Squirreling Away Those Nuts

Squirrelz92

Happy New Year 🎉 

It's been a while since I have made an entry on here much to my disappointment but new year, new beginnings and all that! Aiming for one or two posts a week just to keep this diary up to date and to feel accountable. 

So quite a lot has happened house wise over the last few months. The first being having the radiators installed upstairs! Oh my gosh it is sooo toasty up there now come the evening. I have no idea how the previous owners did not feel the need to invest in them but I am so glad I made the decision to before getting the carpets laid! 

The children enjoyed choosing their colour schemes for their rooms. Had to deter my eldest from choosing the darkest red to go with his love for Marvel, so instead he opted for a more friendly blue. My youngest headed straight for the light purple. I have always wanted a feature wall in each bedroom so it was great fun choosing a wallpaper each for the rooms. I shall post a pic of what was chosen shortly

Next up was of course the carpet installation! It finally started to feel like a home once these were down. It was the finishing touch to the upstairs renovation in my eyes. Sure there are loads of finishing touches that are minor such as matching bedside tables and drawers but this was the BIG finishing touch. Really chuffed!

In terms of overpayments for the year, I have managed to keep on target of overpaying £200 every month bar Dec (£101.55) bringing my total for the year of 2020 to £700. With only buying the house in August and having quite a lot of work done upstairs being the new bathroom, boarding and plastering of 6 walls, new carpets and wallpapering, I don't think I have done too bad as my target was for £500  

I am hoping to continue to overpay by £200 each month in 2021 alongside planning my two next reno projects being the living room and the front of the house. Exciting times ahead! 

I hope everyone is well!

Gemma x

Squirrelz92

Sadly couldn't get a whole picture of my daughter's room including her new white single bed but she has matching Unicorn bedding One very happy girl at Christmas when Santa brought her a mirror and dressing table.
My son is a keen Fortnite player so he was thrilled with his new wall sticker! He also loves his Marvel hence his choice of feature wallpaper!

Grogged

Happy New Year.
Quite an achievement being able to OP so much and sort out the upstairs!
Love the hole in the wall effect/picture.
Both feature walls really bring their rooms to life.

Squirrelz92

Grogged said:

Happy New Year.
Quite an achievement being able to OP so much and sort out the upstairs!
Love the hole in the wall effect/picture.
Both feature walls really bring their rooms to life.

Hi @Grogged! Thanks for popping back in. I am really chuffed how strict I have been regarding saving money leftover the day before payday for the last few months. Normally have around £700 or so left (if I haven't bought anything random) which I share between my mortgage overpayment (£200) and then the rest goes to either the reno fund or my emergency fund  
Thank you on your compliment regarding the rooms! It's such a big deal to me being able to do as I'd like with my home after living in rented accommodation for 10+ years and not being able to decorate or put my own stamp on the place. You certainly appreciate it a whole lot more!

Working from home today with the children's primary school having one of their inset days. With no childcare options available because of tier 4, work just have to suck it up. Bizarre how we are capable of working from home as we have all the communication technology we need, yet they refuse to allow us because of 'the business we work in'. I have been seeking alternative employment the last 6 weeks as where I currently work can and will not offer me the training and exposure I need in order to qualify for my 3 years relevant experience. If I stay, it only prolongs me gaining my qualification status if I pass all of my remaining exams over the next 3 years. Now the Xmas period is over and folks are heading back to the office, I am hoping to start hearing from potential employers

As for those New Years resolutions we all like to make, I decided to 'loosely' make a few so I don't feel entirely guilt tripped when I drop the habit on the occasion. I would definitely like to partake in some form of physical activity for at least 30 minutes a day, be it getting back out there running or starting one of the online workout programmes I am subscribed to. I shall try to drink more water (treated myself to a bottle of Ribena to encourage intake). Lastly, I shall try to study more 'positively'. I have made myself a spreadsheet timetable structuring all my evening study sessions. What chapter I will study on what day, what days I have off etc. Already I feel so much more encouraged to get stuck in.

Haven't taken part in any prolific studies for a good while with everything going on so I may take a stab at that again as I didnt do too bad last time!

Gemma x

Squirrelz92

Not a bad day for earning a few pennies towards the overpayment fund. Squeezed in a few surveys on Prolific whilst working from home today (naughty I know but I was ahead of schedule)  A total of £11.18 is waiting to be transferred into my account before becoming the first mortgage overpayment of 2021! I will also have an accurate figure for my opening mortgage balance for the year tomorrow as my bank account is still playing catch up because of the holidays. I shall no doubt give in to temptation to overpay another small figure to round things off until pay day (20th). 

As for New Year goals, I managed to drink my 2l of water today! I also took part in my first workout at home in the attempt to incinerate this lump of fat I seem to have gained over the last 9 months! It absolutely destroyed me! The only trousers I can fit in now are my PJ bottoms or my workout leggings... my size 14 jeans scream at me every time I think about trying to make them fit me  😂 

And now to potter off to study for an hour or two before hitting the hay. Back in the office tomorrow to put together another set of weekly results and to pull month end together. Fingers crossed Boris doesn't come out with anything too bold in 10 mins!

Gemma x

Squirrelz92

Wooooo my mortgage balance has finally decided to update today 🎉 
Made my first overpayment today of £62.84 as of course I couldn't leave myself hanging by a thread in the £96's!
My balance is now £95,999.99 Had to be done!
I am still waiting on one more payment to come through from Prolific before extracting that and using it to pay another £11.18 off. 

Gemma x

ruby_eskimo

Well done on getting the new mortgage balance - I also do Prolific studies while I'm working from home but I figure I'd be spending that time talking to my colleagues about random stuff if I was in the office so it's not affecting my productivity   Love the kid's bedrooms, I'd have loved the unicorn one when I was younger.

Squirrelz92

ruby_eskimo said:

Well done on getting the new mortgage balance - I also do Prolific studies while I'm working from home but I figure I'd be spending that time talking to my colleagues about random stuff if I was in the office so it's not affecting my productivity   Love the kid's bedrooms, I'd have loved the unicorn one when I was younger.

Thanks for dropping by @ruby_eskimo
I haven't taken part in any Prolific for a good while so I think I was in luck the other day... Seems to have run dry now with no surveys. Oh well! I have requested my £11.18 to be transferred to PayPal this morning so all being well I can add this to the balance tomorrow or the day after 😁

Thank you regarding the kids rooms I'm very chuffed with how they have turned out! I would have been the same with the unicorn wallpaper! Either that or Harry Potter!

Gemma x

Grogged

Well done on getting to the 95s!
I had the same dilemma at Christmas, so Santa helped out 😆

caeler

Love the room decoration! @Squirrelz92
and great news on the first overpayment of the year!