Tales from The Shire

Fortune_Smiles

Plotting & Scheming

I got through another full day without having to go for a lie down.  I'm hoping this means I am properly mended - although I'm still being careful with myself.

A little summary of the week:

Health

• surprisingly, I didn't put any weight on whilst doing nothing for three weeks 😁 But I didn't lose any either so I want to start addressing that
• although my diet has been reasonable this week with no snacking or treats
• I walked FDawg with Mr F yesterday and today with no ill effects so we'll try walking on the lanes again from tomorrow
• this afternoon I tried a little Tai Chi.  It was very gentle and relaxing but difficult to learn the moves.  I did enjoy it though so happy to keep practicing.

Wealth

• I've been crunching numbers to help us make some decisions about the future.  It's a 'finger in the air' exercise really as we can't be sure about living costs going forward. But we do know there will be further maintenance and improvement required in the house and we'll need to ensure the mortgage repayments remain affordable.  We'd also like to do more before age starts working against us.  Decisions are becoming more pressing as our fixed rate mortgage ends in August this year.  We have a rough plan now after talking it through and will keep an eye on how things develop over the year
• some decisions we've parked for the moment - do we replace the boiler for example.  Will we all have to have heat pumps going forward or solar panels?  Will oil be affordable or even available soon?  And a car for when Mr F retires and has to return his company car.  Diesel, petrol, hybrid, electric?  We'd be looking at buying a new or nearly new car and expecting that to be our last car purchase so it might have to last a long time and what policies and restrictions could come into play over that period of time?  Lots of research to be done.
• in the meantime, I'll continue to budget and meal plan and squirrel money away.

Happiness

• on Friday, I've arranged to meet a couple of girlfriends at the Castle to see the snowdrops.  I feel I've been in another lockdown due to the back injury so some social interaction is very much needed
• I had a hot, bubble bath this afternoon whilst watching a film.

Hoper everyone's had a good weekend.

Fortune x

debtfreeoneday

All interesting wealth related pondering there Fortune. We are having similar thoughts. Tricky to know what to do for the best isn’t it. 

themadvix

It does all feel very up in the air at the moment, doesn’t it?

I know I bang on about it, but the YouTube channel Fully Charged is really helpful for information about electric vehicles, solar, home batteries and alternative heating options if you want unbiased research (I mean, it’s very biased against fossil fuels, but they cover everything else fairly!)

Fortune_Smiles

debtfreeoneday said:

All interesting wealth related pondering there Fortune. We are having similar thoughts. Tricky to know what to do for the best isn’t it. 

It is tricky @debtfreeoneday.  We think we'll just hold off making a decision until as long as possible.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

themadvix said:

It does all feel very up in the air at the moment, doesn’t it?

I know I bang on about it, but the YouTube channel Fully Charged is really helpful for information about electric vehicles, solar, home batteries and alternative heating options if you want unbiased research (I mean, it’s very biased against fossil fuels, but they cover everything else fairly!)

That's really helpful @themadvix - thank you.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Productivity Restored 😁

Today has been far more productive and is more or less going to plan:

Health

• completed my morning skincare
• started counting calories
• walked FDawg this morning on the lanes and coped well
• did an hour's Tai Chi.  I got the hang of things better this second time
• cooked Mushroom Stroganoff with wholegrain rice for lunch
• meal planned for the week
• put a whites wash on
• vacuumed
• planned baked cod with mustard sauce and Root Vegetable Mash and peas for supper.

(I'm including my chores in the above list as getting things done is good for my mental health.)

Wealth

• booked the blind company to come and fit our two surprise blinds.  I've ring-fenced the cost in this month's budget
• booked a fence company to come and give us a quote to replace the fence that got damaged during Storm Arwen
• booked our mower in for a service.  I've used a more local company this time.  You may remember the previous company did some very expensive repairs without agreeing them with me first.  The new company has a good reputation and is likely to be cheaper
• did the on-line grocery shop.  It came in around £30 under budget but it's likely I'll need to re-allocate the saving to pay for some birthday gifts
• made a Bay sale
• drafted an email for Mr F to send to his employer about the car benefit value on his P11D.  They did get in wrong 🙄 so he's asked them to re-issue the form so we can write to HMRC for a refund.

Happiness

• re-booked my hair appointment
• I might be able to go to the ballet on Thursday after all.  I need to pop to the Post Office tomorrow to post the Bay sale so will see how I feel driving before making a decision
• Mr F and I are planning to go out for a meal after my hair appointment on Friday to celebrate Valentines.  There is a French restaurant we've been meaning to try so I'll see if I can get us in there.

Just supper to cook now and then a shower I think which will encourage me to complete my evening skin care.  My skin is already looking better and I feel better as a result.

So a longer list today.  I might go up to bed early though and rest just to be on the safe side.

Happy Monday all.

Fortune x

rtandon27

Well done on your productive day Fortune & glad to hear your back is starting to heal!

Fortune_Smiles

rtandon27 said:

Well done on your productive day Fortune & glad to hear your back is starting to heal!

Thank you RT.  The temptation is to act normally now but I've still a litle way to go.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Achey, breaky

I really ached by the time I got to bed last night so I decided to take it a bit easier today:

Health

• completed my skin care routine
• walked FDawg around the field as Mr F had a meeting
• gave Tai Chi a miss to give my body a chance to recover.  I'll do another session tomorrow
• postponed a trip to the Post Office.  Another day before getting into the car can't hurt
• made New Potato, Spinach & Goat's Cheese Frittata for lunch with some salad leaves.  Only I used Mozarella instead of Goat's Cheese, as I had some leftover from an earliler recipe, and added some sliced cherry tomatoes to the top.  There's some leftover which I think we'll have for breakfast in the morning
• cleaned the dining room
• added sausages, red onion gravy and peas to last night's root veg mash for supper.

Wealth

• sent a birthday present and card to one of the Younger Fortunates (costs met from yesterday's grocery shop savings)
• sent a Valentine to Mr F 💘
• sent three surprise valentine presents to family and friends who've been having a tough time recently (costs met from this month's random acts of kindness budget)
• ordered dog food and treats
• ordered a pair of boots to try.  I ordered several pairs last year but none of them fitted and I had to send them back.  This pair are on sale although still quite expensive but they are a brand that usually fit me.  We shall see.  I've been looking for a couple of year's now and I'm not sure my current boots will see me through another winter.

Happiness

• discovered that the spinach in the veg patch was still growing and there was enough there to make a meal
• booked Mr F and I in at our local brewery for supper on Friday.  I decided to leave the french restaurant for another time as it's quite expensive and would wipe out our fun money budget for the whole month
• I also ordered a fancy italian meal for Valentine's Day itself.  I had a voucher for 40% off and free prosecco so thought I'd take advantage.  I have two WI meetings to attend on Monday so it will be good to have something quick to prepare inbetween and nice to have something a little more special that I wouldn't cook myself.  Costs will be met from the fun money.

It's hard to separate the wealth and happiness categories today as sending gifts, especially suprise ones, gives me great happiness.  I love to think of the recipient discovering a little unexpected something and how that might brighten their day. Nice surprises don't have to cost money of course but today's have.  Having some fun social things to look forward to makes me happy too and today's involve costs as well.  I don't suppose it matters what goes under which heading.  I think it will be interesting to see what the overlap is though going forward.

So it's been a costly day but all planned and budgetted for.  And I feel that I've started living a little again too.  Another early night is in store.  FDawg has woken us up in the early hours of the morning a couple of times recently.  I hope he's not developing a new habit 😲

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Slooooooow down

I've slowed down a little today as my back has been feeling a bit sore:

Health

• completed skin care routine
• I didn't exercise today at all as just getting through a normal day has been taking it out of me
• got to the bottom of the ironing pile 😁  Not something that happens very often 😁
• made tuna, cheese and salad wraps for lunch
• made tortellini and sauce for supper.  There was half a jar of pasta sauce in the fridge which needed using up (leftover from Mr F's cooking attempts) and I didn't want to be on my feet for too long.

Wealth

• drove to the Post Office to post the Bay sale and a skincare sample to a customer.  This is my first time in the car since the back injury and, although I didn't drive very far, I found it quite uncomfortable.  Pleased now that I cried off the ballet tomorrow as it would have been a very long day
• made a skincare sale
• put some fuel in the car.  My £60 a month budget used to leave me with 3/4s of a tank full, now I'm getting scant of half a tank 😲

Happiness

• I can drive again if only for short distances
• I'm catching up on chores slowly but surely
• FDawg slept through the night 🛌

Happy hump day all

Fortune x