Money-shuffling towards mortgage freedom

savingholmes

I'm still ill. My fever keeps coming and going but my sore throat has flared back up today. 

Good you have a funded car pot. 

I think a lot of people are feeling rubbish at the moment. While it's nice to give to others - perhaps think about what would give you a lift too - perhaps a bunch of flowers or an orchid or whatever works for you.

MeandO

Oh gosh savingholmes, so sorry to hear you're still rough. There seems to be lots of nasty viruses circulating at the moment besides the obvious one. Stay warm and keep drinking lots of fluid. Sending get well hugs your way.

Yes, I think you're right unfortunately. It's tough times and I am always aware that I am relatively lucky with a warm (when I put the heating on!) home and can still put food on the table for DS and I. I was speaking to a friend a couple of days ago who knows what the last 9 years or so have been like for me and has gone through similar herself, and she said something along the lines of 'You and I have been through so much the past few years without a let up that we are wiped out by it now and have very little fight left to deal with new situations.' She summed it up perfectly really, I just feel like I have very little energy left to deal with things. I know I have to though, so I just plod on which I think is all we can do.

Lovely idea about the little lift but I feel guilty spending money on myself especially as things are so tight and I have so much to pay out for. I'd rather send an OP to the mortgage if I had spare, that always makes me feel a little better! 

MeandO

I've just had notification that my 0% rate ends on my credit card at the end of January so it definitely needs paying off before then and then closing down to find a new 0% card.   There's £890 on it at the moment.   There's £52.50 to come from Vinted, the backpay should be around £700 - £800, Sky are sending me £200 shortly and I should receive the second cost of living payment at the end of this month. This combined will be enough to pay that off completely and cover the hotel & parking, travel insurance and transfer I need to pay for for the few days away I have booked for DS and I in Feb. I really hope there's at least a little but to pay into the savings too. 

savingholmes

Hmmm I mentioned treats for you as it is to easy to constantly prioritise others and burn out. It's as if we are waiting for permission yet we set our budget🤔

Thanks for the well wishes. Just had a nap but still shattered. 🤒

MeandO

Very true savingholmes xx Today I treated myself to a pack of Aldi’s dark chocolate bars with salted caramel. Lovely and 6 syns a bar but worth it! There’s 5 bars in a pack and one is plenty so stop me from eating the whole bar of chocolate that way.

I’ve had a really lovely day today, just chilling around the house with OH, getting some jobs done and having a laugh together. We helped his parents with a job this morning too so that was the good deed for the day. 

Whilst OH was doing some work he had to catch up on, I insulated my loft hatch with a leftover piece of kingspan insulation board as it was just an old wood hatch door to the loft which I think let’s both draughts and noise through when it’s raining hard on the roof. Hopefully this will help with both a little. I hoovered through the house afterwards as I made a mess cutting the board, so that’s one cleaning job ticked off the list. I also listed two more items on Vinted and requested £42 of the balance to be transferred to my bank account. 

I did a load of washing and hung it on the line as it was a sunny but blowy day today, I did have to pop it in the dryer for 10 minutes at about 3.45pm though as the sun had pretty much disappeared and it was still damp,

I’ve made a huge SW friendly meal of cauliflower and french lentil cottage pie tonight which fed OH and I and left me with 4 portions over for the freezer and managed to be firmly back on the SW wagon and finished the day well within my syns. I’m determined to get back to weekly weight loss again as have been faltering the past month. 

We popped to Aldi earlier to pick up a few things on my list. Whilst there I bought several rolls of Christmas wrapping paper as I had none and a few chocolate gifts for presents. I also picked up some YS chicken breast which I’ve portioned and frozen and some reduced melt in the middle cod and minted pea fish cakes which sounds lovely! OH bought a YS chicken fajita type recipe kit which we’re going to have tomorrow. 

Tomorrow I’d like to get a meal plan of sorts done and perhaps work a bit on my business idea. DS is back in the afternoon so hopefully we’ll have a lovely Sunday. 

Happy weekend all xx

Deedoodee

How do you find Vinted? It sounds like you’re doing quite well on it hope you don’t mind me asking for advice. 

what kind of things are you selling? I tried selling a few things on their, mainly high street brand clothing, and found that the suggested prices (and then low offers) were barely enough to cover the packaging. Trying to figure out if I’m ‘in the wrong market’. I’ve sold a few things on Facebook market place but they were more niche hobby things. 

MeandO

Deedoodee said:

How do you find Vinted? It sounds like you’re doing quite well on it hope you don’t mind me asking for advice. 

what kind of things are you selling? I tried selling a few things on their, mainly high street brand clothing, and found that the suggested prices (and then low offers) were barely enough to cover the packaging. Trying to figure out if I’m ‘in the wrong market’. I’ve sold a few things on Facebook market place but they were more niche hobby things. 

Hello Deedoodee, I've sold a few brand new clothing items on Vinted went quite quickly and this weekend some of DS's old toys have sold on there too. I have also listed several 'used' clothing items for lower prices which haven't sold so well at the moment so I understand what you're saying about not making much. The low offers are quite irritating after a while as I have had numerous ridiculously low offers, but I always just politely decline. My view with the lower priced items is that it's better to receive a little for them than nothing at all but if they don't sell within a month or so I will probably bag it up and donate to charity.
I hope you have a bit more luck with the sales, I do find that people aren't buying as much as they used to - a sign of the difficult times I guess. 

MeandO

I've been floored by some news and a situation since my last post which has left me feeling like I've had the air squeezed ou of my lungs. Yesterday was just awful in parts and, without meaning to sound over-dramatic, I really felt like I didn't want to be here dealing with problem after problem anymore, but alas I have no choice in the matter so I'm really trying to deal with this as best I can. I will be honest on here in saying that I felt so low this morning I even considered calling the Samaritans just to get everything off my chest, but I reminded myself that I have dealt with much worse and got through it alone so I can get through this, one step at a time. I have some music on loud and I am throwing myself into my work instead. I'm trying not to think ahead any further than today. I am very grateful for the kindness of strangers today who have renewed my faith in humans and for OH who has been very supportive and talked things through with me last night, even though he's not always that understanding, and his attitude is always 'don't worry about it' which he'd probably say if a sinkhole opened up and swallowed his house today. 
So, it's one foot in front of the other time again MeandO...

My house has not helped things this morning by leaving a puddle on my kitchen floor and developing a new leak from a velux window in the kitchen ceiling, and the fly doing backstroke in my first cuppa of the day really was taking the mickey too. For now, I've mopped up the water until I can deal with the leak myself or get someone to do so. I have large ladders and it's only a single storey extension, so I'll get up on the roof and have a look myself first.
I've also made a fresh cup of tea.

Small positives: I've sold another item on Vinted for £10 and I have another few Christmas gifts sorted. I've received the £66 energy payment for this month which I'll send to the CC shortly. I've also put together a small donation to the local foodbank and donated some items to a friend of a friend in need. Also had a good chat with DS this morning about some school and peer issues, I hope it made him feel better about a situation that was getting out of hand and made him feel a little more confident in tackling it. 

Mrs_Money_Penny

So sorry to hear you are having a bad time.You do so well as a single parent. Don’t forget that. Sending a hug xx

badmemory

Just because you have dealt with worse on your own does not mean that you have to or even that you should.  You deal with a lot, let others at least lend an ear.