The march to financial freedom

Ali-OK

Thanks so much to you all your good wishes and support, makes me feel quite emotional that you care like you do. Thank you.

Today, the GP did quite a few tests and is referring me to a Neurologist for MRI scans of the head and spine. When the symptoms are split pre-panic attacks first, it is thought I am exhibiting MS - especially when I get stressed with racing around and doing too much. The panic attacks then come on due to the visual problems with focussing as I drive faster. Post PAs, the symptoms are worse MS ones and I have to rest up for them to reduce.

That's a cycle I can relate to and their theory anyway and a quick appointment has been asked for due to the length of time it's been going on for (some symptoms go back 18 months when it first started and others I had put down to menopause). If not MS, then at least the MRI will show anything else neuro and probably musco-skeletal too so can rule out or in the key areas of concern.

I've been prescribed beta-blockers to take just as and when I need them, ie. before driving on faster roads. It's likely as the visual symptoms recede (but not disappear as they've been with me since March), I'll be able to get back on dual carriageways ok and the BBs will stop the PAs building to an ongoing fear, as I'm not exhibiting ongoing anxiety or mental health problems. I don't feel down, can sleep well and am eating well.

I had a really lovely afternoon with having lunch with an amazing, supportive and close friend who I shared the news with - that cost £10 and worth every penny - 3 hrs long. . We had a good laugh, a good catch up and just an all round fab time. She is my real life rock at the end of texts, phone and in person any time, any day and has travelled this horrible health journey with me since the beginning.

I also bought a casual winter coat for £26.25 - 25% off. My old one is really bad. So it was a spendy day, but the budget can cope and it'll last hopefully 3 years.

I've not really done much on the computer recently, the visual problems are stopping me and I've had to prioritise work stuff. Hopefully as things improve I'll do more.

Financials then:
- bank account checked as nothing will stop that - too ingrained from 8 years of doing it daily :rotfl:
- freepostcodelottery checked - as I live in hope :rotfl:
- Nectar card value - at £114.58
- Adpoints, Canvass and Search - no advance this week at all
- Inbox Pounds - small stuff and up at £14.83
- Qmee - 11p in the new pot

Brogden - thank you for popping out of the woodwork too . Very brave reading my rinse and repeat ramblings! :rotfl:

My mortgage is interest only and I had to take the bull by the horns and start getting some capital paid off this year if I was ever going to get close to paying it off on time. I realised I was leaking probably £250 a month last year and saving up to £500 a month to create my emergency fund, so this year the idea was stopping the leakage, earning little bits to help the debt get paid off and downloading the spreadsheet from the MFiT original challenge and plugging in some figures and setting small goals to reduce the capital.

It is daunting and exciting in equal measure. Some big things - selling the sports car got me debt neutral, taking on the office with a larger emergency fund due to that and son being old enough to have a key and me work longer hours is increasing my nett income by 50% at the moment. That's enabling me to get some jobs done at home without adding to debt, with DIY family/friends using their skills in a trade off for roast dinners and cakes

It's a all a tight-rope walk though, a wobble and fall one way or another could see it all go badly wrong. Health could be a show stopper, but I'm a doer, a trier, a resilient and stubborn independent fighter, so even if I have to rest, I'll find a way to keep work going and the bills paid. Debt freedom isn't far away, the mortgage, well if I have to slow down OPs in order to live on a reduced income if I'm unwell, then it's still doable. I'm comfortable with that.

Ali-OK

Evening Diary,

Further improvements to health today which is good news, however I've made the decision to pull out of the course I was due to start next week (part time for a year). Fortunately, both the college and membership organisation have agreed to refund the fees in full, so they'll be £473 coming back to me soon hopefully. I've enough on my plate with the office and business growth and health for now.

Did the food shop tonight and spent £22.42, not too bad as includes items for guests as having a bit of a gathering for DS's birthday. I've stocked up on meat as need to make a batch of chilli and bolognaise, plus having roasted chicken, there's enough left over to make a curry tomorrow and possibly an extra portion to freeze from that. We should be good for main meals for quite a while, but I need to do a freezer inventory again at some point as it's gone a bit AWOL. Conscious the food bills have been creeping up and want to get those back down to below £20 a week again.

Financials - done a bit more today
- bank account checked
- freepostcodelottery checked
- Nectar adpoints - the bonus 12 prompted me to do all those and am on 25 points
- Nectar Search - up to 55/100
- Nectar card - still at £114.58
- Inbox Pounds - up a little at £14.89
- Qmee - nothing to add, still 11p in the pot

Tomorrow I've booked an eyebrow thread for lunchtime, with billable work in the morning and admin in the afternoon to wrap up the week.

Got a list of jobs at home to do, but not enough time again. Even the priority stuff is late now :eek: . C'est la vie.

Early night and early start tomorrow - our nice neighbours are moving house, so need to be gone before the removals van blocks me in!

supersaver1000

Hi Ali

Shame about the course, but better than making yourself ill. Besides you can start it anytime.

Glad to hear your health improving a little. And I am so in awe at your organisation. I need to get myself back in the groove with that. :rotfl:

Glad to hear you are feeling comfortable with finances. Its really great to hear someone say that. I've got a couple of biggish expenses that may have to come out of my safety fund, but it will give me the incentive to get out there and earn it back again.

I have a plan for next week to get my act together career wise. At least to try and work out the direction and stop floundering and get a plan together.

Your food bills under £20 sound fab. I need to get back on top of mine again too. I bought a few bits of fruit this week - some frozen as well and I also bought some frozen cherries for £2 plus some white chocolate for a white chocolate and cherry loaf. Bit naughty really but I enjoy my baking so hopefully we will all enjoy eating it too.

Take care Ali, have a great weekend and will catch up soon. SS x

beanielou

Takelots of care of you xx

Ali-OK

SS - yes it's ashame about the course, but the right thing to do for now. I like being organised, perhaps a working through the list day on Sunday will help me clear the backlog of 'overdue things to do'

Ahh, thank goodness it's Friday. Have paced myself today and still managed to get plenty done without rushing around. All the washing is done and though warm and dry and I hung out, I ended up putting the towels in the tumble dryer to finish. I hope my washing machine isn't on it's way out as everything seemed so wet even on 1400 spin speed.

I've done some tidying up, some housework and a bit of ironing too - our guests will have to take us as they find us tomorrow - that is a first for me, I usually like things spick and span, but just can't worry/rush/do things quicker at the moment. Kitchen is clear though now - was using clean stuff directly out of the dishwasher and dirty dishes were piling up on the side :eek:. All sorted now.

Business banking, admin and accounts all done and up to date.

Spends today - limited to £3 for eyebrow thread.

Financials:
- bank account checked
- freepostcodelottery checked
- Nectar adpoints checked - nothing to do, still on 25 pts
- Nectar search up to 75/100
- Nectar card up a tad to £114.66
- Inbox Pounds - up a tad to £14.96
- Qmee - nothing new, still 11p in the pot

The change bucket seems to have flourished thanks to roadkill and DS adding to it. There's £20 in £2 coins and £1 in 1ps. Will wait as close to £10 in 50p's and £5 in 10p's, then all that can be banked together - might put that in the savings account for holiday spends next April. Was going to do a TT, but not sure whether to do it against what's left in the account at month end according to my budget sheet or what's in the bank account now. Either way, I'll end up with an odd amount in/one one of them :rotfl:

I've played with the monthly budget and decided to send £860 capital payment to the mortgage on 1st October and keep the CC payment at £260 for next month too. Gives me some leaway with the garden project kicking off and possibly some time off during half term. The course refund will pay for the shed and we're starting in that area first, so one cost that won't impact the financials. Trying to get hold of some paving slabs on Freecycle or similar - only need a few, but wrong end of year it seems so may have to pay out for those.

With the spare room now cleared/sorted following guests last weekend, I need to move and sort through the Xmas presents stashed away in my wardrobe currently and work out what I will still need to buy. Shouldn't be alot after buying loads in the sales last year. Maybe I'll take a couple of days off during half term and do that then as weekends look quite busy for a while yet.

Time to hit bed I think - no alarm clock wake up tomorrow, the first time in 2 weeks I'll get a sleep in. :T. Now to hope doglets don't get up early!

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

beanielou

You have a good weekend too

Ali-OK

A late posting tonight, though SS will know I was about in the early hours with chamomile and honey tea

DS has had a lovely birthday with family from both sides here today and then tonight. Out for lunch - which I wasn't allowed to contribute to and was a lovely treat, as well as being bought a gorgeous bunch of flowers. He's received alot of money and is sensible going to put 90% in his savings account and 10% in his current account. Proud Mum that he's making good financial decisions at 14. . We're all a bit full with desserts and birthday cake though. :rotfl:

Am I wrong to be disappointed that 3 sets of friends have all forgotten his birthday though? I have stopped presents for their children this year and did tell them before doing it (they're all over 18) but still always go and see them with their cards. I know it's about giving and not receiving, 2 of the 3 did it last year too - then added extra at Christmas time as a belated gift.

I've done very little myself today really and think that's been good for me - aside from making bacon sandwiches for his breakfast and rounds of cups of tea for everyone, it's been a relaxing day. I sneaked in a bit of weeding of the garden between guests as it's the fortnightly green collection this week.

The weather is very odd - warm and muggy but alot of the washing still isn't dry from yesterday. It's indoors on airers hidden in the utility room. We've missed all the rain/thunderstorms here so far.

Financials:
- bank account checked
- freepostcodelottery checked
- Nectar adpoints checked (still on 25)
- Nectar Search - up to 85/100
- Nectar card value - £114.66
- Inbox Pounds - up to £15.03
- Qmee - still just the 11p

It's been an unexpected No Spend Day too.

Tomorrow, I may attempt to drive on a fast road and test the beta-blockers I've been prescribed. Just need to take one 30 mins before I drive. I need to fill up with fuel soon too.

Another sleep in tomorrow, let's hope I am not awake and up at 4.45am again though. I think I was a bit excited on DS's half this morning!

supersaver1000

Hope you got a good sleep in. Happy birthday to DS. Growing up now and great to hear he's got the saving bug. You must be really proud. :bdaycake:

Ali-OK

I did get a good sleep in - hoorah Hope you slept right through SS.

I am hoping as I type, DS is writing his thank you cards. Proud of DS for sure and yesterday too as he was chatty and polite, he might have managed to get his trousers on the wrong way round and a t-shirt that didn't match, but small-fry in the scheme of things :rotfl:

Today I've pottered at home and got lots done off the To Do list. I have spent £37 in filling up with fuel and £20 deposit sent with forms (that were overdue) for the dogs holiday next Easter. 2nd class of course

The garden playhouse is now empty :T but the garage is full :rotfl:. I've cleared empty pots and all sorts from down the side of the house (also to the garage) - I'll re-use those but they need a good wash first. I'm continuing to do more in the garden - the grass will get cut shortly.

I'm on top of work, with stuff to take with me sorted for the morning and emails all done as well. Surprising what comes in on a Saturday.

Another 'no pain visual migraine' this afternoon though - no idea why though. It followed baked potato, Aldi salmon with ginger, chilli and lime (absolutely yum) and broccoli.

Financials
- bank account checked - did a TT of £5.12 to the E-Saver to get a round figure in the bank account and mortgage interest goes out tomorrow.
- freepostcodelottery checked
- Nectar adpoints checked - only 25 for me this week
- Nectar Search - 100/100 completed for the month
- Nectar card - same as yesterday
- Inbox Pounds - up a tad to £15.12
- Qmee - picked up 11p today, so 22p in the pot

Going to get as much done in the garden now as possible whilst light, then tackle filling up the new spare room furniture with Xmas presents and probably junk that I think I ought to keep :rotfl: A bit of ironing left from getting the rest of the washing dry today.

Tomorrow or possibly Tuesday depending on time, I'll bank DS's birthday money and cheques. He's saving for driving lessons, a car and insurance for 3 years time Though it's quite possible he'll be chauffeuring me around and using mine!

Hope everyone is having a good Sunday and what a lovely sunny day it's turned out to be here.

supersaver1000

Sadly 1.30 am. Not sure why. Just lots on my mind. Glad you had a good sleep though. I got up and caught up on some thinking. I'm dithering between going for something jobwise without much prospect but possibly more steady (but in same industry as my carp job so slightly scared). Or stay where I am and up my skills and experience in the hope of something with more possibilities long term but at moment nothing around in this area. But we are possibly moving to South East at some point and it would definitely mean better opportunities - but I don't know when the move would be (at least 18 months).

So many buts. I really want to go for the something better rather than settle for something which would feel like a backward step. Oh heck.

Glad to see you are still so organised. I need to catch up with your thread every day again to I sore me. Hope you are okay. X