The Mental Debt Struggle...

Keedie

Silver did scare the life out of me, but she's not had any Houdini opportunities since. I just need to get the balcony secure so that she cannot slip through the bottom of the railing as she's very curious (typical cat 🐈‍⬛ ) and she is still learning about danger etc. I have looked at window nets, window grills, door gates and lots of different options @Cherryfudge and the more secure ones are pricier than what I can afford at the moment. And ideal would be to have an outdoor grill on the small living room balcony door as it opens inward, and she can see outside, we can get fresh air, but there's no chance of her getting through it or falling. She's very slim and long, so she seems to be able to squeeze into the smallest of places.

For the main balcony, I need to have a divider between myself and my neighbour's half, and then she won't be able to go on their side, as she's tried to run into their flat before. And she's been trying to get under the balcony railing. Once that's in place, I can fit a cat flap and she can come and go as she pleases and I don't have to worry about her getting trapped or falling. My brother in law sent me the link for some wooden venetian blinds that he has in my nephew's room, and I can open the windows to get some breeze, but the slats are too small for her to get trapped in. So I'll have a better systems in place for next summer. Since we got her in January, it didn't even occur to me that summer would be difficult. Ignorance on my part really.

I realised my post didn't make much sense in terms of my debts @Wanna_Bee_Free 🤦🏾‍♀️. The savings challenges that I am playing the games with to save money are dedicated to different things, and that includes debts. I've no clue what I am paying off or when, and what is a priority with sinking funds etc, so I have been accumulating the money in the binders until I can think clearly. But it will definitely be split between debt, savings and just general life things, but more weighted towards debt. I've decided to keep my budget as simple as possible, and I will be able to put money weekly into my savings challenges for debt, a family/household pot, gifts and longer term savings. It will be £10 a week to each, and £5 spare to use as a snowball. I'm trying to think of mini targets for each category, so that once it has been reached, I can snowball the money into another category. The aim is that I save as much as I can for a few months, and then every quarter I allocate the money into the different areas of life and give my mum more money. The weekly debt amount will build up, as will the other categories and then I can boost the funds based on what I have saved via the savings challenges and games. Not sure if that makes sense. But debt will be treated like another sinking fund pot, and will get money every week, and the bulk of my cash will go toward games, so that I can make it more fun to save and get out of debt. Once I've got it all figured out, I'll have something to show you all. At the moment, it is still very much a pie in the sky project of sorts 🥴.

Thank you for the encouragement @AntoMac and @beanielou. Life has been rather rubbish, but many people have it worse than me, so I can't be whinging and feeling sorry for myself too long. I have to keep moving forward, even if it is only in tiny increments. But at least I have the bipolar group this evening, I like being there even if it is often daunting to be leading the group. I might even go to the pub with them afterward for a quick apple juice before going home. I realised that I have not left the house since Monday, I think, or maybe Sunday actually.

Cherryfudge

I hope you manage to get out this evening @Keedie, and enjoy yourself. I think getting out is often harder than being there - at least in my experience.

The adventures of Silver brought to mind that I was sitting minding my own business today, in a silent house with (currently) no pets, so I got a fright when a cat I'd never seen before appeared near my feet! I don't know which of us jumped more. It shot out of doors again - I'd left the back door open - so I didn't get to know it any better.