Learning to live within my means

savingholmes

LOL at your cat antics. Our cat knocks things over but other than that doesn't seem to mess too much with stuff.

astrocytic_kitten

Thanks @savingholmes, he’s certainly keeping a smile on my face - safe to say he’s come out of his shell!

elbree

Hi @astrocytic_kitten, there was a lot in the newsletter this week about plants..did you catch it?

astrocytic_kitten

I did, thanks @elbree - quite proud of myself that I haven’t bought anything as a result of it (despite the whole point being that you don’t need to spend lots 😂)

elbree

There were a lot of tips about propagation which I am definitely going to try now! 

astrocytic_kitten

Good luck! I normally enjoy a bit of propagating at this time of year but was saying the other day that new kitty is a big fan of it too...experiments so far this year have resulted in cuttings all over the floor as he thinks they’re some kind of special toy for him. Tried potting some in soil and put them on a bookcase (rather than in water on windowsill which I normally do) but he still climbed the bookcase to pull them out of the soil 🤦‍♀️ I’m hoping next year he’ll be a bit more grown up and I’ll be able to get back to it 😂

redofromstart

My little darlings love sleeping on seed trays on sunny window ledges, and the heated propagator was a magic cat kingdom of happiness.

savingholmes

Cats definitely like to make their mark on their home.

astrocytic_kitten

Money update - have finally paid back the money I borrowed from savings to pay off debt! I’m also at the emergency fund target figure I had in mind for 6 months of expenses based on what I’ll need after I move (if I ever move), which is higher than I’d need now. So, getting debt free and 6 month emergency fund goals have been met. I don’t recognise this new AK meeting her goals instead of self-sabotaging in H0bbs 😂

Phase 2 of the plan was to put some money aside for a painting then split the money I’d been using for debt repayments between mortgage / savings / pension, also adding in some holiday savings and giving myself an extra £50 per month fritter money. However I’m still not back at work so I don’t have the extra money to play with I would have before. I might round up my monthly mortgage payment just to feel like I’m doing something, and then continue to put what I can to savings.

I didn’t buy a payday book this month, I bought a payday plant. Need to get an extra £4 on prolific to get the book I want too 😂

Finally - some of the cuttings I’ve been trying to propagate seem to be doing ok, despite all the challenges from an overly curious kitty this year.

girlatplay

That's great work, reaching your next goal of emergency fund.

The good thing about amending phase 2 slightly is that you can tweak it each month as and when you need to, and step it up once you are back at work.