Prosperous soul, mortgage neutrality & creativity Year 2

beanielou

My maw was 79 & 3/4's when she finally retired!

savingholmes

Going strong then Beanie. 

Well today I did some bank reconciliation and realised that I'd double counted over £70 worth of expenses so that made me happy. I have however now bought draught excluder tape for £10 so only £60 up.

I left my heating on 12 overnight - which worked in the hallway but the front room was 8. -5 outside today. Still need to finish getting dressed and start work. Hope you are all wrapped up warm.

WelshmansDaughter

Dad retrained as an IT teacher at 60. Its great to keep working if it doesn't feel like work and it is a choice. I knew someone working at 75 because he had to. 

WelshmansDaughter

I would love a follow up series! Apparently she doesn't do money any more and has gone down the politics route. 

savingholmes

Hi WD - it's good to have options isn't. My mum super-charged her career at 50 by completing an MA and it took her to a whole new level of career and enables her to do consultancy type work now.

I'm now on the Princess part of the Gail series. While I have never been a bling person - there are still things I can see from my past that make me cringe. So glad I got on top of my debt when I did - plus we can only go forward from here. Grateful my retirement savings are going well. I am also very conscious that while I want to give my kids a helping hand - I need to avoid enabling poor money management. DS seems to be doing a lot better now. DD has made major strides the last few months. You can't put an old head on young shoulders... DS is applying for some new roles and getting interviews which is good. He may even move to a cheaper city. DD is developing clear career goals and meanwhile is investing in her pension at 19 - in a way DS isn't yet doing at close to 25. It seems the retirement funds message has hit home at least. 

I posted my AVC form yesterday as I do better when the money disappears before it reaches my bank account. I've spent part of this afternoon applying draught proof tape to my windows but annoyingly it keeps unpeeling and I have to restick it. I've ordered some more for other windows as 12m of tape only just did one set of windows in the lounge. I have double sided tape that I will dust off if needed. I have also put some draught proof tape in a trickle vent and restuck the vent that had fallen off with gorilla tape.... That improved the draught in here. There are still some draughts left - it's almost like one of the windows is a bit warped as it doesn't shut tightly at the bottom edge. No idea what to do about tht.

DD complained yesterday I hadn't put the heating on higher and struggled to believe I had it on at all. I offered to put it up higher and for longer if she gave me another £100-200 a month. Strangely, she didn't want to do that. She walks around in t-shirt, shorts and a tiny jumper and then says its cold downstairs (she stays under her covers in her bedroom). I am currently sat here with 3 layers on. I don't want all my money to go on heating. I'm expecting this month's gas bill to be at least 3 times as much as last month.

I saw friends yesterday which was lovely. I got up briefly to hug DD goodbye and then drifted back to sleep until 11.30am! I'd been up until 1am but think I must have just been worn out. Yesterday I cooked 90p YS sausages - and I had to the other half today. I'm defrosting some 90p YS Meatballs and will cook them tomorrow. I think it should easily do at least 2 meals possibly more. For tea tonight I am cooking some macaroni milk. I had some YS kievs about to go out of date so I am cooking them and will probably eat them cold as a snack over the weekend. I've also cut a baking potato into 4 and put that in the oven too cook. To make the most of the heat.

It's much warmer here today - although it will reach -2 overnight it doesn't look like it will be like that for long.

This weekend - I want to finish putting garlands on the banisters and then add lights and then seek how I can add more lights (that I already own) outside. I may also do some more work in the garden. 

jwil

All sounding good.  I must look into that draughting tape for the windows.

skint_spice

Now addicted to that debt show you mentioned 😂

beanielou

What is maccaroni milk?

savingholmes

Thanks Jwil, Skint and Beanie

I'm addicted to that series too

beanielou said:

What is maccaroni milk?

Macroni, milk at least twice as deep as the macaroni, sugar to taste, nutmeg. Cook at around 180 for an hour. Cheap meal other than the energy use. You may need to add extra milk at the end. I was brought up with that rather than the cheese version. 

Caught up with my mum on the phone. She wants me to organise the kids presents. She missed all the black F offers on the links she was sent... 

I get paid Thursday - I want to do a bit of a habit cleanse and become more frugal again. I just want to be able to trust myself again to stick within budget and save what I've targeted unless there's a genuine emergency.  I'll let you know how I go on.

jwil

Good luck with it!  I was also wondering what macaroni milk was.