Mortgage free in Forever Home :-)

KajiKita

Hi @SandyShores 😊

Thanks for the feedback about the calculator. I was worried I might be underpaying tax! 😳 ( And yes, I have checked my tax code.)

I am quite pleased with how it’s going on the book reading. I wanted to do something that wasn’t too taxing but wasn’t screen time - reading fits that well. Mr KK has always called me a ‘book-Hoover’ (other brands are available 😉) as I read a lot faster than him! I have noticed that since I have started reading again, we are sitting on the sofa together of an evening and the telly is on mute because he is reading something too - Victory!!! 😉👍💪😊 I am currently reading a novel (The Signature of all Things) alongside Hale’s ‘Smarter Investing’, so some of it is MSE related! 😂

KK

Suffolk_lass

I am still reading last month's local book club choice and really enjoying it - The Rose Code by Kate Quinn. It also includes some characters based on real figures and it is very much written from the perspective of three women at Bletchley Park. For instance, although Turing is briefly referenced, he is properly in the background. I highly recommend it

KajiKita

Suffolk_lass said:

I am still reading last month's local book club choice and really enjoying it - The Rose Code by Kate Quinn. It also includes some characters based on real figures and it is very much written from the perspective of three women at Bletchley Park. For instance, although Turing is briefly referenced, he is properly in the background. I highly recommend it

Thanks for that I will add to my reading list.

KK

KajiKita

Woke up feeling dreadful this morning - really heavy head and soooo tired. 

Hadn’t planned on doing much today but had an ‘Ah, sod it moment’ on the way back from collecting my library book and treated myself from my monthly personal ´pocket money’ to some primulas, a pretty variegated grass and some Muscari to go in a long pot that I already had at home. This is cheering as I can see it every time I go in and out of the back door to my car etc. Whilst I was in the garden centre I mentioned they were for cheering me up and the lady behind the till, who I see every time I go in there, gave me one of the free 2023 calendars that were on clearance for 50p on the counter 😊 That was really sweet of her. I shall put it up in the potting shed and be reminded of that kindness all year now ❤️

Mr KK was collecting rubble this morning from a mate to fill the ‘box’ that will become the patio / landing outside the lounge doors (once we move them ….). As he was doing that, I *finally* tackled a large terracotta pot that was so frost damaged it was falling apart. Not many plants worth retrieving but extracted a congested clump of purple crocus that I split into 4 and replanted in two places under the cotoneaster on the side of the garage. 

All the lumps of terracotta went into the ‘box’ and the compost from the pot went on top of the cardboard that I had loosely covered on one of the veggie beds 😊

This is a job I meant to do last year, so it feels really good to have it DONE! 👏👍😊

Made a small QM33 generated OP this morning, just £5.49, but until my savings are where they need to be, this is all I can do 🤷‍♀️

KK

redofromstart

Oh I like the garden centre lady. Congrats on the pay rise too!

KajiKita

redofromstart said:

Oh I like the garden centre lady. Congrats on the pay rise too!

So do I 😊 and thank you. 

I have spent some of my savings, from a defined YNAB pot, on a days retreat with someone I trained with. I don’t put myself into people’s hands very willingly any more, but I trust her, she is the only one I go to for formal sessions now. I think I need this retreat. We got word at the end of last week that the plan for Mr KK was that he was in the queue for laser surgery under GA. It’s brought up a lot of bad memories and feelings for me of my last surgery and its aftermath. At least I know why I slept so badly on Friday night and have been so consumed with anxiety - once you can look it in the eye, you can stare it down / deal with it. It’s catching, whatever it is that is bothering you from your subconscious, that is the tricky bit! 😉

I like to see myself as something of a bridge between the unseen world and the scientific, rational ‘seen’ world. But I am neglecting the unseen part of me whilst investing heavily in the ‘seen’ (work is all consuming, MSEing, YNABing etc.) - I need to find a better balance, especially in the winter when the garden is pretty much inaccessible to me. 

Right, time for another chapter or two of Smarter Investing, before Mr KK stirs and starts looking for a brew 😊

KK

SandyShores

Hi Kajikita, Your retreat sounds like a great idea.  Finding that balance is important, and its always changing as our lives change, so its a constant adjustment (e.g. a more stressful job might merit a little more self care for a while).  I think I understand how you feel re. your surgery experience, it always surprises me how so many people jump at surgery or take lots of pills.  Sometimes its unavoidable and helpful, but its last resort for me - although don't forget there are very many great surgeons out there, but it doesn't hurt to do your homework and ask questions all along the way.  Sandy x

KajiKita

Thanks @SandyShores 😊

I feel better for having thought it all through. I have charged up my widget-gadget thing that is supposed to help me sleep so I will see if that helps tonight. Had a chat with a colleague as well today - she is having a tough time as well so it was helpful to have someone to empathise with. Mr KK has habit of asking me what I will be doing in the week over dinner on a Sunday evening - I don’t find this helpful as my mind falls into the groove of WORK and starts up way before I need it, which is Monday morning! I gently explained this and he smiled, apologised and we didn’t stir that particular sediment up …. 😉❤️

I managed to get out in the garden for a couple of hours today - started on clearing some pots of Lilly bulbs that have been sat around neglected and unloved since we moved here 3 and 1/2 years ago. Found some substantial ones and some baby ones in the pots and potted them up in fresh compost in small pots, where they grow on until I have cleared the BoD so I can replant them 😊 I would have cleared them all, but I missed two small ones that were submerged in dried, ornamental grasses - found them as I was clearing up for the afternoon! 🤣🙄😉 Very pleased that I have started this job though as this was *another* job I meant to do last year …. 😊

Still wading through Smarter Investing - it’s a bit dry …. I can only read so much at once, but his ideas and principles seem sane and simple enough so far 😊

KK

Merlin's_Beard

I found Smarter Investing to be a bit of a slog, and basically summed up as "invest in index-linked funds for longer term investments" but spread over 100 pages. But it has been a while since I read it.

Cheery_Daff

Glad you're able to work through things and think about finding a proper balance. I work four days, but I actually just dropped to four days, I don't fit a full time job in. (Well, Mr Cheery would argue that I do, but it's a definite drop in workload from before...). 

Glad you've ticked few jobs off the list! And big hugs re the surgery, a daunting time xx