Constantly confused, often befuddled

Aimingforthegoodlife

First day of annual leave and I am so ready for this, looking forward to spending time with the pups before we head off next week on a mini adventure! Could't get through to dentist so will try again on Monday! I ended up doing a random night shift and negotiated overtime as it was ten past 8 when I got the call saying no night nurse turned up. I am no good at nights! So that is my extra shift this month sorted.

Watching reruns of taskmaster with hubby this morning, dogs are snuggled up and life is good!

Hubby and I are off for date night to a little restaurant tonight, really looking forward to it, Jamaican cuisine, live music, rum and reggae!

Aimingforthegoodlife

Had a lovely evening, not to spendy all considered. I had bought a faux leather jacket in the sale, but it doesn't look right so will be sending this back this week. Rainy day today, which is fine by me, chilled day with the doggies, hubby finishes early on a Sunday so will do a nice roast (vege) dinner. 

I did some weeding yesterday, thinking about my borders and veg beds. This year, I plan on trying to grow food for the guineas, they love spinach, kale, peppers and cabbage, we already have three apple trees so they will have some sweet foods for free Sept time! Will have a look out for seeds! One veg bed is full of raspberries and the other is full of strawberries so I have two free to play with.

Our spare room is full of Christmas stuff as we need to sort out the attic space- its a dorma so a weird side space. We got some new boxes, so will be organising all our stuff in the attic and getting it all tidied away! I have a charity shop pile growing as well, need to get this in order so I can take it to the charity shop in my time off.

I have applied for a second esaver to help keep on top of my pots as money needs moving often and its hard to keep it clear, that should be sorted soon. We have been talking about increasing the minimum payment to £60 just to feel like we are knocking a bit more off without it affecting my not wanting more debts as I am already past my comfort zone!

Engine light has come on my little car, something to do with the timings. Next door is a mechanic and ran a scan for free, he and hubby are going to have a think about what might be causing it, hoping hubby will be able to get it sorted before its MOT in March! 

The mortgage is now with Halifax after Tesco stopped doing mortgages, it links with hubby's bank account so he has easy access to check it. I am going to get him to find out if we can send adhoc OPs or not, would be nice if we could!

Have a great Sunday!

Aimingforthegoodlife

Esaver is in place today, was nice to have two clear pots so I can see exactly what we have for what. Makes it simpler! 

Have started sorting all the Xmas stuff, looking much better in the spare room, but more to do! Have sorted charity shop stuff so far, sellable clothes, rag clothes and items. It is a charity shop for domestic abuse survivors and I am pleased to be able to support them, they do an amazing job with people who have lost everything. 

A local guinea pig rescue is in dire need after taking in an unbelievable amount of guineas in the last two months, got hubby to buy two big normal hays and one big green hay that I will be dropping off- he gets a discount so it cost me £16.40 (a few pounds saved) for a good cause! Our two love the green hay, they get a small amount a day as it isn't good in large quantities, they get plenty of normal hay generally. 

Loan: £120.20
New total: £3482.80
29 months left

Credit Card: £55.72
New Total: £5516.44
17months of 0%, we are increasing the monthly payment to £60 starting next month

It looks like hubby should be able to send over adhoc OPs to the mortgage, this is exciting, but not sending anything until end of the month round up. As much as I just want to see everything dropping, I have to be realistic and still look at making sure we have enough for the holidays, I made my holiday bed and I will lie in it!

try_harder

I remember you , really good to see you back ..

I completely resonate with the ..Have your cake and eat it ..

Aimingforthegoodlife

Thanks try_harder! Does feel good to be back, although things are definitely different this time round!

Today so far, I have been and dropped off the hay to the guinea pig rescue, it was really close to the zoo I am a member of so I popped in for an hour and a wander, makes the membership more cost effective the more I go! It is a lovely zoo as well. The lady was really appreciative of the large hay bales, hopefully they will help for a little while!

I booked parking and hotel for Kiev and Budapest, used a voucher so it was only £44 needed, also, only need the hotel for one trip, it will be £55 to be payed on arrival. Feel pleased with these, good prices and exactly what we wanted. 

Very aware of the predicament that Ukraine is in, Kiev may well be cancelled due to Russia looking like they will invade. I would be disappointed if we can't go as having read about Kiev it looks such a beautiful place- selfishly, plus the thought of the damage Russia could do to the Ukrainian residents doesn't bear thinking about. How absolutely terrifying for those poor people.

Got a busy day planned tomorrow, walking with my mum in the am, then out for lunch with 2 work colleagues, should be a really nice day. Lets hope it stays dry, at least for a few hours!

Aimingforthegoodlife

Ah, it has been a while! I have enjoyed not being in work and am already feeling meh about going back. I will be fine once I am there though! 

Had a great time in all the storms, field was a giant pond, big fence broke and fell down, tree fell from next door and hit our other fence, but unlike storm Arwyn, we didn't lose power at all so very thankful for that. We have replaced our lovely big fence with stock fencing but doubled in height. It isn't ideal, but given how wet the ground gets here, another solid fence would break down after a few years. We have planted 6 smallish shrubs to help begin a storm safe hedging fence. Will be getting some hawthorn as well, this will make it very safe for the doggies once it grows and is also great for wildlife. We have wonderful hedging all around the field part of our garden and so many birds, insects, bunnies, etc. I love it!

Enjoyed our time away visiting hubby's family and attending the wedding, was beautiful. England has all new mask rules so was interesting, back in Wales no changes to the rules.

Heartbroken for the Ukrainian people, and the innocent Russians who I am sure are equally horrified at what is happening. Two years of covid, which was devastating for so many reasons, and Putin does this. Blows my mind.

We need to tally up our spends for time away, also bought new fence pieces and plants, so that will be tallied up to. We have been chatting about how to get on top of our expenses and making some plans. 

I have the dentist this afternoon and am already feeling very anxious about it! Bah humbug.

Aimingforthegoodlife

Dentist went ok, I was so tense for the forty minutes that I am stiff today, but the actual work was alright. Yesterday was the biggest job, got two more weeks then next lot of work, then two more weeks for the final piece of work! Then I need to make sure I attend regularly and look after my teeth much better!

As per my diary title, I am feeling quite confused about what I should be doing, when and how quickly. I am going to stick to this plan for now, but I am just feeling a bit overwhelmed. We have decided to lock into a fixed rate for electric with EDF, it seems so much money, but it will be going up again in Oct and I think it will be ridiculous on standard variable this year. It is a two year fix so if it all goes down again we will be paying through the nose, but I do feel comfort in knowing what our outgoings should be. 

It is money shuffle day today, this is probably where my feelings of overwhelm are stemming from, no council tax but also feels like we just don't have a lot of money left over at the end of the month, it is frustrating but what happens when you get carried away with holidays, have loans and credit cards! It is my pay day next week so I will see if I need to jiggle anything. 
We have increased the credit card payment up to £60 a month, so a fiver over minimum payment and I think that does make me feel a little better! I will pop back on later with mortgage info, this will make me happy at least! 

Aimingforthegoodlife

Three long days in work, was busy and tiring, have developed a cough but have picked up two extra shifts as work are desperate and I made myself a deal to do one lot of OT a month, this is a 10hr shift and 12hr shift. I am feeling a bit meh about it as feeling run down, but its not covid- testing all the time with work- and I wear full PPE for all contact so will just tell the staff I am keeping to myself and they will have to just do without me doing too much personal contact with the residents just in case I am contagious. It feels more like crappy chestitis- linked to my asthma. Ah well. 

Accidentally paid the CC twice, so that's £120 off this month! 

I have spoken with hubby about our plan and we agreed we need to concentrate on building up savings- for holidays and everything else, to stop any further debt and once we are on top of things we can start paying back the debts, this is likely to be sometime next year. I have worked out several possible ways to budget and manage money, at least I feel like I am doing something now! My two extra shifts will make a nice dent for next month. 

I get paid on Monday so will be paying off some more money for Disney, that will feel nice! 

Next door told us the gas bottles are going up £10 per bottle on Monday so we ordered two bottles today, that will be £140 a time, ouch!! Not sure what we can do to manage this for next winter. Makes me very anxious. The world feels quite unsafe and scary at the moment. 

Aimingforthegoodlife

March 2022 Mortgage:
£138,396.32
This is a reduction of £492.01 on capital, £173.99 on interest. £6.21 a day as it was a shorter month. According to Zoopla our house may be worth £266000 now, which, if true would mean we are close to 50% owned! Ironically, we wouldn't be able to afford to get it now

Mickyh-s

Hi @Aimingforthegoodlife
Just reading your diary. Looking forward to following your journey.