Five Year Fix, Five Year Plan

KajiKita

Happy birthday 🥳 
Hope you’ve had a lovely restorative weekend and go onto have a lovely year ahead 😊

KK

Humdinger1

Happy birthday @Merlin's_Beard! Planx sound fab.  Love Humdinger xx 

Merlin's_Beard

Quietish week, only out once (a talk on AuDHD in women) - with a friend from work. It's a monthly thing that we've already booked next month for, and we're now going to musical together in the summer, so it feels like work-friend turning into friend-friend.

(Spent most of this week tuning into the Traitors, to be honest)

At work today, so cramming all the weekend jobs into this afternoon.

Have watched more $tranger Things as well (I'm ten years late to the party) and done some more diamond painting (very useless craft, but very mindful, and now not sorry I've bought it). The plan is to cancel that TV subscription when I'm done, and try and rotate around one only at a time - up until now I've been using N3tflix AND one other but they've taken away my comfort show (Star Trek!) so I don't see myself using it as much going forwards.

Have mainly kept up with the piano practice (except for when the Traitors meant I didn't have time, priorities! 😂) and have kind of reached the point in the app where I'm not coasting on past knowledge so am having to persevere with difficult things.

I've got a week off in Feb with nothing planned, so I need to sit down and sort out a list of jobs I want to get done in that time (going to the tip, checking my energy bills, the garden, etc etc - life admin)

Merlin's_Beard

Hit a pothole yesterday am - completely blew my tyre and had to change it (someone kindly stopped and helped! I have to admit I nearly cried on him in relief) - and then limped onto work.

So, car is in the garage right now. Current bill is £190 (wheel and new tyre). They haven't looked at suspension yet. Not… hopeful, there. They haven't got a new wheel rim, so need to keep it overnight, but thankfully I can borrow my mum's car so no extra expense there.

Did have to cancel a visit to a friend today though. Will need to rearrange.

Also the wiring on my laptop cable is exposed, so I have hunted out a replacement (second hand, ebay)

The end of the month seems very expensive!

I was also congratulating myself on being well under budget with the food shop but then I realised I need to do a big shop for Friday - still going to be under for the first time in months but not quite as good as I thought.

KajiKita

Oh heck! That must have been quite a shock 😳 Were you hurt at all, whiplash etc?

So glad someone stopped to help you 😊 Hope the repair bill isn’t too ferocious …

It’s gaming your system a bit, but if you get paid on Friday, could you wait until Saturday to do your food shop …? 😉

KK

Merlin's_Beard

I run my budget off calendar months @KajiKita so no gaming the system! I could have put it through as a sunday expense to make it feb I guess but maybe I'll have a great feb instead.

I wasn't hurt - and the bill is a lovely £190 for a new tyre and a new wheel rim, which was, as the guy said, totally stuffed. But the suspension is okay. It's a notorious road that has been in local newspapers for the degradation of the road in general.

So I'm fine, just completely depleted. Can't wait until the weekend. Especially as I've got to drive down that same road - and home in the dark - on Friday.

Pay has come in for January so I've populated all my YNAB figures - I don't know what it says about me that my way of relaxing after a stressful day is to sit with a fancy spreadsheet.

rtandon27

Fancy spreadsheet as a form of unwinding? - you and me both - I've started thing of it like a budgeting snack.

KajiKita

I'm glad that you weren't hurt and the suspension didn't need any repair - you were relatively(!) lucky.

Shame about not gaming the month, but you will now have an excellent February! 😉

Take it steady tomorrow coming home and I hope you have a lovely, restorative, weekend once you get to it. 😊

KK

KajiKita

Did you get home okay without further incident last night?

I was thinking of you today as I travelled through woods this morning and a big female deer tore across the road right in front of my bonnet! 😳

KK

Merlin's_Beard

Oh no KK that sounds scary!

I took it slow and was MUCH sterner about sticking closer to the white line instead of yielding to traffic coming the other way.

However as I passed the layby I'd been stuck in I could see another car with a bloke changing his front left wheel, so the potholes still had their victim 😭

I've reported it to the council because they have a pothole reporter page, but that entire road is just littered with craters big enough that if they were on the Moon they'd have names.

Had to stay late at work on Friday, to round out another emotionally exhausting week. I guess silver lining that is some overtime to pay for that new tyre and wheel BUT I would far rather have been at home.

Pay also came in and my tax code has changed—presumably because of the forms I submitted in December—so kept £600 extra that I wasn't expecting AND it's a council tax free month so that's another £180 in the budget.

All going into those things I want! Hopefully that will get repeated until tax year end but honestly with HMRC who the hell knows.

This weekend just flaking honestly. Was meant to be going to an all day board game thing but I'm honestly just exhausted and I need rest. Poking at a short story that I want to submit for an anthology.