I didn't start it till really late in the afternoon though so it wasn't done until about 10pm!!:eek: We had a roast on Monday, the sauce with pasta, salad and a hm focaccia last night and will have a curry with the remainder tonight....nomnom!!

Tomorrow, I am going to prepare the 10kg sack of onions I have bought and put them in the freezer and I will also have to re-do my food inventory as it seems to have completely disappeared!!:mad: Honestly, how can you lose four stapled sheets of A4 paper??? No-one will admit to throwing it out so I have no idea what has happened to it.....it probably got put onto a pile which has since been recycled but it really is annoying!

I intend to spend the rest of today watching rubbish on the tv and having puppy cuddles on the sofa....not exactly the most exciting 'holiday' but at least I am happy and cozy!!:D

littlegreenpeas

Sorry your not feeling well. Fingers crossed you will be tip top again soon.:D £15 a week is amazing, do you have lots of stocks of food ? Lgp x

mortgage_girl

Hello! :wave: Just thought i'd stop by and see how you were doing - I don't seem to have been on the boards for a while. Fantastic news about the job, it sounds like you'll enjoy it much more than your previous one.:T Sorry to hear about DD's job and that you're feeling like poop - hope you feel better soon. It sounds like the gremlins have run off with your food inventory - pesky things!

Puppy cuddles and rubbish tv sound like a perfect way to spend a holiday - enjoy!

MGx

icontinuetodream

littlegreenpeas wrote: »

Sorry your not feeling well. Fingers crossed you will be tip top again soon.:D £15 a week is amazing, do you have lots of stocks of food ? Lgp x

Feeling lots better now thanks LGP

I do have enormous food supplies which I have pledged to use up prior to buying more stuff (have cheated slightly though as had only one tin of tomatoes left in the cupboard and went into a hyperventilation mode about it!!:o Suffice to say, I now have 16 tins and feel a lot better!;)) All I have had to buy so far is milk, cheese, cereal, fruit and veg....long may it continue!!:D

I have a very expensive weekend coming up now....dh and I are going out to our favourite restaurant on Friday, staying in a hotel overnight and will go out to do something and have lunch on Saturday too!!:eek:The hotel and breakfast have already been paid for though...the rest will be expensive but despite the fact that I know we will spend a fortune, we are celebrating our anniversary and haven't done so for a number of years and I feel that it's about time that we went out, to hell with the cost, and just enjoy a total 'us' weekend!!:D

I am starting my new job on Monday....I am looking forward to it very much and have purchased a cycle to use to get there and back!! The job is only a few miles away from my home and the novelty of this hasn't worn off (although a few days with the weather the way it is at the moment may remove the shine quickly!!)... the idea that I can commute for free after normally having to do a minimum of 250 miles per week to a maximum of 1000 is a bizarre one for me!!

The plan is to help myself get fit and also to ensure that I can be available if alternative shifts come up while dh has the car...unfortunately, it won't save me any money as dh still has to do the mileage, but it will be good for me to have some type of transport other my feet!! It also means that I can use it to grab the puppy when the weather is poo and give her a good run!! Total win-win situation!!:D

I have spent the day reconciling my budgets and available cash..:shocked: not a good thing to do really!!! The last few weeks I have had quite a bit to pay out for....needed work doing on the car and new tyres, have had to pay out for car insurance, heating oil and two very expensive (but very enjoyable!) nights out along with a variety of other expenditure that I wasn't necessarily expecting:eek:

I was hoping to have a bit of my redundancy money left over when I re-started work - it just hasn't worked out like that at all....despite having enough put by already to pay the car stuff and heating oil, I have spent a lot more on things that I wasn't expecting to since I left - particularly over the past few weeks. On the plus side though....I have managed to pay off £770 from the mortgage this month so far, I have no debt on my cc anymore and I still have a few quid in the bank to see me through until my first pay day....

Upshot is, I need to rein it in....quickly!! After our foray this weekend, it really has to be battens up and all hands to the deck....ds has offered to help as I have a list of jobs that need doing to enable me to put all my plans into place; the only problem with this is also making sure that dh is on hand as some of the work includes stuff that I don't have the height to help with!!

So, my list which needs to be completed by Monday 17th Feb:

1. Clean house (booked in for tomorrow!!;))
2. Move wooden box in garden to allow use of the washing line
3. Do food inventory
4. Clean out greenhouse
5. Move greenhouse
6. Dig three trenches in garden
7. Sweep leaves into trench
8. Plant 'leftover' bulbs (won't get flowers this year but will work next!!)
9. Rack wine
10. Start off other wines

I intend to do 1-3 by the end of this weekend and as long as the weather is okay, the garden stuff (4-8) should be done next weekend....during next week, I will start the wine....I am thinking that if this works out, I may start giving myself a 10 things to do a week challenge!!;)

Anyhoo...this has been a bit of a ramble....you can tell when I haven't been on for a while!!:rotfl:

icontinuetodream

Found £9 leftover from the budget today so have paid it towards the mortgage!! I am oh so virtuous!! :AHopefully, this will be the first of many 'tillytidies' that happen over the next few months....I am back on the wagon!!;)

I will be sub 40k within the next two months so that is what I am working towards at the moment as my mini-milestone!!:D

Yesterday's foray into budgets etc has propelled me to think about my long term aims again - it has also made me take a really honest look at our finances and be brutal about what is and isn't achievable (hence the mega long post warning!!)

My main thing is that I want a totally debt free existence. That is the ultimate point of safety for me - when the champagne will flow and the bells will ring!! I don't want to get past my 50th birthday without knowing this feeling so I have four and a half years in which to achieve this.

It's not only my mortgage, but all my interest free (for life) loans that I currently have. My mortgage is obviously the most important to clear first due to the cost of servicing the debt. If I shed this within the next three years, I can clear the rest within the remaining 18 month period.

Potentially, if my new job works out, all of this has to be done while I am working in a very low paid job - I could look for alternative better paid employment but my satisfaction level needs to be high, I have no intention of doing something I don't like anymore......

Living in a frugal manner by changing my behaviour patterns and working with what I have will enable me to do this and also have the peace and serenity that I constantly crave too....I love spending my free time at home so I have little need to do anything which costs money....I know that better planning and a bit of routine in my life will make things a lot easier for me - I always seem to start well and then fritter the momentum away...However, I am very fortunate that I still have this opportunity to get to my safety point at a relatively young age (no sarcasm please!!;)) and I don't want to squander it!!

My to do list is now on the fridge....a not so subtle hint!!...and I have started on the stock inventory along with a two week meal plan....

I was going to spend Saturday afternoon having lunch out with dh but thought that it would be cheaper and nicer to come home, potter in the garden for the afternoon and get a nice bottle of wine and a couple of decent steaks to eat in later ds has started digging the trenches for the leaves, so now I will be getting out there on Saturday afternoon to get the leaves sorted and the bulbs planted!! I am also sowing my sweet peas and tomatoes this weekend and potting on my salad plants...yay!!!:T:T:T

My other plan for the weekend is to sort out the sack of onions that I have....I need to chop and slice them, then dehydrate some and freeze the others....I may do the same with the remaining celery that I have and a few carrots, potatoes and herbs, then dehydrate the lot and crush it all for hm veg stock..nomnom!!:D I also intend to use my washing line for the first time....no more messing!!

icontinuetodream

Had a fab night out with dh for anniversary but I have done nothing this weekend....far too hung over to cope with anything other than slobbing on the sofa!!:o

On the good news front, when I came home yesterday, I had my mortgage statement waiting for me!!:j In the past year, I have knocked 4 years off my mortgage term!!:T:T:T I can't begin to tell you how lovely that was to find out....it also means that when my 'new' year starts on my mortgage in March, my normal payments go down by £100 I am very much looking forward to hitting the sub 36k mark this year....mentally, that's the target point for me and I think that we can get to this within the next six months or possibly before

New job starts tomorrow.....I am looking forward to it but went on my new bike to get the feel for it today and it almost killed me!!!!:o Honestly, I was only on it for five minutes and I felt like I was going to die!!! I cannot believe how unfit I am.....I have known for ages that my fitness levels were poo but this has shocked me beyond comprehension.....I'm glad that I have found out now, but I am totally stunned by how shoddy I have become.....I feel incredibly ashamed of it - I used to be mega fit, extremely healthy and could do pretty much anything physical without a second thought....a few years later and I have the stamina of a frail 93 year old and the energy of a corpse!!:eek:

Getting something done about this is absolutely essential....I have to get my head around how I can improve it, I know its going to be a long hard slog but I have to start now before it becomes impossible.....honestly, I feel totally shell-shocked I am going to have a long think about what I need to do to get myself back to where I need to be and make sure that I fit that in to my daily routine.....paying off a mortgage is so much easier!!:o:rotfl:

icontinuetodream

I am, once again, unemployed!!:o I did two shifts at the new job and decided that it really isn't the right thing for me to do....I can't use my skills and I can't connect with the client group so I have decided to cut my losses and not waste anymore of their time or mine......back in job hunting mode now!;)

On the plus side, I have got everything under control financially and I am not worried about the immediate future as far as that is concerned...of course, it will take longer for the mortgage, but I will hopefully land a job which is better paid (not difficult as the job was close to NMW) pretty soon and will make up the losses.

As far as my health is concerned, this is the golden opportunity for me to make a difference - I will walk my dog as usual and tomorrow I will start to exercise daily on top of that - just 15 -20 mins on either my bike or the wii to get my fitness levels up....if I improve my diet a bit too, I should be in much better shape in a reasonably short period!!:D

Plans for today....I think that I will just have a day of getting myself straight, cooking dinner (from the fridge/freezer/cupboards - beef casserole with dumplings:D) and having a general laze around ready to start again tomorrow!! Its always interesting here!!:rotfl:

icontinuetodream

feeling weird today

I don't know what is the matter with me but can't seem to get motivated to do anything- I should be sorting the house etc but just cannot be bothered and will probably spend the day watching dvds.....

I also feel a bit strange about giving up the job - mainly because I am worried that it will take ages to find something else and I now know that one of the 'fallback' avenues of employment is not realistic anymore- and I am getting a bit concerned about the lack of income.

All the work and money stuff is stupid....I am not in trouble financially, I can happily keep our heads above water without too much effort and I am highly employable so I know that I will find another job reasonably soon.....despite all of this knowledge, I still worry about it and I don't know why I do this to myself Grumpy sheep day today!!! ;)

I am going to try to have a really nice weekend....we have had some hectic ones recently with our anniversary, dh helping out a friend and several nights out for various reasons.....it will be nice to have a full weekend together at home together for over a month!!:D

Anyhoo....hope you all have a great day

Beckyy

Hope your day brightens up a little bit :A