VelvetFreak is saving up to buy a house!

Chrystal

Hope you get a positive outcome from  your Boss,  If not you can always threaten to walk out and leave him to it

Cherryfudge

Missing you Velvet! Hope you're okay x

VelvetFreak

Hello dear friends!
Apologies for my hiatus. Life and work have been busy!

My workload is ridiculous. I have been typing at the speed of light on my slow-as-hell computer whilst drinking copious amounts of hot chocolate to keep me sane. Our office is freezing cold which makes it even more miserable. I ended up getting a $1,500 pay rise and my boss has agreed to pay for the rest of my diploma study, which pretty much has me breaking even on losing my annual bonus. So nothing to really complain about, other than the risk of freezing to death.

Life has been really good yet very stressful. My new "friend" and I are now "officially" boyfriend and girlfriend. Who would've thought I'd meet someone in the middle of a pandemic?! There's not much to say because the relationship is so easy and drama free. He is so nice to me . Not to boast, but I've caught him doing my washing up, multiple times

Family life continues to be strange. I am still not talking to my mother although I did have to exchange a couple of text messages with her due to my grandfather passing away. It is sad but I was not close to him, which makes me feel even worse in a way.

I got a ridiculous letter in the mail from my ex. Actually, he didn't even post it. He walked up to my mail box and put it in there. Needless to say, I was quite spooked. It was 6 pages long and utterly stupid. He had seen me and my new boyfriend out at the shops together and felt the need to come home and write this nonsense and then shove it in my mail box. Whilst the contents of the letter were hilarious, I did have a bit of a cry later that night because I felt threatened by it and I am so sick of people not listening to me when I ask them not to contact me. I really do just want to be left alone

To end on a more positive note, I have begun my kitchen renovation. And by that I mean I have purchased a pantry cupboard and forced my boyfriend to help me assemble it. No demolishing has occurred. Yet.

killerpeaty

Hey VF. It's really sweet that you have found someone so lovely. So pleased for you.

Is the 1.5k commiserate for the extra work that you are doing? Or are you anticipating more of a rise when you have completed your diploma? I'm asking because I don't know your industry or the general salaries over there! It's brilliant that you are getting your diploma covered, how long will it take you?

Sorry to hear about your ex, hope that is the last you hear from him.

clyndu

Hi VelvetFreak, hope you are ok.

VelvetFreak

Hello diary! Sorry for yet another long absence.  

Today is one year since I started this diary so happy anniversary to us even though I still feel like this diary is cursed with old drama and unfortunate shenanigans and that's the reason why I don't want to write in it half the time.

I can’t believe how much has changed in just one year! One relationship ended and a new one started, a new bathroom, a finished diploma and who knows what else I am forgetting.

Life has been busy with lots of new developments. I have the afternoon off work so finally have time to sit and write this post. I'm going to try and post more often as I really do enjoy keeping the diary, but maybe I will make a new one. Hmm. 

Renovations 

My kitchen/laundry renovation is now going ahead! I have decided not to do it all myself and found a local company who was doing a 0% interest offer, so I have taken said offer.  

You know I’m not typically one for loans but I am sooo sick of it not being done and now that work is crazier than ever, I just don’t have the energy to do it myself. At least now it will be finished and I can stop thinking about it and move on with my life and focus on other things.  

All up, the renovation will cost almost $25,000 (where is the EEK emoji??!!), some of which I will be paying for up front and the rest will go on the 0% loan. I’m feeling terribly guilty about the sum of money but it really does need to be done. I did pick the nicer type of counter tops and cabinet doors, so that has added extra to the price, but I am saving money by doing the demolishing myself. The price also covers some rather complex plumbing work that is desperately needed, so I’m okay with it overall. I will just be so glad to have it all done! 

Work/study 

Work is still painfully busy but the politics have calmed down (somewhat) since The Decent Coworker left. I suppose we have all fallen into a new normal. I have now finished my Diploma subjects and have 5 subjects left until I can get the Advanced Diploma. Yay! 

I am 99% sure that I will go back to university next year and finish/finally get my bachelor's degree. I’ve been scheming up ways that I can do this while continuing to work full-time. I’ve found a university that offers the classes online and I am hoping my boss will allow me some kind of flexible working arrangement, even if it’s just using annual leave for a day off here and there.  

I figured I might as well get this study done, as once the renovations are finished, I won’t really have anything else to do in my spare time, so I might as well have something productive to focus on.  

Life 

My new BF and I are getting along nicely. We don’t fight or argue and we are making “life plans” together. It’s amazing being with someone that you see eye-to-eye with who wants to be productive and achieve things. We plan to each live in our own houses for a couple of years and then eventually move in together (his house – because it is bigger) and then build a new house and rent out both of our existing places. It’s a while away yet but is nice to have a plan nonetheless. This has given me the motivation to finally get the kitchen finished so I can enjoy it fully before I end up moving somewhere else.  

Budgeting/Money 

Obviously I want to pay the new kitchen off as soon as possible while also having room in my budget to have nice things and go on holidays etc. I feel that the having the new kitchen will save me money in a way as I will no longer be buying so much random crap to try and make my house look better. 

I’m considering the kitchen loan as an extension of my mortgage. I will pay the minimums for now and store the extra money in my offset account until I am ready to pay the loan off in full and then I will get rid of it in one big chunk. I should be able to have it paid off in less than two years, while still being able to save up money for other things that I want to do/buy.  

I also plan to pay for university up front rather than taking out student loans. It will be tax-deductible, so that’s nice. 

My BF just paid off the last chunk of his car loan (wow, I am such a good influence ) so we are now both debt free except for housing-related loans.  

Anyway, I think that’s about all for now. Overall, life is so much better than it was a year ago and I am much happier even though it is ridiculously busy. I hope you are all doing well. 

Chrystal

Lovely positive post Velvet.

It sounds as though things are finally coming together for you.(imagine a happy dance imoji here) X

killerpeaty

So happy to see your post, seems like things are going well.

Sounds like your kitchen will be exactly what you want. I'm not sure how the expense of the kitchen translates because my initial reaction is AHH! But you've always been good with money on this diary so I'm pretty sure that it's a good price. For context, my friend's kitchen was £10k hence the reaction.

Exciting that you want to do your degree! Hope it goes well!

VelvetFreak

Hello diary, 

Here I am again after yet another two month hiatus. I am pleased to say that my kitchen renovation is (almost) finished and my life is somewhat back to normal. I stayed at my boyfriend's place for the duration of the renovation (I even took my cat with me) and whilst I appreciate him having me there, I am very glad to be home. Not being in my own place was so incredibly chaotic and stressful. I put on 5kgs from being sedentary and stress-eating . Thank goodness it's over.

I am so pleased with my new kitchen. It's so shiny and white and functional! I am just waiting for the tiled splashback to be finished and then I have to do some painting, but it is pretty much done. The house is a terrible mess and I am slowly putting things back together, decluttering and finding places to put all the stuff that I need to keep. 

I couldn't tell you what my financial situation is like as I've had money flying out of my account like no one's business and I've somewhat lost track. I will sit down and work it all out once I pay the last couple of bills from the renovation. 

Work has been ok. I had my annual review with my boss today and got a glowing review, great in all areas, he can't fault me, etc. He is fully on board with my study and I did get given a 6% payrise, which probably sounds decent but it's actually quite dismal when compared the the amount of work I do and the things I manage to get through with no one around to help me. To add insult to injury, he has taken away bonuses until further notice, which when you factor that in, my pay rise is more like 1-2ish %, depending on what you count as the starting point ('tis too confusing). I'm not sure how to negotiate as Covid is everyone's new excuse for everything involving money (among other things). I am grateful to have a job but am sick of being taken advantage of. I am going to counter by asking for some more paid study days in lieu of actual money, because I know asking for more money will only end in my boss hating me, because he hates everyone who disagrees with him about anything. He also wants me to hand over a task to The Annoying Coworker that I truly believe she is incapable of (I have tried to get her to do it before, it did not go well and it's one of those very important jobs that you can't stuff up because it will lead you to fail an audit if it isn't done properly). But never mind. I will not focus on this too much as I will begin to lose sleep and we all know that lack of sleep is the enemy and should be avoided at all costs.

Anyway, now that I am back at home - my focus is on eating healthily, exercising, being organised, putting this house back together, doing my study, sleeping properly and not spending too much money.

I must be off as I need to blow dry my hair. I hope you are all doing well and I really do promise to post more regularly from now on 

VelvetFreak

Currently suffering a case of the mid-week blues I am so ready for the weekend. The house is still a complete mess, and the plumber has to come back again to fix some things that don’t seem to be quite right. 

I managed to negotiate myself some extra paid study days for next year, so am pleased about that. It’s better than nothing. 

My friend is coming over for dinner tonight, so that is something positive to look forward to at least