Project Mortgage Neutral Begins

Suffolk_lass

No snow in Suffolk but it has been piddling for two days and just walking 70 metres to the Village Square yesterday gave 3 lorries the chance to spray the road puddles onto the pavement (missed me, more or less!). I hope you find something to keep you occupied (maybe research something new or do a jigsaw) maybe a crafting thing - learning something like crochet from you-tube might be fun - you could produce things for premature babies in your own time?

ajmoney

Suffolk_lass said:

No snow in Suffolk but it has been piddling for two days and just walking 70 metres to the Village Square yesterday gave 3 lorries the chance to spray the road puddles onto the pavement (missed me, more or less!). I hope you find something to keep you occupied (maybe research something new or do a jigsaw) maybe a crafting thing - learning something like crochet from you-tube might be fun - you could produce things for premature babies in your own time?

I need to mend some pyjamas that have had a hole in the seam for far too long and I am in the middle of a knitting project so will probably do that today.  I need to get together all the hats and blankets I have knitted this year and send them to the hospital or ask my neighbour to drop them off.  I was planning on going into town but will leave that until later or maybe another day.

ajmoney

I have started the day by sorting out a drawer in my bedroom, it is the only room I haven't really sorted this year and think it is finally time to go through my clothes.  It is a strange thing to do when I haven't worn many of them this year but I will start with what fits and take it from there.  I am doing it in short spurts while catching up on some of the programmes I have stored on the tv.

Suffolk_lass

Well there was me, "no snow in Suffolk" and then it started! It was such a blizzard we ditched the planned market visit and will make do until Monday (which is a much quieter day to shop than at the weekend). I'm still painting the cabinet doors in my kitchen (the never-ending project, it seems!) and I was struck that this is my equivalent of Grayson's Art Club - a bit of unnecessary creativity that has been keeping me sane. Not sure I would recommend it but it is starting to look good

ajmoney

I didn't get much further with clothes sorting yesterday, I spent most of the day sitting on the sofa reading instead.  I have been reading some books that have been very thought-provoking.  I started with one of the tasks this morning - cold showers.  Due to the recent weather it might be a couple of days until I can swim outside again due to the potential contamination from overflowing drains so I decided to start my day with a 30 second burst.  I will never find it easy getting in straight away but I was surprised that something so brief gave such a positive boost internally once I was under a sensible temperature.  I enjoyed it so much that I finished the shower with another burst and I have such a feeling of calmness and serenity, how long it will last I don't know but I am really going to make an effort to do this each morning - not that I have given myself much of a choice as I have left the dial on the coldest setting

Plans for today - who knows!?!  I have come up with an idea for the rest of the year though - to explore the county I live in.  As it stands I can't leave it due to being in tier 3 so I would like to find different places to walk and things to see, unfortunately I expect a lot of the roads will be flooded today so I might need to wait until I am on leave to start going further afield.  I may go into the loft and see how feasible it is to get the Christmas decorations down by myself and put them up today.

ajmoney

Got to love reducing mortgage figures and terms:

August 2020 21 years

November 2020 19 years

December 2020 18 years 9 months

it is a shame I won't be making £500 OPs each month.

Suffolk_lass

Ooh, I like the cold shower thing - would you be willing to share the title of the book it is in please?

"it is a shame I won't be making £500 OPs each month." - but each time you do, it has a slightly bigger impact as the interest you pay reduces along with the term, and the proportion that is capital repayment increases accordingly. I still have my little worksheet that tracked the interest rate reductions each time I made an overpayment and my hatred of paying interest was greater than the drive to save eventually - my targets were about getting daily interest down, then weekly, then monthly, with a quick nod to the annual total that just made it clear how much I was paying someone else to live in my house!

ajmoney

@Suffolk_lass the book is Meltdown: How to turn your hardship into happiness by Jamie Alderton.  I can't remember which chapter it was in but I found the whole book thought-provoking, to be honest everything I am reading at the moment.  I put a shout out on my fb page to ask for suggestions of other books based on what I had been reading and am making my way through the list now as well as other ones I have saved on my wish list on @m@zon.  I have read self help books as they were referred to in the 90s for over 20 years, some I find patronising and others awe inspiring but at the moment while I am trying to focus on me in my attempt to move forward from this sticking point they are crucial.  I am about to start The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho as it was loaned to me 18 months ago and I really feel I should return it along with another one.

I will still be OPing my mortgage but it will generally be £250 although this is dependant on the ability to holiday as I don't see the point in adding to that fund at the moment which is how my OPs have been so much higher.  I just need to decide if I want to OP this each month or alternate with putting it into my cash savings as I am still bolstering my readily available cash, I guess I could split it between both.

Today's tasks...who knows.  I haven't done much more sorting in my bedroom or done anything with decorations but I did go for a lovely walk listening to a podcast yesterday and plan to do the same at some point today.  Food shopping is a must.

ajmoney

Meal plan and shopping list done.  It is a very easy meal week as I am eating out of the freezer using up all leftover meals etc ready for my time off when I potentially have time to make different things.  I will also be able to start filling it up for Christmas week.  It does mean I don't need to buy very much, I didn't last week either but each of the meals is packed full of veg so I am not missing out nutritionally.

ajmoney

It appears I have finally found a short term thing to keep me going...another charity challenge although I need to come up with the actual challenge.  10 days to focus on me while raising money for charity, I am struggling to come up with how challenging it should be though.