Moving forward and upwards

savingholmes

Hi MF - Sorry to hear you had a fall. Hope that things are improving. 
You sound so organised with all your prep for your new home. Hope it all works out for you soon. Glad the new job is still going well too. I like the idea of a beach and mountains being non-negotiable. I am thinking of moving to north/mid wales to hopefully be in pretty scenery and relatively close to a beach. I too watched the good life as a child and would love to be self sufficient but a long way off that. My fall last August seems to have had an unexpectedly far reaching effect. I still live in hope that it will resolve. Your injuries sound painful too. You seem to cope well all things considered.

MovingForwards

@savingholmes im sure the bath incident happened during this diary, I've kind of physically recovered from it, it's just made me more aware of how my health is affected with day to day everyday living.

Unfortunately, this flat is a shower over bath, as a lot seem to be, therefore it's difficult trying to get into the bath to have a shower, then back out again. Not always possible when my lower half isn't working as I want it to.

The positive lesson I took from it is I do not want a bath in my home, just a large shower / wetroom. I've looked into shower stools etc and have added a few to my watch list. 

My head thinks of the things I used to do, before my car accident, forgetting that my body is no longer able to do it eg long walks, mountain walks, camping, dancing. Don't get me wrong, I'm stupid enough to occasionally do walks, I'm daft enough to dance the night away once or twice a year, with enough alcohol and meds to sink the Titanic, I end up paying for it and get told off by my OH / best mate for pushing myself. After a while I forget how much pain I was in and only remember how much fun I had, repeating the process the following year!

I have to get on with it as the alternative is stronger meds and not working, I've had that threat hanging over me for 10 years. I've too many small dreams I'm working towards! 

North Wales is gorgeous, spent many a camping trip exploring. I do hope you get to release your dreams and follow your heart.

Knowing the injury trigger point is a big help in how to treat it, you have been trying to do that. Once you see the glimmer of recovery, that keeps your focus and gives you the means to work towards it. However, you must stop pushing yourself, you need help and you need to do things slowly. I do fully understand you have a hell of a lot going on, but as you are seeing by going back into things, it causes a big setback.

I'm sure many of us watched the good life, it's a case of balancing what can be achieved and what can be maintained.

For now, I watch my savings increase, the weeks are getting ticked off and I will be in a better place before I know it!

I only need to save £1340.70 for my AFs.

£40 in the bank, 12 days til payday.

savingholmes

Thanks MF. You are doing well. My neighbour said you and DH not much of a gardener what do you want land for - to which I replied we used to be. I was thinking about it afterwards. Neither DH nor I like being overlooked which puts us off going outside on our estate which is a shame. We also like shrubs and trees and a naturalistic effect rather than manicured lawns so have a taste difference between us and the neighbours. Once my leg improves - I hope we will both get out more. We do need to do some work on the garden as the problem with trees and shrubs is that they need regular trimming.

MovingForwards

@savingholmes what is gardening?
Is it mowing the lawn every Sunday, deadheading seasonal plants and admiring from afar?
Is it a low maintenance, wood chip or decked area, for drinks during the summer?
Is it a place of losing yourself, pottering around and enjoying the difference from our paid lives?

I know what I would rather have.

I agree, being overlooked in a garden isn't my idea of fun. With my old life I put a load of bamboo fencing up for privacy in one section, cheap, quick and effective.

Perhaps whilst you wait for your leg to get better, you could stretch to a gardener to do a bit of trimming and tidying? It doesn't have to be regular, but will deal with maintenance until you are ready to get out and pottering?

savingholmes

Hi MF
I agree we need to do something with our garden. I think money-wise we would be better waiting until next year when our CCs should be gone. I do want the trees to be cut back. I would say 2 or 3 are 'house' tall which represents a risk if they were to fall although one of those is a fruit tree so not thick branches... We used to have a small pond and a water feature but it leaked so now its dried up and not ideal. It nearly put us off buying the house so I'm not that keen to reinstate it. There is a decking path and bridge put in by the previous owners but it is crumbling and I think it needs ripping out and burning. Something else then needs putting down or the design needs changing which sounds expensive and a lot of effort for a house we aren't committed to long term. There's also a mini wall separating the lawn from a stepped down garden. Apparently it used to flood / be quite boggy. I think now the trees have grown that is unlikely to be a problem.  DH would like to patio most if not all the back lawn - I don't want to. I think the patio needs extending but there needs to be some lawn. So we're torn...

When we get closer to moving - I would potentially pay for a gardener / put more effort it to help it become a positive feature. I think our back garden has low maintenance year around interest - but having a dog has not helped our lawn and we need to consider what to do about that. This year we will have lived here 14 years - twice as long as I've lived anywhere else in my life. The front garden needs a bit of love but again we are considering widening the drive. Until we decide / can afford to - only want to do the minimum.

Sorry if I've hijacked your thread. I think you can tell that like you I examine options in great detail before committing...

MovingForwards

@savingholmes there is nothing stopping you from giving it a basic make-over.

As you say, it's not a long-term home, therefore keep it simple, tidy, low maintenance. A lawn area, wood chips or slate chips, a few plant pots (bay leaf, herbs etc and other things you can take with you to set up your new garden). Turn it into a family garden, but not at a great cost to you.

If your plans change in the future and you decide not to move, you have your canvas and can turn it into what you want.

No need to apologise, I'm enjoying the chatting. Sometimes I worry I talk too much on your diary!

 

savingholmes

No you're fine on my diary too MF. I will think some more on my garden - if I do anything to it I'm sure you'll get to read all about it LOL. 

MovingForwards

Just a quick midweek update.

Got offered some freelance committee work today, agreed 30 hours per year to cover part of it, so that's £300 PY in my pocket. Said if it takes me longer, then I will increase my hours / billing time accordingly. 

I know it's not loads of money, but I will split it. £100 to my savings, to my pension and to mortgage overpayment. Means I will have the now, the middle and the retirement getting a little boost.

The Vanguard SIPP has now been released, so I've printed off the information to read properly  the weekend; I have read it, but want to pick out potential pots to save into. Will get that set up in the new financial year.

Supposed to be going to a leaving do tomorrow, but I'm not up for it. Took £15 out the bank today; £5 towards the gift and £10 for the evening, so that £10 will gather dust in my purse with my random 40p.

I've had a load of crap going on for nearly 2 weeks and sadly it won't get resolved as I want it to. I will have to go for counseling, but there isn't any point at the moment as I've no escape from the situation; it's frustrating and no-one is able to do anything. (I'm grateful to you all for keeping me sane and letting me natter away on posts)

Also, haven't  a clue what's going on with me this week, I can barely keep my eyes open. Had 2 hours of training yesterday and within a few minutes of it starting, I was about to drop off to sleep. It's not my meds as I've been on these for ages now, it's not my normal screwed up sleep pattern as that's been messed up for years, the weather is the same typical Scottish winter and I'm eating as I normally would.

On a positive note, I'm setting up a website for the events I organise, promote and manage at work, hopefully have that all fully set up and usable for when my new batch of events start later in the year. I know how I want it to look, but just need one more lot of training before I am set free to start it up.

Still not sure what to buy from Amazon with my £15 voucher. Any suggestions?

I've not been qualifying for surveys lately, so my survey points haven't increased for a while.

My supermarket points are increasing nicely though!

£25 in the bank, 8 days til payday.

savingwannabe

Well done on your committee work. I am hoping that  your sleepiness might just be a bug and hopefully it will go v quickly. We had it in our office last year? If it doesn't go after two days get your thyroid etc checked. 

I hope the crap is sorted soon. Good luck. 

Amazon voucher? is there anything you want like clothes? make up? a treat? otherwise put it towards a birthday present for someone later in the year. Have a good Friday. 

MovingForwards

savingwannabe said:

Well done on your committee work. I am hoping that  your sleepiness might just be a bug and hopefully it will go v quickly. We had it in our office last year? If it doesn't go after two days get your thyroid etc checked. 

I hope the crap is sorted soon. Good luck. 

Amazon voucher? is there anything you want like clothes? make up? a treat? otherwise put it towards a birthday present for someone later in the year. Have a good Friday. 

My sleepyhead seems to be getting worse, if I'm sitting down and reading, having training, sitting in traffic, surfing the net etc I just want to go to sleep. I got sent back to bed a few hours after I got up this morning!

The carp won't get sorted out as the p01ice won't arrest the p3v3rt. 

I don't need clothes, I rarely buy make-up as I only wear it a few times a year, my nail varnish I pick up from superdrug (just the cheap stuff). I've tried looking for ideas on Amazon, but for me it's just not as easy to find random things like it is on eBay, kinda wishing I would have sold the voucher to my brother! I might just end up buying seeds or something when I move.