Mortgage free in Forever Home :-)

Merlin's_Beard

KajiKita said:

Merlin's_Beard said:

Congratulations on the financial control! It's an amazing feeling when the number of balls you're keeping in the air reduces and suddenly everything feels a bit more manageable.

And I'm glad Mr KK has a new helmet - might be worth sticking a calendar reminder in for when this one expires and needs replacing if he's not always on the ball with it, because they do degrade and he's only got one brain!

Thank you 😊 It finally feels like I am getting a bit of traction ….

Re the helmet, I didn’t know about the degrading. How long do they normally last? 

KK

I think for most helmets designed to take an impact it's around every 5 years or after an impact, whichever happens first, whether that's bikes/cars/horses/cycles/whatever. The material that's meant to absorb the impact just degrades over time and doesn't work as well - so more of the impact gets transferred into your skull. But if you check the helmet when it arrives the manufacturer should tell you how long they guarantee that helmet specifically for.

SandyShores

KajiKita said:

Done the transfer to the credit card!!! All my savings are now my own!!! 😊
The payment will appear on the card account itself in two to three days and then I can close the account.
Whoop! 😊

KK

Whoop Whoop Whoop!!!  That's an amazing feeling

KajiKita

Thanks for all the advice on the helmet. I think I will ring the shop and quietly ask, as it didn’t seem to come home with a ‘manual’. He knows about the not keeping / using again after an impact and that partly why he wanted a new one - he hasn’t ridden a full on road bike for a looooong time and the helmet he had was fine for pottering around on an ancient bike that doesn’t do more than 40mph, but this ‘new’ bike needs a bit more respect. He’s going to get new gloves as well. He’s also promised me that he won’t ride out on his own at first - he will go with a mate, as I think he might be shocked at how the traffic and his reaction times have changed …..

@SandyShores - oh yes!!! 😊❤️👏🎊🥳🤩 

I have decided actually that I am going to upgrade my life a little bit off the back of this. QM33 is painfully slow at generating income and absorbs a lot of my time and mental in the early evenings and mornings that I could use to be happier doing other things. What I will be able to OP just from not paying the credit card anymore probably doubles what I was OPing from QM33 anyway, so it is time to stop. That actually feels like a reward tbh 😊

The house is a bit cleaner and a lot tidier. We will finish the cleaning tomorrow morning so the cat can’t trash the house too badly before parents in law actually arrive! 😉😂😸

Jobs for this evening will revolve around making the lemon posset and the shortbread to go with it for dessert tomorrow and getting the batches out of the freezer to defrost in time.

Managed to get an hour in the garden in this afternoon - planted my violas and some forget me nots I have also grown from seed, in the small beds either side of the front door and cleared, tidied, weeded another small bed. Inevitably as part of the tidying, I pulled up small bulbous things that flower late in the year, so replanted them either side of the new path in the border behind where I was working. Free plants - yaay, and repeating themes across different beds, I hope, will help the garden feel ‘more together’ over time. 

We have lots of primroses / primulas in flower atm and quite a few daffodils are either flowering or are about to. With all the bird song and the swelling buds everywhere it feels quite cheering 😊

KK

WuLiao

It's an expense, but I would seriously consider going out with a professional motorcycle instructor for a couple of hours - all those little details we promptly forget after the test really do save lives. An instructor with an intercom, up to date knowledge of the rules and the skill to watch how someone's riding while themselves riding safely is always going to provide better info.

EDIT: I did this when moving up from 250cc to 900cc, and thoroughly glad I did as the way the bike handled was completely different. The instructor was able to tell me in real time how to adapt my riding to be safe on the more powerful machine.

KajiKita

WuLiao said:

It's an expense, but I would seriously consider going out with a professional motorcycle instructor for a couple of hours - all those little details we promptly forget after the test really do save lives. An instructor with an intercom, up to date knowledge of the rules and the skill to watch how someone's riding while themselves riding safely is always going to provide better info.

EDIT: I did this when moving up from 250cc to 900cc, and thoroughly glad I did as the way the bike handled was completely different. The instructor was able to tell me in real time how to adapt my riding to be safe on the more powerful machine.

Hi 😊

Really appreciate your feedback. Just had the conversation with Mr KK, politely and respectfully, and he thinks it would be a good idea. He was actually thinking he should probably do his CITB again. 

Not sure when the bike will be ready etc but I am really glad that we are having this conversation 😊❤️

KK

Cheery_Daff

That sounds like a sensible conversation to have! 

Hooray for paying off your card! 😊😊😊 So pleased for you 😊😊 Dont blame you for wanting to give up QMee, so annoying! 😱

South_coast

Love the idea of upgrading your life by ditching the surveys - nice to feel you have earned the right to do so 😀😀😀

KajiKita

Cheery_Daff said:

That sounds like a sensible conversation to have! 

Hooray for paying off your card! 😊😊😊 So pleased for you 😊😊 Dont blame you for wanting to give up QMee, so annoying! 😱

South_coast said:

Love the idea of upgrading your life by ditching the surveys - nice to feel you have earned the right to do so 😀😀😀

What I found interesting was how ‘for it’ Mr KK was too 😊 Maybe I am less interesting company when doing them? 😉

Thanks Cheery. I expected to feel more ‘Yaay’ about it than I do, but I guess it’s just a new beginning on the mortgage rather than a proper end …. 😊🤷‍♀️

KK

Merlin's_Beard

If the surveys are just annoying you and you don't need to do them, it makes sense to ditch them. I'm definitely a lot more discerning in which sites I do/don't use for surveys now I'm not frantically saving a house deposit.

SandyShores

KajiKita said:

Thanks Cheery. I expected to feel more ‘Yaay’ about it than I do, but I guess it’s just a new beginning on the mortgage rather than a proper end …. 😊🤷‍♀️

I was surprised how almost deflated I felt after paying my debts off, I think you're right that its an end but was also the start of the next stage.  Its almost scary how its never ending when you are planning ahead, but I do enjoy looking back at the spreadsheets of debt from time to time and feeling glad those days are gone.  At the moment I only have £35 left in the household account to last until payday, which is fine, especially when I open the cupboards and see the stocks of cat food, dishwasher tablets and so on (as well as actual grown up savings ).  I read a quote the other day (not sure where) that was something like 'budgeting isn't about not spending money, its about working out what you do have available to spend'.  I feel like I'm moving over to that way of thinking now, but a lot more of my money goes on savings/preparing for the future these days than it would have previously.