Hope is not an Effective Financial Strategy

shangaijimmy

Week 1 of home schooling completed... Celebrated with a home made curry (Mrs SJ is obviously feeling sorry for me this week) and a few cold beers. It must be said that I'm shattered, God knows how proper teachers do it. I'm very much looking forward to a weekend of no thinking, no planning and no being out of my comfort zone. 

Enjoy the weekend everyone... We may have a long tunnel ahead of us, but the Spring sunshine is flickering away at the end. So 1 foot in front of the other, 1 step at a time, 1 day at a time and breathe...! And remember a few gentle beverages may smooth out those steps along the way!

Suffolk_lass

Lovely sentiment. Happy weekend to you too. Very frosty here - As soon as my hair has dried I'm going to suggest we go for a walk - DH still in PJs and nearly 10.00. Cat snuggled in front of my keyboard in case I watch anything on you-tube - she likes animals and women's voices. Still no heating but the house is warm (2 oil filled radiators and a small convector, the electric range and later the log-burner) and we are safe and healthy. Looking forward to some FA Cup coverage later over a cup of tea and permissable snacks (celery and cheese, a few walnuts) - no alcohol in the first 8 weeks of my regime

debtfreeoneday

oooh. I’m a clicky pen person. 😂

shangaijimmy

Very much enjoying a lazy day here in SJ Towers. Thankfully the bins have been emptied and they took the 2 huge pieces of polystyrene that I'd propped up next to the bin. I can organise the garage now, but that job can wait for a few days. I too enjoyed the cold crisp air with a long dog walk earlier, though pooch needed a bath afterwards so he's now sat with his back to me and following Mrs SJ round for sympathy.

I made a £1 TT this morning and am about to make a cup of tea and choose an item to declutter. I have decluttered a pair of trainers, but I can't really count that as a pair have already replaced them. One in one out I am happy with! Mrs SJ is trying (she has hoarding tendencies that she has inherited off her dad - I dread the day we have to tackle her dads loft...) and has gifted a few cooking books to some of her friends. Those books have just sat unused in our cupboards annoying me for years!

Oh and fresh off the back of suffolks donation of an old laptop I have one of the kids old chromebooks (operating system still works) that will be going to friends that are struggling.

Karmacat

I was having a laugh at the dog sitting with his back to you and then read what you've done with the chromebook.  Good for you, that's a powerful thing.

Suffolk_lass

🌟🌟🌟 twinkle, twinkle to you !! that is great. Even better that it is friends. Two people here in our village are looking at donating too and the Admin of the next Village has reposted my post to encourage them too. Sadly in the nearest town, the plea from one of the organisations supporting children was met with a load of "the government should..." and "some families are using this to get new stuff and sell the stuff" allegations. It's just trolling and in the words of my granny, "it butters no parsnips" (whatever they are!) - well done you!

I love the dog sulking image. Our cat does that after we clip her claws (which is traumatic for all of us). There's a book swap FB page locally I have just joined - in case a book club choice pops up but also to recycle to new homes some of ours (I have over 2 shelves of cookery books and even more gardening and garden design ones) - sorry!

shangaijimmy

I repatriated my TT pot to the mortgage this morning and added £1 to it for good measure. A princely sum of £6.32 that I will never pay interest on ever again 

I've decluttered a few calories with my long run late morning and am now enjoying sitting with my feet up and a brew. The dog is snoring, the boys are upstairs playing noisily together and the girls are out. Blissfully quiet living room, I feel a snooze may be called for...

Suffolk_lass

I love that way of looking at your mortgage reductions. I know mortgage neutrality is your aim but I always feel that if you are going to remortgage at any time again, reducing the actual capital term is most likely to get you the best deal or spur you on to pay it off earlier (it has me). I know others disagree but we are all different, and @BusyMee is an excellent example of achieving mortgage neutrality and she makes their money work very hard to outstrip the interest they pay

shangaijimmy

I'm just chipping away at the mortgage with small overpayments from account round ups. More for the psychological effect than anything. Once we're neutral I then may take a slightly different approach and accelerate overpayments to pay it off a bit sooner, but I'll cross that bridge in 5 or 6 years time. Overall we'll be mortgage free before we retire without using any of the neutral savings, and not needing to use any of our 'lump sums' for it. So all in all providing we can keep on keeping on for another 10yrs we're well placed, and hopefully with a neutral pot kept in reserve for any of lifes surprises!!

shangaijimmy

98p TT this morning.

As for decluttering with the way DD has been for home schooling, she is one step from being on the declutter pile...