Prosperous soul embraces creativity & mortgage neutrality

Chrystal

Love the artwork SH, but agree you need different width strips.  Isn't it possible to cut the strips length ways into 1/2 and 1/3 using a cutting mat and scalpel type cutter?  
Lovely to hear that you're having a great time, and your photos are beautiful.  Hopefully you'll come home feeling relaxed and refreshed.  ((((hugs)))) XX

savingholmes

Thanks Crystal, EH, MF, Skint, Jwil, Lucielle and Lady

Crystal - good idea about cutting. I don't have a cutting mat here but I did bring high quality scissors so can try that. I think for future pieces I need to consider how to achieve a striking centre to the image even if using tape... 

Just rested today, made art, watched utube... NSD

EH - I appreciated your comments on diet too... as you're right on holiday you do tend to want treats.

@try_harder and DIA - rural by the sea remains the dream... I wonder if I will ever prioritise it enough to achieve it.

I have an appointment with the pensions person at work next week. I'm hoping it will help me understand what order my £ comes out of my wages in i.e. will I get HR tax relief on AVCs or will my existing pension and October onwards annual leave purchase take me out of the HR band? I may be due to hit HR for the first time later this year - so want to minimise tax and maximise pension. I'm hoping if I optimise my existing pension - that when the time comes - I'll have more freedom to transfer the other... 

MovingForwards

Even semi rural by water makes a huge difference with the sense of freedom and space. 

When the time is right all your plans and ideas will come together, for now you're almost trying to force a decision which won't happen until you're free of emotional baggage.

savingholmes

It looks like sis won't need the £ this payday at least - so I've sent £400 to my 0% spends CC plus £58 that I sent it the other day. That still leaves a balance of close to £1100 on my 0% spends CC. 

I also sent £191 between them to Am**** and Mr T points CCs clearing them in full. 

It makes me feel a little more under control. I'm trying to preserve my EF & other savings above £3K so don't want to empty savings unless forced to. (T Robbins says to change your habits you have to raise your standards. I'm trying to set a standard of always having a minimum of £3K funds available... I hope to raise that to £4K and so on).

I have a named holiday savings pot with over £400 in it but I'm reluctant to empty it. I also have my £140 rewards pot - (but don't want to withdraw it). If I notionally assume I have used those that leaves £560. I've earmarked £300 from next month's pay towards this CC.  I will use the £150 energy pay when it comes towards this card. So as long as I minimise spends this pay month I'm nearly there. I'm hoping to be able to pay off at least another £40.

Even if I paid sis from this month's pay (and savings) I'm due to have about £390 in my main accounts so enough to clear the CC (excluding the notional amount from savings pots above) but it would give me cashflow issues next month when my MOT is also due so I don't want to do that. October is when I'm due to pay AVCs and for my holidays out of the same pay packet so not sure what my take home pay will be. 

I'm still working on the basis that I'll give sis the £ she asked for - but didn't say that to her when she said she's now trying to get that as part of her mortgage. She also said she had no EF though - and might need to come to me if she runs into trouble in future... I'm going to discuss it (again) with my counsellor next week... It would certainly make my life a lot easier if I didn't return any of the original gift to her.

doingitanyway

I love the photos.
Ludlow is beautiful. 

mark55man

I agree with your above minimum standards.  That's the way I'm heading - setting targets above the bare minimum is not just a safety net but a little aspirational

savingholmes

Thanks MF - spot on. I think what RM reinforces is I have a good sized modern home and garden - that I can make beautiful and that's probably a better use of time and £ than moving any time soon. It's convenient for work and DD and is near enough to motorways that I can travel to see wider family if I want to. It also has decent public transport and is close to towns and a hospital. It is close to a stunning park and other parks.

My wish list to make my house shine is super long - and would be expensive. We still have the original kitchen and bathrooms from when it was built 20+ years ago. Continuing with the simpler things of maintaining, decluttering, tidying, pruning etc and a lick of paint for now. Meanwhile I will save as much as I can and may then tackle my long list in stages. However high inflation suggests it may be cheaper to do sooner rather than later. However, a higher savings make me feel more secure. The stairs here are really solid - and therefore reinforce how bad mine are - so I think contacting a joiner needs to be a priority - even if I end up emptying some of my savings to pay them.

Mark - I agree - savings are more than a safety net. It's only post divorce (and becoming CC debt free) that I've set up long term savings pots for holidays, FI, car replacement and home improvement etc. If I can get at least another 2.5 years from my current employer - if I ever got made redundant I'd get my pension unreduced too. I will therefore rest easier from that perspective once I'm over 55 - although with the current management team I'm pretty safe. 

Thanks DIA. I've been watching a squirrel scamper about outside this morning. It's lovely to have lots of trees in sight that are all turning from green to gold as part of their Autumn journey. There are beautiful hills in the background. There's a rescue dog here that comes to say hello to me sometimes too which fills that dog shaped hole... I'm going to have another coffee and then make myself get dressed and go out. 

I've peeled back the tape off yesterday's art work - and the colours are stunning. It worked better with less tape. However one of my applicators was too wet - so it has run in places so the lines aren't as crisp as the one before. When I get home I have gold acrylic marker type pens so will edge the strips in gold and see if that takes care of it. It's all a learning process. I think the width of the tape over dominates this size of art work - so I need to be brave and go bigger... or as Crystal suggests get thinner tape. All good fun.

DD is enjoying the peace without me. The cleaner is still going today so hopefully I will come back to a clean and tidy home Friday. I've asked her to make the windows and mirrors shine with any spare time today.

Hope you have a good day where you are.

badmemory

Anyone who owns their own home and doesn't have a very long to-do list is lying to you.  Says the woman who has 6 bags of shredding that needs to go in that bin next week plus 2 to go to the tip (which I hope my friend will volunteer to take along with a headboard no longer needed)  plus 3 bags for the charity shop.  Somehow I have been supercharged this week & have done almost a years worth in a couple of days.  Keep your fingers crossed that it continues.

beanielou

I don't have a long list of things to do in my house!
I am not lying.

savingholmes

Thanks BM - hope your motivation carries you through. 

Beanie - You sound very 'content' - something I aspire to but am a long way off. Ex would wait until something fell off to fix it - so there's a long list of things I plan to tackle / get help in to tackle.

Well I had a nice walk and a coffee at a nearby NT place. Will post some photos shortly.

I've used the tapes from my art in my journal and hope to make some more art tonight - and perhaps tomorrow morning. I brought 4 canvas boards with me... and have used two so far. The tapes make my journals look amazing.

I've enjoyed my time here overall. The roads aren't as scary as the last cottage - as I've found a different route out than I came up the first day. I will use the new route when it's time to return home Friday. 

I've suggested to DD that I take her out to a city Saturday. Want to make positive memories with her too.