Prosperous soul embraces creativity & mortgage neutrality

leftatthetrafficlights

Pasta looks good! 😁 I had dental work done a few years ago which cost me an absolute fortune (total phobic and had avoided for 20+ years!! 😳🤦‍♀️) it's definitely worth the money so be proud of yourself for doing it! 

WelshmansDaughter

Pasta looks yum. 

jwil

Pasta looks good

Honeysucklelou2

Huge well done on going to the dentist...also dental phobic here so appreciate how hard it is to make the appointments and get there.

Pasta looks amazing!

Moneyfordreams

I took your advice and jumped to the end - well the last 10 pages. We are the same age and I understand how all-consuming having a big mortgage is (2013 i got the cost of a divorce but kept the husband). 

But it has got easier mostly. I tend to jump from project to project and throw myself in the deep end. Pensions, renovations, dieting , fitness, studying.. Once my studying finishes, my diet and exercise will take priority - my CC payments stop early next year and it will be full throttle on the mortgage. 

But the little constant changes are what works best so things can just run in the background without extra effort    

savingholmes

Thanks @Mickyh-s Left, WD, HSL, jwil and welcome back @Moneyfordreams

The pasta really was lovely. I'm regretting putting the other half in the freezer now. However - I have beef to finish up - perhaps making some new roasties. I have chilli - that ideally I need to portion and perhaps freeze some and mackerel to use before it goes out of date. I also made soup the other day with 22p YS veg but it was a little vinegary when I put it in the pan - so need to check if its edible. I have a cottage pie too... I really struggle with scarcity / poverty type fears - and therefore weirdly over-buy when I should do the opposite. I like a very tangible EF / food store... I'm still not used to buying and cooking for one - although DD uses a lot of the kitchen incidentals like olive oil, herbs and spices which again add up over time. My point is that I am still buying for 1+.

Ate an apple and a few plums from my garden today. Definitely need to work out how to store those this year and not waste them all.

Moneyfordreams said:

We are the same age and I understand how all-consuming having a big mortgage is (2013 i got the cost of a divorce but kept the husband). 

But it has got easier mostly. I tend to jump from project to project and throw myself in the deep end. Pensions, renovations, dieting , fitness, studying.. Once my studying finishes, my diet and exercise will take priority - my CC payments stop early next year and it will be full throttle on the mortgage. 

But the little constant changes are what works best so things can just run in the background without extra effort    

Yes - the mortgage feels huge - yet I was tempted this week by a house that would be similar cost but in a beautiful location and was even bigger than this one. I need to make myself stick to my plan for now. I don't want to eject DD from the nest too early - but don't plan to be tied here forever. I want to improve this house before selling to get max value. I would like it to be repainted throughout and put a new kitchen in and tidy up the garage, shed and garden. I also relate to the jumping from one thing to the next and need to be wary of creating myself unnecessary anxiety.

I've set myself ambitious goals to avoid lifestyle creep... but possibly too ambitious. If I get the dental work done - I will have to scale back my pension plans. Still don't have a date for when the AVCs will start. If it's delayed another month that will be a big help. I may reduce AVCs after the first month and increase them when this year's cost of living payment comes through. I should get backpay to April and the new rate around November/December if it's accepted by the TUs. 

I got a letter from my mortgage company today saying shifting my payment date had increased my interest by £463+ - (however I did an OP of £620 to allow for that - and they charged me an extra £166+ on the next payment date). It was really annoying as they didn't give me a revised balance - but hopefully I can get that from the credit club here next week. However, they then gave me a revised payment amount that went down (as it should given the OPs). So drumroll - my OPs since last November have knocked my mortgage payment down by..............






73p a month. 

It's better than nothing! My monthly OPs are therefore now £20.73. I will 'tidy' that up like a good MFW - but currently debating to what... 

Today - I want to go into the garage of doom... and see what I can list for sale on FB - and get some more £ coming in. I can then put that to the various work I'm getting done whether on my home or at the dentist!!

Have a good weekend all!                    
 

savingholmes

DD offered to tackle the understairs cupboard with me. It was like an exploding tardis what came out of it. I have half filled my bin so far. Positives wise - we have found at least 20 extra toilet roles from early pandemic - including some weird ones without cardboard that came from China. We also found shampoo and conditioner and lots of cleaning products. At least 4 boxes of my fave ultra tissues.

We found the scales - so I have a working set again. 

Going to try and sell a steam mop and various other things we found... Living room still looks like a bomb went off. I've got a nice blanket and various other finds in the wash.  I've hung out my clothes from an earlier wash. 

DD and I had some of the cottage pie for lunch and it was fab. Now eating stewed plums and custard.

jwil

73p a month over the life of your mortgage is a decent amount! 

Well done on clearing the cupboard. 

beanielou

73p!!!!
WEll done on cupboard.

savingholmes

Thanks jwil and Beanie.

Living room still looks like something exploded everywhere... DD kept saying she would come back and help but then didn't. It was on my list to empty and sort that area anyway ready for when my stairs are done as the joiner will probably go in from underneath. What that does mean though is that I can only put less than 20% of this stuff back where it came from. The rest either needs to go - or go somewhere else! I should however be able to store my dyson away rather than on the landing which would be a big improvement!

My cleaner would probably cry if she saw this room after all her recent hard work - so definitely need to sort it before she returns mid week.
 
I have just listed 4 things on FB though. A book, a telephone seat, a bar stool and a rocking chair. All acquired last year. The bar stool was free. It's a start. If they go that makes some space in my garage. I can then move on to listing other items!! 

I've been watching some Utube on no/low buy challenges - and what some of the participants learned about themselves while doing it. One I listened to - it felt like she was voicing my inner monologue - of things I don't generally say. It helped me make sense of why I have used shopping and eating as a reward - and emotional crutch - and linked it to ADHD and lack of dopamine which was interesting. Throw in scarcity growing up - and it's a recipe for chaos. My house now has far too much stuff though so I need to continue whittling it down. 

For someone who doesn't clean their oven - I must have often thought about cleaning it as I found 3 mostly full cans just of oven cleaner... And then multiply that up for everything else too. I used a microwave steam cleaner today. I can't say I particularly rated it which is a shame as I have 4 left to use!!! Unfortunately I also found 2 rock hard tubes of filler (but two that were like new too)... and so on... 

I found a steam mop and the original instructions that I hope to sell. It's a lot worse than an ordinary mop but that's not my problem if someone buys it.

It would take years for me to become remotely minimal!!! Particularly given I don't want to hire a skip and I hate doing tip runs - hate waste full stop...  Hard hat anyone?