And so it begins: The Pig Vs The Mortgage

pinkypig

Hello

I appear to have lost Monday!  To be fair it was a bit of a whirl but I also had a quiet, relaxed evening which restored some balance and calm.  I’m not always very good at taking a step back but I must try because rather than falling into bed tired and a bit stressy, I had actually ended up feeling quite chilled and got a big admin job finished.

Work was busy but I’m on top of things (for now) but there’s a lot of negativity about.  I know it’s because life is feeling uncertain and people are tired and worried but it just drains me.  My daily goal is to not get drawn in, keep on top of my day to day workload and do one extra work job that my future self will be glad of.  I’ve managed day one - go me 😂😂

Yesterday’s MSE achievements were the usual eating leftovers, batch cooked dinner and HM coffee.  The heating still isn’t on but the electric blanket and the winter duvet are.  I went to bed early after a nice, long bath and finished my admin job where it was toasty.  Lovely.  

I’m now 95% there with my retirement income options ( as long as the markets stabilise at some point😱) and it feels good to be informed.

Today has been a good day and I definitely feel more on top of things and I kept away from the drainers!.  It often amazes me me that when I’m on top of my finances then I seem to be more efficient in other areas of my life. Win win 😀

Today’s small steps to happiness and retirement included;

An early night and a good sleep.  It did mean I was awake at 5 am but that meant I got coffee and a read in bed on a school day 😀😀

A nsd 

Went for a run.

Marking up to date, everything ready for tomorrow and well on with next week’s planning,

Got large bag of free apples 

Had a lovely, cosy evening . It has been so cold at work as the weather has turned and we still have to keep the windows open. The house was also chilly so  I put my batch cooked dinner in the air fryer while I had a bath then put my electric blanket on while I ate my dinner and then hopped into my warm bed with a decaf oat milk latte.  Bliss after a chilly, busy day.  

Cheap, healthy eats ( overnight oats for breakfast, hm soup for lunch and batch cooked veggie shepherd’s pie and batch cooked roasted veg for dinner).

Put on an extra jumper and cosy socks while I did my last hour’s marking which I’d brought home.

Lift shared.

I’m off for an early night ahead of a good day as it’s pay day tomorrow and OH is coming home 😀

Happy Tuesday 

PP x

LadyWithAPlan

Your warehouse shopping sounds like my kind of joy Is it just a large Cs or actually called a warehouse?

Having a large  or second crockpot  is so useful. That marble top unit sounds perfect - I need more bathroom storage as well

Karmacat

pinkypig said:

How I wish I’d discovered the joy of second hand sooner!
Hope you’ve got your French bank issue sorted out x

Not yet - I'm planning to do it this afternoon, I've been paying attention to my U3A space meeting and my Zoom connections 🚀 🖖🏻

pinkypig

LadyWithAPlan said:

Your warehouse shopping sounds like my kind of joy Is it just a large Cs or actually called a warehouse?

Having a large  or second crockpot  is so useful. That marble top unit sounds perfect - I need more bathroom storage as well

Hello 😀
I had family for dinner last night and it was so useful having two SCs!
The charity does have a small shop in town but they also have a huge warehouse on the outskirts of town which is full of furniture, electricals, clothes and Bric-à-brac.  It’s amazing if you like a good rummage 😀

pinkypig

Karmacat said:

pinkypig said:

How I wish I’d discovered the joy of second hand sooner!
Hope you’ve got your French bank issue sorted out x

Not yet - I'm planning to do it this afternoon, I've been paying attention to my U3A space meeting and my Zoom connections 🚀 🖖🏻

Always a good idea to focus on one thing at once KC, especially when Zoom in involved 🙈😂

pinkypig

Hello

Wednesday and Thursday seem to flashed by but at least that means it’s Friday 🥳. Wednesday was also pay day 🥳🥳.  In reality that doesn’t really change much as my offset mortgage doesn’t readjust until the 1st and that’s when I finalise my saving totals.

It is however my month end for my day to day budget categories.  This month spends have been;

Grocery £143.87/£150.  I was really pleased with this as it included about £17 of birthday meal/cakes ingredients.  TGTG boxes were a massive help so I must try and get one a week.  There’s a bit of work prepping everything and you’ve not got to be fussy but the savings are huge.

Fuel £111.85/£200.  This is down to lift sharing and combining necessary journeys and not making unnecessary ones.  I’ve also got more than half a tank of fuel left going into next month.  As I’m sharing regularly now I think I’ll reduce this budget to £150 next month.

Personal £65.50/£50.  I am over but it included my new to me curtains, cabinet, crockpot and kitchen bits so I’m actually delighted with this.  Other than that my spends were £7 treating me and my friend to coffee.  All other entertaining has been done at home.

Thursday  was  a nsd day but on Wednesday  I had a £40.74 😱😱 grocery spend but this did include thing things for a special meal for 6, ingredients for two birthday cakes and a sack of dog food that lasts two months so perhaps it’s not so bad.  It can’t be that amount every week though 🙈

Yesterday and today had similar small steps to success including;

Took breakfast, coffee and lunch to work.

LO for dinner

All school stuff up to date and I’m having the weekend off!

Made naan bread dough and put curry in SC for birthday celebrations.  There’s another veggie curry in the freezer and there’s LO cooked chicken to go in to easy sauces out of jars for the meat eaters.  I’m making my own pilau rice and I have poppadoms and pickles.  All the other sides are bought and just needed reheating

Bins emptied and recycling sorted out

Today I have no to do list as I’m determined to try and relax as I’ve felt tired this week.  I’m having lunch with my sister, visiting my mum and that’s it!  There’s enough leftovers from last night’s family get together for OH’s lunch and tonight’s dinner so there’ll be no cooking to do either.

Tonight I’m going to light the wood burner and have a night of TV .  Can’t wait 😀

Happy Friday 

PP x

Cheery_Daff

Impressive budget there! Hope you can have a nice relaxing day today. An evening in front of thevlog burner sounds lovely!

Karmacat

It really does sound lovely.  Great to hear you've got the weekend free too.

pinkypig

Morning ladies 😀.  It was so nice!  I also used my 8 hour tea lights rather than candles and it felt very relaxing and cosy and no electric lights needed.
I also managed a day of R&R which is most unlike me as I often end up sneaking a few chores in!   

I felt a bit weary when I woke up as this week has been super busy and I’ve been sleeping very badly (as I often do when work gets a bit nuts) so I had coffee in bed (obvs) and decided against a run.  I ended up having a lovely, restful day and feel so much better for it.  A lesson there I think 🤔 
So yesterday’s small steps to happiness and retirement were;
OH was working from home and brought me coffee in bed - twice😀

Sorted out my national breakdown cover.  Got it via Groupon for £19.95 and they had ‘welcome back’ type coupon which I applied and it brought it down to £9.95 😀😀. My £1.46 TCB has also tracked.  The voucher is valid until the end of November and my renewal is the end of October so that’s perfect.  DS’s was also due so I did the same for him as he tends not to get round to these things 🙈

Was treated to lunch by my lovely sister, and it was a treat too.  The food was lovely.

OH did a repair of something that I thought I was going to have to replace. 

Final bit of pension forecast info arrived
.
Had a potter around my sister’s city and had a few well thought out spends.  There’s a £1 CS and I went looking for snuggly jumpers (of which there were none) but I did get a pair of relax fit, age appropriate denim shorts .  I’ve been on the look out for these for a while as I had a definite gap in my holiday wardrobe.  They are from Next so they are good quality and are in fabulous condition. I also got a lightweight striped jumper which looks lovely with them which will be good  for next summer.  I also found a striped long sleeved top with a lovely little detail to the neck and some leather court shoes for work.  Both were from M&S and looked new.  £4 of personal spends well spent.   I also got two sensibly priced big birthday cards from the Card Factory and a few little stocking fillers for the kids from Primark so that was £5.80 out of the gifts budget.

Went to see mum.

DS popped in after work which is always nice 😀

LO for dinner so no cooking and minimal dirty dishes.

A cosy night night in front of the wood burner with OH

Today is going to be more of the same but with a bit more of exercise (which won’t be difficult given yesterday’s levels 🙈).
Happy Saturday 😀
PP x

Karmacat

Fantastic!  I love the sound of your coffees in bed (plural!) and your CS shopping.  Spectacular