My 2020 Vision

Pearla*Merle

Hello X Spender! I've been so slow at getting round everyone and catching up, but at last I'm here! :j

XSpender wrote: »

Hi Pearla don't worry there will be lots more walking stories to bore you with this year:rotfl: Thanks for your words of encouragement I really need to nail it this year with redundancy on the horizon.

I'm right there with you, things are rather up in the air for us as well this year so I'm battening down the hatches as well. Hope all the redundancy meetings etc go ok, glad to hear the number crunching has helped and things are looking like they'll work out ok even if other things come up short. :T

I am in the north east. Where in the north are you based?

I'm in the shire of York. We're quite close to the peak district, and with a possible move with OH's job this year, I'm going to be kicking myself if I don't go and take advantage of what's on my doorstep soon!

XSpender

I am originally from the shire of north york myself, been up here 20 years this year:eek: The great thing about the NE is it's 20 mins to the sea, half an hour into Northumberland or 10 mins into a city. Everything is on our doorstep and we both love the outdoors so try and take advantage of it as much as we can:)

Pearla*Merle

I'm jealous that you're near the sea! I'm actually originally from north of Edinburgh, I'm used to having everything on my doorstep as well (lived by the coast) and this landlocked business is still something I'm not used to, despite being down here 3 years. :eek:

There's so much of the north Yorkshire I've still not investigated, I really must get my skates on with that this year. I keep being promised a Whitby adventure as well but that's never yet materialised!

XSpender

I checked the mortgage balance yesterday and they are now showing the ops I made as a separate pot on the account. This is great for keeping track as it appears I got the figure I had OPd to the mortgage account last year by nearly £300. We did take some Ops back to cover some work on the house and I think I must have got my figures mixed up. Oh well, it is better then nothing and I like the fact that I can see the balance of Ops going up now.

DH is trying to get one of his team to swap shifts with him so he may be off this weekend. If so I think we might take DS swimming on Saturday morning and for a walk to a local NT site on Sunday.

DH cleared the ironing pile last night with no nagging. :j I mentioned how nice it was to get up for work and have something ready to wear in the wardrobe and he offered to do it while watching footie before dinner.

I took the dog out for a fast 40 minute walk but my knee and dodgy back are a bit sore today. Next time I will wear my proper walking shoes not trainers as it was all pavements. I might dust off my bike and do 3 mile flat bike ride at the weekend too. I won’t take the dog though as he would tangle me up and we would both come a cropper.

This time tomorrow I will know what is happening with my job. Don’t know if I am :j or TBH.

XSpender

P*M - Whitby is one of my favourite places on earth :happyhear

XSpender

Today my request for voluntary redundancy was accepted. I will remain employed until at least May which gives me plenty of time to save and think about what I want to do as my new secondment is a fabulous opportunity I am going to throw myself into and learn as much as I can.

DH sent me a great Zig Ziglar quote today 'when you finally let go something better will come along' which kinda sums up exactly how I feel today:)

M&S dine in for a tenner and a day off from Dry January tonight;)

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi Xspender, have a lovely night and enjoy celebrating :T

Tilly x

Pearla*Merle

Brilliant quote And so true!

PS. How handy that you can see your OPs as a separate pot, lovely. :T

XSpender

Hello

I haven't been around much this weekend as I have been having a weekend off from thinking about money following having my redundancy confirmed. I am not upset or worried about it (yet;):rotfl:) and DH has been really supportive. I have told my DM but not DPIL as they wouldn't have a clue really, would ask a million questions about what I am going to do and I dont want to worry them.

I have also been spending some time reading blogs about simplyfying my life. I feel we have started this process over the last couple of years but I want to take the next 6 months to decide what I want out of life and what I want my life to look like. I have this great opportunity and dont want to waste it by diving into a job that I dont enjoy or wont give me what I need when the difference to me working or not working is a drop of about £200 in our disposable income.

I have had a lovely weekend; swimming with DS, a lovely walk using our NT membership with the dawg and a rare trip to the cinema.

I have finally listed my larder cupboard and just have 1 freezer(mainly bread) to list. I am amending my meal plan to limit even further the extr bits I need to get. I am hoping to spend on fruit and dairy only between now and the end of the month.

DH has asked if he can cook on a Saturday night as he made a curry from scratch using the HB curry book he got for christmas and really enjoyed it. It was gorgeous and he didnt need to twist my arm for me to get a day off from cooking!

We are planning a low spend and quiet weekend this weekend. More walking and some batch cooking I think, ready for when I start my new secondment as the hours are meant to be crazy for the first few weeks.

XSpender

I have just spent a little time checking my budgets and adding on the spending from the weekend and it’s looking OK. Could be better but could be a whole lot worse.:)

I still have £34 left in the food budget to last until 31st Jan and don’t need much more than fruit, milk and dairy. I will probably go over but not by much.

Diesel budget is on track; I have £50 left and might be able to come in £10 under budget.

Fun budget is £15 over due to the cinema but nothing planned this weekend and visiting Mum next weekend hopefully so no entertainment spend then either.

I have spent £54.50 that I haven’t budgeted for including waterproofing treatment for our leather walking boots, gaiters, a go out doors membership card, 2 bunches of flowers, a t shirt for DS, the normal wheelie bin cleaning man and £10 on booze for DH as we had last weekend off from dry January.

The above spends will bring my projected savings this month down from £500 to about £440 which is still a huge amount as I usually save/overpay a big fat zero. Most is in the bank but there is some put aside from my cash envelopes when I used the debit card in a jar on the microwave.

I am working on next month’s budget already. It is DH birthday in Feb but as I start my new secondment and will be working crazy hours I am not planning on doing a great deal socially but will keep up the walking and will take DS swimming again. I am also starting aqua aerobics with a friend but I will cover this from my personal spends. I also need to pay to get my furry eyebrows threaded.:eek:

I have found another 2 baby items of DS to sell but I need DH to set it all up on the faceb00k selling page. I don’t do facebore or twiddle.:rotfl:

I am planning to get busy in the kitchen tonight as I will have the oven on making SW oven chips I am going to make a cake and a double batch of chilli. May even stretch to some cookies too.:p

I am off to check out the AGCJ granola recipe newgirly mentioned on her thread as I love granola but GF cereals are sooooo expensive.