Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget.

mrs_slapshot

Good afternoon all - lovely to see some new posters on here 

Phoebe I have taken note of your garden shop recommendations, thank you  - my garden is looking so much better now I’ve spent time on it, and I’m keen to grow a few veg in containers and get some nice patio plants. Bought some from Homebase the other day along with some containers - spent £140 and managed to drop a tin of fence paint in the car park 

LL I know exactly what you are saying about other people’s expectations and you are so right to ignore them and do your own thing! ‘You do you’ 

I’ve got a poorly tum today from a dodgy curry last night so I’ve gone back to bed and am in my happy place scrolling the forums, looking at Pinterest, reading and listening to podcasts. The rain is pelting on the window and I’m snug in bed with a throw round my shoulders and my bed socks on! Bliss. 

My thoughts have turned again to moving house...seriously thinking about downsizing my mortgage which might mean moving to a cheaper area. My job is likely to become more home based (I’m hoping they don’t have to restructure after this pandemic) and so it doesn’t matter so much being close to work. I do still want to be fairly close to my best friend so won’t move too far. My goal is to have no mortgage by the time I’m 60 which is 5.5 years away. It’s currently about  £115k and I’m hoping if I move I can chop at least £30k off it. I bought at a very good price (some hard negotiating was done!) and have redone the whole house. It was valued last year at £83k more than I bought it for which is excellent. Watch this space!

My champagne moments recently have been some ebook bargains (thanks to whoever recommended Bookbub), and starting a list of things I would have bought but decided not to, or made do. Things like not buying a new kitchen bin but giving my current one a damn good clean outside which sorted out the lid not working properly....saved me £55! Also doing the patio cleaning and sorting the garden myself saved me at least £150. I think I’m also going to colour my hair at home instead of at the salon, which will save about £30/month. All of that can go towards my mortgage!

LL I hope you feel a bit more positive in the next few days, it’s unusual to see you feeling a bit down. Totally understandable at the moment - I had a little cry to myself this morning about the global situation and all the horrible stuff that’s happening. Still, I’m hoping that this is a catalyst for change (and praying the lack of social distancing doesn’t cause second waves..)

Keep safe everyone 

mrs_slapshot

Also - there’s a free online wellness festival starting on Friday 12 June and running for a month. It’s organised by Fearne Cotton who normally does it as a summer weekend - although it’s free you can donate to their charity partners. Well worth a look when it opens up

happyplacefestival.com

 

Onebrokelady

Well, I've had a week of champagne moments,I've been off work for a weeks holiday, had my birthday and the best was that my newly qualified DD got a job as an OT at the same hospital that I work at 😊 
Today it is truly miserable here and soooo cold, I had to pop into town this morning but I've spent the rest of the day reading a book on my Kindle that my lovely DD bought me for my birthday. I'm back at work tomorrow for a long day but then have two days off so not too bad 

greenbee

I have to admit that while the #blacklivesmatter protests are concerning from the point of view of the virus, everyone I know who is going is wearing masks. And this isn't something that can wait. If we're going to make a stand we need to do it now. 

I'm stuck at home with post-COVID issues, but am doing what I can via social media to support the cause as I'm very aware that if we don't speak out, that sends a message too. I'm currently putting pressure on my employer to make a statement on their position (we have a very diverse employee base and leadership team) before it's too late. 

Champagne moments - a lovely fire in the stove using up bark from felled trees. Not reducing my store of logs but providing cheerful flames and a little heat to take away the chill caused by the wind and drizzle. And my third batch of elderflower cordial steeping in the kitchen. 

Onebrokelady

greenbee said:

I have to admit that while the #blacklivesmatter protests are concerning from the point of view of the virus, everyone I know who is going is wearing masks. And this isn't something that can wait. If we're going to make a stand we need to do it now. 

I'm stuck at home with post-COVID issues, but am doing what I can via social media to support the cause as I'm very aware that if we don't speak out, that sends a message too. I'm currently putting pressure on my employer to make a statement on their position (we have a very diverse employee base and leadership team) before it's too late. 

Champagne moments - a lovely fire in the stove using up bark from felled trees. Not reducing my store of logs but providing cheerful flames and a little heat to take away the chill caused by the wind and drizzle. And my third batch of elderflower cordial steeping in the kitchen. 

It's a difficult situation and I agree something has to be done now, because it will get swept under the carpet again otherwise, I'm trying to educate myself about racial injustice but I worry about what I can do, I can't empathise because I haven't been in that position, I know my sister was the subject of racial hatred because her husband was black, they were spat on in the street back in the 80s when they went out together and suffered abuse from both sides, it angers me that it's still going on all these years later 😡

helensbiggestfan

It is a tricky one isn't it........I agree there needs to be protest and pressure and I guess timing is essential.  Strike whilst the iron is hot and all that because as you say delaying might mean the issues are just quietly ignored.  

I don't pretend to have any answers but I agree Greenbee,  harnessing the power of social media is perhaps a good way forward.  It can be a very powerful weapon.  I have to say I'm not impressed with the TV coverage, they seem to just want to sensationalise everything, focussing on the riots in the States and not showing the more positive peaceful protests.  I just hope that the protestors can stay safe and we don't see an upsurge in Covid cases.  

As a child I was the victim of racial abuse and religious intolerance, firstly because my mother was Belgian but an awful lot of people just assumed she was German (this was the 1950s and there was a lot of bitterness to German people).  Secondly because our family were catholics.  Seems incredible now because thankfully the world has moved on and Europeans and catholic's are accepted or should I say any prejudice is now covert rather than overt.   But during the 1950s there was still plenty of prejudice against catholic's and also white "foreigners" such as Polish and Irish people.  There was no pretence, it was out there, plain to see. 

It's a very harsh world sometimes.  

helensbiggestfan

Champagne moments.   

Learning my second grandchild is
a boy,  And some lovely phone calls with friends today.  

helensbiggestfan

Good morning my lovely friends. 

Thanks Mrs S.....I actually feel much better this morning.  You're right I don't usually stay down for long, luckily my optimistic outlook on life soon reasserts itself.  I'm just going to very selective about watching the news etc - not let it drag me down.   I had a nice chat with a girlfriend last night.  She's a widow too so she "gets it".  Most of the time I'm absolutely fine, but it's the red letter days that I sometimes struggle with.......anniversaries, birthdays etc.  And that tbh lockdown and solitary confinement don't really help. 

Anyway I am fine again now thanks..... more like my old self.  I think it also helps that thanks to slashing  the carbs from my diet I now feel much better, my tummy is happier, my blood sugar levels are improving and the awful headaches I was having have finally cleared.  It's amazing just how much difference improving my diet has made.  I mustn't let Lockdown sabotage my efforts to maintain a healthy lifestyle......comfort eating Is not the way forward. 

Well this morning my champagne moments will be a sort of mini "home spa". If I can't visit a fancy hotel spa then I will create my own spa experience.  I have just had a delicious breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled egg, and now it's time to get down to some serious pampering, skin peel, a soak in Epsom salts and my favourite bath gel, a manicure and pedicure.  Pity my hair needs a good cut and reshaping but i will do what I can.  I did cut the fringe myself yesterday. And hopefully my DS will give me a trim next week.  At least I don't have to worry about the colour, I have been a silver fox, or maybe I should say vixen,  for many years now.  😂

Mrs S. your downsizing plans sound good. Well done on making savings too. Every little helps.  I too am chucking any savings at the mortgage.  

 I have been reading quite a few downsizing/retirement blogs and I have decided I am definitely going to look at moving again - either 2022, or 2023.  I will be 71 in 2022 so I think the time will be about right.  Old enough to want a home which is smaller and easier to manage and hopefully young enough and fit enough to still go on holidays and adventures.  Ideally I want a property I can just lock up and leave but yet still with enough room to have the occasional houseguest or grandchildren for a sleepover.  Maybe a nice swanky city apartment. 😂 or a nice small townhouse if I can stretch to it.  I would like a bit of outdoor space, a balcony or small postage sized garden will be enough.  I can see that this garden here will be too much in years to come.  Hopefully with the work I've done the house will fetch a good price.  Just a few more bits to do before I put it on the market but they are only minor cosmetic tweaks and there's no don't need to rush.    

I'm sure our plans will all come to fruition, all in good time. 😁

Have a great day everyone.....the weather may not be that great but I am sure we can still find a few champagne moments to enjoy.  

sugarbaby125

Hello Ladies,

I normally try to steer clear of the political and negative posts that sometimes appear on this thread, because this is supposed to be a thread about celebrating our champagne moments on a lemonade budget. A term LL coined some time before the advent of this thread largely because of my constant money saving ways of having a life full of joyful moments and events at very little financial expense   This thread should not be used to vent political opinions, or to have a rant at our government's shambolic handling of this pandemic or to criticize people who feel that they must stand up and be counted through participation in a peaceful protest march.   

LL you may have been unfortunate enough to suffer prejudice, religious intolerance and discrimination as a child but trust me when I say that that is not the same as Racism.


Being born with a black skin in the UK has for every one of the 58 years of my life, mean that I am always subject to overt, subtle and negative assumptions about who I am as a person and I always will be. My parents were of the Windrush generation so they were far more used to having to endure really blatant forms of Racism. My children, my grandchildren and my future great grandchildren will all suffer from the effects of Racism. My oldest daughter was accused many times by white British people of kidnapping her own baby daughter, who being born to a black mother and a mixed race father, still had a remarkably pale looking complexion that made many a racist white person assume that my granddaughter was a white baby. So her own Mother, my daughter had no right to be pushing her own baby around in a pram!!! I only note this example of how ridiculous and trying racism can be to any British citizen born with a black skin, to try to make you understand that we contend with so, so many different forms of racism every single day of our lives and will all continue to do so until the foundations of British society and British Institutions are no longer inherently racist. 

Every single one of the peaceful protests taking place for the Black Lives Matter movement, needs to happen. Racism is systematic in institutions within the UK despite all the racial equality laws that exist. We who are born with black skins have always acknowledged that all lives matter, but those who continue to show racism with overtly or more subtly towards anyone, baby, child, teenager or adult simply because they have a black skin, largely do so, because they know that 9/10 they are likely to get away with it without being challenged or with being charged with the hate crime that they deserve to be arrested and charged for. 

The UK government admitted right from the start of this pandemic of Covid-19 that they expected a second wave of the virus in July/August and a 3rd wave of the virus starting in October when we would normally have an epidemic of various kinds of Influenza (flu) as normal. So it is clearly a political move on our UK government's part to start to bandy verbal concerns about the Black Lives Matters peaceful protests being to blame for the 2nd wave of Covid-19 when it happens. This is an attempt by the UK government to prevent people in the UK from exercising their lawful right to peaceful protest. 


The shambles that the UK government has made of testing people in the UK, of not providing any of the NHS Trusts with adequate amounts of PPE and now the chaos that is the new system for contact track and trace, is the only reason that the true number of Britons that have so far died in the UK is in excess of 50,000 men, women and children.      Yet, somehow there are so many British people who throughout lockdown, have been blatantly ignoring all of the guidelines and putting themselves and other people in their families and their communities at very high risk.   Brockwell park had 3,000 people enjoying the sunshine on more than one sunny weekend throughout lockdown. The 1st time this happened, Lambeth council was so appalled they made the decision to have all of the gates of Brockwell park padlocked. Within days of this happening, Lambeth council was ordered by central government to reopen Brockwell park. 

Every beach and local hot spot has had to endure hordes of people blatantly ignoring lockdown in their hundreds and thousands. Yet, even though fines could have been issued by Police officers on all of these occasions, virtually every single person, apart from the people who took their contempt for lockdown into even staying overnight in some of these local hotspots, no fines were issued. So there was no deterrent for them not to repeat their ignorant behaviour on the following sunny weekend. 


None of the Black Lives Matters peaceful protest marches will be full of people who are not aware of the potential risk of Covid-19, but neither are they foolhardy people who are being part of these marches to put themselves or anyone else at risk.  This is why they are wearing face masks, other face coverings and also maintaining as much distance as they can from each other especially when the marches are at a standstill. 

Debsnewbudget

Well said Sugarbaby xxxx.