Twinklie returns to the property ladder

twinklie

Well what a week. DH's parents both have COVID and he's been running round doing their shopping. All seemed to be well and then his Mum got carted off to hospital very unwell. She has COPD as well and has only been out of hospital 3 weeks after suffering respiratory failure, so it's all been a bit stressful. 

Makes you think really. Although the finances are important and give you some security and freedoms, its still important to make the most of the time you have. With that in mind, we threw on our coats this evening and took the boys out looking for Christmas lights. It was a lovely family bonding walk and on the plus side, the boys are zonked.

Stay safe everyone. 

twinklie

Oh and the unit has gone.

twinklie

We managed to take the children on a tier 3 COVID secure Santa Train, which felt really safe and was lovely. It’s properly got me in the Christmas spirit. 

I only have 3 days to work next week which helps and then I’m off until the 4th Jan. I cannot tell you how much I’m looking forward to the break. Unusually DH has booked time off over Christmas too, so I’m hoping for some real quality family time. 🤞🏻

debtfreeoneday

Hope DHs parents are ok. 

twinklie

DHs parents are both on the mend, his mums out of hospital. So fingers crossed that’s as dramatic as it gets for the rest of this year thank you very much. 

Work done. 2.5 weeks off. Woo hoo!

twinklie

Merry Christmas all, it's been a lovely day here. The kids have had a great day, getting a bit overtired now and a bit moany...but I guess that's to be expected on Christmas Day I guess. I'm looking forward to our big meal of the day (we have ours later in the day because we have a BIG breakfast). 

I have managed to be semi productive though. Set up internet banking for the boys and managed to deposit their Christmas cheques into their accounts, although it obviously needs to clear yet. I also noticed the DS1's regular saver has expired and I'm just paying money into his standard account which is lower interest, so I've applied to open another regular saver for him. Once that's sorted, I'll up the DD's into their accounts. 

One of DS2's Christmas presents broke so I've organised collection for that. Bit miffed about it actually because I think he would have loved playing it. The quality wasn't what I would have expected though so I'm not going to try and get it again. 

Managed to get Brussel sprouts and herbs from the garden to make up some of the Christmas dinner. So I'm pretty happy with that. Need to plan the garden for next year and think about checking what seed's we have. I'll do it different to this year though because I think the soil is obviously pretty good in the raised bed but I'm going to plan more of what we fancy. Quite excited about it really. I'm really looking forward to spring. My parents have given me 20 quid to spend on myself so that's my plan. I'm also hoping to get hubby to make me some netting boxes so I can protect the plants without the constant faff of netting. 

twinklie

I've also come up with my 2021 MSE resolution - maintain the savings we are doing...AND start paying off the £00.00 at the end of the mortgage to round it down to 00.00 at the end of the month. I'd love to do the 000.00 but I'm not that flush. 

twinklie

I couldn't wait until the end of the year and made my first ever overpayment this morning. £63.11. So my total overpayment for 2020 is only £63.11, but in 2018 and 2019 it was £0. So I cannot knock that can I?

I'm still plowing everything into developing an emergency fund for us because we didn't have one at the start of 2020. So I won't be overpaying much in 2021, but I intent to OP like I said above so that the end of the mortgage is always £00.00. I have no further plans beyond that. 

It's my 40th next year and I have a 2 week holiday to pay for. 1 week in Scotland just us 4, then 1 week in Yorkshire with us and my parents straight after.  £1,509.50 left to pay to cover it all which will take quite a chunk out of my pennies. Neither of the accommodations are that fancy, but they aren't shabby either. We didn't go anywhere or do anything this year, so I'm hoping we aren't being too extravagant. I'm also hoping we actually get to go and that COVID is becoming a distant memory by then...I'm not holding my breath though. 

We have a few days in Thomas Land booked as well in May, which is carried over from when we should have gone this year but couldn't. We have 2 comedy gigs also, which I suspect the one in April will get pushed. The October one...well, who knows. 

twinklie

I want to plan my veg patch today. Make a list of anything I need and what is going where in the beds. Quite looking forward to getting started. 

twinklie

Planned the veg patch, however, I need to buy quite a few bits and pieces. 
I also need to buy wellies. Does anyone have a particular brand or type of welly they recommend? I did have some but they have completely broken now. I tend to go on a lot of woodland walks near my house so wellies would be useful for that and for the school run.