Prosperous soul in the making

ohdearhowdidthathappen

That's disappointing about your pension case.  Must confess, I'm a bit clueless with pensions as mine is an NHS one.
My husbands are all over the place however and it's still on my 'to do' list to figure them out.
Sorry to hear you've had a tough few days, it's a weird time.  I'm generally quite chilled about it all, but I'm the sort of person that likes knowns, so not having an end date to it all is not ideal.
I wouldn't worry overly about not having loads to do at work, enjoy the relative downtime and the extra time with your family.  Is your DD better being at home more, I was wondering whether the shrinking of outside stressors (except the virus, of course!) might be making her feel calmer?

mark55man

OSHDTH - not a professional but I have read a lot.  if you have an NHS pension you are pretty much OK so long as you don't do anything stupid like leave it or pause it.  The only you need to be clear about is how they will calculate your final pension based on your service and pick the right spot to leave when that time comes

savingholmes

ohshithowdidthathappen said:

That's disappointing about your pension case.  Must confess, I'm a bit clueless with pensions as mine is an NHS one.
My husbands are all over the place however and it's still on my 'to do' list to figure them out.
Sorry to hear you've had a tough few days, it's a weird time.  I'm generally quite chilled about it all, but I'm the sort of person that likes knowns, so not having an end date to it all is not ideal.
I wouldn't worry overly about not having loads to do at work, enjoy the relative downtime and the extra time with your family.  Is your DD better being at home more, I was wondering whether the shrinking of outside stressors (except the virus, of course!) might be making her feel calmer?

I agree with Mark - your NHS pension is great. I still think you need to resolve your DH's to at least know what they will pay. I agree with you that it is the uncertainty around everything that is making things harder. Things are generally calmer at home due to reduced outside stressors. I think we would all benefit from a socially distanced chat with friends and/or family. It's also weird having DS home when we thought he had left home!! He was planning to living in London with an Aunt. Still not heard if we have to pay uni accommodation - desperately hoping not!

I am enjoying the spring/summer side of lockdown. The garden is looking so much more cared for. One of our next steps is to lay some fresh bark down on a path that runs between the back border and what should be our pond/wildlife area. (The previous occupants paid a designer!!) I still want DH to redo the pond but for some reason he is no hurry which is frustrating as I think it would be fab to get it up and running. We have a bit of a 'rill' (ditch) leading from an old water feature to what should be the pond and that is starting to fill up with water since I cleaned off the water feature. Some bits of decking which also form part of the path would ideally be replaced too. I figure we are unlikely to go away on holiday anywhere this year so making the garden more pleasant is the way to go. I have some patch magic I can use to restore the grass for now - and also have some 4 in 1 lawn stuff we can put down. I only haven't while we debate where to plant some of the other seedlings I've been growing indoors!

We plan to buy some more compost and bark next week. In a couple of weeks an order of strawberry plants, tomatoes and lavender should arrive which will be good. I also suggested to family they get me some gardening stuff for my birthday so it will be interesting to see what arrives. I have 3 pots at the front 'ripe' for re-planting. I also want to plant out some lettuce and potentially marigolds.

lucielle

Wow!  You've been so busy and brilliant weight loss.  All we can manage in the garden at the moment is to cut it.
L

MovingForwards

M are doing compost for £4 a bag at the moment, not sure how much you are paying.

savingholmes

Hi Lucielle and MF
Had a better day today. Did a fire pit for DD today and the family. We had those fire cones than change the colour of the fire. Pretty. Planted out some beans and carrots today - using a pot we already had and mixing half and half of original soil with compost and adding in some chicken manure pellets.

I tried to sort online banking for my next target CC. They are sending me out a new card and pin. I checked the balance though and it was #77 less than I thought so that cheered me up. 

in_need_of_direction

Have you ever thrown cinnamon onto a fire? It gives a nice colourful flame

PurpleFairy26

Fire cones that change colour sound fun. 

Well done on your weight loss, I’m sure it will definitely help with the knee healing. 

INOD - well done one your weight loss too. 

savingholmes

Thanks INOD - I will give cinammon a try next time. Congrats too on your weight loss. Hi PF.

Well today I am planning to work a longer day. Wish me luck! Spent most of yesterday exploring different ways of marketing my book. Have gone off plan diet wise the last few days so need to reset today. In more exciting news - the final payment went out to our current target credit card of £172 which also means we are now sub £20K in CC debt. Woohoo!

We are now down to 3 debts:
Target 1: £8127 due to be repaid April 21
Target 2: £5725 due to be repaid June 21
Target 3: £6223 due to be repaid July 21

Upcoming challenges
DS Uni accommodation bill (if it materialises)
2 new chairs on order (if we ever get a date)
Publishing my book (ouch to cost of ISBNs etc)

For the next couple of months our focus will therefore be on meeting the challenges above rather than big over-payments. Hope from July pay day to seriously tackle either the next priority CC or our EF or both. Very grateful we are safe at home and able to work from home. DS can't seem to stay in though so really hope he doesn't bring the virus home.

MovingForwards

That's fantastic news to clear one, get it down to what you have and to plan for it all to be gone next year 🍾

I'm sure you will find the right way to do everything for your book, your challenges and everything in between!