Breaking Through, Travelling On

Karmacat

Yep, no boredom round this way :j

I did decide to abandon all tasks yesterday, though for some reason It stopped raining, so I went a walk, did 20 minutes pruning in the garden, then had the longest, hottest shower I could stand twas lovely. But it does mean I haven't touched the editing I wanted to do: still, I need to pace myself, viral after effects can come back at any time. I've got a day course in Reiki booked for 4 December, I'm hoping thats going to help.

Today, I'm off to the coastal town I meant to go to last week, and its *plenty* early enough to do it and get out before the hordes of screaming teenagers descend I'm going to try for the £5 voucher from Oxfam for M&S goods - I have a top that doesn't really look like M&S, plus one of those commemmoration (sp?) mugs for their 125th anniversary. Should be fine. Then its off to play, at M&S quite quickly, and then all the little individual shops.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Cream_Tea

Hi lurker here, just saw your post about postcode lottery. What a good idea. I've joined too so fingers crossed. I must get DH to join too after all you've got to be in it to win it!

Cheery_Daff

Getting lots done there KC! :j :j

And I LOVE the bit about 'end of week 95 now, and end of week 1 I retire' :j :j That doesn't seem very far away at all! :j

Goldiegirl

Karmacat wrote: »

plus one of those commemmoration (sp?) mugs for their 125th anniversary.

I've got one of those mugs. I'm probably going to try and eBay it, but in a few years time, when it might have a little rarity value. Or it might go to charity.


I have lots of M&S clothes, many of which are for the 'chop', so I'll probably do at least one Oxfam donation


Have a good day out

Karmacat

Cream_Tea wrote: »

Hi lurker here, just saw your post about postcode lottery. What a good idea. I've joined too so fingers crossed. I must get DH to join too after all you've got to be in it to win it!

Cream Tea, welcome :j Honestly, it's Martin's idea, it was in the newsletter this week, without that I doubt I'd have trusted it, seems too good to be true but the guy running it is quite open that the money comes from advertising, so fair enough. Bear in mind he seems very strict about not joining *for* rellies - I have several I'd like to do it for, but I'd rather stay on the straight and narrow, and not worry about getting shut down

In it to win it, indeed :T

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Getting lots done there KC! :j :j

And I LOVE the bit about 'end of week 95 now, and end of week 1 I retire' :j :j That doesn't seem very far away at all! :j

Thanks Cheery! Its weird, isn't it! I'm very chuffed about the finish being one that suits me, but very near to my sister - she'll have a lot of life admin to catch up on ... but I'm starting to see the shape of it too - that week in Cornwall, and the first year she's retired, she wants to spend a lot of time at the French cottage, before she sells it - so I reckon, once it lived in regularly, I could be persuaded to pop over there a bit more

Goldiegirl wrote: »

I've got one of those mugs. I'm probably going to try and eBay it, but in a few years time, when it might have a little rarity value. Or it might go to charity.

I know what you mean, Goldie - I'm very bad at timing things like that though, and it was more convenient to get rid of it now, and use the space. And I felt bad taking a voucher from a charity shop with only the top I was giving them, it wasn't a typical M&S item. At least they'll send it to a shop where it'll get top moolah for them.

I have lots of M&S clothes, many of which are for the 'chop', so I'll probably do at least one Oxfam donation

Have a good day out

I've never *sold* any clothes - they always go to charity. I've never quite got the hang of describing them properly, though I'm going to have to describe my sister's ski gear quite soon eek, its a bit in the way!

Karmacat

Today was a good expedition! Used my network rail card to get down there in the first place (thats not included in the savings below!); put the two M&S things in to Oxfam (the 2nd shop I tried, the first had run out of vouchers - but they had adorable fluffy toy kittens not for sale, so I asked if I could take pictures and I could :j ) then went to M&S to use the voucher straight away - two Christmas presents £40 total instead of £45, which was great.

Then Waitrose - last day of my "marketing voucher" before my new myWaitrose card comes, and since their Essentials feta is the same price as everywhere else, I bought 4 - 64p gained

Waitrose newspaper for crossword - I *will* win the vouchers this week :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

And the weirdest thing ... I sold a solid silver ornament I was given in 1997, a thing I dislike intensely; its never been on a shelf, but I've given it house room for 17 years, including two house moves. Its not coming with me again :eek: Selling it online would have got me around £21 and a lot of hassle. Selling it in the street market to a dealer got me £30 :j As he said, he's taking a chance on it, because its not UK hallmarked, but I got it from a central facility in a country I visited back then, so I'm absolutely sure its genuine. And the £30 I now have is genuine too

Tilly Tidied up to make a nice round figure in my bank account - £35.98 tidied to my savings account, all treated as cash because I used it as cash the day I got it, and I want that effort to go towards the pension: pension pot is now £446.34 sig amended :beer:

0.93% of the net figure I'm aiming for

Goldiegirl

That was a bit of result about the silver ornament! It's always very pleasing to wave good bye to things which don't fit - even better when it's something that you actively dislike!

Strange you should mention the Railcard - it's something I've been thinking about.

Mr Goldie has the over 60's version. He bought it 3 years ago for (I think) £65, and has got his money's worth. He gets a third off all off peak fares, with no minimum fare restrictions

From reading the information about the 'normal' card, I understand there's a minimum fare requirement on Mondays to Fridays, so I wouldn't be able to use it if we were just going a few stops down the line.

I think I'll have to do some sort of feasibility study around fares/stations we may visit/frequency of travel, and see if it's worth me buying a card

As ever, always a lot of food for thought in your diary

Living_proof

Hello Karmacat, Goldiegirl and Cheery Daff,

I am also counting down to retirement - almost three years to the day now. I won't necessarily retire at state pension age but it's a great focus to know that I won't have to keep working if I am not enjoying it. I have hated my job for the last year or so and this week I move on to self-employment, doing exactly the same work for a different outfit. Although I am taking a bit of a chance I think I will enjoy being my own boss and creating my own targets and challenges. Ideally I would like to save 60,000 over the next 3 years, or rather boost my savings pot by that amount, if we ever manage to get any serious interest!

So I would like to join this thread if you'll have me!

edinburgher

I'm literally transferring Season 2 of Falling Skies to the memory card as I type this KC, spooky!

Congratulations on the sig update, you've been very busy of late.

Karmacat

Goldiegirl wrote: »

That was a bit of result about the silver ornament! It's always very pleasing to wave good bye to things which don't fit - even better when it's something that you actively dislike!

Definitely! Carting something around like that because I "should" - no, I've given it space long enough. It was also very interesting to sell to a guy in the street market :eek:

Strange you should mention the Railcard - it's something I've been thinking about.

Mr Goldie has the over 60's version. He bought it 3 years ago for (I think) £65, and has got his money's worth. He gets a third off all off peak fares, with no minimum fare restrictions

From reading the information about the 'normal' card, I understand there's a minimum fare requirement on Mondays to Fridays, so I wouldn't be able to use it if we were just going a few stops down the line.

I think I'll have to do some sort of feasibility study around fares/stations we may visit/frequency of travel, and see if it's worth me buying a card

I've just got the Network Railcard, for SE England, which anyone can buy - but the senior one, thats for the whole country, so it can be a great purchase. I didn't realise there were no minimum fare restrictions on that. I've just hunted out the relevant website - and omigod, they've kept the age requirement to 60 :j:j:j at last, at last, something to look forward to for this birthday! Thats definitely going to help with my trips to see my mum, the Christmas fare being the worst at standard rate - £97.50!!! A third off that would pay for the rail card all on its own!

As ever, always a lot of food for thought in your diary

You know what, its the whole pension thing - actively working on my ability to fund my retirement properly has given me a whole new lease of life, its very enabling :beer: and I have you and edinburgher and Tilly to thank for that :beer:

Living_proof wrote: »

Hello Karmacat, Goldiegirl and Cheery Daff,

I am also counting down to retirement - almost three years to the day now. I won't necessarily retire at state pension age but it's a great focus to know that I won't have to keep working if I am not enjoying it. I have hated my job for the last year or so and this week I move on to self-employment, doing exactly the same work for a different outfit. Although I am taking a bit of a chance I think I will enjoy being my own boss and creating my own targets and challenges. Ideally I would like to save 60,000 over the next 3 years, or rather boost my savings pot by that amount, if we ever manage to get any serious interest!

So I would like to join this thread if you'll have me!

Livingproof, that sounds amazing! Self employed or contract work always seems to pay a lot better than employment - will you be able to do that straight from the salary, or will you need to do the sorts of high jinks I describe on here? And yes, you're very welcome - the more the merrier, the more knowledge shared, the better.

edinburgher wrote: »

I'm literally transferring Season 2 of Falling Skies to the memory card as I type this KC, spooky!

Congratulations on the sig update, you've been very busy of late.

Thats brilliant, ed :j:rotfl: Noah Wyle has a light touch, but he's not superficial, and Will Patton is just ... wow!

Glad to hear you liked the update I was wondering about a series of smaller targets, so I divided the net amount by the number of weeks ... erm, its a bit disheartening To save £47.5k in 94 weeks is £505 per week, more or less. Oh dear. Getting cracking at matched betting is one thing, but it isn't quite going to cut it. Still, I'm doing what I can, and the more I can do, the more options I'll have.

Hopping over to look at your threads