Discount Duck’s Quest For Mortgage Freedom

DiscountDuck

Thanks BB. Yep, it’s a village over so I’ll be able to see him all the time. It’s close enough that he could walk it across the footpaths over the fields to come for his Sunday dinner, or it’s five minutes in the car. I’m hoping the weather will dry up as I’m worried sick about him at the moment. Hopefully after the bank holiday weekend they’ll get a wiggle on with his keys. He will be such a lovely neighbour for the other people in the little courtyard of flats, he’s a wonderful person and will become part of any community really quickly. 

Hazelnutty

So good to hear you in such a positive mood, DD - productive in your dissertation, school prep and helping your uncle!

Baileys_Babe

Pleased that he will be close by and will have someone so loving to care for him.

DiscountDuck

Aw, thanks BB! We’ve filled in all the forms and returned them so all we are waiting for now is the keys. Fingers crossed it will be soon, but the weather has dried up a bit which helps it all be less of a worry.

We made Jamie Oliver’s courgette and feta fritters yesterday and they were gorgeous. Any of you with a courgette glut, I’d highly recommend them. The rhubarb is finally getting a bit spindly and to the point where it’s not wasteful to leave it, I’m sure it’s from the Little Shop of Horrors. It’s definitely Audrey. 

My mortgage just went down into a lower thousand. It’s so rewarding when that happens. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel in a couple of years if I keep prioritising it. The freedom we will have when that’s gone and the wonderful places I’ll be able to take the kids are such exciting prospects. 

I’ve made very little progress on the dissertation as it’s ridiculously hard while looking after two kids and working, but am hoping to get a bit more done tonight - even if just half an hour.  My participant consent sheet is about there. I need to work out how to access my Uni’s online survey software as I’ve had no guidance on how to get free access or use it yet. Ten days until tutor appointment. 

Baileys_Babe

Can you email your tutor for assistance with accessing the software?

DiscountDuck

I’m trying to get the literature review done first and then working out qualtrics can be my next bite of the elephant 😂 Eating it one bite at a time! When the lit review hurts my brain I do a little bit on the methodology section then swap back again. 

We are going to my mum’s beach hut for the day on Sunday, I’m treating it as a reward for the work I’ll have got done by then hopefully! I love it there and can’t wait. I’ve got a carpenter coming to give me a quote to make the front doors disabled accessible for her, and she will join me by FaceTime for a cuppa looking at the sea! 

DiscountDuck

Hope everyone is happy and well, making progress with your own challenges. I love reading how other people’s challenges are going, they give lots of inspiration and the drive to keep going. It definitely helps seeing other people doing the same thing. 

Trying to stay motivated to pay off the mortgage and get into as good a financial position as possible. I’ve bought some gorgeous second hand clothes off eB*y lately for the kids and I, all totally out of season at 99p plus postage. So many people are clearing out at the moment there are great bargains to be had. 

I also dropped half a dozen bags of our outgrown stuff to the charity shop, and finally parted with my kids pram to a lady who helps families in need. I know I could have sold it all but I don’t pay new prices and it makes me happy to think our stuff can help someone else.

My uncle hopefully gets the keys to his flat tomorrow. Fingers crossed it all goes ok. His stuff is all ready to go in my garage and I can hardly fit the kids bikes in so it’ll be nice having the space again. I’m planning on using some of the racking to store a few bits for Brexit that I think may rise significantly in price, like olive oil and tinned tomatoes and peaches etc. This may be paranoia on my part, but it feels like food prices are already creeping up when it hasn’t happened yet. 

We had an amazing time at the beach hut. I propped mum up on FaceTime on a deckchair next to me looking at the sea and having a cuppa together, it was so nice. I wish she was as healthy and strong as she deserves to be, it would be so nice for her to be able to make the journey with me but she’s not up to a long car trip at the moment and it is what it is. Hopefully she is coming for a day in October. I can’t wait for her to be there in person, I am pretty sure the hut she’s bought is one we rented and spent summers in with my grandparents when I was little. 

The garden is still productive but honestly if I ever have to eat another runner bean I’ll be sick. I grew these purple ones for novelty for the kids and they’re prolific. And not as tasty as French beans, which did terribly this year. Thankfully we are not fed up of spinach or tomatoes...yet. 

DiscountDuck

Things are going really well at the moment! Homeless uncle is no longer homeless, his new flat is lovely and I’ve had lots of luck getting him things from a free reuse/recycle FB page, plus giving him my spares as let’s face it - we’ve all got stuff we don’t use. 

My dissertation is coming along great now my new tutor has been allocated (the old one left). She’s so constructively helpful and knowledgeable. I really feel like this is achievable at a standard where I’ll be proud of myself, under her guidance. 

I’ve got points building up on the BetterPoints app for walking the dog, which were added to nicely by a 500 point win! Lucky me! I’m going to cash them in for a supermarket voucher when I get to £15 worth and then put the £15 in my overpayment pot. It’s not much, but it all adds up. I’m also getting tantalisingly close to getting to cash out level on YouGov, which will also go into the pot. 

For the weekend I’ve found a free printable booklet of a dinosaur trail a couple of villages away, where they found lots of fossils and have put up statues and signs to commemorate what they found and where. I thought it would be a nice interesting walk for us all with the dogs. It’s nice to explore the gems on our own doorstep as well as stuff further away. 

I hope everyone else has a wonderful weekend. 

riotlady

I've just read your diary the whole way through- I'm also a mum with PTSD trying to write up my masters research, so I can empathise with a lot of it! I just wanted to say that  you seem like such a kind person and a lovely mum. 
Definitely stealing the tip about off season children's clothes on ebay! I need to plan further in advance. 

DiscountDuck

Hi @riotlady it’s so great to meet someone in the same position! It’s tough but we will both get there with the masters, it’s going to be such an accomplishment and if we can get this far we can definitely finish the job. I wish you the very best with yours and if I have any resources or anything useful to you, please give me a shout. I have some lovely referencing guides etc. Do you have a diary I can bookmark?

I sling all the ebay out of season bargains in black bags, labelled by kid and season, in my wardrobe and then pull them out at the right time of year. It’s like a lovely surprise when the bag comes out because I’ve usually forgotten a lot of what’s in there! Happy bargain hunting.