Keeping our options open

Cornish_mum

Hi Becky, really glad to hear that you had a great Christmas. I am feeling exactly the same about the possibility of more restrictions, especially if schools are closed again. I feel like I have a huge cloud over me. I think your one day at a time approach is great. Thanks CM

debtfreeoneday

Feel like tomorrow is looming large when tiers are reviewed. I’m expecting another 4 week lockdown but schools open type of thing.  

Hettyhound

I’m also dreading the schools shutting so I feel for you.  It nearly broke me and I had flash backs to lockdown last week when I was trying to work half days with my son at home.  My cutlery drawer needs cleaning too, my solution is not to wear my glasses in the kitchen and then I can’t see all the bits and dirty marks 🤣

savingholmes

I think there ought to be another lockdown - but my DD is due exams in January - of the real kind so not sure what it would mean for her. I hate all the lack of control, constant see-sawing and not knowing. 

becky170

savingholmes said:

I think there ought to be another lockdown - but my DD is due exams in January - of the real kind so not sure what it would mean for her. I hate all the lack of control, constant see-sawing and not knowing. 

I really feel for teenagers like your daughter. They are stuck in limbo land not knowing whether to revise or not as they may or may not be able to sit their exams. I really wish that a decision to look at alternatives to exams had been used for this year's cohort. It's not a level playing field when some kids have been in school the whole time whilst others have been in and out self isolating. 

becky170

Happy New Year! I was too tired to stay up to see the new year in so slept through it again .....my bottle of prosecco is still in the fridge unopened   

I was very excited to check my opening mortgage balance for this year. I've updated my spreadsheet and we managed to take £10000 off our mortgage balance in 2020 which is great. If we carry on like this we should be done in 14 years so 2035. Our original aim was 2034 to pay if off so we'll need to up our overpayments once DD starts school to make our target but we're doing great. Our overpayment of £210 for Jan has gone out so off to a great start in 2021 

From my spreadsheet I can also see that our daily interest has gone down from £22 per month to £6.80. Most of that is due to a big reduction in our interest rate over the years but our overpayments will have helped too. 

We're hoping for a frugal January. We've dipped into our savings to pay for our boiler/summer house so DH wants us to start topping up our savings account which is probably a good plan. 

debtfreeoneday

Well done. Great progress in 2020. 

Cornish_mum

Great progress in 2020.

savingholmes

Well done fab progress in what was a rollercoaster year for many of us

becky170

I've been trying to stick to my goal of doing one thing a day to make our lives better/easier. The cutlery draw and one cupboard in the kitchen have been sorted and cleaned. I'm trying to make an effort to do two loads of washing a day in order to clear the washing mountain which seems to have accumulated. Yesterday I started tackling DS bedroom. I've currently filled the general waste bin and the recycling bins so I'm now limited in how much more I can sort out. They'll all be emptied next week so I can do more next weekend

I'm going to try and focus on having more NSDs this year. The 1st was a NSD but I ordered some new curtains for my bedroom yesterday (only had to pay £25 as I had some gift vouchers to pay the rest). Today should be another NSD as no plans to go out apart for a quick walk. We need to get organised for back to school/nursery/work tomorrow....eek!