And so it begins: The Pig Vs The Mortgage

pinkypig

Hello 😀
We’ve  had a lovely first day of our staycation mini break 😀.  The weather has been cold and a bit blustery but there has been no rain at all.  We woke early but as we were in no particular rush we had a coffee in bed and planned our day.

We’ve had a very long walk and we are both knackered but it’s a nice kind of tired.

We have just finished our easy dinner of batch cooked veggie lasagna that just needed heating up.  OH is tidying up and then we are going to have a decaff coffee and read.  We usually do a film but we got talking today about some of the good things about the lockdowns we have had (trying hard not to focus on the awful stuff) and we remembered out screen free nights that we had once a week.  We loved them but then kind of forgot about them.  Anyway, we are having one tonight so as soon as I’ve typed this it’s phone down and book out!
In financial news I did the food shop for just over £28 yesterday and this included a sack of dog food that lasts over a month and replacement day cream and night cream as I’ve almost run out of both.  I love the Aldi skin creams, they are as cheap as chips, go on really nicely and smell lovely.  I would never go back to my old premium one.
I also got a £13.86 payment from TopCashback yesterday and today my £36 Uswitch cashback cleared.  I’m going to put £25 of it into my SIPP and the rest is going into my savings 😇
I bought a birthday present on Friday that was within budget and got my tealights and nothing else from Home Bargains.  While I was getting the birthday present I also got some Christmas stocking fillers for DS and DD (they still get one even though they’ve left home 😂) in the 70% off sale in Matalan.  I also got wrapping paper and gift tags at 70 % off so that’s all in the attic with the Christmas decs ready for next year.  It came to £5.75 and I got loads of nice bits that they’ll like and use so I was very pleased with that.

Today’s small steps to happiness and freedom included;
A good sleep 
An oat milk cappuccino in bed 
A nsd
Coffee and HM scones in the warm after our long, cold walk
A lovely day out in beautiful surroundings with OH and the doggo.  We have our best talks when we are walking.  All sorts of plans made 😀
A batch cooked dinner that was cheap, tasty and required zero effort
DD sending through lovely photos of her day on the hills .  They are building a great life for themselves and I’m so happy for her .
Reflecting on how very happy I am that OH really likes my kids and they really like him 😀

I’m now of to enjoy a coffee and my CS book, which isn’t my usual genre but I’m really enjoying it.
Happy Saturday 😀
PP xx

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, what a lovely day! And loving the idea of a screen free evening. I kept promising myself a screen free day every month last year (just for me, Mr Cheery would never agree although he doesn't have a smart phone so different for him anyway) - but I got to the end of the year and hadn't managed a single one!! 😮

pinkypig

Hello 😀

Another Monday survived 😂😂

We had such a lovely weekend, lots of time outdoors, lots of relaxing, lots of nice food.  Bliss 😀. Sunday was really nice, we had a nice relaxed start, a run (which was longer than I have been doing and  I really enjoyed it), some reading, a bit of food prep and laundry and a roast round at DD’s.  It really felt like we’ve had a holiday and all we spent was our petrol money 😀
Today has been good, we are still short on staff but we’ve got into a bit of a routine so it felt less fraught.  I am feeling tired though so I’ll keep it brief!
Today’s small steps to happiness and freedom included;

A good sleep 
Cheap, healthy eats (overnight oats for breakfast, l/o risotto from the freezer for lunch and l/o lentil roast and veggies for dinner so no cooking either 😀).
Took coffee and water to work 
A NSD

Swallowed two frogs 
marking up to date
Made spicy lentil soup 
popped some fridge leftovers into the freezer so they didn’t go to waste.
a long bubble bath 
It is now passed my 10.30 bedtime so lights out for me!
Happy Monday 😀
PPxx

pinkypig

Cheery_Daff said:

Ooh, what a lovely day! And loving the idea of a screen free evening. I kept promising myself a screen free day every month last year (just for me, Mr Cheery would never agree although he doesn't have a smart phone so different for him anyway) - but I got to the end of the year and hadn't managed a single one!! 😮

We are a bit rubbish at getting around to it too Cheery but when we do they are great! 

rtandon27

A screen free day would be amazing - but not something we've been able to manage given that the past two years have been screen heavy for both work & personal!  We have however been able to turn off the laptops for a few hours each evening and at least 1/2 day on the weekends.  Just that amount of time each day gives us the headspace needed to rest the part of our brains that craves the constant dopamine hit!

pinkypig

Hi RT 😀.  I hope I haven’t bigged this up too much - we just have an odd night where we read and don’t watch telly!  I couldn’t do a whole day 😂😂😂

pinkypig

Hello 😀
It feels like it’s been a long day!  I had things on after school as part of a new role I’ve taken on .  It was quite useful but I do struggle to concentrate after a day’s teaching .  It also meant I was very late getting home but I had a nice easy dinner of leftover no meat meatloaf and a bath and I’m now in my pjs watching a bit of TV.  OH is away so I’ve only had myself and the dog to consider 😀
I’ve no financial news other than a NSD (my 18th this month!) and that I’ve had notification that my TCB payouts are on their way.  I also had a quick round up of the budgets as I get paid on Friday and they are looking good.  I haven’t managed a no spend January but it’s definitely been a low spend one.
Today’s small successes included;
a good sleep
took breakfast, lunch and coffee to work 
still eating out of the pantry and freezer - grocery spend is well down 😀
sorted out my expenses 
had a nice long bath 
a nice chat with OH and DD
remembered to download some podcasts to listen to on my drive to and from work 
put the dry laundry away and got another load done which I’ll get in front of the wood burner overnight.
narking up to date 

Less successful has been mid week exercise, I just can’t seem to get going.  I’ve achieved my three sessions a week goal that I set myself for January so it m not going to beat myself up about it though.  

I can actually feel my eyes starting to close so I’m going to get myself off to bed 😴
Happy Tuesday 😀
PP xx

pinkypig

Happy Hump Day 😀

I feel much less frazzled today despite waking up at 5 am😱. I think it helps knowing that tomorrow is Thursday, which for me is the new Friday!
work has been uneventful despite the number of staff absences.  Every cloud has a silver lining though - the staff meetings keep being cancelled 😂
I’ve got such a lovely class this year so I’m really enjoying my teaching.  Mind you, looking at what’s heading my way next year I’d best make the most of it!
I have money news!  My TCB payouts arrived so I’ll split that between savings and pension when I do my month end budget closing.
Also, I read the MSE email when I was awake at stupid o’clock and spotted the Raisin one year bond offer.  It’s fixed at 1,3% for a year and there’s up to  a £75 bonus so I’ve opened an account and transferred my long term savings pot which is currently earning 0.55% and blagged the bonus 😀. I like my short term savings and emergency fund on instant access but the whole point of my long term savings is not to touch them so I’m happy to invest them for a year, 
I also managed a few other small steps to success;

Cheap, healthy eats ( overnight oats for breakfast, LO risotto from the freezer for lunch and HM spicy lentil soup and a toasted sandwich for dinner)
Took  all food and coffee to work 
Changed DS’s bed and hoovered upstairs 
Had a nice chat with mum who is coping so well. I can’t wait to see her 
Had a nice long bath and watched an episode of a new series on my tablet .
Marking up to date
Two loads of laundry done and the dry load is folded but not put away.

i haven’t managed a no spend day as I had to fill up the car but I had no spends other than that.  It’s payday on Friday so I’m looking forward to closing off my January budget and doing my 1st of the month money shuffles.  I really need to get out more 😂😂
I’m now off to bed to try and make up the sleep I lost this morning!
Night night 

PP xx

Karmacat

That Raisin bond sounds a good one, well done you  

pinkypig

Hello 😀

Hi KC 😀 , interest is so hard to find these days, it’s worth the hassle of moving it!

Its Thursday 😀😀( sorry if you’re at work tomorrow).  When I think how long I dithered about going down to four days and worried about the salary reduction I can’t believe it!  I’ve adjusted to my new income level and the time and headspace it’s given me and the reduction in my stress levels is priceless.  It’s the best gift I’ve ever given myself 😀

It’s pay day tomorrow so I’ve closed my January budgets.  I set out to have a low spend January and I’ve tried to be very mindful of my spending and went back to logging spends and NSDs and it seems to have worked.  I’ll have to do my savings totals on the Ist when I do the the OS mortgage shuffle but my three main areas of spend were;

Grocery 

£102.28/£150.   That pantry and freezer use up worked!!  I’m really pleased with this as I actually did a food shop today and included it in January’s spend but it will last us until next week.  I had run out of decaf coffee and I thought I might as well get everything on my list at the same time as if I go twice I spend more!!

Transport 

£104.79 /£149.  This is almost exclusively getting to and from work.

Personal 

£8.40/£50.  This was getting my work boots heeled which I’m not convinced is really a personal spend but I’ve not got any other categories !!   

I’ve made an effort to do free but lovely things at the weekends. I’ve kept away from the shops and the charity shops and I really haven’t missed it (not that I shop a lot but do tend to drift into HB, £land and the CS more than I should!).  I almost bought I beauty blender mid month but didn’t and the old one is a bit battered but I think I’ll get another month out of it.

Reflecting on the month, we’ve had a lovely one.  We’ve eaten well (and I’ve lost three of those ten lbs!), had a great weekend staycation of walking and running, entertained, or been entertained at home or other people’s homes and got lots of house jobs done when covid confined us to barracks over a weekend.  So, I think I’ll try more of the same in February.

In other news did you know that there are loads of free audio books on YouTube?  How did I not know this???? I’ve had Your Money or Your Life in my Amazon basket for ages but couldn’t justify buying it as I have so many unread books and I’ve just found the audio book for free .  Well chuffed (sorry if I’m late to the party😂).

I’ve only listened to a bit but one thing did resonate.  A high proportion of the sample who followed the programme said their expenses went down but their quality of life went up .  This sums up my MF journey in general and my low spend January in particular.  Just need to keep it up now 😂😂

I’m just putting together a weekend wish list to try and get stuff done so that we can have another staycation weekend next week.  I think I’ll focus on sorting through the freezer and the pantry and do some batch cooking, doing a bit of decluttering and given the house a good clean.  I’m also going to prioritise exercises and reading.

Today’s small steps to happiness and freedom included;

Transferred the money into my Raisin account as my test payment had arrived safely.

Had a good work day - meetings rather than teaching so no marking 😀😀

Cheap, healthy eats ( mushrooms on hm sourdough toast for breakfast, HM tomato soup for lunch and chana dahl and rice from the freezer for dinner so no cooking 😀

Went for a run this morning and got the dog out for a decent walk tonight

Laundry away

Got lentil and chickpeas into soak ready for batch cooking tomorrow 

A nice chat with my sister and DD

Happy Thursday 😀

PP xx