Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Kittenkirst

Woke up super early today but am pretty tired with very achey muscles from the three lots of weight training this week. I’ve been trying to get back asleep since 5 but it’s not working so I am reading mortgage free diaries in bed with little Hugo snuggled up.

Girlfriend finished her second week at work and is so much happier. She is not sure if the job is quite the right fit for her long term- she is a very much a doer and this role seems to be just facilitating everything- but she’s much happier, can do it and the management team treat her with respect and seem super pleased with her skills that were taken for granted at the old place!

The COV-19 pandemic isn’t really affecting our daily lives at the minute- we are both able to work remotely should we need to, but from a work perspective I’m swamped with contingency plans, comms and planning for incidents etc as the area I manage is high risk as we have a lot of people going into peoples houses (unannounced if safety concerns) so not sure if that will have to slow over the coming weeks.

From a career change perspective I’m supposed to be handing my notice in early April, to leave in May. However, it’s looking (from the governments forecasts) that May will be the prime time. I’ve therefore messaged my recruiter to see if the 22nd June training start dates have any availability and may shift it back six weeks.

An extra six weeks working at my current place will mean an extra £500 in savings and I will still have my annual leave ensuring my first week of training in the new job, I’m being paid by the old one. 

So it all makes sense, however the thought of another 6 weeks in my current place does fill me with dread. BUT, it’s only six weeks in the grand scheme of things, it will be more money in savings for when I’m not earning, and also hopefully the Corona pandemic will be over the worst and people will want to book holidays & travel again....

Fingers crosses I can delay my training!

VelvetFreak

Hopefully you can postpone the training until things calm down. Fingers crossed for you  
It's annoying that you have to stay longer but it's such a small amount of time in the grand scheme of things.

Kittenkirst

VelvetFreak said:

Hopefully you can postpone the training until things calm down. Fingers crossed for you  
It's annoying that you have to stay longer but it's such a small amount of time in the grand scheme of things.

Yeah, that was my thought, it’s not really that long and I can use the time to focus on getting myself ready for training (am currently reading some travel blogs and reviewing a brochure to help learn more about destinations I’m not an expert in)  

CathT

Hope you can negotiate with work re: timing. It's such a time of uncertainty at the moment but hopefully things will settle down ready for you leaving your current job. 

debtfreeoneday

Fingers crossed you can move the dates!

Kittenkirst

Morning all! What a week hey?!

Spoke with the new company who are more than happy to switch training dates, so I’m now scheduled for 22nd June but we will play it by ear.

Grocery spends have sky rocketed this week as we have replaced a lot of things that have ran out/running low. Usually we would wait until we plan to make something with that item and top up, but given all the panic buying and fears of uncertainty we just topped it up now (couscous, pats, pasta shells). Not to panic buying status at all just one bag of each like normal.

Work has been manic for me with 630am starts and 9pm finishes as it’s blown up this week with decisions made about Corona Virus. It should calm down next week and I’m grateful both gf and I can continue to work from home and be paid. Massively grateful for this!

Spent the full day at the in-laws shop yesterday as we’ve managed to gently talk them into closing from tomorrow. They are over 70 but very much of the ‘keep going’ generation so we’ve been chatting every night about closing the shop and on Friday told them to and they agreed. Stayed open over the weekend to help their elderly customers and to let them know where to top up their gas/electric and where to get their pensions so they don’t panic when it’s closed tomorrow. Will be heading back there at 7.30am today until lunch time.

I must say that some people are living on another planet! When we mention we will be closed there are a lot of ‘why’, ‘when until’ etc like people are unaware of the state of the country and that no one knows how long this will last. Gfs parents are understandably concerned that they are closing their livelihood with no end date in sight but know it’s for their (& our) good.

I must say I’m super relieved as both of gfs parents are in the vulnerable category, and gorgeous gf is high vulnerability due to medical conditions. Be really happy once they are all self isolating as much as possible and staying healthy.

We has paused our hot yoga and gym memberships last week due to gf being high risk- but now both have closed late this week anyways so will hopefully save a bit of cash that can restock the grocery budget

Right time to get up and play shop keep again today (yesterday was a 8am-6pm day so I’m so pleased today is until 12.30!)

Jessy103

Gosh, that's a lot going on kittenkirst! Make sure you take care of you too! X

Kittenkirst

Jessy103 said:

Gosh, that's a lot going on kittenkirst! Make sure you take care of you too! X

Thanks Jessy- we came home once the shop was closed and signs put up on the shutters. It was pretty sad really, but hopefully it won’t be for too long and it’s definitely for the right reasons.

I have come home and eaten lunch (free tuna and cheese sandwich that was left in the shop with today’s date, with some frazzles) then went on our bike/cross trainer for an hour. I geekily wore the slendertone belt we have and used some mini dumbbells to do some arm/shoulder training whilst on the bike- all
whilst watching YouTube travel blogs and dreaming of our next vacation when the world is safe again. I feel much better having got a workout in, and have since had some videocalls using a new app called House Party which is pretty good (& free!). 

Watched Boris’ statement- a little worried that gf is in the high vulnerability group- we’ve looked into it and it’s unclear with her condition (so much online but it doesn’t really say yes or no- some things indicate yes others indicate no!) so we will await any news from her GP and she is not leaving the house this week whatsoever!!! 

This week I’m going to focus on getting some exercise in each day and making sure I’m having 3Ls of water each day- I’ve been lazy on the exercise front and prioritised work last week but did okay with the water. Small steps to make myself healthy and good  

Kittenkirst

Morning folks!
Hope everyone is feeling well and practicing good social distancing (where possible) if you have to venture out.

What a change this week with the more stern ‘Stay at home’ message. Work has been interesting with lots of videocalls with my colleagues children taking guest star roles . We’re both working from home 8-4pm and making sure we take a half hour walk at lunch and take our turn on the cross-trainer/bike.

My local yoga studio ran a live stream class last night so I got to do a 45mijuye vinyasa class which felt good and was lovely to connect with the yoga teachers and my friends from class. They are planning to do this twice a day so will sign up to more. It’s donation based so the yoga teachers can earn something but that if people have lost jobs/income they can still practice for free. Such a fab idea.

I am doing something a little controversial today. My brother called me panicking yesterday- he lives just under 100 miles away on his own and regular readers will know he’s a paranoid schizophrenic (as well as having bipolar). He has been staying home and avoiding going out, but now with Boris announcing stay at home he’s panicking about getting food in and being alone. So I’m driving to Oxford today at 11am to collect him and bring him to our house.
Girlfriend and I chatted long and hard about it and decided we need to have him here so he has company, food and we can monitor his mental health and get him help should he need it. He has 2 months of his meds in stock so should be okay for the duration that he is here.

We have food in the house and I will be the person who goes out to get medication (gfs having issues as hers runs out today but her GP are being super difficult about it- considering that two days without it will see her in A&E I find their difficult attitude astonishing and frustrating to say the least) & any food stuffs in future. But we have a lot in so no need to pop to tescos until maybe Monday. At that point I will get a list from the in-laws and leave that on their doorstep too!

Has anyone tried the videocall app ‘house party’? It’s a free one and we’ve used it loads over the weekend to FaceTime friends and family so I’ve probably chatted more to family this weekend than a normal one!

hope everyone is well and coping through this crisis. I know some of my self employed friends are struggling and are urging the government to change their approach to them. Fingers crossed Boris listens!!

Kittenkirst

Oh and small Prolific surveys payout of £6.09 sent to the mortgage this weekend