Evasive action! Stop the trench becoming a hole.

Cherryfudge

dawnybabes said:

If I need ginger (and lemons) then I just grate them in from frozen 

What a good idea! I must try that, I always have too many lemons and too much ginger.

KeepOnKnitting

Thanks Joey. It has taken many years of chaos and crises to finally be able to plan in advance so that I'm not just lurching from one disaster to the next. That and finally being paid a decent income.

I've cleaned the fridge freezer and listed it for sale. Fingers crossed it sells without hassle.

I've batched up a load of burritos in the freezer, but I haven't made sandwiches yet. I also need to slice, wrap and freeze some more hot cross buns for the stash. 

 

KeepOnKnitting

I've been tentatively getting back into crafting, and I bought a sewing kit late last year that I then really enjoyed doing. Since then I had thought about buying another kit, but kept backing out when it came to actually buying. (I do this a lot with online shopping.)

Yesterday evening I had a rummage through a cupboard I need to organise, and I found a little sewing kit from a craft class that just needed a pattern. I found a machine embroidery template online that I traced onto the fabric from the laptop screen, and started it. Had a lovely time, and no money spent. It is going to be so cute.

KeepOnKnitting

Another enjoyable week at work. I feel so grateful that this job is working out for me. I'm amazed at how stressed and miserable I was in my last role and I didn't even see it at the time.

Four weeks to holiday. Getting excited!

I've got bank work this weekend and next, and I am just so excited for that to go towards the student loan. When my payments started in April 2020 I owed £7,280. Since the start of 2022 it was bouncing around at about £6,950 and I barely made any progress. Was still £6,600 in March 2024 when things finally started to move, and about £6,000 at the end of 2024. 

The balance is currently at £5615, and I have £195 in savings allocated to pay it off, so effectively it is down to £5420. My regular payments should take it down by £800 by December. That means about £4620 to find to pay it off this year. I think I can realistically count on about £300 from bank work per month, probably more but I don't want to be too optimistic. If I keep going at £300 per month plus my normal payments, I think I could clear it in 14 months. If I want it gone in 2025 (I do) I need to find £215 per month to save from my salary. Total target of £515 per month for 9 months.

Right, work tomorrow so I need to get all my usual weekend tasks completed today. Let's go!

KeepOnKnitting

I did it. On Saturday I made 6 days of sandwiches. It's not quite enough as I need one for Saturday as well, but it was still a big win.

Work was OK yesterday. Some nightmares last night, but nothing too awful.

Cherryfudge

Good work on the sandwiches. Sorry about the nightmares, though. Is that a regular feature?

KeepOnKnitting

It is kind of a long-term stress reaction for me. It doesn't have to be something that feels bad at the time, but sometimes it is how my body reacts. For example, if I drive a lot in one day I often have nightmares about crashing the car that night. I honed my coping strategies during covid when I was having nightmares every night, and now I am pretty good at adjusting my temperature and listening to an audiobook to be able to get back to sleep.

In better news, I just sold the spare fridge. Of course that means that my built-in fridge is now bound to go awry in order to balance some of the laws of nature!

KeepOnKnitting

Car flew through the MOT today. Had a service after including one new part. It's running so much better. I knew something wasn't right as my mpg had dropped in the last couple of months. Took it for a run when I picked it up and (even with me driving a bit silly when I had clear space) the mpg is much better now.

Car didn't cost as much as I expected, so I'm going to put some extra towards a nice Mother's Day present. I had missed that in the budget as I forgot it was in the calendar. That means I can put the fridge money to the student loan. Woo!

Sarahwithlove

Good news about the car 

KeepOnKnitting

Thanks @Sarahwithlove. I think it goes to show that the money spent earlier in the year fixing things has paid off now.