Dot's Diary - MFW as part of simplifying my life!

Dot_Common

:hello:

I've been lurking for a while, and everyone seems to agree that having a diary is a great way of keeping on track - so here I am!

I want to work towards being MF as part of trying to get more in control of my life, as things always seem chaotic at the mo. Chaos is inevitable to a degree, with both me and my OH working 4 days a week and having a 5 year old and 2 year old to look after, and having just moved into a house that we've done a lot of work to with more still to be done! But although I don't think we are extravagant we do fritter away money just from a lack of foresight and from not having goals to work towards.

OH is a contractor, and we've just got a picture of the tax he needs to pay, so finally know where we are financially - and can start to set some goals.

Will come back and post some goals shortly - I'm going to track my 'simplify my life' goals as well as having specific MFW goals, as they're all part of the same objective for me.

Lois_E

Hi Dot and welcome to MFW :wave:
Good luck for the journey.

[Deleted User]

Hi Dot and Welcome!!
I think you will find a lot of like minded people on here and wish you luck on your MF journey!
It gets addictive mind you .... :rotfl:

Dot_Common

Goals:

Food - meal planning, batch cooking, and judicious stockpiling of bargains

Decluttering - selling, freecycling, reusing and organising

House - set budget for remaining work, DIY where possible

Gardening - grow my own, especially higher cost perennial crops like fruit bushes (gotta be realistic about my time!)

Help OH maximise income - my salary is fixed, but he can do more hours and bill more - this means me doing more of the family admin and organising stuff

Plan for OPs - we're with First Direct on an offset mortgage, so we'll set up a savings account specifically for OPs so we can track and see progress

Budget for and track spending - use other savings account for planned spends over the year

Low cost family fun - I want to free up head space, energy and time, so that i can do more with my family, but want to do this MSE-stylee.

Will edit this as and when I refine these further! I then want to translate these into weekly 'things to do'.

Dot_Common

And thank you for the welcome! :wave:

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Welcome Dot, I love your username, and share your desire for a simple life. Think how good it will be when it s the start f the month and all of your money is yours!

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi Dot, good luck with your plans.

Meal planning and batch cooking are two of my favourites for saving £.
Grow your own makes a big difference to the weekly spends. As we live on salad in the summer, for the cost of a pack of seeds, we can pick salad for a few weeks vs £1 a day for a bag if salad

Enjoy the journey

Tilly x

Dot_Common

Thanks, Squirrel, it's hard to imagine the day when we don't have to pay the mortgage, but yes, something to look forward to! A closer landmark is a big drop in my childcare bill come September when my youngest starts at preschool - it'll be nice to feel like I'm keeping some of my wages!

Good thought about salad, Tilly, I buy bags of salad and they're not cheap and they go out of date really quickly. I'll have to investigate seed options as ive not grown salad leaves before - I like the idea of cut and grow again.

I've just been in the garden cutting down brambles so that I could get to the old compost bins that the previous owner had left - I had hopes of lovely compost ready to use, but sadly they just have a small amount of not-very-decomposed leaves. Never mind, I have shredded paper and grass cuttings ready to go in. Loving the lighter evenings!

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi Dot, nothing could be easier than growing salads leaves. Salad leaves, rocket, coriander, scatter seeds in a row, two weeks later another, two weeks later another etc etc. will keep you in salad from May to October :T

I probably spend £3 on salad leaf seeds (cut and come again) plus herbs which lasts me a whole summer :j

Maybe I should start OPing the money I would send vs actual cost? If you have any cloches you can grow through to December

Best wishes Tilly x

Dot_Common

Hi Tilly, I have been seed shopping! :j Salad seeds should be on their way, along with a couple of blueberry and strawberry plants. And my dad is staying this week, so can help me with the garden prep, dream deal!

On money goals, the main thing off my to-do list today were my work expenses. I am too slack sometimes doing this, and have effectively thrown money away in the past - no more!

Next job is to clean the extra freezer we inherited with the house - it is grim, but works, and will be perfect for storing extra food in the garage when our more limited freezer space in the kitchen is full up. But it really is grim - a definite marigolds job.

And I have some clothes up for sale on eBay - no bids yet, but the first item has 17 watchers so far with nearly three days to go. Not going to beat my record of 65 watchers I don't think! (for a freestanding kitchen sink unit that sold for crazy money after a bidding war, my best eBay experience ever!)

Dot_Common

Oh, and forgot to say, I got the seeds and plants with 12% cash back on topcashback! Love that site.