The Happiness Fund.

savingwannabe

I have bought balloons and wedding decorations for the boys house and car using my Christmas fund. Broke but happy. I go back to work on Monday after a superb break. Heatwave predicted for tomorrow. Yay. sunbathing in garden.

savingwannabe

OMG. A proper heatwave. 26c in garden. I have washed kitchen windows, mowed the lawn, read two chick lit books and tanned my legs! I have drunk loads of water which is good for my skin too. Yay.

I don't know how anyone is doing anything other than collapsing under a parasol today. It feels like Spain and it's free!!!! yay.

The lovely weather has allowed me to have a think over the week and with all the scary news at work I have decided to put the kitchen fund on hold. I will save now towards an emergency fund until 2020 in case I lose my job and if I make it I will use the money on an amazing kitchen in 2020 that will have been worth waiting for.

savingwannabe

I met Muhammed Ali as a child. He was a hero to so many. RIP sir.

savingwannabe

I did spend money on extra snacks at work. I must remember to cut back so I don't spend excessive money. Everyone is scared of the new conditions and worried about our jobs. I haven't felt so insecure for a long time.

I just wish the economy would improve. So many good people have been forced out and it feels like the rest of us are just waiting for the boat to sink. I wish I could sound positive, we have been told that the conditions will improve by 2020 but it's hanging on till then and I hope I will be ok. The lovely weather did make me smile today and I kept thinking of the summer break when it all became a bit too much.

I go on a course tomorrow and am really happy about it. It will be a chance to chat with others about the situation to see if it is happening elsewhere or is just a local phenomenon. Work are paying for travel. Yay. A day out. So happy. Let's hope the weather lasts.

savingwannabe

Work was crazy. Too much to do and too little time. I have come home early as head hurt and realised there is sooo much I didn't complete. Outside it is a lovely summer's day. At least now I have time to see it. lol.

My Diane Von Furstenberg jacket came not only is it exactly what a I wanted and gorgeous. It is brand new with labels still attached I only saved £200. Yay. I love a bargain. But I must be so careful for the rest of the month because I have spent loads.

savingwannabe

I keep reading articles about people who are going to far away places like China and Mauritius but in reality I do question how feasible this is for someone of my age.

I am saving a small amount every month in my kitchen fund but there is no way I can afford any real holiday. I think this search for foreign holidays is very much a media driven ideal. The pictures show people in their twenties and thirties and older on cruises or in glamorous far away places. In the 1970s, I don't remember many people going long haul. Spain was an ideal but honestly that was for the really well off. People like us went to the seaside for a day at the beach and stayed at home for most holidays.

I can only assume those that do travel are very young people in their 20s and 30s who are on a gap year or can work full time and haven't bought houses yet, or maybe people who have borrowed money or those who don't pay any rent at all. It seems so far removed from my situation. How do those in their 40s afford to travel far?

The savings in my kitchen fund/emergency fund seem quite pitiful. It will take time and I will get there in the end. I would love to go somewhere fab and take my mind off work but there is no way I can afford this and really don't think I will ever be able to given the job climate, my health and fear of falling into debt.

I am not sure if I want to travel because I want to be a 'traveller' when I am of the age now where I would rather not climb mountains and go desert duning, neither do I have the health to go scuba diving. I am more of a 'tourist' now and I think I would like to see some real life places like the Great Wall of China and I don't think this is about keeping up with the Joneses. John Steinbeck (one of my heroes) wrote an amazing book called 'Travels with Charley' where he described the urge to travel and I haven't done it for so long now. The opening of his book is superb I have it on my desk at work:

"... When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked. ... a ship’s whistle still raise the hair on my neck and set my feet to tapping. The sound of a jet, an engine warming up, even the clopping of shod hooves on pavement brings on the ancient shudder, the dry mouth and vacant eye, the hot palms and the churn of stomach high up under the rib cage. In other words, I don’t improve; in further words, once a bum always a bum. I fear the disease is incurable..." Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck, 1962.

I am so very fortunate: I am not destitute, I have a respectable profession, despite the wage cuts and I do live by a beach, there is little crime where I live, I have a nice house and the best neighbours, clothes, friends. I have so many positive things I can focus on. It has been glorious this week I am hoping for a 1976 summer this year. I do hope our summer stays this hot so I don't feel too left out when people fly off to pastures far and beyond.

savingwannabe

Susan has come down for the wedding. yay. The boys popped down last night and collected some stuff from us. Susan bought cake and things and I bought some decorations too.

I have been lesson planning all weekend. It has been warm but luckily we have had some rain but it has only been slight I had expected much more that may come tomorrow though. I would much rather have been enjoying the wedding prep but work has to come first. I am prepared for my lessons but no other paperwork has been done. Yikes.

I did a massive food shop (on my credit card). So did Susan and the boys. There is so much in my fridge we can feed the whole street. lol

Dear friend has just come back from Thailand and is not feeling too good. He will be at wedding too so better get well. Only a few weeks 2.5 till payday. Yay.

elona

My laptop encountered a soft drink and the result was not good!:eek:

I now have a new chromebook so can get back online. For the last ten days the kitchen has consisted of a tap, a microwave and an electric frypan with a lid! The kitchen has had a wall knocked down, been replastered and painted a nice shade of grey. Can't wait for the flooring to be down (bleached oak) and then the units can go in.

DD and son in law took us to see their new home with a lovely kitchen etc. and feel quite jealous that they have cupboards etc. but pleased for them.

I have managed to order a nice mirror for the living room - silvery shabby chic effect and a saving of about £80 so really pleased.

I have just treated myself to two blue jackets and a lovely black and white raincoat - all at less than half price.

I still need to order carpets for the living room and master bedroom, get large headboard hung on wall, flooring for hall and conservatory, new doors for upstairs and new circuit board as electrician found about four faults in the kitchen , any of which could have caused a fire!

Can't wait for things to be done so I can stop spending money and get myself into a routine.

savingwannabe

OMGosh, you are just like me. lol.This is so funny

John has been flattening one of my garden beds and it is being turned into a larger patio area for the garden swing. Then I am doing nothing - no new anything till I have saved for a kitchen. I am envious of you (but in a nice way) as I really WANT A KITCHEN. lol. This will be my present to myself when I am 50 if I go for one with huge patio windows or in about 3 years if I just want a regular one. I will see what the situation is like in 3 years as it is rubbish now.

Eventually I will have my bedroom fitted wardrobes taken down and new wardrobes put in to add space. One day I will get some new stairs but I can wait for all of these things.

It is nice waiting in a way as we can dream. But I wish it would hurry up.

Elona do you have warm weather up there? It is raining here but still v warm.

elona

It has been rainy and dull the last few days but before that it was lovely and sunny.

I just had a phone call earlier and the flooring will go down tomorrow and the new units will be delivered so fingers crossed.

I seem to have changed tastes completely and stopped playing it safe but I really like what I chose.