The mindful MFW: A healthy, happy journey to a mortgage free life!

smallholdingsister

Haha me too.

themadvix

I think you've got it spot on about why Tilly's diary is such an inspiration - there's so much generosity in there!

Hope you made the zoo eventually!

museumworker

newgirly wrote: »

The holiday sounds amazing, I did look into doing the same when I first joined mse, but was overwhelmed at the thought of getting the house in order enough

I was terrified about the state of my house but when I realised that was what was holding me back from travelling / house swapping I realised enough was enough. It was a real motivator to get rid of my clutter once and for all. I've tried lots of different methods but the most successful for me has been KonMari. I think it's because you start from a place of joy and gratitude rather than shame and anger. My house still isn't perfect - I've had three starts on KM and have only just 'clicked' with the first three categories - but it's good enough to swap. As long as you don't open too many cupboards :rotfl:.

smallholdingsister wrote: »

Haha me too.

Honestly if you saw the place I swapped with in Paris you wouldn't worry. Knives in a children's toy box anyone? :eek: I've not used that site again.

themadvix wrote: »

I think you've got it spot on about why Tilly's diary is such an inspiration - there's so much generosity in there!

Hope you made the zoo eventually!

Definitely, Tilly's generosity shines through. I'm actively cultivating a sense of gratitude and Tilly's diary has really affirmed the value of this.

We made the zoo, well it was more of a big farm with a few wild animals, but it had a great feel to it, and as the Swedish schools have gone back there were only about 20 families in the whole place! Had great splash park for the littlies, a rather challenging ropewalk and we had five and a half rather chilled hours there. £93 spent, including some soft drinks. Packed lunch, dinner at home from stores and ice creams from freezer. Under budget by £7 today :T oh and by £80 yesterday so £468 overall .

museumworker

Just used Zeek for the first time. Got a £25 voucher for £21.30, we're about to buy a coffee machine (with discount) so using a discounted voucher too helps stack the savings further.

If you haven't used Zeek before I have a sign up code, you get three quid off and I get a £5. In fact, worth signing up the OH as we'll get £8 between us! Anyway, if you would like to join and need a code it is: 2QCTDPN7

http://www.zeek.me/gb/promo/?code=2QCTDPN7

Not sure I would use for small amounts in future as there was a random 30p charge which almost negated the £1 saving but with the sign up code it was worth its while.

Our bank cards are unblocked too :j!

CathT

Holiday sounds great and I loved your summary of Tilly's diary.

pinkypig

Glad you're having a lovely holiday. I'm def going to do some research into house swapping - thanks for the tip.
PP x

museumworker

Thanks CathT! Hope you're having a lovely summer break. When I've ploughed through Tilly's hopefully I can catch up with yours! Only 220 pages left :rotfl:

Today we had a lazy morning, films for the kids and lunch at home, then went for a Swedish 'fika' in a 1950s decorated cafe, which was AWESOME! Massive milkshakes and a huge slice of cake each... It was actually too much and made me realise we haven't been eating that badly on holiday. £37 for all 5 of us... Then £5 on a kazoo as the man in the shop gave DD2 one and I knew DS would get jealous...

Stopped in a large supermarket on way back to top up the stocks of things we used up here which we need to replace. DD1 has been helping herself to things so its been hard to keep track of but hopefully we've covered most things. Plus food for (another ) hot dog dinner. £33 spent.

£25 under budget today so £493 overall. If we can get it to over £500 that would hopefully cover our home insurance renewal in October :j which we only just started putting money towards so don't have enough to cover outright.

museumworker

Quick post to say have won a £40 restaurant voucher via Instagram :j That will be a lovely family day out in the next month or two - perhaps brunch or lunch so we don't have to add too much more to it

Jus getting ready for our last day out to an open air museum.
Then packing, tidying and cleaning ready for our return tomorrow.

Good news is house swapper is interested in exchanging again and has given us a more or less open invite to come anytime as it's her second home :j! Although she hasn't seen how we've left the place yet :rotfl:!

Needhelpsaving

Hi MW,

Just read your diary start to finish (I was hooked). I wanted to say how great it is to see how inventive you are with your MF journey, but it was also very refreshing to hear people talking openly about the impacts of stress.

This is something, I have got to actively work on. Needless to say I will be following with interest.

Good luck on your journey.

museumworker

pinkypig wrote: »

Glad you're having a lovely holiday. I'm def going to do some research into house swapping - thanks for the tip.
PP x

You're very welcome - let me know if you want any advice. Its a wonderful way to travel, we hope to house swap for many many years to come.

Needhelpsaving wrote: »

Hi MW,

Just read your diary start to finish (I was hooked). I wanted to say how great it is to see how inventive you are with your MF journey, but it was also very refreshing to hear people talking openly about the impacts of stress.

This is something, I have got to actively work on. Needless to say I will be following with interest.

Good luck on your journey.

Thanks so much NHS, glad you enjoyed it and hope you found some useful things in amongst the chatter! Stress is literally a killer. It has been playing havoc with my health for way too long, and I'm still not completely out of its shadow. Cultivating a sense of gratitude definitely helps. And acceptance. There's only so many hours in the day after all! Please do share any things you find work for you in helping eliminate / manage stress.

Am typing this on the flight home - Norwegian Air have free wifi! Kids all watching various downloads, thank goodness as the flight is delayed and there is severe turbulence :eek:!

Had a wonderful last day in a beautiful historic town, went to an outdoor museum and got to nosy in lots of very old houses. Had good playground and a Moomin softplay so the kids were very happy too. I got in free with international museum pass as did kids, so just £12 for OH and £8 parking. £20 in last bits to replenish cupboards/ have dinner at home and £45 on petrol.

Today I've been cleaning and tidying like a lunatic before we said goodbye to our Swedish home and locked up. Only £15 spent today on final petrol top up. We made a packed lunch for the airport and have a shop coming when we get back.

So £100 underspend between yesterday and today takes us to £593 underspent from a budget of £1300 . We may need to get some fast food on way home but even still a great saving and will go in the home insurance pot ready for Oct's annual payment :j!

Sad to be going home, loved having so much time with OH and kids and Sweden was such a calm place to be. I have a busy week at work too with a number of deadlines. Good news is it is only 2 months tomorrow until our next holiday :j and OH gets paid on Fri so we can reset all our pots.