Getting shot of the mortgage sooner than 2049!

Bluegreen143

Meant to say, I spoke to Red about pensions and we’ve agreed we will open him a LISA ASAP as he’s about to turn 40. I like the fact that when you withdraw the money when you retire, it’s all tax free, so I think it’s worth at least opening one and putting a bit aside in it. 

You can’t access the money until 60, so if by some miracle we look likely to be able to retire earlier, we will need to invest some money elsewhere - I think it will be 57 before we can access our actual workplace pensions too? (I know it’s 55 just now but due to rise). 

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, that's really lovely to see all your priorities for 'wants' spending written out like that, and how good that this means you can see how much spending doesn't fit with those. Really like that as a way of doing it 😊

My workplace pension is tied to the state retirement age I believe - I can take it 10 years before, so in my case that's currently age 58, although by the time I get there (another 15 years) I imagine it will be 59 or even 60. Good idea to have something planned for the interim. I missed a LISA sadly!

Baileys_Babe

When me and my ex lived together we used a musical instrument of his as house decoration, we used beading to make a surround/frame, painted the section of the wall that was inside the frame a different colour from the walls we added fixing for the instrument to sit/hang on painted the same colour so the hardly showed. The instrument was stored on display, it was easy to retrieve when he wanted to play and quick to put away when he had finished and a beautiful thing to look at.

Bluegreen143

That sounds lovely @Baileys_Babe - we had lots of guitars as decor in our old flat but they all live in the man cave now, except in the children’s bedroom, where they have a ukelele and small size guitar hanging up. I haven’t hung Monkey’s violin up as apparently you’re not meant to, though I sort of want to cos it would look really nice! 

Ordered my 2023 photo book last night and it was £47 after discount (they have a sale right now). I didn’t list family togetherness/bonding in my priority list, because we mainly achieve it through doing the other activities together, but of course it IS a big priority and this photo book is an example of spending money on it. We have one for each year since Monkey was born and we all love flicking through them. I’ve started putting QR codes to the holiday videos I make in them too ☺️

I also ordered myself two dresses using my personal money. It was £57 for both inc delivery but they were really reduced in the sale (60-70% off) and both were dresses I’d had my eye on. I have a “10 dress” capsule wardrobe so they will replace two current dresses, one which is a bit wrecked and one which is uncomfortable and I don’t like to wear.

MIL has confirmed she is giving us money for Paris - £600, which is extremely generous of her! I hear Paris is pricey but as we’ve paid for transport, insurance and accommodation, surely this will be enough for spending money for three nights? 

LadyWithAPlan

Have you thought about doing the wish list/wish farm idea on ynab? 
This article here explains it  here  in detail and there is a YT clip if you'd rather watch

I have actually added costs to each item in my wish list - not just the top 3 in the 'wish farm'  as it helped me decide which 3 I am going to 'water' now. 

LittleGem

Really loved seeing your lists @Bluegreen143, I think this is something I’d really like to do and become more aware of our aims for our family. It’s wonderfully inspiring! 

Can I ask how is Bambi finding the chapter books?

Bluegreen143

@LadyWithAPlan that’s a good idea to look at wish farms again. I’ve heard if it but not done it in my budget.

@LittleGem she’s loving her book just now, we still read picture books at other times but she gets 1-2 chapters before bed. Learning to read though… she’s enjoying that somewhat less 😂 I made it fun today and played the hungry sock snake game with magnet letters (put a sock on your hand, do a growly hissy sock snake voice, get the child to feed it specified letters. Lots of yum yum yums for the right letter and mock disgust and yucks for the wrong letter. Works with numbers and words too).

I don’t like to moan but I’m FED UP of the grim stormy weather. Feel all hemmed in as haven’t had a walk. I’m looking forward to the office tomorrow to get a change of scene!

The budget is in that tedious part of the month where there’s nothing to do. Can’t wait til Red’s payday.

Meals today:

B - chocolate porridge and banana

L - a warm salad type concoction of air fryer roasted veg, butter beans, wilted spinach and prosciutto 

S - erm, a crème egg 😂

D - HM breaded salmon, HM air fryer chips, broccoli and green beans 

I have leftover warm salad to take tomorrow, though I dunno if it will be nice re-warmed up… have made overnight oats for breakfast too 😇 

Bluegreen143

Busy day yesterday, in the office (spent £5 from personal spending on lunch - it’s a social thing as we all go together and it’s only once a week). 

Had Red’s widowed sister-in-law for dinner; his nephew (a student in his early 20s) cancelled last minute as he tends to do 😂

I think students of that age can tend to be thoughtless anyway though he was maybe trying to avoid seeing SIL (who was his dad’s partner, but isn’t his mum) as they have to have some conversations about his dad’s estate and nephew is quite avoidant of these things…

Red has been trying to help them both sort it all out in a fair way to them both but he was saying last night he’s so frustrated he’s on the verge of washing his hands of it all. I think for his sanity taking a step back would be a good thing tbh. 

Got my two new dresses in the post and I love them! I’m running a 10 dress system as an alternative to a capsule wardrobe (dresses are a complete outfit so you don’t need stuff to mix and match! And I just feel more comfortable and like myself in a dress). I do keep a bit of activewear for sick or active days as dresses don’t always work! 

One of the dresses hits the holy grail of all three of my dressing criteria - smart enough for the office, pretty enough for date night or meeting friends, but comfy enough for working from home and going to the park or shops. The other is a black velvet dress so a bit smart for WFH and the school run, but will work for both office and socialising. 

Both kids developed a random low fever yesterday and Bambi has seemed a bit under the weather tbh so I’ve kept them both off school/nursery today. 

Bluegreen143

Well, we still have sick kids in this house! They keep appearing to get better and then getting ill again, one at time, which is a new experience. 

Took them both to a birthday party this afternoon as they both appeared better, only for Bambi to be very upset later with a sore throat ☹️

Just had an interesting discussion on someone else’s diary re social media and young girls (9/10) being into skincare because of tik tok. Makes me really sad to think that the pressure to look a certain way is beginning so young… that little girls that age already think their skin isn’t good enough and that they need to spend a lot of money correcting their faults, trying to look different to how they naturally are. Despite all the “girl power” rhetoric of celebrities and influencers, the truth is that pop culture and social media are pretty toxic places for young girls and women. 

(Saying this, my own skincare routine consists of trying to remember to remove my make up if I wear it using a supermarket cleanser, and putting on a cheap tinted Nivea moisturiser with SPF each morning which also serves as my foundation, so I’m clearly not an expert in the skincare subject 😂).

I don’t actually use social media myself anymore (unless on here counts!) - best decision I ever made for freeing up my time and improving my mental health. I realised I had to stop during the pandemic when I found myself arguing with a stranger in a Facebook group about something unimportant 😂

In other news, I’ve finally picked up my knitting I’ve been ignoring for months 🙈 feels good to get back into it. It’s a jumper for Monkey so fingers crossed it will fit, but it would work well for Bambi if not as it’s pretty unisex. 

We are well overdue to get a proper shopping in (due to sickness) so dinner was a randomly thrown together dinner of HM pittas, chicken souvlaki, salad, griddled peppers and onions, corn on the cobs. Really tasty! 

We’ll see how the kids are tomorrow before deciding if we go out or do anything. REALLY hoping they are better for school on Monday. I struggle so much with WFH while trying to care for them and feel I do a very inadequate job of both ☹️

Baileys_Babe

Sorry to hear Bambi and Monkey are unwell, I hope they make a quick recovery.
If they are off school next week would Red be able to take any time off work to look after them so you can concentrate on your work?