Project Mortgage Neutral Begins

ajmoney

I used to follow the thread but I found it led to me spending a lot of time cleaning.  I did do a bit of dusting this morning and then this afternoon decided to start stripping wallpaper so I may as well not have bothered.

So national lockdown for 4 weeks, as I say I had already started stripping wallpaper, I wonder where it will stop!  I suspect we will be off work past the 18th now but no definitive has been given yet.  The measures don't make too much of a difference to me but will probably mean that I swim more locally (in my town rather than 9 miles away) which might also mean that I can't swim as often. Rumours are the supermarkets have already gone a little crazy but I don't really know why.

savingholmes

Good luck with the decorating. Sounds good

ajmoney

Kind of back to work today but not really, I am going in this morning to change my out of office message and try and work out what I can do from home.  I am not sure how long we will be working from home for but if I can't do everything from home I will go in once a week to try and keep things ticking over.

I have just reset my OP spreadsheet starting from the first as the figures weren't quite correct.  It shows me that I should hit my mortgage goal for the year so any extra money I get I am going to save towards my emergency fund goal. 

I am struggling with the lack of being able to plan at all, yes it is helping me live in the moment a bit more but it doesn't give me anything to look forward to.  While I might not be able to go on holiday I have decided to plan some holidays without dates.  There are places I have always wanted to go to and things I have wanted to do and experience so I am going to research these, see the sort of things I can do and get a vague idea of prices.  I have a friend who used to work in the travel industry and she has said she will help me with some of the ideas (she needs a focus too) then when it seems ok to travel again I can decide which I would like to go on.  I am going to look at some UK ideas too that way if there is an option for a couple of days somewhere in the summer I already have an idea of accommodation.

Today's focus it to drink a bit more water, only eat natural sugar and stay awake from the masses of Christmas baking I still have and to get back into a better dental routine.  My tongue often gives me hints that I am not being kind to my body and it is currently doing this in a big way so I am listening.  While I am still struggling to get stuff done this seems like a good focus.

Suffolk_lass

I have been looking at different travel options instead of long-haul flights - that is quite interesting

savingholmes

Planning holidays sounds fun visualisation. I know what you mean about your tongue too - it really can reveal what's going on in your body.

ajmoney

savingholmes said:

Planning holidays sounds fun visualisation. I know what you mean about your tongue too - it really can reveal what's going on in your body.

Mine is really sore at the moment and when it gets like this it affects my work.  As a wind musician my tongue is as important as my fingers.  I managed most of what I set yesterday but met a friend for a walk and they turned up with tea and a pastry for each of us, I felt it would be rude to say no.  I am aiming to repeat the same steps today as my tongue was feeling better by the end of the day. 

One of the podcasts I listened to yesterday said 'how you are now is what you were doing 6 months ago', I heard something similar on one of his others podcasts last month that said illness can often point to a stressful event that happened up to 6 months ago.  I have been quite aware of this as the last 2 months have really hit my mental health hard and I am keen not to become ill further down the line.  The mouth health thing is part of my steps towards this, hopefully everything I have been doing will help mitigate against any nasties that might come my way.

I have started my list of holidays, one of places I have always wanted to go to and another of things I have always wanted to do on holiday or experience.  The list is a lot shorter than I thought it would be but I am sure it will be added to.  I am trying to be open minded and not let any fears of things or negative brain chatter deter me putting something on the list.

Suffolk_lass

My tongue always suffers over Christmas and New Year because we eat and drink things that in combination just trigger food intolerances (eg eating chocolate makes cheese give me mouth ulcers like bee stings down the sides of my tongue and inside my teeth) - I don't think mine is more than food combining gone wrong because as soon as I go back to my normal eating it goes. Interesting ideas though - whose podcast was it please?

ajmoney

Suffolk_lass said:

Interesting ideas though - whose podcast was it please?

Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee, they are generally about an hour and a half but have been a game changer for me.  I put them on when I go for my walks and am currently working me way through the older ones.  The one I was quoting was his most recent one about habits.

ajmoney

Day 1 of working from home again.  I have made one call, practised for an hour and done an email check.  I have 2 more calls to make, a virtual presentation to arrange and a final check of my emails before finishing the day with a walk.  I feel I should be doing more while I am working from home but there is only so much I can do when I am not part of a band rehearsing.  The gritter lorry came along about an hour ago and the speed it has worked on the road is amazing, I need to get out and back before it all starts to freeze again.  Think I might take some time out to strip some more wallpaper soon.

Suffolk_lass

ajmoney said:

Suffolk_lass said:

Interesting ideas though - whose podcast was it please?

Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee, they are generally about an hour and a half but have been a game changer for me.  I put them on when I go for my walks and am currently working me way through the older ones.  The one I was quoting was his most recent one about habits.

He was on the radio yesterday (Drive-time on R5) talking about habits - I've seen some of the TV series he did about living healthier - very interesting. I might check those out.

There was also an interesting bit on at lunchtime on channel 4 (eating my soup!) where someone was talking about sleep patterns - he was recommending our natural body rhythm is based on two sleeps with the second at lunch time, between 12-2 but not for 2 hours - he was saying a 20 minute nap is very beneficial - up and at them between 6-7, work until 12, have a meal break and a nap for 20 minutes - then work again if you need to (or do something else if you don't). His other advice was to lay off computers and social media for at least an hour before bed to improve the quality of your sleep. He made a direct link between this and mental health. There is so much we do wrong now and simple changes can really help. I consciously try to put my phone and tablet down by 9pm and it helps (but last night's events in America meant I was still watching at 11.30 when I am normally asleep. So shocked and appalled!