The 'scenic route' to mortgage freedom...

PiggyBankShaker

Its a beautiful day here so we're going to try an blast through the washing and dry as much outside as possible.

DD has been dispatched to the stables for the day. She made her own packed lunch.

DH and I had porridge for breakfast, he's off collecting something from the sorting office now. We also had a chat about seeing if we can get his phone or our broadband cost reduced, he's not optimistic as we're under contract until Oct 2023 But I think there's no harm in trying, especially as we are paying over the odds by current prices.

My writing workshop starts in 15 mins and I really need to get myself in gear, especially as I'm on here when I should be getting dressed! 

savingholmes

Hope the workshop went well.

PiggyBankShaker

The writing workshop was good, @savingholmes, thanks. A bit draining, but certainly worthwhile.

I plan on a very lazy day today. The only things I'll be 'achieving' are; cutting DH's hair, 1 white wash, shower and wash my hair, and some gentle cleaning.

I've been on an emotional treadmill for at least a fortnight and I need to relax. Today *should* be no spend day, so we'll see if we manage it!

PiggyBankShaker

Other than a 40-minute walk before bed last night, I practically didn't move all day. I must have needed the rest because I also slept soundly last night.

Aiming for a low spend day today, we need a top up shop, but will keep it to just essentials. Also need to go to town and collect DD's contact lenses for a two-day trial.

We've all done our ONS covid tests this morning which will mean £80 for the holiday kitty when the vouchers arrive.

My goal for the week is to do a small bit of sorting, tidying and cleaning each day to get back on top of things. We're in a fallow period right now in terms of the kitchen, waiting for things to arrive and tradespeople to come etc, so its a good opportunity to tackle other areas that we won't have time/energy to do when we are mid-kitchen refit. DH's office is particularly bad, but I can't do that by myself.

PiggyBankShaker

So, after I wrote this morning's entry I went back to bed and slept for 2 hours. Guess I was much more tired than I thought.

Then I went to town, posted the covid tests, paid the £8 into the bank, returned a library book and picked up DD's trial contact lenses.

DH and I did 10 minutes tidying up in his office and its already much better.

PiggyBankShaker

DH and I have had a bit of a money chat and we have decided to make a £300 mortgage overpayment every month going forward from end September onwards. This will round our mortgage payment up to £1000, its affordable without being onerous and will make a dent in the capital. As other commitments drop off we can increase this to bring our MF date forward even further.

We've also agreed to save an extra £100 a month in a regular saver account for the next two years. It pays 3% interest.

We have an electrician coming round at 2pm today to give us a price for upgrading our consumer board, its one of the jobs that needs doing before the kitchen can be installed. Oh, and on that, Wr3n delivered the missing doors yesterday and dropped and damaged one of them. So its an extra wait now for that to be delivered.

As of today we have £887, we get £145 CB next week and that combined has to last until the end of the month. We need £202 for horse riding, £80 for marriage counselling, prob £100 for groceries, £50 for diesel. We also need to buy 2 more school jumpers. That *should* leave £500, which is very healthy IF we manage it.

That's all for now I think. 

savingholmes

Glad you are catching up on rest and sleep. Sounds much needed.

Your finance plans sound good.

Need to find ways of creating more joy in every day life too. When you find the secret - do share - as we all need a lift at times...

PiggyBankShaker

The electrician didn't turn up yesterday. I'm disappointed but not surprised.

In all my financial planning yesterday I forgot to include £165 CT which went out today. DS also reminded us that he needs rugby boots for PE so we need to get those too. At this rate we'll be lucky if there is any surplus at the end of the month.

Marriage counselling was good. We talked about the stress the kitchen is putting on our relationship and how we need to communicate more clearly with each other.

I'm going over my Dad's today to do some small jobs, but I'm really going so he has some company. He's always been quite a shy man and doesn't like to get out of his comfort zone, so as his circle of friends has got smaller and smaller, his social life has suffered and he's quiet lonely now. It makes me sad, and I do what I can, but I'd love for him to join a group or something so he sees other people more regularly.

I think that's all for now.

PiggyBankShaker

The electrician turned up yesterday afternoon, a full 24 hours late. He emailed his quote this morning - £3,500 - which is frankly ridiculous. It would be funny if it wasn't so depressing.

My Dad was in good spirits yesterday and we got a few jobs done. I came home and slept for 1 hour 40 minutes. Not sure what is wrong with me at the mo, I don't feel tired but I'm napping more. Maybe its seasonal. In the evening the kids and I cuddled up in bed and watched a silly kids film and ate some biscuits. It was lovely.

The 2nd job emailed and said I need to repay £63 overpaid holiday leave, I was expecting *something* so its not too bad, just annoying.

I have an extra £5 in copper to pay into the bank. Oh, and I took some clothes the kids have grown out of to a cash for clothes place and got £4.40. Then I remembered a few bits in the attic that we can sell on FB marketplace and I'll try and do that today.

Think that's all.

PiggyBankShaker

DH went up the attic and the bits I thought we could sell were actually broken, which is annoying. So instead we cleared some other stuff and did a run to the tip and on the way back we got some free pallets from a building site which DH is going to chop up for the woodburner. I did find something else in the attic to sell, so I'll list that later.If we get £20 I'll be really happy.

Went to the library to return a book due back tomorrow and also paid in the £5 in the bank.