Aim: Mortgage Free / Time For Me

South_coast

You've come such a long way, you should feel so proud of yourself 🥰 I've always thought that family is what you make it, you can't force a bond that's not there simply because you're related. It's great to hear that you're feeling closer to your stepsister, she will have seen it all from a different perspective to your sisters and probably has a bit more emotional distance because of that. 

And I love your quote - may have to send that one to my Mum 🤣!

Fortune_Smiles

I'm right there with you on that PM.  As I get older, I judge people less by what they say and more by what they do.  Actions speak louder than words and I don't have time anymore for people who say they are my friends and behave as though they aren't.  I've ghosted several friends and family members these last several years when they've behaved badly toward me.  Time is precious and you can run out of it so I only spend my time and energy now on people who make me laugh and feel loved.

Fortune x

postmenopause

Fortune_Smiles said:
 Time is precious and you can run out of it so I only spend my time and energy now on people who make me laugh and feel loved.

South_coast said:
 I've always thought that family is what you make it, you can't force a bond that's not there simply because you're related. 

Such wise words  @Fortune_Smiles  and @South_coast and so very true 👏👏👏……thank you XXX

postmenopause

Today’s quote:

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant” 

Moneysaving/ household saving:

• Like everyone else, i am quite worried about the rise in gas and electricity prices ( not to mention the rise in National insurance and day to day grocery essentials)…..For the last few days i am pleased to say we have been able to turn our heating off completely in the day and just have it on for an hour in the morning and then a few hours in the evening, as the temperature outside has risen a bit…..since covid my husband has been working from home so during the coldest months we have the heating on, but turn the radiators off in the rooms we don’t use…..but obviously this still uses energy.  My dh has also now started going back into the office one day a week, so this will help if we have another cold snap.

Allotment/ garden:

• As i said before, i use a mini greenhouse frame next to my french doors where i can fit 12 seed trays on.  I usually keep my seedlings there until it is full and then i use my greenhouse with an electric heater in….but the heater uses so much electricity 😱😱😱, so this year i have brought in another mini greenhouse frame from my garden which will hold another 10 trays, so this should keep me going a little bit longer without using the greenhouse and save a little bit of money.  I sit the frames on old quilt covers and ‘slide’ them away from the window each night  so i can close the curtains to keep the heat in.  I do have to turn the trays every day as the seedlings lean towards the light a bit…..i also put foil on the back of the frames to help reflect the light to help the seedlings, however i will have to do the foil on the new frame tomorrow as I’ve out of time today.

• As it was wet and rainy all day here today, another job i did was to !!!!!! out some of the seedlings that i sowed at the beginning of this month.  So the Strawflowers, Webbs wonderful lettuces, dwarf dahlias, pompom dahlia’s, statice, antirrhinums, coreopsis, rudbeckia and french marigolds are now sitting comfortably on the mini greenhouse frame i brought in today.

Wellbeing:

• Last night my dd1 and her boyfriend came round and we face-timed my dd2 and her boyfriend too (as they were at my dd2’s university accommodation) and we all played a game together (herd mentality) and we all had a Chinese meal delivered (remarkably the meals were delivered with five minutes of each other).  I was very good on my healthy diet as i brought a low fat curry meal so i could bung it in the microwave quickly when their Chinese meal arrive and i had prepared some salad to go with it earlier.  As it was my dd1’s birthday we all sang happy birthday to her and then had the cake i made earlier in the day ( i allowed myself a very small taster of it).  It was a lovely evening.
• 
  

• Today was weigh day.  I have lost half a pound this week ….not as impressive as last weeks five pounds, but it’s a step in the right direction…so I’m quite pleased.

Anyway that’s it for tonight as I’m hungry and I’m about to have my dinner

XXXX

jennystarpepper

Half a pound of is still a good loss.. adds up to a lot over a year.

Happy birthday to your daughter, cake looks beautiful.

I'm not happy about the fuel prices, I understand why it has happened and what's not being done to help the public, ours was increased from £56 pm to £133 pm, I've managed to get this down to £95 pm after emailing them,  the heating has been turned off and the burner is being used (will flick the heating on for 30 min once a week so it gets used, but that's it).  All the other increases you mention just make me think about the extra I can't pay off the mortgage or add to saving.  

postmenopause

jennystarpepper said:

Half a pound of is still a good loss.. adds up to a lot over a year.

Happy birthday to your daughter, cake looks beautiful.

I'm not happy about the fuel prices, I understand why it has happened and what's not being done to help the public, ours was increased from £56 pm to £133 pm, I've managed to get this down to £95 pm after emailing them,  the heating has been turned off and the burner is being used (will flick the heating on for 30 min once a week so it gets used, but that's it).  All the other increases you mention just make me think about the extra I can't pay off the mortgage or add to saving.  

I know exactly what you mean @jennystarpepper as we had a really good plan to clear our kitchen mortgage (our second mortgage) by December this year but im not actually sure if we will manage it now 😢😢😢

postmenopause

Today’s quote:

“I hope your day is full of love”

Allotment:

• Today i wasn’t at my allotment for long as it started raining.  However i did manage to weed around my garlic, so at least i got one job done.

Wellbeing:

• I am still cycling to the allotment, i am trying so hard to push myself a tiny bit harder each time i cycle home ( i hate cycling home as it’s slightly up hill all the way)….but i am still doing it which is good.

Moneysaving/ household saving:

• As it’s valentines day, me and my dh have decided to have the first meal i ever cooked him for dinner tonight, which he has always liked……. Lol stew!….not very romantic…..but we will open a nice bottle of wine to go with it 🤣🤣🤣

• Years ago when the girls were babies, me and my dh had to make valentines cards for each as we had no money.  We always had such a laugh making them and reading them, so we never actually went back to buying cards…..so once again this year we have made them for each other 🤣🤣🤣….we will open them tonight.

• When i got home from my allotment i was thinking how i could make the meal more romantic without spending any money…..i came up with the idea of printing hearts, cutting them out and sticking them around the room.  Ive set the table and put a candle in the middle and put the roses on the table that my dh husband sneaked into our Tesco order on Saturday.  I found some old wooden hearts and tied them to the lampshade too.  Anyway what do you think?….. I’m so pleased with it considering it was all for free…..

Anyway thats it for today

XXXX

Kantankrus_Mare

Aww I love your romantic kitchen set up! Looks lovely and hope you have a lovely evening. Valentines Day took on a different meaning for my family two years ago when my Mam died on Valentines Day evening.  Have been busy at work today so it has kept my mind occupied but will take some flowers on Wednesday to a local beauty spot where we spread her ashes.

postmenopause

Kantankrus_Mare said:

Aww I love your romantic kitchen set up! Looks lovely and hope you have a lovely evening. Valentines Day took on a different meaning for my family two years ago when my Mam died on Valentines Day evening.  Have been busy at work today so it has kept my mind occupied but will take some flowers on Wednesday to a local beauty spot where we spread her ashes.

Oh my goodness @Kantankrus_Mare that is so sad, it must still feel so raw for you…..i’m thinking of you this evening XXX

postmenopause

Today quote:

“If i cut you off it’s because you handed me the scissors”

Moneysaving/ household saving:

• It was raining this morning so I didn’t go to my allotment, instead i did a big freezer audit and wrote down the contents of all of my three freezers….i realised we still have a lot in them.  I then went into my pantry to have a look at the things i have in there.  I now have a good idea of what needs using up.  

• Tonight my dd1 is coming for tea and we are having pasta and salad.  The pasta sauce was from my freezer which i made a few weeks ago and i realised today we have lots of lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber to use up……i will add some pea shoots, onion and cress to it too.  I also found some garlic butter in my freezer so i will make some garlic bread (with the rolls i made last week) for my dh and dd1.

• In the depths of my freezer i found two portions of grated courgettes so i made some ‘cheesy courgette scones’ which my dh loves….i will butter them and then freeze them….they will be a good snack for him in the afternoons.

• Today i have also checked my bank account and my pension has come in, so that is good….a bit more towards our mortgage.

Wellbeing:

• I have had a lovely day today, pottering around doing this and that.  For the first time in ages i have felt a bit like my old self, when the girls were young…..this is the time i know i was at my most happiest, as i loved being a wife and a mother to young children and my narcissistic family mostly left me alone because they were too busy with their own lives to bother about me…..it was a few years later before i gradually got sucked into their evil clutches for the second time in my life. 

• Today I actually feel that maybe things WILL be ok?  Maybe the worst is behind me now i finally have no contact with them…..Let’s hope anyway.

Anyway that’s it for today, thanks to anyone reading my ramblings

XXX