The march to financial freedom

Ali-OK

Hi SS,

Sorry to read sleep didn't last all night. Does it help to jot things down - I'm good at lists (no surprise there :rotfl:) so Pros and Cons of all the directions you could take might be a good way to get it out and allow your brain to relax longer overnight? Not easy though with jobs and careers.

Feeling ok-ish here thanks - more garden weeding done and nearly a full green bin for collection on Tuesday, so that's my lot for now. . Eye has been twitching at the side, some balance and pain probs, but still much better than the start of last week. Thankful for that.

Going to spend a bit of time upstairs now, see how much stuff I can get hidden in the spare room and make my bedroom minimalist (or just tidy and junk free :rotfl:)

sugarpuss27

Hi Ali, hope you don't mind if I crash in from time to time, have been a long time lurker and occasional poster on MSE and it has taken me about a week to read through your inspirational journey so far.... Wow what a lady! I have been following MSE ways for several years now out of neccessity and it has become a way of life. Me and OH:eek: yes the penny finally dropped! had our LBM a few weeks ago when trawling through some posts on MSE and finally realising that we could indeed be debt free and mortgage free in half the time that we thought. It's going to be a hard road but we have our 5-7 year plan and it starts next pay day, this Friday :eek:
Thanks to you and all you wonderful people on here for the inspirational words and deeds.:T:beer:

Ali-OK

Hi Sugarpuss and a very warm welcome over from the dark side of lurkdom Amazed you've read through - thank you, hope it didn't send you to sleep too often Up until recently, I've been posting daily for nearly a year - I bet many know my Financials list verbatim without looking now :rotfl:

Fab news you've got a plan too. Have you got a diary going, I find it helps me stay committed to the cause - 9 years left of a 10 year journey to mortgage freedom (down from 13 if I stick to plan) and it is possible to bust the debt at the same time. Not what's advocated I know (debt first, mortgage second), but is working for me and I think we have to carve our own path - which has some bends in the straight and narrow at times! Welcome aboard and congrats on OH being on board too.

Ali-OK

Just another manic Monday, so the song goes and how true of today and this whole week judging by my schedule. I am trying to squash more work in than is probably good for me, but it's there for the taking and I'm driven by thoughts of a few days off in October and November.

Lower back and both hips were given me sharp pain this morning (a sign of not wanting to spend 89p on milk for the office at the corner shop perhaps ) and then it's all been arm/neck/shoulder blade pain. Feels more a disc issue today and frighteningly just like years ago when I ended up with surgery. Hope it's not that.

Snotty email from college received tonight - alluding to a no refund policy but was being passed onto someone to look at. Hope I don't lose all the £360 after being told they would refund last week. :mad: Still there's always the option to complain if it comes back a negative answer and refunds are paid on upheld complaints. Fingers crossed. I do see their point, but this isn't about changing my mind or something trivial stopping me.

Financials then:
- bank account checked
- freepostcodelottery checked
- Nectar adpoints - new week, 7 points available and done
- Nectar Canvass - will try and get back into these
- Nectar card - up at £115.43. Not far off the £120 I set for 2014
- Inbox Pounds - up at £15.29
- Qmee - nothing new, 22p in the pot

Didn't get chance to bank DS's birthday cheques and cash for him today, but will do that first thing tomorrow and pick up some money bags whilst there as we've run out and then the coins can be banked in the near future.

DS has managed to write the grand total of 1, yes 1, thank you card out of the 6 he needs to do first. He has done his homework though.

I've started to search for railway sleepers to make the raised area lower in the garden as part of Phase I - the DIY peeps are advising me, so just a case of finding some reasonably priced. Need to measure up for how many (5-6 at a guess), but have found new ones at £10 each which seem reasonable. Pretty sure the change to be banked will cover the cost of those.

I don't think I've written anything about money saving! Spends today totalled the 89p for milk and I used up leftover items in the fridge for dinner - ham, new potatoes, beans. It's turned much colder here too but heating is still off and the first thicker jumper and winter pair of socks are out (and on ).

Emergency Fund/savings at the end of this month will be £6,559.40. Not too shabby.

Hope everyone's week has started off well.

supersaver1000

Hi Ali.

Here I am up in the night again. Didn't take the Kalms last night. So back to them tonight. Shame as my worrying is a lot less and I had a gr8 day.

Sorry to hear about the refund problem, just wanted to ask if you have made it clear that this is because of illness. My experience is that if you cancel a couple of weeks or more before the start you should get a refund. Up to 2 weeks after start 50% refund. Then nothing after that. But with illness you should get a refund or a credit depending on how much you have attended.

You will be able to get a sick note from your GP if needed. Good luck. I'm sure you'll get it back.

Was a lovely calm Monday for me. However I need to seriously think about earning more money. Meetings this week about my current job and future career, then need to seriously look at second income stream - need to think about bookkeeping again or something that can translate to SE eventually. My uni course starts in earnest this week, student loan approved, but they've got the wrong uni listed. Oh well hopefully should sort easily enough. I'm just pleased to make one step with it.

Hey ho off to try and get an hour in b4 work.

X

Ali-OK

I think Kalms are quite good, certainly worked for me after the first big panic attack and getting to drive local again. Hope they help you tonight.

College are aware it's a health issue and the details, both verbally and a follow up email. I just have to wait now and see what their decision in, but a complaint will be ready to fire off to them in the event it's not the desired outcome.

Great news you start your course this week, fingers crossed the Uni will get sorted and it'll be smooth sailing. Hope work meetings going well too, book keeping SE is a sought after skill in this area, lots of small SE business people since the recession needing them.

Ali-OK

A good work day and have been very careful with my neck and back. Still stiff/painful and nerve pinching in lower back again tonight. I've Osteo on Monday, but wondering whether to bring forward to see if she can manipulate things back into place (though the risk of making it worse is just as high).

Banked DS's birthday money, got change bags and paid in £71 from the change bucket. :T DS has now written 3 thank you cards and they'll go by 2nd class post. Getting there slowly. One friend posted a card with money in, but we've not received it.

Financials:
- bank account checked
- freepostcodelottery checked
- Nectar adpoints - getting worse by the day, nothing new and only 7 pts. Better do Canvass surveys to start making up for it!
- Nectar card value - £115.43
- Inbox Pounds - £15.34
- Qmee - nothing new, still 22p in the pot

Had a No Spend Day and a freezer dinner of Scampi Bites, chips and side salad - using up last few piccolo toms and cucumber before it gets too cold for salad stuff!

Debating whether to get mince out of the freezer tonight and batch cook bolognaise tomorrow evening. Can keep a portion in the fridge for Thursday evening when time is short as DS needs to be back in school for being a Tour Guide for the open evening. I'll get some pork steaks out for dinner tomorrow night and use up the broccoli with some mash and carrots.

Need to do something with these plums too - crumble it shall be, better read up on a recipe and make sure I have everything in to do that.

That's all the news tonight, still looking at sleepers online, though I did manage to measure up in daylight this morning!

supersaver1000

Thanks Ali. X

sugarpuss27

Hi Ali, thanks for the welcome. No diary I'm afraid I know I wont keep it up so will keep lurking and finding inspiration from yous that aren't as lazy as me....... I sympathise with all who are suffering from panic attacks I went through several years of them about twenty years ago bought on by.... well life really. You think your coping and then all of a sudden the old bod says oh no you don't, you need to slow down or stop. I was given anti depressants at the time but I found they made me feel worse so like you found my own way to deal with it. I now do Reiki and try to meditate regularly:A not!
Any way sorry to hijack just wanted to say how great your doing and keep on ploddin. Going to put my figures in the signature to keep me on track. I hope:)

Ali-OK

Hope things are on the up SS. SP, small world with the panic attacks, good to realise not alone and delighted to say I tried a Beta Blocker for first time tonight and used the dual carriageway to go food shopping in Aldi - worked perfectly, no symptoms at all :j. Reiki is good, had some on my lower back and sure I felt heat (energy?) from it. I too, need to find a regular way to properly relax and keep it up.

Spent £22.04 on the food shop, getting closer to that £20 again but did buy some stuff that we may not run out of before shopping again next week. It's getting back into that mindset that I don't need to have everything in stock all the time. Running out is fine if not in the meal plan. That's the secret I reckon to keeping the bill down. Ald! have started getting their frozen turkeys in too.

Good work day and pain under control with ibruprofen. College emailed wanting a medical letter of some sort - which I don't have anything as yet to give, so sent a scan of the BBs, osteo email appointment and will forward a copy of the neurology letter when that arrives. Fingers crossed that will all help as don't want to pay out for GP to write something. All a bit stressful which isn't helping.

Financials:
- bank account checked
- freepostcodelottery checked
- Nectar adpoints checked - 7 added now at 14 pts
- Nectar Canvass - done a 60 pointer
- Nectar Card - still £115.43
- Inbox Pounds - up a tad at £15.40
- Qmee, still just 22p in the pot

Early start tomorrow and a long day with some running DS around later on, so probably won't be home properly until 9pm. And then it'll be Friday. Liking how quick the week is going, especially as it's business month end and 'pay myself day' . I'm also working on Saturday but that'll go into the new accounting month - a nice additional billable bit to start off with. :j

Hope everyone has had a good day.