10 years to go .... maybe, with a fair wind

Lauraebrad

Already speeding through April, although I'm not very impressed at this gloomy, chilly weather!  Looking forward to benefitting from heating at work again as we hopefully head back to the office, at least some of the time, from the end of this month. 
Not a lot of spare money this month, as back on full bills again with the new financial year, and also aware of a friends hen do coming up that I need to set aside some money for.  
So, up to now have managed to scrape £30 together for April's OPs, plus the regular £100 to my S&S ISA.  The £30 is mostly made up from Pr0lific and Sh0ppix which are a slow burn but very welcome little income. 
In money saving today, I've managed to get an eye cream for 'free' using some very historic B00ts points.  I hardly ever shop in there any more, but went in to check my balance, having seen the news about losing old points if the Advantage card isn't used.  Anyway - had more than I realised so treated myself to an eye cream as I'm alarmed by how rapidly my eye area is ageing!
The small one is at a free sports holiday camp today with some friends, leaving me to work in peace.  Then he's going down south with his dad to visit other grandparents for a few days, so I shall mostly be being frugal and working my way through some of the many portions of food in the freezer that he doesn't like!  Hoping that I can avoid a big super market shop till he's back at school on the 19th.
Just had a grated carrot, cheese and mayo sarnie for lunch which I've not had in years and had forgotten how delicious they are - not to mention presumably healthier than a bog standard cheese sandwich.  Back to work now - got to earn the pennies somehow!

Lauraebrad

Just popped another £10 OP on the mortgage courtesy of Pr0lific.  I've been doing an 'optimood' study on there for about 6 weeks which has meant daily surveys - and hopefully if I've done enough of them a bigger payout at the end of their study if contributing to the full 8 weeks, so I'm waiting somewhat impatiently for that now lol!

So, I was interviewed on Monday for the promotion that I didn't particularly want, and got it due to a lack of competition.  I don't exactly know when it'll start but should mean a net increase in income of around £70 per month.  I'm toying with not using any for OPs and putting it all in the adventure fund but that seems a bit silly so might just increase my regular OPs by just a small amount and use most of it for fun money (for now).  Think I'm also going to set a small amount each month aside for random giving / generosity as this is more likely to happen if there's actually money for it. 

The Easter hols are in full swing and I had extra children here yesterday - pretty frugal though as wouldn't dare take them near any shops! Instead took a couple of flasks of hot choc up on to our local common and released them into the rocks and heather for some hide and seek action.  Today's main task is to take the small one with me to our local unwrapped shop for some essentials - he loves the weighing and filling.  Not intentionally frugal but must be some sort of education there to see by weight what we're spending on groceries!  He particularly likes refilling rice which comes out in a massive rush, and also the liquids like hand soap.

Bumped into a friend the other day who's struggling through interviews for teaching jobs having re-entered in her 40's and we were talking about jobs and how if you actually answered the question 'why did you apply for this job' with the answer ' so I can pay off my mortgage / retire early' it would certainly attract some strange looks - but is probably honest for a lot of people!  I definitely see the new job at work as another step to being able to use my money wisely to enjoy living life outside of work to the full - rather than as some sort of career accomplishment!  Having said that, I probably do need to quickly acquire a more positive attitude towards it ..... 

On that note, off to see what frugal challenges the day will bring ....

Happy Easter folks

Lauraebrad

I've just made another OP for May which I wasn't really expecting.  I'd done a long running survey on Pr0lific but hadn't expected it to pay out fully (I thought I'd missed some sessions) so was really pleased to have a balance of over £35 to cash out today!  
Other than that May's a very tight month as I've just been away on one of my closest friends hen weekends which has taken up a lot of the budget - although it was worth it for such an excellent weekend away.  Also, I was underpaid this month, which I'm hoping will be sorted out next month, but until then there isn't much spare cash to throw at the mortgage.

It was strange being away at the weekend with various people I've not seen for ages.  Feel a bit of a fraud at times, being able to budget well and OP the mortgage when I'm a single parent working part time, and seeing others in 2 full income households struggle with big mortgages.  But I have to remind myself that's because so many people have moved to much bigger houses in more affluent areas than me - and it's not comparable.  A good moral really - comparison really is the thief of joy!

Anyway, a non-working day tomorrow, to do some food shopping at L1dl, have a run and maybe a catch up with my ex-husband/small ones dad, who's struggling a bit at the moment.  Generally going to be fairly low cost which is good.

powerspowers

Lauraebrad said:

I've just made another OP for May which I wasn't really expecting.  I'd done a long running survey on Pr0lific but hadn't expected it to pay out fully (I thought I'd missed some sessions) so was really pleased to have a balance of over £35 to cash out today!  
Other than that May's a very tight month as I've just been away on one of my closest friends hen weekends which has taken up a lot of the budget - although it was worth it for such an excellent weekend away.  Also, I was underpaid this month, which I'm hoping will be sorted out next month, but until then there isn't much spare cash to throw at the mortgage.

It was strange being away at the weekend with various people I've not seen for ages.  Feel a bit of a fraud at times, being able to budget well and OP the mortgage when I'm a single parent working part time, and seeing others in 2 full income households struggle with big mortgages.  But I have to remind myself that's because so many people have moved to much bigger houses in more affluent areas than me - and it's not comparable.  A good moral really - comparison really is the thief of joy!

Anyway, a non-working day tomorrow, to do some food shopping at L1dl, have a run and maybe a catch up with my ex-husband/small ones dad, who's struggling a bit at the moment.  Generally going to be fairly low cost which is good.

Weekend away sounds fun! Interesting how you say that you feel a fraud… you’ve worked really hard on your budgeting and made choices that are paying off at the moment. Other people may have had different choices, different priorities, different attitudes to money and risk- which is fine! I sometimes feel we should have stretched further when buying our house in terms of generating more assets for the future but at the moment I’m glad we didn’t, I might feel different in future! I’ve felt similar to you though- guilty maybe about my choices? I have a wider feeling of being an imposter so maybe it’s a case of not feeling like I deserve to be in a good place when other people aren’t? Interested to hear how you feel and where you think it comes from? 

Lauraebrad

powerspowers said:

Lauraebrad said:

I've just made another OP for May which I wasn't really expecting.  I'd done a long running survey on Pr0lific but hadn't expected it to pay out fully (I thought I'd missed some sessions) so was really pleased to have a balance of over £35 to cash out today!  
Other than that May's a very tight month as I've just been away on one of my closest friends hen weekends which has taken up a lot of the budget - although it was worth it for such an excellent weekend away.  Also, I was underpaid this month, which I'm hoping will be sorted out next month, but until then there isn't much spare cash to throw at the mortgage.

It was strange being away at the weekend with various people I've not seen for ages.  Feel a bit of a fraud at times, being able to budget well and OP the mortgage when I'm a single parent working part time, and seeing others in 2 full income households struggle with big mortgages.  But I have to remind myself that's because so many people have moved to much bigger houses in more affluent areas than me - and it's not comparable.  A good moral really - comparison really is the thief of joy!

Anyway, a non-working day tomorrow, to do some food shopping at L1dl, have a run and maybe a catch up with my ex-husband/small ones dad, who's struggling a bit at the moment.  Generally going to be fairly low cost which is good.

Weekend away sounds fun! Interesting how you say that you feel a fraud… you’ve worked really hard on your budgeting and made choices that are paying off at the moment. Other people may have had different choices, different priorities, different attitudes to money and risk- which is fine! I sometimes feel we should have stretched further when buying our house in terms of generating more assets for the future but at the moment I’m glad we didn’t, I might feel different in future! I’ve felt similar to you though- guilty maybe about my choices? I have a wider feeling of being an imposter so maybe it’s a case of not feeling like I deserve to be in a good place when other people aren’t? Interested to hear how you feel and where you think it comes from? 

I think most people carry a bit of imposter syndrome around with them!  I suppose it all comes down to circumstance and priorities really doesn't it.  I live in a much smaller house and a much more gritty area than many friends, but will hopefully get my financial freedom a bit earlier.  They'll be paying more, for longer but the reward is larger houses in more sought after areas.  We cut our cloth I guess.  And at the end of the day we're all friends, and people make their choices for so many different reasons.  Actually, should really be grateful that we're old enough/fortunate enough to even be in the position to buy in the place we want to live.

savingholmes

Well done on the promotion. To be managing everything as a single parent and continuing to over pay your mortgage sounds pretty good to me. There will always people both worse and better off than you - and a lot of that will results from both luck and choices made. I do believe you make some of your own luck in life - and it often equates to hard work

Lauraebrad

June has got off to a bit of a better overpayment start than I'd expected - so just a little update.  I'd had a YBS loyalty regular saver, which I frontloaded with the max monthly payments for the first few months - it matured on Tuesday and I was genuinely surprised to get just over £43 interest.  Combined with a couple of small Pr0lific cash outs that meant I could make a £60 OP yesterday as well as my regular £100 OP investment.
Other than that, I don't think this will be a good month for saving as I've a wedding to go to and my little boy turns 10.  His dad is having various issues at the moment so suspect I may end up picking up more of the (usually shared) birthday and party costs etc.  
Looking forward to the warmer weather and free outdoor activities.  Had a wonderful sunset walk on the moors with a friend last night that turned into a bit of a free therapy session!

savingholmes

Glad that you had some positives. Happy birthday to your DS

Lauraebrad

Thanks @savingholmes - the birthday isn't till next week, and until then I shall mostly be scouring Ebuy and other similar places for a new to him bike.  He's agreed it doesn't make sense to get a new one - not only because of the cost but because he's slightly feral and inclined to test bikes (and everything else) to the max which means bumps, scrapes, mud and dents.  Much preferable to do that on a 2nd hand bike than have him always being worried about spoiling a new one!

Had completely forgotten it's my God-daughters 21st as well this weekend, and having been invited to her party (that's another story) I really need to sort out some sort of gift.  Unfortunately I don't really know her that well (she's my oldest friend's daughter but we've not been close for 20+ years) so am somewhat stumped.  On the lookout for something that (a) I can get hold of easily (b) is special (c) is not too expensive!  Otherwise the default will probably be a book token or similar.

In between work today I'm popping into the garden to plant out herds of tomato, bean, courgette and squash plants that my mum sent me home with the other day.  Not really enough space for so many but fingers crossed I can find them all a home.  Love love love a home grown tomato straight off the bush.

savingholmes

Sounds sensible on the bike.

I have a birthday this weekend for someone impossible to buy for. I need to try and sort a solution!