Breaking Through, Travelling On

Karmacat

Thank you beanie no news is good news, I'm sure, and neither of them will have surfaced yet, so I'll ring at my normal time early this evening.

Horrible grey day here, grrr, but really, so what, in the greater scheme of things, especially with all the flooding so close to home.

Today is probably more gardening in the morning, bit of a rest and finding stuff to do in the house (I have a book review I promised to write) while I wait for a supermarket delivery. All good :beer:

Karmacat

Just been faffing about on the French bank's new website ... my mortgage loan is now down to E20,256, which at today's rate is £14,800 nearly there!

Not going to pay it off early - the loan rate is 1.3% per annum, and the charge for repayment is 3%

[Deleted User]

It must be lovely to hear some good news about the French property:T

I hope by now you've had reassuring news about your rellies:j.

We had a powercut for about 4 hours today. No idea why, the weather was reasonable and we're many miles from any flood-hit areas. Made me think even more about all the poor people who are struggling in the cold and dark tonight. Some of the ones interviewed on TV were so stoical, flooded for the second or third time. Everything ruined but without adequate insurance because insurers won't insure after previous flood claims or the premiums had skyrocketed beyond affordability:eek:

Karmacat

carbootcrazy wrote: »

It must be lovely to hear some good news about the French property:T

Indeed it is, CBC :j its a bright spot in the whole sorry saga that because the repayments each month are so big, it goes down really quickly

I hope by now you've had reassuring news about your rellies:j.

Indeed I have - my mother was so entranced by the babies, and by the new house that my eldest nephew has bought, that the floods occupied very little of our conversation, thank heavens.

We had a powercut for about 4 hours today. No idea why, the weather was reasonable and we're many miles from any flood-hit areas. Made me think even more about all the poor people who are struggling in the cold and dark tonight. Some of the ones interviewed on TV were so stoical, flooded for the second or third time. Everything ruined but without adequate insurance because insurers won't insure after previous flood claims or the premiums had skyrocketed beyond affordability:eek:

Oh my word! I'm glad you didn't have the flood to go along with it, but a power cut isn't a nice thing, and 4 hours is quite a long time without any knowledge of what's going on! I've just been reading about the people unable to get any insurance, what a complete nightmare.

I was out digging weeds up and pulling dead grass out of the border, and thinking, what if all this was flooded? Sewage and rubbish and broken furniture all over the garden? What on earth would that be like to live with and clear up? When you put it in terms of your own life and what it would mean to you, it starts to become clearer.

elantan

Looking good on the French mortgage front, don't blame you for paying it off early though it just dpest seem worth it

patanne

Re the hair - colour is a lot less damaging than they used to be and an awful lot less damaging than perms were. I'm a big fan of colouring and have a friend who says he can't see why any women would want to go grey. I'm not altogether sure I agree with him on that but do think it depends on the grey you are going to go. The grey & white I am going just doesn't suit my skin colour so I am not going there - not yet anyway I will need to eventually otherwise it will just look silly!

I do know that hairdressing and beauty therapy is getting ever more popular and that colleges are churning them out (they will if that is where the money is) and they always want guinea pigs that they charge a small fee. I know my mother went to our local one for years and they actually managed to sort out her scalp problem which no hairdresser had managed until then. So I have to say I would recommend trying them out at least once.

Karmacat

Thanks patanne! That's interesting about the less problematic products, and good to hear. I'll definitely do it for the weddings, maybe a diy organic one from a health store, I've forgotten the brand name ... I'd better not be an experimental subject for hairstyling for the weddings, but after that, I consider myself to be fair game :j

I'm looking at today as being a sort of work day, although its a bank holibob - there's good weather here, for a start, so I can put a load of washing in the machine. I've got a little list on my phone's notes facility too so I'll go talk to the washing machine, and be right back


ETA - pondering the living room as I pootled by with the laundry. The aim of the decluttering in there is to get rid of the huge bookcase, full height and about 7 feet long whether I sell, live here or rent the place out, it has to go - if it stays, there just isn't enough space for more than 3 people to sit down comfortably at any one time. With that gone, I can bring in the normal width full height bookcase from the kitchen, which will give me more space in there, and I've figured out a way to get more storage space out of that one too (doubling up a shelf for the CDs ). The normal width one can go in an alcove, and the other alcove already has a single shelf in for big business files. I can put another shelf in that alcove for other big leftovers
Timescale: by the time I retire :j the month after I retire is already devoted to family plans :j

Verbatim

Hi KC
I've been lurking in your diary for a while now so thought I'd better stick my head up to say hello.
I'm intrigued by your plan to get £83.50 a week from on-line work by the time you retire. How's that going? Is that from getting advertising on your blogs and /or counselling?
I admire your wonderful planning and action plans. I think I need to copy you with my garden and spend a few minutes a day on weeding, (i know you do more than that but I think I might just stick to it if it's only for 5 mins)!

Goldiegirl

oh, that's good new on the French mortgage - certainly going in the right direction


Good plan for the bookshelves, and a realistic timescale too - de-cluttering takes a lot longer than might be imagined!

Karmacat

Verbatim wrote: »

Hi KC
I've been lurking in your diary for a while now so thought I'd better stick my head up to say hello.

Thats lovely! Thanks for saying hello I'll have a looksee for where you're at (though I'm just off to get a shower, I may be some time!).

I'm intrigued by your plan to get £83.50 a week from on-line work by the time you retire. How's that going? Is that from getting advertising on your blogs and /or counselling?

Ah. That's not going so well That's supposed to be from all the extras, not the counselling work: so, things like matched betting, advertising on the blogs, click throughs etc, selling kindle books, surveys (yougov, really), writing for hire (elance etc).

The trouble is the lack of energy, with the whole stress/burnout diagnosis - if I was well, I could do what I've got planned no problem, *and* have a social life :beer: as it is, no chance. It'll get better, but priorities for my energy are:
- keeping well/getting better: if you lose your health, you've lost everything, and I nearly did. I stopped the rot by focussing on retiring, but I've got to get through the next 8 months yet (only 8 months :j:j:j)
- my clients - not for financial reasons, but ethical ones, really - of course, as always, that work is my main income, I'd be stupid to deny that.
- the blogs, and working on/maximising the income potential they represent. My fantasy is that a publisher reads one and contacts me to say they're the best thing since sliced bread, and they want to give me a life-changing amount of money to write a book :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
- living well - I know what I want to do, and how I want to live, after I retire, its laid out in the Post of Pretty Colours :j

I admire your wonderful planning and action plans. I think I need to copy you with my garden and spend a few minutes a day on weeding, (i know you do more than that but I think I might just stick to it if it's only for 5 mins)!

Thank you! Honestly, little bits of time add up, they really do. When I'm out there, its about 45 minutes, thats true - but because I wasn't out there for so many months through illness, I'm digging up dozens of brambles that have rooted from next door, let alone all the sedge and strawberry plants :eek: I can only do that about three times a week, maximum. So even if you literally only do five minutes a day, you'll be at a third of what I'm doing, and that *will* make a difference.

I think people in general on here are great at finding a way to make things work - you can't follow other people's plans, only your own. I make a long list, for instance, because I like to pick and mix from it - I don't list three things and do them all, it doesn't work for me. So I found a way that does :j

Right, I'm off for that lovely shower - see you later :kisses3: