Improving all the time

FloraandFauna

... nor time on here, Holmes : )

I'm not very good at balancing one sort of thing (cost) against another (convenience) - I find it hard to put a personal value on them, so keep dithering between one and the other. I was getting tired of being unsure though, which is why I ran the numbers again. And had another trial run of the drive this morning.

Which has thrown up another factor! Visual amenity. It's lovely waiting on my (empty but for me) local platform early in the morning, with hills in the distance, rooks cawing around the church tower, occasional mist over the river, rabbits flashing their bottoms, and the whole festooned in flowers in pots. The station down the road is not so nice. Sounds trivial, but I get a real emotional uplift every morning standing on the local station.

Then again, the drive is lovely on a windy hill road.

Gah. I'm useless.

Right, I'm making the decision now. No more dithering. I am going to get the much cheaper ticket, save £50 a month, have a lovely drive every morning, OP that £50 each month and knock a year off my mortgage.

FloraandFauna

Reporting in:

- improve something every day - nope, lazy toad

- Tilly tidy every day - yes, 54p

- free money? - nope

Bonus points: nul points. Bought a bottle of wine.

Hopeless.

On the plus side, Kantar have said I'm now on their active panel and so should be getting some work to do, which I'm quite looking forward to after this initial period of posting stuff straight back to them that they've just posted to me.

FloraandFauna

Reporting in:

- improve something every day - er, no, not 'mine', but have had a cracking day at work and seen off a lot of persisting tasks

- Tilly tidy every day - no, no movement in a/c

- free money? - no, but yes, but no, but yes... I have a cheque in my sticky hands for £33 from a train delay. Not paid in yet so doesn't really count.

Bonus points: nul points. Bought a picnic for the way home as was tired and dreary and starving. I didn't need to. On plus side, the glass of wine I had with it had me singing like a lark and walking with a cheery wiggle by the time I got off the train.

Not quite as Hopeless as yesterday but nearly.

savingholmes

Just picturing your singing and wiggling!

FloraandFauna

Hah! Thank you, well it cheered me up at least. Thankfully no-one else at my station.

Reporting in:

- improve something every day - yes! finally swapped over one of the dodgy curtain rails for a nice wooden one. Real battle with the screws/battens though, the !!!!!!s. Tied up a sad and soggy thalictrum.

- Tilly tidy every day - no, no movement on a/c

- free money? - prolific study, £4 Tosca voucher in the post, and cashout of £8.53 from testable minds OP'd straight over

Bonus points: NSD today. Still only on 50% success here, with 5/10 days so far this month. A couple have been Really Low SDs, but demonstrated a lack of thinking ahead...

savingholmes

I tell you what we did get from surveys we did - was the opportunity to attend timeshare presentations and then have 2 or 3 free holidays in this country. It wasn't the easiest to give up 2 or 3 hours of our time - but worth it for the free holidays... We knew there was no way we would give in and buy a timeshare - don't ever go if you think you would give in. Always say - you need to consult with a partner or family member that isn't there and buy yourself time to walk away...

We had a weekend in the lakes, 4-7 days in either Scotland or the Lakes and then one down in Cornwall. I haven't got the patience for stuff like that at the moment though.

sofarbehind

I've really enjoyed reading your diary. I think you have done amazingly well on those OPs - your outstanding balance has come down a lot in a short space of time.

It's nice to read a diary from someone else who had a late start on the property ladder and who is doing it solo. You are making me realise I could be doing a lot more than I am.

In terms of the journey to work; I would opt to do whatever is least stressful because looking after yourself is important. I hate driving so I would forgo the £50 a month but I know that isn't true of a lot of people.

FloraandFauna

Well, what a nice thing to say, Sofar, thank you! : )

I do try not to smack myself too much for being so appalling with money early on - it's done, I can't change it, and it's much more exciting to look forward to being financially stable. The bigger the challenge, the bigger the sense of achievement. Same with the solo part - I do have the occasional pouty face about having to do it by myself, but then again... it's fabulous I can do this myself! It's a blessing not to have to tie yourself to someone distinctly less than acceptable, just to keep on top of the bills.

Ohhhh, Holmes, I don't know about the timeshares. I mean, I don't think I would have a problem refusing, but I would have a real problem having to sit through a few hours of fakery. Fortunately, I live in Scotland, am only an hour from the fells in the Lakes, and have an Aunt in Cornwall ; )

Reporting in:

- improve something every day - yes! my mind. have been reading up on money and consumerism and feeling nicely brainwashed (cleansed? un-brainwashed?) into feeling much more satisfied with what I have, whilst simultaneously much more energised about getting rid of this debt.

- Tilly tidy every day - no, no movement on a/c

- free money? - prolific study, a very welcome £50 or so (depending on whether they pay) from ebay, and grabbed one of those elusive adverts for Pinecone so signed up there.

Bonus points: NSD today. Loads of batch cooking so dinner sorted for the week. Bins out, and lunch packed ready for tomorrow. Big stressy deadline tomorrow, which needs my brain to really deliver at speed, so fingers crossed.

savingholmes

Healthy, planned brain washing does what it says on the tin - so well done you

FloraandFauna

Reporting in:

- improve something every day - still coasting on yesterday's, feeling ridiculously cheerful. Otherwise, threatened broadband until it started working again (much unplugging, plugging, swearing, and a small amount of rewiring).

- Tilly tidy every day - yes, 61p

- free money? - £33 train delay compensation came through today - straight over as an OP. Just another £60 to find this month to meet the £300 OP target, and I've just had a cheque in the post from a different railway for £66! Whoop! Still the potential ebay sales to come as well, if all goes smoothly.

Bonus points: NSD today. And Big Stressy Deadline went like a dream. I even understood what I was telling people, so definitely bonus points for that.