Getting shot of the mortgage sooner than 2049!

Baileys_Babe

Hello, @Bluegreen143 lovely to see you.

The cabin sounds wonderful, I doubt if my 2 would approve, we had a power cut a couple of weeks ago and after about 5 hours we went to my parents so we could continue their lessons (our cottage is dark at the best of times and that day it was raining heavily, so worse than usual) as we arrived I herd one of the children sighing & saying "oh good, the Internet" 😂 
Sorry the children were unwell, I hope they made a speedy recovery.

Bluegreen143

Luckily my kids aren’t at that stage yet being that bit younger... harder for us adults but once we adjusted we loved it! It did have a DVD player so we took a couple of Disney movies and a Paw Patrol DVD so they were happy enough. 

They’re mainly fine now, Monkey really just had a cold, Bambi has had a cough for about 6 weeks (has had two negative PCR tests in that time) but it got a lot worse on holiday so we took them home to get tested again and a GP appointment, he wanted to listen to her chest but after doing so thankfully wasn’t concerned. She’s still got it but seems to be much less snotty so 🤞🏼 she’s on the mend.

debtfreeoneday

Well done on money progress this year..

Bluegreen143

Definitely need to start updating this diary more! It keeps me on track - I notice I’ve been getting worse for not tracking spending etc when I’ve not been on here. Not terribly but I’d like to be a bit more intentional about our spending again.

It’s been an expensive month getting all Monkey’s things for starting school next week + it’s my birthday/my mum’s birthday/my sister’s birthday all in the next week and my sister is getting married next weekend! But we are doing ok with money. Will do a full update shortly.

Bluegreen143

So firstly to say the emergency fund is at £1,767 currently as we needed more work on the guttering plus I needed a filling redone (ok I went for a white one this time so not necessarily essential but as it was getting replaced anyway and it’s a visible one thought might as well, if we didn’t have the money saved I’d have got another metal one). 

So first priority is to get that back up to £2k and then I think I’m going to aim for £5k savings as my next goal - I’ll continue the small OP of £79 a month for now and wait til we’re at £5k cash savings to increase this. Mainly because if my contract isn’t made permanent I could be unemployed in 6 months. I am enjoying work a bit more now so now hoping I do get kept on especially with such family friendly hours and decent pay - that said it’s probably not my life’s passion as such so if I don’t get kept on I’ll try to look for the silver lining in being forced to find new opportunities! 

£5k savings seems such a long way away but it will feel amazing to get there 💪🏼 

Baileys_Babe

Great to see you posting again @Bluegreen143

Glad to hear you are happier with work, fingers crossed they keep you on as the hours are reasonably convenient. How have you been managing the school holidays and working?

Bluegreen143

Thanks for dropping by @Baileys_Babe.

I managed to take three out of the seven weeks off because I hadn’t used any annual leave yet really - Red was on furlough at Easter so we didn’t need to use leave to cover that we had plenty this summer (I know that won’t always be the case).

Then my mum took Monkey for a week as well - longest he’s ever been away from home! He had a ball.

The other three weeks we did a mix - Red did a few days, MIL did a couple, I had him at home a couple of days while I worked from home and I also hired a 16year old babysitter from the Gaelic secondary school to come look after him for three hours on a few days while I worked at home. Meant I had a guaranteed block of focused time and she practised some language with him but it wasn’t expensive (she wanted £5 an hour).

Bambi was at nursery throughout but we’ve had confirmation of her place at the council nursery from Jan so next year she will be term time only too which makes it more challenging to get babysitting.

LadyWithAPlan

Just read through your diary. You are doing amazingly well on your focus with your  budget, savings and OP. Especially when you have such a busy life with kids and both working.

How can you not succeed! Look forward to you getting that mortgage term down further. 

Bluegreen143

Awww thanks @LadyWithAPlan, that’s so sweet of you to say!

Had a lovely weekend - went to visit my parents as over the next week it’s my mum’s birthday, my sister’s and mine! So we had a really nice celebratory meal and I made Terry’s chocolate orange cake again 🤤

Though it’s not been my birthday yet, I got some lovely presents from my family including three beginner embroidery kits, paper cutting supplies/pattern book, a plum tree for the garden and The New Complete Book of Self Sufficiency by John Seymour. A lot of it is VERY aspirational for us but nice to read it and dream 😆 but lots of good stuff in there too about growing your own etc. Very inspiring.

Red has got me a bike (second hand) and helmet for my birthday, he let me have it when he picked it up 😍 not ridden a bike for about 15 years but I did a few slightly wobbly loops round our wee car park in our cul de sac with Monkey racing round me on his bike cheering me on 😂 hoping to take him out soon for a joint ride down the canal - I’ll need to get my confidence up before I could go on the road and I can’t take both kids til I get a child seat for Bambi. Hoping to organise a bike soon for Red so we can go for family bike rides!

Big day tomorrow as my little Monkey starts school 😍😍😍 think I’ve got everything organised and ready for the morning - he doesn’t go in til 10 because they are doing short days for the first three days. 

joedenise

Lovely to see you posting again @Bluegreen143.  That book is brilliant - my dad had that one which my sister acquired once both our parents died but I did manage to get hold of a 2nd hand copy for us.  It's one of those books we go back to look at from time to time - it was certainly worth the, I think, £2 I paid for it!

Enjoy your new to you bike.  I haven't got the confidence to ride on the roads and there's nowhere where I live to be able to get my confidence up as I live on an unmade road which just isn't suitable with its many potholes!