The turtle moves.... slowly

CCW007

Subscribing - I get you on the decent salary and budget issue before your LBM.

savingholmes

girlatplay said:

Subscribed!

Excited to see your progress and I'm hoping to not be too many months behind you.

savingholmes said:

Ouch to 274 posts behind. You could always skip ahead that's what a lot do.

Some even ask for a summary LOL.  It would typically go something like this

• Argh!!! Unexpected bill.... frantic activity... sold something / £ came in.... Phew
• Argh!!! New problem - ditto above 
• DD is helpful / a pain / ill / needs a lift /100 mile round trip 
• Frantic activity.... 
• Made it.... 

This made me LOL.  It's so very accurate of your diary SH.

Thanks GAP and Astrocytic 🐱

astrocytic_kitten

GeorgianaCavendish said:

Nice to see you in your new home @astrocytic_kitten - looking forward to seeing your MFW journey develop over the coming months  

Thanks Georgiana - it was realising on your diary that moving into my current home started the debt building that made me think I'd better make sure I'm accountable for this move. My careful calculations of the things I'll need to buy and when I'll buy them (ie when I have the money) are already starting to go out the window as I find myself tempted by things to go on the walls and more bookshelves and cushions 😂 

astrocytic_kitten

Thanks GAP - you'll be here before you know it ☺️

girlatplay said:

Subscribed!

Excited to see your progress and I'm hoping to not be too many months behind you.

astrocytic_kitten

CCW007 said:

Subscribing - I get you on the decent salary and budget issue before your LBM.

Thanks - my income is about half (if that) of what it was at LBM due to ill health, but I’m so much better off now because I’m budgeting and being mindful of my spending and not frittering most of my income away.

I grew up poor and was first person in my family to go to uni etc - I had decent skills around managing on a very low income which I used when I was a grad student, but the second I was on a salary that hit the ‘good money’ target in my head all of that went out the window because people in my position could afford all this stuff, couldn’t they? And then there was massive insecurity comparing myself to my colleagues / friends who were all from much more financially stable (and posher 😂) backgrounds and trying to keep up with them. A big part of my DFW journey was about the feelings!

I haven’t managed anything on my financial (or anything else) to do list today, mostly because I was already feeling a bit under the weather before I had to spend over an hour on the phone with a service provider asking why they’d charged me for a service they very definitely haven’t provided… took it out of me a fair bit, so I’m now on the sofa under several layers of wool and with a cat acting as a hot water bottle 😂 might drag myself up for a hot chocolate soon, but otherwise I think that’s it for me today. 

I’d like to get back into Prolific, they keep
on offering surveys that require the laptop so I might need to make an effort to get it out more. I go through phases with Prolific, I’ve done really well with it at times but sometimes just can’t be bothered, especially when I’ve gone 3 weeks and only been asked surveys about experiences at work. I don’t use any other survey sites. I’ve been very good at going via cashback for moving-related stuff - insurance and phone etc - though I could do with getting better at this for more everyday stuff. The amount I spend on cat food and litter, even a small amount of cashback would be worth it eventually. I looked into getting a cashback card because there’s about 2k worth of things I need to buy over the next 2 or 3 months…but I think there’s a risk of me using the minimum spend levels for cashback as a target to aim for, so I’m probably better off overall not having the temptation. 

twinklie

I totally get the “growing up poor”. I was the kid from the wrong side of the tracks growing up. The one with no financial fall back first to uni etc. 

I’m guilty of sometimes forgetting to live life because I’m so paranoid about losing what I have worked so hard for. But I’m also conscious kids are only kids once and I want them to have lots of happy memories. 

Good luck on your journey- I’ll be following. 

redofromstart

Just dropping in to bookmark and wish you luck.  Great name choice, obviously.

astrocytic_kitten

Thanks @twinklie and @redofromstart!

Main news here is that I’ve so far stuck to my list of planned spends and even come in under budget and with cashback on everything so far! 

ETA: hit post too soon 🙄 was going to say that ‘so far’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence, but I think my main unplanned spend will be some shelves for some plants. And that’s more of an oversight in initial planning. Anyway, my Easter weekend will be spent cleaning and sorting and making a home, I’m in full nesting mode now 😄

killerpeaty

If your home is anything like mine, it's a nesting process where you buy the things and have the best intentions and then you hang out with piles of not quite started projects..

astrocytic_kitten

killerpeaty said:

If your home is anything like mine, it's a nesting process where you buy the things and have the best intentions and then you hang out with piles of not quite started projects..

Then several years later you sell the home and suddenly do all the things and have about a week of living in a fully done place wondering why you waited so long? 😂

I’m still in the optimistic phase where I think I’m going to get this place looking nice and absolutely not get fed up and give up 3 weeks in. I’ve never managed it before, but you never know!