Moving forward and upwards

MovingForwards

Thanks Skinty and DIA

U made us a light lunch and we had a wonderful day. Was given a handmade card with beautiful message and surprise gift inside.

TomBo grabbed us a Chinese when we got home and we both dozed off during a film. I woke up, went to bed and panicked my phone was wrong as it said Saturday evening, after waking up properly I got up again and we watched another film 🤭

Watered 2nd home lunchtime and even then it was too warm for me, 23° but felt a lot hotter. 

Had to wait until I'd finished for the day before having a nice refreshing shower. I've put my hair in curlers and tomorrow's curls should be off my face / neck as I've used the perm rods. 

I've got my feet up and toasting through the windows, all of them are open in the flat.

Smells like TomBo is making a carbonara ☺️

savingholmes

Always lovely to have a surprise gift. Glad the family are all welcoming your news.

Chinese sounds amazing - my fave shut down and I haven't found another I like yet.

Curly hair sounds fun. I'm sure you look beautiful.

MovingForwards

Thanks SH

They're genuinely happy for us, loved the surprise of us telling them, and are smitten with the photos; especially seeing TomBo looking so happy and having a good time. So many people have said they wished they did the same as we did or totally scaled it back to immediate family and good friends instead of all family and distant relatives they never see. They've also realised the wedding hasn't actually finished yet due to the little touches eg telling people, handing out favours etc. Think we've still got a few months before everything is concluded 🤭

We're so lucky having a decent Chinese here! 

Forgot to say, while out Sunday we popped to A1D1 and I picked up a 4 drawer unit, about A4 size drawers and quite deep. I've got all my daily / posh smalls in it and the top of the unit has my night light and phone when I go to bed. It's the perfect size.

I re-organised my wardrobe drawers and have one for my daily/ fancy tops, leggings, jeans etc. The other two have my gardening clothes, old smalls etc. I need to re-organise my wardrobe, but didn't want to have too much excitement in an afternoon.

As expected, daytime is chaos. I'm having to figure out what's been done, not done, to be finished. I'm seeing so many corners cut by a few people which is very disheartening and my morale has sunk even further as what I've metaphorically walked into is worse than I imagined.

It's currently 13° and I was boiling in bed.

I'll get my financial figures up over the next couple of days.

Ps yes, I do look good with curls, even the mad ones from rods 😄

MovingForwards

August financial round up:

Saved £665, now £11,049
Pamper fund is at £44
Car fund is at £352
Holding account is at £30

Put £25 into my SIPP
Put £10 into S&S ISA

Mortgage O/P £200, down to £54,106
CC O/S bal £640

I've put 'new' money into savings rather than transferring from one savings account to a RS.

Got my lash apt this week. We're popping to town Saturday to pay in the gift, I'll be nipping into Pr1mark for some more smalls as I really liked what I picked up the other week. Have to order TomBo's cake day gift. Not aware of any other plans for September.

doingitanyway

Your finances are looking good.
You sound like me with the heat.
I haven't had a Chinese takeaway for years. Sounds good 

MovingForwards

Thank you DIA

I did rough calculations with the mortgage, if we carry on it would be cleared in 12 years, however that wasn't taking into account the interest due reducing as the capital gets paid off. If we can pay £425pm O/P it would be cleared in just over 6 years, but it would be sooner than that as savings will clear it when there's enough.

It's 14° tonight and I've opened the lounge window instantly cooling the room, although it's still a bit warm for cat who is currently snoring on her side with arms and legs stretched out 🤭

When I first moved up here we had a couple of takeaways and I refused to ever have them again, which is why TomBo made our Chinese. We took a chance with our now local, based on reviews, and have not been disappointed. We have a good Indian which is even closer. The takeaway pizza place we went to will be a treat when that way. We've the deli, independent wine shops and all sorts which we use, supplemented with a couple of online independent shops.

I've the bigger curlers in tonight, sprayed my hair with a bit of leave-in conditioner and it should look good when I take them out. Potentially, I could have a perm, but then I'd be restricted to the same size / shape curl, which isn't what I want.

How things have changed huh. I had goals of becoming debt free, having a stable job, buying a home, saving up £10k, getting married and having an allotment. Now I've reached / achieved them all and have a fun / busy lifestyle 🤗

~FlowerPot~

i love playing around with the mortage calculator and looking at how much can be saved by overpaying that bit more!

savingholmes

You are doing amazingly well with those savings.

It sounds like you've found a good balance with your life - and that the allotment is a God send too.

[Deleted User]

Well done on achieving a wonderful balance in your life. I also appreciate your monthly financial round ups. I do a similar thing in my thread.

Skint_yet_Again

Fantastic overpayments on the mortgage 🤗 Are you in a fixed rate at the moment?