Dreaming of financial freedom!

themadvix

I’m still here and reading... but usually on my phone first thing before my brain has started working!!

Meal sounds amazing and great news about NY bargains!

ch4rly2002

That's good to hear I'm slowly catching up with your diary TMV, but I'm still on May 2018!

Yesterday's food was pretty bargainous. Lunch was a lovely sandwich made from some YS tiger baguette (down to 21p and it was delicious! there's enough left over for DH and I to have sandwiches from it today) and dinner was a stroganoff made with some reduced ingredients too.

Less than a week until payday. I am very excited as it's my first since I stopped working in September. When I see what I get paid, I am going to look at what's left and decide what to do with it. I need to top up my FD account as that feeds my FD regular saver. £300 goes into my RS each month and I had just enough savings in my FD current account to feed it up to December, but the balance is now a pitiful £17.70 - this payday is coming just in the nick of time! This year I would like to overpay on my student loan as the interest is only marginally smaller than the mortgage (SL is 1.75% and mortgage is 1.79%), so although Martin recommends paying off the larger interest rates first, it's so close that I might as well get the SL paid off before it increases and I can then use my monthly SL payment amount to OP the mortgage).

Work is going well so far. Still some IT issues preventing me from being as useful as I could, but it's getting there. We just had the first team meeting of the year and there are 4 new people, including me, in the team. My manager asked us all to do a one page summary slide about us and talk through it on the call, and we all got a lovely warm welcome to the team. It's so important to feel connected to your team when you're a remote worker, so it was really nice. Such a huge change from when I used to work with the company and my manager is the complete polar opposite of my previous manager. I'm feeling very thankful for my manager and team today

themadvix

New company sounds lovely, so glad it seems to be working out for you!

ch4rly2002

Well, another unproductive day at work filled with even more IT issues. Hopefully they will get sorted tomorrow so I can start pulling my weight! At least it gave me time to work through my on-boarding checklist and my colleagues are lovely about it. Thankfully, the lack of work meant I had time to pick mum up from work, and I know she appreciated it after a long day at work today and the miserable rain, so at least I'm finding some useful ways to use my time

I got fed up of waiting for Prolific to get to £20, so £18.22 transferred into my FD account to contribute towards the next £300 RS payment. I was amazed that it was instant to withdraw (I'm used to TCB payment timescales!).

Tonight's tea is leftover lasagne from New Year. Mum made loads and the kids weren't really hungry (we'd been for a walk to the local deer park and they'd been hungry and had snacks, which meant not much tea eaten). Mum froze it and tonight we have an easy tea :T

Now I'm busy trying to source a free mouse mat for work. I was hoping there might be one on Freecycle or a company giving away branded freebies, but no such luck yet. I will keep an eye out

ch4rly2002

Woohoo, Freecycle worked! Someone got rid of a mouse mat they didn't want anymore, and I got a freebie that a) helps stop waste, b) saves me money and c) is more environmentally friendly than purchasing a new one Happy days!

themadvix

I love freecycle for all the reasons you gave! Result!

ch4rly2002

It's marvelous, isn't it TMV

I've been working on my study as I want to try and create a minimal-clutter working area. Sadly, the study seems to be our go to dumping ground when people are visiting etc. as it is on the top floor and can't be seen, so it has become a bit of a room of shame. I'm making great progress, but it just takes so long when I'm trying to properly sort through things. I now have a tidy desk and thanks to BIL liberating one of the many unused monitor cables from his work, I now have a second monitor for my work PC. Couple that with last night's Freecycle mouse mat and I have a fully functional work space again now I still have a long way to go, but progress is progress! I now need to address the piles of old cards I have lying around. I am a bit too sentimental and I like to keep hold of birthday cards, Christmas cards etc. but it's just a case of storing them and trying to get them in some kind of order. It's especially nice to look back at cards from those no longer with us, so there are some key ones I want to keep, but I think there are some that should probably head to the recycling bin now. I am also assembling a pile of things to sell and things to donate. I have also moved a few things around. Thankfully we have a long desk that spans the length of the room so I had space to move my printer onto the end of the desk. I had it across the room, which I liked, but for the past couple of weeks I haven't been able to use my printer as it now refuses to connect to the internet. I am reluctant to buy a new one because of a) money, b) waste and c) sentimentality (I bought it when I started working from home when my Dad got ill and it's made by the company I worked for / am working for again). So, I had the idea to forget wi-fi and connect the printer directly into my PC as I checked last week and it still works, however as the cable I currently have is so short, I have to practically sit on top of the printer for it to reach. I've ordered a longer printer cable, that is far longer than I could possibly need, but as it was £5.19 for 16ft or £8.49 for 9ft, I went with the longer of the two. That should be delivered today and I can get my printer set up again. Next to my printer I will be placing a mini server. It was gifted to DH from one of the senior managers when a client cancelled their contract and all of their kit was written off. It's a good server and was FOC, so win-win. I will also hook that up to my PC and use it as backup storage in case I ever fall foul of ransomware or a PC breakdown. I have no idea how to make the server work as storage, but luckily my very tech savvy BIL (he's the IT Manager at his company) is coming to stay this weekend so he can help us set it up.

Speaking of this weekend, and onto fun things, BIL and our board game obsessed friend are coming to stay this weekend, so that means lots of fun, possibly some drinking from the home-bar and a takeaway (not very MS, but we like to do takeaway on day of arrival due to friend driving from Sussex to Nottingham and not necessarily knowing arrival times, and the rest of the weekend will be home cooking). I'm looking forward to it - I normally end up with a mushed brain by the end after all the game playing, but it's always nice to catch up and we have a good laugh, so what more could I want?! We massively over catered on drinks for New Year, so we have plenty of drinks to work through as well.

Still having IT issues, but I'm using my time wisely. This week I have managed to change the details on my workplace pension from before I left (they moved the pension from Zurich to Scottish Widows, but sent all the info to the old house, and I think it fell through the cracks a little. Thankfully we're still in touch with the people who bought our house and they saved the latest post, a pension statement). My email address and physical address are now up-to-date with them and I also got log in details so I can view the pension online. I also talked DH through the process so he could do the same. I rang the People's Pension and asked for transfer forms so I can move the measly amount I paid in during my time at the ill fated job into my new pension. Also, I was sent a link to sign up for Perks at Work, which is the company discount programme. I have registered and also sent invites to my friends so that they too can enjoy discounted bits

Last night's tea of leftover lasagna was really nice, possibly even better than the first time round. We had it with a couple of slices of garlic bread and a side salad. Yum! Not really in-keeping with the new diet, but as it was leftovers, I decided the MS and lack of waste aspects took priority

In other news, DH and I are busy planning a big trip to celebrate his birthday. We'll either do a road trip around Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California in May/June or Canada in August. Canada was originally his preferred trip as we've never done Canada, but due to weather at the time of his birthday and conflicts in diary with the yank in-laws, we'd have to delay until August, which would overlap with 'always centre of attention' BIL's birthday and anniversary, and it wouldn't be so much about DH's birthday. Normally we don't mind letting yank BIL have all the attention, but just this once I want DH to have the limelight. We always have to sit and listen to how amazing YBIL's life is and all the amazing places their holidaying to, and do whatever they want to do (it started when he moved to the US, so his homecoming every Christmas made the whole festive period about him, then when he met his wife it became all about what she wanted to do, now it's all about them and the nephew, plus they have always had so much money they could go anywhere they want and do anything they want) but for the first time in our marriage, we finally have some spare cash and I want something DH really wants to do and will remember forever. For years we've had holiday destinations dictated to us and have had to get into debt to do these things at their request, and we've never complained to them. We've even scrapped plans for Bali etc. to accommodate for the nephew, so the least I can do is try and keep DH focussed on what he actually wants to do. I hope that doesn't sound whiny and resentful because I truly don't mean it to, I just want to empashise how important it is to me that DH has one occassion where he is the priority and gets a bit of a fuss made about him.

Jessy103

Sounds like you've got a lot on ch4rly and I wish you the best of luck with it all!!

I don't think you sound whiny or resentful at all!!! I don't blame you for wanting to make this trip special for your OH and it sounds like you guys deserve to have a fantastic time for all the times you've had to keep YBIL happy!

Funny how people from the same family can be so different and treated so differently by parents! I've recently found this with my bf, his parents seem to worship the ground his brother walks on! It's all 'He make this much money' and 'he's so busy and successful at work' etc but from what bf has told me, his brother has had to move from his own rented flat to live in a house share and has a lot of debt!!

Anyway, have fun planning your trip, it sounds amazing!

ch4rly2002

Wow Jessy, it sounds like a very similar situation with our partners' brothers. the in-laws do worship the ground YBIL and YNephew walk on (YSIL not so much as they have conflicting personalities, but it seems the more funny she is with them the better they treat her so they can stay in her good books!). Thankfully DH isn't jealous or resentful in any way, but it is noticeable how between the 'second coming' YBIL and the younger BIL with Aspergers (who obviously needs a lot more of the in-laws' attention) DH does feel a little forgotten at times, so I am determined to give him a special 40th and try get everyone in the family to do the same After that we can all go back to hearing how wonderful everyone else is and how perfect life is in America

ch4rly2002

Had a lovely weekend with our friend. We treated him to takeaway on Friday to thank him for making the long journey from Eastbourne to Nottingham, which he appreciated. We played lots of games on Friday and some alcohol was drunk from the home bar (it's great to make use of it!).We also managed to use up quite a few boxes of festive friends that the kids hadn't got through at New Year (I'd bought a big pack of 6 boxes of festive friends thinking they'd get eaten by kids and adults over Christmas but they were left untouched and not very health friendly for us. As we usually buy snacks when friend and BIL come, it was pocket friendly to use them though, and it saves us from eating the lot!).
Saturday and Sunday also involved lots of game playing and some drinking of alcohol, but not much. The drinks from New Years went down well, but we still have a lot left so we're not going to have to buy any more drinks for some time it seems. Lunch on Saturday was sandwiches and crisps but we did go out to a Chinese buffet on Saturday night at friend's request. Not very MS but he doesn't come up too often so if there is something up here that he wants to do we usually oblige. Sunday we had sandwiches and crisps for lunch and then sausage sandwiches in the evening as it's what we all fancied and it was quick and easy. Overall, a great time had by all.

In disappointing news, DH spoke to YBIL on Sunday evening (I'd gone to bed at that point), and looks like DH's 40th birthday plans have been scuppered. Going back a few months to last year, when YBIL said they didn't want to go more than 3 hours time difference for the nephew, DH said he really wanted to go to Hawaii (this is something that has been discussed quite a few times in the past by DH and myself, and also the in-laws as we all really want to go but it hasn't happened due to timings). YBIL and his wife looked into it and came back saying it's too expensive (they didn't put a figure on it, but BIL in England is the 'weak link' in the chain as he hasn't got as much money, so we assume they thought it was too much for him. I also suspect they were only looking at 5* places, which we wouldn't have done, we would have probably said you guys go to a 5* place and the 5 of us will stay somewhere more reasonably priced). So, DH agreed with YBIL that maybe we should park that idea and look for something else to be considerate to English BIL. We've since been trying to get dates from the YBIL so we could book something, and I've been complaining to my long suffering DH that the longer we leave it the more expensive the trip would be. Fast forward to Sunday night and DH tells YBIL of the 3 options he'd like them to consider for his 40th trip and states 2 would be in May/June (his birthday is in April but he thinks that's a bit too soon now), and the other would be August (but as discussed up above, DH doesn't want it to turn into something more about their anniversary and birthday). YBIL says their preference is to do something in August as they've booked to go to Hawaii in March and are paying to take their nanny and YBIL's wife's mum.... Hawaii!!! I was fuming when DH told me. Not only are they going to DH's first choice of location, they now want to push out the trip to long after DH's birthday for it as well. We're both disappointed that they didn't ring us before booking to say they were going to book Hawaii and did we want to look at the price to see if it's somewhere we'd all like to go. Poor DH was holding back tears and he doesn't cry often. He thought he'd made it clear how important this trip was for something to do together as a family (looks like they won't be able to join us now) and the fact that they're going to his first choice. I've told DH I'm going to try and find him something absolutely wonderful that he'll love that his parents and English BIL can do, but I know this will taint it for him now. I really feel for him

To end the post on a lighter note, I won 10p on the TCB competition. I also got paid today. Not quite what I was expecting, but I'm glad to be earning again.