Moving forward and upwards

MovingForwards

Thank you Ren, SW and SH.

Woke up this morning thinking it was Saturday, relief washed over me until I realised it wasn't ☹️

The sibling is just constant, pie in the sky things then negativity. TomBo does a mix of early (gets up a few hours before he has to leave) and lates. I'm covering loads at work and no sign of having time off until Christmas, it's just getting to me. I want to be doing things to my home and not resting just to be able to work the next day. I will be ok, need to work out a plan to rebalance me.

I wouldn't risk having a shed for security reasons and there's not the space in the garden. If I set my mind to it, I can get everything organised 🤗

Irenadler

Saw some nifty looking wall or ceiling bracket ideas on google - some with shelves which might do a treat for the bicycle, kind of almost displaying it like wall art (though probably best if it's clean first)...  sure you will find a good solution. I think you have little choice in the week but resting so you can cover. Then maybe you'll have a bit spare for week-ends? Just my musings....

MovingForwards

October financial round-up.
Saved £303.75. Car bills have reduced my overall savings, which is why I have separated that off for next year.
Still up £125.89 from last month 🤗

Savings:

Communal Fund 1 = £1071.20

Communal Fund 2 = £112.11

EF = £711.14

Home Repairs = £542.33

Garden / ERCs / Updating = £305.66

Car Everything / Home Insurance = £128.09

Float (for utilities) = £62.31 

General Savings = £100.01

Total Savings = £3032.85

Mortgage:

Mortgage O/P = £100

- Balance O/S = £64972 ish

Pension / Early Retirement:

SIPP* = £100

S&S ISA* = £0

*I won't be monitoring my balances here, only what I pay in each month. 

Pension and S&S transfers are all complete.

CC:

Balance O/S - £0, cleared that this morning!

Plans for October:

- Save £400
- Pocket money (cash) £50

Miscellaneous Information:
I'm not going to reach £5k in savings this year and I've decided to reduce the pressure I'm putting myself under to do it. I can make up the shortfall next year when I do have a full 12 months of saving.

Whilst I'm not entirely happy about it, there's not much I can do bar go back to spending nothing, buying nothing and doing nothing; which won't help with how I'm feeling overall at the moment.
I also feel I've become too focused on saving, worrying about spending money (justified because of what I've been through all my life) and forgetting I reached my overall goal this year of owning a home 🤗

Conclusion:
I am saving money each month, I am paying into my SIPP (plus my work pension) and I am making mortgage overpayments.

That's a great achievement for this year 😁

riotlady

I think that's a good attitude, saving is great but not at the expense of living your life. You've achieved so much this year- saving anything on top of buying a house is pretty good going! Now you can let yourself relax a little bit. 

MovingForwards

Ren, I really don't want the bike in the flat. It should be back in the coal shed, where he kept it when he was first given it!

I'm going to break down my to do list even smaller; thanks to SW and her diary!

Clearly I'm not superwoman, the mental energy used for work is draining my physical energy for my personal life. I've decided to:
- tackle a shelf at a time;
- split each lounge unit into 6 sanding parts;
- paint one unit at a time, even just do one coat and leave the next for another day;
- sand one skirting down at a time;
- paint one skirting at a time, leave subsequent coats for another day;
- grab a few bits from the spare room and deal with them
- shred junk mail etc
- 10 minutes of gardening.

It's how I did it when we first moved in and I achieved a lot. I could monitor my energy and pain levels as I do things. I've been focusing on all the tasks as a whole and not individual components like I did before 😁

atrixa

That sounds good We all put so much on ourselves but I think self care is more important right now!

MovingForwards

Thank you RiotLady and Atrixa.

Over the next few days I will go get my pocket money.
I also ordered a book yesterday from the bay specifically for growing veg up here, should be arriving this week.
I've started doing my surveys again, means I'm doing something while on the sofa. Survey points are increasing a little bit and I will spend them wisely 🤗

Skint_yet_Again

I think we are both guilty of telling others to rest and spread tasks out but getting frustrated at our own efforts and overdoing it! 😬 Breaking tasks into manageable segments over several days sounds good 😊

The new book sounds great & well done on the surveys 

MovingForwards

You are so right Skinty.
I tend to have a good run of things, then in winter it's a huge decline with my health and everything slows / stops. I mentally beat myself up and then eventually remember it's just because of the weather, forgetting the following year and going through it all again 😬

savingwannabe

You have done sooo much I am glad you are going to slow down a bit so you dont get exhausted. I want you to enjoy Christmas, really well done on the surveys. Your savings are cracking really inspirational.