Tales from The Shire

doingitanyway

Sorry about the tax bill. These things are always a shock when you are not expecting it.
It sounds like you managed the lodger/friend tightrope well

Have a good evening

Fortune_Smiles

doingitanyway wrote: »

Sorry about the tax bill. These things are always a shock when you are not expecting it.
It sounds like you managed the lodger/friend tightrope well

Have a good evening

Thanks DIA. I keep a very close eye on Mr F's tax affairs but it doesn't matter how much number crunching I do, they always throw me a curve ball I hope I'm managing the lodger friend situation sympathetically. You can't put a price on a good friend so I wouldn't want to lose one for the sake of a few pounds.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

We are definitely heading in the wrong direction :rotfl: The loan money has come through so I've transferred that to the garage, organised the tax and insurance and arranged to pick the car up tomorrow morning. So we're back to being Debt-Free Wannabes as well as Mortgage-Free Wannabes :eek: Must remember to get my debt free badge when we clear it this time.

We spent yesterday moving all the cuttings from the garden into the top field ready for burning when they've dried out a bit. That will save the cost of hiring a chipper. Farmer Giles has taken the Tups away to a neighbour's field so our top field is clear of sheep but our bottom field now has about 30 pregnant ewes munching through the grass. They'll only be there for about three weeks before they get taken away for lambing but that should be enough time for them to get the grass down.

Mr F has repaired FDawg's agility equipment and put it back up in the top field - it seems the Tups may have had a go at using it and squished it in the process :rotfl: He also did some more fencing so we are about 75% there with the post and rail fence repairs now.

I've emailed the gate man to say that we'll only be replacing the front gate for now and, if his quote still stands, when can he start.

I am doing well with following the meal plan and avoiding added sugar. Good for my waistline as well as my purse Meals this weekend were:

• Pea, Prawn & Lemon Linguine. I added a chopped chilli to help reduce the chilli mountain :rotfl:
• Gnocchi with Carraway & Savoy Cabbage
• Borlotti Bean Minestrone but I didn't make the crisps.

It's WI tonight. A friend is driving so I'll either pick up the parking cost or buy her a drink when we get there. Should be an LSD if you don't count the very small, hardly noticeable, bloody ginormous car purchase :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Happy Monday all

Fortune x

greent

Yeah - but a new car is still exciting!
x

beanielou

Happy new car tomorrow :j :j

doingitanyway

I hope all is well with you?

Fortune_Smiles

doingitanyway wrote: »

I hope all is well with you?

Hi DIA - all's well, just busy. Will be reviewing progress as soon as I get a minute

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

January is rushing by, in fact, we're almost at the end of it :eek: There are snowdrops and crocuses in the garden already and the daffs are pushing shoots up too. Spring will be here soon

I thought it would help me to stay on track if I reviewed progress against goals on a monthly basis so...

HEALTH :j

• I've booked a course of yoga and attended two sessions so far. The cost was met from personal spends
• we took FDawg out on a day trip. He was very excited/anxious throughout and barked and lunged at all the dogs. I'm hoping he'll become calmer once he gets used to having adventures. I think he needs more doggie socialisation so may book some training for him
• my plan was to avoid added sugar in my day to day diet with the occasional treat when out and about. I've stuck to this in the main with only an occasional blip :A

WEALTH :money:

• lodger friend moves out on Tuesday so we have one more week's rent to come. I've blocked out the rest of the week to get into the Annex and see what needs to be done before we can B&B. There is a pot put aside for any costs involved. I've also started putting together the information for the letting site.
• we have the new car and are very happy with it and now need to sell the old one. Mr F and I cleaned her up so she's looking all sparkly and lovely. We've advertised her on a couple of forums to see whether the price is about right. Three people expressed an interested and two booked viewings. One viewing was cancelled because the chap saw another car first and bought that. The second viewing went ahead but the person found they weren't able to manage the clutch as they had arthritis. They were very disappointed as it's been their dream to own this model - we were too :rotfl: At least we know the price is about right. Mr F is away a lot over the next few months so we are going to have to time any further advertising to fit with his commitments
• I have bought broad bean and parsnip seeds for the veg patch ready to sow in February
• no further work has been done on the house as we're making the Annex a priority.

HAPPINESS

• I have set up our local girlie group and booked our first night out
• Mr F and I visited a local NT property for the first time.

Not bad for starters :rotfl:

My focus for February will be B&Bing the Annex and managing the changes to our outgoings. Mr F has been given his new company car choices and, whichever he chooses, we'll end up paying more tax. This, combined with the new car loan, will make things a bit squeaky until we can sell the old car and get the B&B up and running.

Onwards and upwards (I hope) :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Fortune x

in_need_of_direction

love (and am slightly jealous of) the balance in your life

Cheery_Daff

Excellent progress Fortune! :j :j

LOVE your health, wealth & happiness list and the little smileies you've chosen Perfect

Good luck setting up the B&B! People often ask us if we're going to do that but I don't know where we'd put them - we don't have an annex, and our outbuildings are more 'falling down agricultural shed' than something out of Country Living magazine :rotfl: not saying I would never consider it, but I think the initial outlay would take about 400 years to recoup and quite frankly I'm far too anti social anyway :rotfl:

I do admire other people who do it though maybe we'd consider a caravan or similar one day... In fact we were standing in a spot in one of our fields the other day that we've never stood in before & thinking what a lovely campsite it would make... Not sure how that works with the mortgage mind you...

(And again, far too antisocial...)

Sorry, waffling on your diary I'm just interested is all did you actively seek out somewhere you could do B&B? Is it something you always wanted to do, or did you just find yourself with a suitable space? Do you enjoy it, or is it mainly just for the dosh?

(Feel free to ignore me of course)