Back to basics with pavlovs_dog: the £6k sprint

pavlovs_dog

time is the one thing that we all have to give. It is an ethos that I drill into my student teachers.

Thought I was defrosting bacon and mushroom pasta sauce for tea. Turned out to be leftover veggie tagine. Not bad as freezer surprise goes

pavlovs_dog

Disappointed to discover that FD only display offset mortgages on online banking. I was so looking forward to watching my balance decrease They have very generously told me that I can request a balance update at any time! Still, in brighter news they have paid us the £100 switching incentive so I shall OP that when I do my pay day money shuffling. I have also phoned to set up a static OP of £310.03 which will keep our mortgage outgoing at historic levels. Our first payment isn't until 1st October, meaning we have a spare £800 to play with next month.

It has been a tough few days for the extended family. A relative, J, passed unexpectedly early hours of Thursday morning and his wife C had a massive stroke 3 days later. They had no life insurance and no means of paying for the funeral, meaning one of his sons is having to foot the bill. C is stable and in good spirits under the circumstances, but has a very long road to recovery ahead. Cremation for J will hopefully be held next week. Elsewhere in the family MIL is recovering slowly from a nasty accident which injured her shoulder. Psycho ex SIL is up to her usual tricks. Mothership is sort-of speaking to me again. I feel like I live in an episode of Eastenders sometimes!

Nice surprise from OH today. I mentioned in passing that I would to see Wicked. He only went and booked tickets! It was supposed to be a surprise for our anniversary (Thursday), but I picked the post in this morning and the envelope gave the game away. So we are off to London for 2 days next week. It will be nice to have some quality time together before we both go back to work.

Hope you are all enjoying the same sunshine that we have here.

in_need_of_direction

So glad that you've something to look forward to.

CathT

I had that same disappointment when I moved over to FD. I do get statements twice a year though. Thank goodness for spreadsheets!

Enjoy your London breeks, sounds very well deserved.

pavlovs_dog

survived the first week back - 4 day weeks are a wondrous thing

Today I am employing the JFDI principle as my house is in a disgusting state.

* 2 loads of washing done
* veg tagine in the SC, this will be my lunch this week.
* christening my easiyo yogurt maker that I had as a Christmas present.
* food shop done - just a top up as did big shop last week
* weeded front garden
* living & dining rooms tidied
* downstairs loo cleaned
* opened lots of windows to air the house - there's a strange yellow thing in the sky today!

This afternoon I am going to do some more batch cooking, clean the kitchen, mop through downstairs and entertain the mothership if she decides to visit accept my offer of coming round for a coffee.

pavlovs_dog

Mopped, entertained and cooked. I have

Prepped a bag of peppers and a cabbage for the freezer
Made flapjacks
Braised a red cabbage
Cooked brown rice to go with the tagine
Made a beef curry
Cooked a cauliflower that was about to turn
Prepped my snacks for school.

30 mins of school work before bath and bed.

Firegirl

Great organisation!!!!! I love batch cooking!

pavlovs_dog

Still alive, and still just about enjoying the novelty of being back at school. Almost all of my classes this year seem delightful. The kids can bring such joy to a job that is demanding and relentless. Watching Educating Cardiff has really highlighted the impact we have on the kids that we teach. It is nice to see some positives about a profession normally blamed for all of society's ills.

My new school year resolution to strike a better work/life balance is fairing reasonably well so far. Weekends have been a hive of productivity, and slowly but surely I feel like I am getting on top of the cleaning. Long may it continue! The kitchen was subject to a deep clean this weekend, and I have my eye on the bathroom for next weekend.

Now for the money shuffle before cooking up a storm in the kitchen.

DedicatedDFW

hi pavlovs,

long time no speak - i too am thinking more consciously about achieving a better work / life balance - i don't work in teaching but do have a 3 hour round trip commute on top of a 8.5 hour day in work (1 hour is for lunch). However, i am trying to either not spend all weekend cleaning from the previous week or come to terms with the fact that the weekend is the only realistic time these things can be done

I do like batch cooking, baking loaves etc. and do get that sense of satisfaction when i do this and of course, sitting in a nice clean house always feels good too. To that end i am decluttering - again! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: - i have been extra ruthless this year where things have been considered that were always classed as permanent items before - so rugs, lighting etc. the place did feel better but now it feels there's too much stuff again. I think this all ties in with my aims for simplicity because, for me, less stuff means less to clean / organise / move etc. and makes keeping on top of the housework alot easier i've set myself a target of decluttering a 1000 items by xmas :eek:

It is nice to hear you are enjoying your classes

pavlovs_dog

DedicatedDFW wrote: »

I do like batch cooking, baking loaves etc. and do get that sense of satisfaction when i do this and of course, sitting in a nice clean house always feels good too. To that end i am decluttering - again! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: - i have been extra ruthless this year where things have been considered that were always classed as permanent items before - so rugs, lighting etc. the place did feel better but now it feels there's too much stuff again. I think this all ties in with my aims for simplicity because, for me, less stuff means less to clean / organise / move etc. and makes keeping on top of the housework alot easier i've set myself a target of decluttering a 1000 items by xmas :eek:

I can really relate to this DDFW - I read the Marie Kondo book in the summer and it really struck a chord with me. I found a more ruthless streak that had evaded me on previous decluttering missions. There is still a way to go, but I can see clear progress and feel mentally lighter for having less 'stuff' in the house.

I'd recommend the Kondo thread on OS if you haven't already discovered it. Great community spirit in action.