Making the future happen - museumworker's MFW diary Pt 2

[Deleted User]

Fingers crossed for DD , glad things are going well MW and well done MrMW on the job!!
Interested to hear how project 333 is going , I could do with a bit of a wardrobe cull at some point!!

tootallulah

Hi MW, I hope the 11+ went well. I am retiring at the end of March with a lump sum of £100k to pay off a substantial part of the mortgages. I just need a bit of head space to see if what I should do is get a third flat and have a small income from each to add to my pension OR if I should stick with two and aim to become mortgage free on one. The London housing market is SO mad I can't really accept that it will carry on being so inflated and getting a third flat could make me very vulnerable if everything collapses. On the other hand the rental market is very buoyant, and how do most people get on the housing market in London now it is so expensive they have to rent which makes renting out attractive for at least for the next five years or so.

I am looking forward to getting back on the bandwagon in 2014.

museumworker

Hello all, and thanks for the good wishes for DD. Just had the results letter and she has not been offered a place. Overall I feel very positive.
She did very well ranking wise, coming in the top 1/3rd - despite accidentally missing 22 questions in the test. I also had some reservations about the school from the open evening, mainly that it was a bit too elitist for me. The main thing is that she has taken the news very well. We have been on a whirlwind visit of 6 local secondaries and there are a few that we really liked - mainly for their attitude and values rather than their results. Have told her that she should be very proud, as I am of her, and that I really believe she will be successful wherever she goes to school.

Moneywise things are pretty dire, have over £400 to pay back to tax credits from 2008 :eek:! This originally came as a bit of a shock to me, and after ONE YEAR of asking for a breakdown, it has come today. It does look like I owe them the money, and to be honest it was so long ago I have no idea of even how I would go about working out if it was wrong!

We have done some decluttering - under the stairs and under the loft. I can now fit my vacuum under the stairs with no problem, and we had enough under loft space to store some of the bulky baby items that were cluttering the office. The next step is to actually clear the office :eek:!

Project 333 update, as requested: I've not stuck to it fastidiously since the first three months (i.e. I haven't counted how many items are in my wardrobe), however it has definitely had a profound influence on me. I have managed to part with another 10 bags of clothing from under the loft in the last couple of months. These were things that I was keeping, mainly because I felt guilty having spent money on them, and they were 'ok'. I've bought a lot less clothes recently, and when I have I tend to have bought them new, and have made sure that they will make new types of outfits with what is already in my wardrobe. I don't think I could have parted with as much as I have without having experienced project 333. If you're thinking about it, just do it! Would recommend this blog http://recoveringshopaholic.com/ - the writer tried Project 333, and has since written helpful posts on wardrobe management.

greent

Hello mw - hope things are ok with you? x

museumworker

Hi greent, and happy new year to you . Everything is good with me - I have some big news to share with you all which will impact on my financial goals for this year. However, I need to tell a few people in RL first - hope to be back in a couple of days with an update!

greent

oooh - sounds exciting, mw! Look forward to hearing the news in a few days! x

tootallulah

Hi MW how lovely to see you I hope that all is well with you and yours, it sounds interesting.

Alchemilla

It does sound exciting...

museumworker

Hi All

As is traditional (on my diary at least), thought would do summary of 2013

* finished my year's maternity leave (and coped with 3 months half pay and 3 months no pay)
* coped with another 5 months of no sleep!
* got DS to sleep through the night by about 11 months old
* transitioned well to return to work
* successfully negotiated reduction in hours
* settled DS into nursery
* worked with school and councillor and helped improve DDs behaviour
* prepared and sat DD for 11+ (without mentally scarring her!)
* visited 6 local secondaries and made secondary choices
* finished course of mindfulness with health psychologist
* made major advances in using mindfulness techniques and reduced migraines significantly
* decluttered hundreds more things
* did 2 evening courses in Welsh, finished level one Say Something in Welsh, and almost level 2, and completed family welsh cd. Attended 3 family welsh playgroups
* OH landed exciting new job, including promotion and pay rise :j
* set up and ran charity event which raised over £400 for local families in need at Xmas
* reduced wardrobe using project 333 method
* bought OH new (well, 2nd hand, new to him ) bike and worked together to make sure he could get out on it regularly, including cycling weekend away
* celebrated mum's 60th with family weekend away
* celebrated OH's 40th with family holiday to Bruges and Brussels, mass gathering in park, and 2 family dinners
* had week away in farm in West Wales
* had family activity week away, plus a week's camping in Pembrokeshire, including celebrating dear friend's 40th
* family outing to see brother perform in Royal Albert Hall
* paid for root canal work for OH
* OH and I both took parenting classes
* reorganised DD's room
* started giving DD bit more independence - getting herself to/from school
* Summer camp with cadets and autumn camp with school for DD
* went to best hen do EVER and great wedding where gave reading
* saved enough pocket money to pay for hen do and OH to have fancy pants 40th meal at Marcus Wearing
* got boiler fixed
* repaying blinking tax credits debt (:mad:)

* overpaid close to £900 - with normal payments reducing mortgage by £7.5K
* topped up savings to £10k

museumworker

Well, that makes me feel better about my rather woeful OP figure in 2013!

Anyway, rather than numerous resolutions I thought I would choose a focus per month. This month I am focusing on decluttering - specifically clearing our office. It has been the dumping ground for all the bits we don't know what to do with, and is so full of boxes of stuff that we can't even use it. I'm trying to do a bit a day - target has been 7 items, to make it feel more manageable - and so far have 2 bin liners for charity as well as having recycled and thrown out a lot. Currently on about 70 items. Wish me luck as it is really hard stuff to deal with!

In terms of financial targets for the year, OH and I did a budget last night. It is rough and ready, and there were some bones of contention (OH wants a £2k bike :eek:! which we've agreed we'll put £100pm to for the next year or two) but we've got a better idea of finances.
Our OP target for 2013 is now £15,000 :eek::D:j!, or a monthly target of £1250.

This excludes bonus, which will be small this year but hopefully larger next.

This may be one of the few times in coming years we can make such a significant OP - am delighted to announce that we are expecting another baby in July!

Hope you'll join me on this journey - I plan to post more regularly to keep motivated and focused.