£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 51: Day 7

The weekend! Although it doesn't feel very weekendy as I need to go and give a talk/workshop this afternoon, which I don't really love doing. £150 for two hours work though, so shouldn't complain. Working tomorrow too, but just admin at home thankfully, so a little slower.

Working mum thanks for the pension suggestion - I had forgotten that was possible to do! Definitely one to add to the long term list.

Suffolk lass slow living is definitely where it's at . I have been really inspired by listening to podcasts by a couple who manage slightly hectic self employment along with a slow living mindset. Good to know that I can manage to be a little slower while still pushing at work at times. Thanks for the fruit and veg tips.

Honeysucklelou2 yes! Those are the memories I want the DC2 to have from holidays. I always do well in the summer - we very much unplug and live in a tent, but it's always harder in the shorter breaks.

Savings/Spends:
- £2.60/£28 February 'rounding down' overpayment pot
- £764.80/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.

In the interests of low stress, I am keeping my list to only three non-routine things, the rest are all 'rhythm of life' type things.

To do today
1. Finish preparing presentation.
2. Research and plan dates for various summer camping trips.
3. Tidy the DCs' lego.
4. Laundry.
5. Food shopping list (menu plan is done).

To do this week
1. More decluttering - particularly the lego!
2. Brainstorm ideas for architect - particularly in the light of the new extension information from the planners. Ongoing.
3. Finish planning any handmade gifts for birthdays/Christmas 2018 so I can ensure they are done well in advance.
4. Plan and book some campsites for summer hols.
5. Do birthday cards for the month and a thank you card for the weekend. done.

To do in February
1. Restart social media for my website, which has really been on the back burner so far this year.
2. Eat the contents of the freezer and defrost it. Ongoing, doesn't feel like we've made much of a dent yet!
3. Play around with designs to discuss with the architect in early March.
4. Have a laid back half term with the DC, doing activities at home, walks and crafts. Too many busy weeks recently.
5. SLOW DOWN. This started well at the beginning of the year, but has fallen by the wayside. I have a couple of fractionally less busy weeks coming up, must make a real effort not to fill them with All The Things. I'm making a start with my 'three things' list.

Treadingonplaymobil

Yawn. I'll be over here falling asleep if you need me. Speaking to a large group always wipes me out - even though I'm very confident, I'm such an introvert. I need my recovery time afterwards! Think I might have got an extra bit of work out of it though, which is always nice.

I haven't done that well on my weekly list this week, might use the 'three things' theory to decide the top three jobs for next week to go on it, then worry about anything else once they are done.

Savings/Spends:
- £3.05/£28 February 'rounding down' overpayment pot
- £764.80/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.

To do today
1. Finish preparing presentation. Done.
2. Research and plan dates for various summer camping trips. Done.
3. Tidy the DCs' lego. Not done, completely wiped this evening and couldn't face it.
4. Laundry. Done.
5. Food shopping list (menu plan is done). Done.

To do this week
1. More decluttering - particularly the lego!
2. Brainstorm ideas for architect - particularly in the light of the new extension information from the planners. Ongoing.
3. Finish planning any handmade gifts for birthdays/Christmas 2018 so I can ensure they are done well in advance.
4. Plan and book some campsites for summer hols.
5. Do birthday cards for the month and a thank you card for the weekend. done.

To do in February
1. Restart social media for my website, which has really been on the back burner so far this year.
2. Eat the contents of the freezer and defrost it. Ongoing, doesn't feel like we've made much of a dent yet!
3. Play around with designs to discuss with the architect in early March.
4. Have a laid back half term with the DC, doing activities at home, walks and crafts. Too many busy weeks recently.
5. SLOW DOWN. This started well at the beginning of the year, but has fallen by the wayside. I have a couple of fractionally less busy weeks coming up, must make a real effort not to fill them with All The Things. I'm making a start with my 'three things' list.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 52: Day 1

Wowsers, into the final week of year one!

I had vague dreams, when I started out, that I would have made a massive dent in our debt by now and be sailing along merrily, because once we'd had our LBM, things would get easier. Not so much. It's been an ongoing process. Not exactly a slog, but certainly not something I can sail through. And where I thought this huge chunk of money to make a big dent in the debt was going to come from is anyone's guess... I think for so long we had been waiting for that day when we would have more money, I just sort of continued to wait for that day. The last 12 months has shown me that The Day of More Money will probably never come, and what we in fact need to do is make our lifestyle fit our money, not the other way round. I'll do a proper round up at the end of the week to see where we've got to in 12 months.

DH went food shopping last night. Menu plan is looking like this...

Mon - stir fry with fried tofu and leftover sad veg from last week
Tue - cauliflower and broccoli cheese
Wed - butternut squash soup and hm sourdough
Thu - veggie burgers and freezer chips
Fri - picnic dinner in the car featuring hm sausage rolls using leftover sausage meat in the freezer from Christmas
Sat - at my dad's
Sun - at my dad's
Mon - sweetcorn fritters, possibly with poached eggs, probably with broccoli
Tue - veggie/tomato pasta

packed lunches - savoury vegetable and ham muffins, leftovers in thermos food pot, onion quiche.

snacks - hm flapjacks with whatever seeds/dried fruit I have in the cupboards, scones with butter and jam, banana pancakes.

puddings - hm banana ice cream (already in freezer), hm blackcurrant ice cream using frozen berries,

Was hoping the food shop would come in cheaper, but (a) he had to get some verruca treatment, which £5.20 and (b) I'm trying to use February being a four week month to stock up a bit (as we have only slightly lowered the food budget for this month, so each week's budget is fractionally higher than usual) so things like a bottle of maple syrup and a tub of Vanish whitening added to the bill. Still came in at just a fraction under the £80 budget though - £79.55!

Savings/Spends:
- £3.05/£28 February 'rounding down' overpayment pot
- £764.80/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £41.20 in Aldi (food)
- £38.35 in Sainsburys (food.

New routine of three non-routine priorities, up to three routine things...

To do today
1. Order some stock for work.
2. Email someone re work dates for March
3. Get further ahead on contract work (am currently a few days ahead, the aim is to be a month ahead by the end of Feb)
4. Laundry - am nicely on top of it at the moment
5. Ironing - likewise, am enjoying being on top of this.
6. Plan next week.

Again, three priorities for the week...

To do this week
1. More decluttering - particularly the lego!
2. Finish planning any handmade gifts for birthdays/Christmas 2018 so I can ensure they are done well in advance.
3. Arrrange a refund for a cancelled swimming lesson of DC2's.

To do in February
1. Restart social media for my website, which has really been on the back burner so far this year.
2. Eat the contents of the freezer and defrost it. Ongoing, doesn't feel like we've made much of a dent yet!
3. Play around with designs to discuss with the architect in early March.
4. Have a laid back half term with the DC, doing activities at home, walks and crafts. Too many busy weeks recently.
5. SLOW DOWN. This started well at the beginning of the year, but has fallen by the wayside. I have a couple of fractionally less busy weeks coming up, must make a real effort not to fill them with All The Things. I'm making a start with my 'three things' list.

enthusiasticsaver

I think a lot of us live optimistically thinking things will get better and we will gradually get richer, healthier and happier and never imagine that bad things will happen. As you have found over the last year there is no magic money wand and the only person who can change your finances is you. I actually do think you have come a long way over the last year. You have reduced your monthly expenditure from £4500 a month sometimes more to less than £4K so you are getting there. Hopefully your self employed income will increase as you put more hours in as your kids get older and you will get better at budgeting. I like the make your lifestyle fit your money mantra.

System

Hi there, just a lurker here. I picked up your thread from the site forum home page as the title caught my eye. Its took me 2 days of reading solidly to get through it all and although i dont necessarily agree with some of the choices youve made, i wish you well.

Cherryfudge

Nearly a year... wow!

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

came in at just a fraction under the £80 budget though - £79.55!

Great work there!

I like the verruca treatment coming under the food budget... or maybe I don't.

Treadingonplaymobil

Just popping in to say how much I'm enjoying my 'three things' lists. it's really helping me (a) prioritise and (b) slow down. I have actually already done my three for today and am feeling nicely productive, so I'm giving myself a chance to get ahead by moving onto my list for tomorrow, and I'll shuffle things around depending on how far I get with that.

Next three:
1. pack order for smaller business.
2. make onion quiche.
3. make blackcurrant ice cream.

lionheartedgirl

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

I had vague dreams, when I started out, that I would have made a massive dent in our debt by now and be sailing along merrily, because once we'd had our LBM, things would get easier. Not so much. It's been an ongoing process. Not exactly a slog, but certainly not something I can sail through. And where I thought this huge chunk of money to make a big dent in the debt was going to come from is anyone's guess... I think for so long we had been waiting for that day when we would have more money, I just sort of continued to wait for that day. The last 12 months has shown me that The Day of More Money will probably never come

I'm just popping out of lurkdom to say how much this paragraph resonated.

It is such a long slog, a journey of small changes and waiting a long time for the results of those changes to make themselves truly felt, but we just have to keep going, keeping the faith and knowing it's the right thing to do and we have no other real option.

I think I'm writing this as advice for myself rather than just commenting on your diary!

Stayathomemum36

Hi, I've been reading your diary and just wanted to say hi, Ive subscribed and you've inspired me to start my own diary

Treadingonplaymobil

Judi wrote: »

Hi there, just a lurker here. I picked up your thread from the site forum home page as the title caught my eye. Its took me 2 days of reading solidly to get through it all and although i dont necessarily agree with some of the choices youve made, i wish you well.

I don't think there's a poster on here who hasn't disagreed with something I've done . Lovely to have another voice of support, thank you.

Cherryfudge wrote: »

I like the verruca treatment coming under the food budget... or maybe I don't.

If I had a more appealing category to put it under, I would!

lionheartedgirl wrote: »

I'm just popping out of lurkdom to say how much this paragraph resonated.

It is such a long slog, a journey of small changes and waiting a long time for the results of those changes to make themselves truly felt, but we just have to keep going, keeping the faith and knowing it's the right thing to do and we have no other real option.

I think I'm writing this as advice for myself rather than just commenting on your diary!

SO TRUE. I still feel that in many ways I am seeing no benefits from this process (apart from the peace of mind of knowing we are not getting further into debt, which isn't to be sniffed at), but I know that if we keep going long enough we'll hit the true reward of being debt free eventually.