Starting afresh in paradise

ManekiNeko

Downside: I still don't have WiFi. Upside: I negotiated £20 compensation which I've OP'd off my mortgage. I'm really happy I could pay a little extra this first month after all!

Been a productive day overall, mostly sorting out boring but necessary admin over the phone. Feel quite chuffed I could still get a few things done in this heat! I'm not usually one to moan about the weather (I subscribe to the common hiker's belief that there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing) ... but ... I've been too warm to do any maths for my mortgage spreadsheet and that will never do! Lol. To be honest as well, there's a lot of things I'd normally be able to do at home to help keep cool that are impossible for me in shared living. Cannot wait to move out.

Another bit of great news is that I just need to write a letter to my bank, and then I can go ahead and rent out my car parking space. I doubt it'll make much (but perhaps better in tourist season), but even a few pounds a month would be extra to OP. I've emailed my solicitor tonight to try and establish whether the space is on the Title Deed (as this affects the notification process for my bank).

I also acquired the address to make a complaint to my bank about their handling of things in the lead-up to completion. I shall be asking for compensation (three guesses what I'm doing with it if I get any!).

Okay well, time to have a nice cool snack and settle down for the night. I want the window open to cool off, but it's getting dark and moths might come divebomb me. Choices, choices. Hope the heat has been treating you all gently.

ManekiNeko

Been working on my mortgage spreadsheet all day and all I can say is, mortgage maths is ferociously complex. 🤯 My partner reckons I should sell my spreadsheet online when I'm done with it and put anything I make towards OPs. At the time I thought that sounded like a clever plan; now I think this could be a good way to pay for my next laptop when this one gets pitched through a window (aka defenestrated, one of my favourite words) in frustration!

It's partly the spreadsheet which is driving me mad, but it's also the fact I missed out on some key education when I was younger (due to educational neglect), so my maths is weak sauce. It also upsets me when I can't do things everyone else can do, as it reminds me of the past. (It's also things like, I can't take some IQ tests, even for a laugh, because I do great until the maths questions and then can't answer them at all.) When I first start on sums, I stress panic - now that I'm deeply into the spreadsheet, I have the permanent feeling of having the solution right on the tip of my tongue but being unable to articulate it. It's daft though, as I've always been able to do sums related to money ... the difference here is that the Excel functions I'm using (PMT, IMPT) do a lot of the work 'behind the scenes', so I can't get my head round the sum in a practical way (yet).

If I can't figure it out soon, I'm thinking of making a day-by-day spreadsheet for the full term, and calculating the interest daily (as that's what the bank does) without using any named formulas, just the basic =SUM(InsertMathsHere). At least that way I can't be baffled by PMT/IMPT and I'll see what's happening to the money on a practical level (which is the only way I understand maths to be honest).

My partner is helping me with it, so hopefully between us we'll get it cracked soon. I really want to have it ready, as I've made another OP today of £36.13 🎉 (got my annual cashback through on one of my rewards CCs) and want to get that neatly logged, partly so my mortgage projector is updated, partly so I can update my signature on here.

jennystarpepper

ManekiNeko said:

Thanks @jennystarpepper, your words are very meaningful for me and I really appreciate you taking the time to reply. 💛 Sorry I didn't reply before, I've been slightly avoiding the boards as I found myself wondering if I was saying too much (brevity isn't my natural style as you may have gathered!), and getting very anxious that no one had replied yet. Felt like being the new kid on the block lol.

Congratulations to you too on buying your own home; I am sure that was a herculean effort 💪 and I admire you for it. Do you have a MFW diary? I'm sorry to hear you also have C-PTSD (terrible club, great people), yet at the same time, it's good to feel I'm not alone in that here on MFW. I'm sure you'll get that contradiction. I won't say too much here, but just know my PM inbox is always open to you, for practical money/benefits stuff or a vent.

I hadn't realised I could calculate the interest of just one overpayment on the MSE calculator - I think I've been looking at the ordinary mortgage calculator, not the overpayment calculator. I shall save the link in my todo list so I can keep it handy, thanks so much for this! I've been trying to build a calculator in Excel and it's been blowing my mind lol so this will be great. (My Excel sheet works great on the fixed rate repayments, but as soon as it switches over to the SVR it's off by about £40 a month and it's driving me crazy trying to figure out why. *waves arms in the air*)

Oh good ideas re moving options, thanks so much! I'll definitely check into that too. *adds to todo list*

That's a really sweet way to look at gift giving when you are making it yourself, I will try to remember that. My OCD tends to drive me to make something 'perfect', so perhaps this will help me relax a bit more about it all and just focus on enjoying the making process.

No you are not alone, as with all things, good and bad with open discussions. People are still very afraid to talk to people with MH issues.  

Thank you for what you have said.  Don't worry about timescales, sometimes (sure you will agree) a lot of time and energy goes into writing one page.  I have 'brain f@rts'....and need to read things 3 / 4 times before I take it all in.

No I don't have a diary, but my MFW is motivated by Mr Pepper... I want him to be able to retire / be MFW as he has looked after me in the bad times, as I am sure you will understand.

Thank you for your PM inbox offer, back at ya baby, lol.  

Your Math explanation really hit hole with me, I had a Maths teacher who was like Leonards mother from Big Bang if you ever watched it, intimidation overload, still haunts me.

Keep on looking forward, you are doing amazingly well.

Sorry If I edit a few times... If you are in receipt of benefits you can get help from the PDSA for vet bill, and give a donation

ManekiNeko

Just a quick update as I'm sat on the bus on my phone. I went to Craft Club this morning and spent a scandalous amount on wool (the yarn for the baby blanket had arrived). It's really quite expensive but it's my DS' first kid (and the first of us siblings) so feel it's alright to splash out a little. And it counts as hobby spending too, as it'll keep me happily occupied for many hours.

I feel a little bit rushed with it tbh as DS is due any day now, and I'd meant to have it knitted up well in advance. But life happens sometimes I suppose (in my case, house buying stress and MH stuff). I'm going to my partner's for the weekend and I'm planning to get it started tonight or tomorrow. I'll just have to try and work on it lots to catch up on time a bit.

Most of my stitch markers arrived, too, and the last few are due next week. So I'm well prepared in that sense. Less so in terms of the pattern, which feels very complex to me, but I've had the first bit explained to me at Craft Club so that's enough to be getting on with. One blessing is that the pattern repeats (just in different colours) so once I've made one square with a star, I'll be able to make them all really.

In money news, I tried making my mortgage spreadsheet calculate the interest daily, and got it to within 7p of the total on the online banking. I need to log back in today to check the new total. If it still looks alright then I'll put in the rest of the days for the full term of my mortgage.

I also remembered to check the fridge before I left and put a ready meal in the freezer so I don't waste it (it expires today), and resisted buying food out despite my bus being an hour late and getting quite peckish. So it'll be a NSD for me (technically Craft Club costs money, but I bought a block of tickets the other week so I'm not counting that today).

ManekiNeko

Oh no it won't be, what am I talking about 🤦‍♀️ lol the wool!! It will be the opposite of a NSD. A VED? (Very Expensive Day?) Clearly I'm fried already lol.

Merlin's_Beard

Good luck with the blanket, for crafty things patterns often make a lot more sense to me when I start doing them, than they do on the plan before I start!

ManekiNeko

I will reply properly to both of your kind comments when I'm at my laptop (can't do from my phone as I can't see any comments when typing!).

Well, it's Monday again so three sleeps until WiFi. 🎉 The engineer can turn up anytime from 8am, so I'm thinking I might sleep there the night before. It'll be like camping in the sense I'll take my camping mats and sleeping bag lol. I'll bring my torch but I'd better bring some battery powered candles too, in case the power is out, as that'll allow for a little ambient light if needed and stop my C-PTSD going totally off the deep end. I haven't sorted out getting the locks changed yet (I'll suddenly be able to get on with organising stuff a lot better after I get WiFi), so I'll bring one of my door security devices I use when travelling (bought for safety when I lived with my second abusive ex and also for uni living in halls, worth every penny). I'll be alright leaving my sleeping bag etc there until I get the locks changed, I can't imagine someone wanting to steal that and, after all, I'm happy enough leaving it in a tent all day on holiday.

I finally got the blanket started this weekend, it's going slowly (mostly because I lost count of my rows after a moment's distraction and spent ages trying to find out how to count rows of moss stitch) but I'm still pleased with it, and I love how it's knitting up so far. The wool feels really soft which is what I wanted. I'll continue with it slowly for now, I expect I'll be able to go faster after I've done one star as the pattern repeats.

I've also found (what looks to be a) simple way to re-wind yarn that makes it a centre pull ball, so I'm going to try that out as it's so much nicer to work with, particularly in my current accommodation as my only really place to sit is on my bed, and if the balls of wool are constantly trying to roll off my bed it can be quite frustrating.

I don't think I said yet that I've been pondering what to do as my birthday is coming up soon. My family and I don't like wasting money on unwanted gifts, so we've tended to share wishlists with each other instead (I share one if I'm asked for it). However, with my mortgage I'll have less to spend on gifts (and everything else lol 🤦‍♀️ ) for the foreseeable future. It is because I'm on benefits, but even if I went back to work I'm not sure I'd return to quite as spendy gift buying as before, simply because until the mortgage is paid down I'd see it as borrowing money to pay for gifts (if that makes sense), rather than OPing that amount.

After much debate I messaged my friends and family (the ones where we usually get gifts for each other) to ask if they'd like to agree a mutual gift limit of a fiver, and most people were happy with that idea. Some of my family members said they weren't too keen on it, so they'd continue spending what they liked, which they knew would be more than what I could afford in return, but not to worry about it being unbalanced as it was their choice to do that. I was mostly worried about them being surprised by my spending much less than usual, so I'm not worried about it being unbalanced provided they knew my position upfront.

So, I can finally draw up a wishlist, which my DS and DP (dear partner) requested weeks ago. I'll try to do it today while I'm still at my partner's, so I can use his WiFi. I'm not good at making them (I'm rarely in a shopping mood and don't enjoy it, my OCD can mean I have to do a ton of research before being able to pick something) but I know it makes life much easier for busy others picking gifts. I'll put a range of things on there, mostly inexpensive things like candles, second hand books, balls of wool, and herbs for my kitchen windowledge, but given some people have said they'd be happy spending more then I'll add a few things I do want but that cost a little more. People can choose according to their own budget and wishes. I'm sure it'll be quicker than I think but I'm not looking forward to the task, so time for a coffee and get cracking. ☕

ManekiNeko

All done, just need to measure my windowsill for some pots for my herbs. There's a couple of things on there that I'm still debating whether to include, so I'll probably sleep on it. At least I can easily delete things using my mobile data - it's finding things in the first place that requires WiFi.

I'll spend my journey home re-winding yarn into centre pull balls. The router should have arrived in today's post so if I'm feeling energetic later I might go and get it, just to make certain it's there. If not, it'll be a night of knitting and maybe a game.

ManekiNeko

I ended up doing knitting, but repeatedly undoing my work (yet again; so discouraging) because the cast ons I was trying were either too tight or too loose. I called the shop for advice and they said to try the longtail cast on, so that's the next thing I need to learn.

I would normally have done this yesterday, but I ended up feeling pretty terrible after some trauma memories got activated by a conversation I had. So yesterday was a total write off.

Today I've got a couple of MH appnts, so I have to try and explain I'm not very good without getting so triggered that it totally wipes me out again. It matters because I need to be functional enough to head to my new apartment this afternoon. I'd better take my things over fairly early, mostly so that if the router has been taken to the sorting office for any reason (I'm unclear if it required a signature or not), I've hopefully got time to collect it. I'm just realising I'm not actually sure what time the sorting office shuts around here. Hmm. I'd better dash out now in a minute to go over there before my first appointment, just to be on the safe side. I'm so not feeling doing anything at all today, I just want to stay indoors and hide from people.

ManekiNeko

Well today was pretty bad on a MH front, but pretty good on a practical front, so let's just talk about the good stuff or I'll rant.

Best news first - I'm staying overnight in my new home for the first time tonight ☺️ ✨ and I'm very excited about it. I feel happy here, and safe. My new home feels cosy and homely even though it's hardly got anything in lol. I carried a few bags of things over today, but just the essentials.

I got my electricity reconnected ready for tomorrow, and they kindly gave me a free £5 credit. So that's been overpaid onto my mortgage tonight.

I'm exhausted from all the walking and carrying, so that's me for the night. Hope y'all sleep well.