Prosperous soul, mortgage neutrality & creativity Year 2

savingholmes

Thanks Dancing. I had a play with doing a line drawing of DD with home made spray background tonight and messed with a collage. All good fun.

Worked a 9.5 hr day despite the late start so back in credit.

Some more art supplies came today. Tempted to buy a TV in the sales. Saw a huge one for £150

lucielle

Is the TV a want or a need?
L

LadyWithAPlan

Any attempt by me to draw anything especially my face would result in a v Dali type affair .. though the painting by square box sounds fun ..Kk 

Good on your parenting both DD & her BF ..  I also blithely sailed (& still sail) thru life but then I also have this weird safety gene that surprises me and others (even when hard clubbing I was always in control and watching out for everyone) so .. a psychic once told me I had 2 guardian angels working overtime on me - I believe it (& thank them!) It probably also has made  me a bit too cautious on this money buying house situation- 

But sometimes sense escapes us all - plus doesn’t the research say our brains aren’t fully formed til 26! Hence the high early death rate by  accident particularly of young men 

I am trying to not to look at BF sales .. I kept quoting Don’t buy stuff to myself 
apart from Xmas pressies.. 
can’t you wait til you have moved as will be sales in Jan or do you need a tv replacement now?

MovingForwards

Step away from the sales, there'll be more after you've moved and know what would really suit where in your new home.

You've a natural talent for art, embrace it with both hands and never let it go.

savingholmes

Thanks Lucielle, LWAP and MF

lucielle said:

Is the TV a want or a need?
L

I don't currently have a TV - I use my laptop for utube - but in the new house it would be nice to have one. There's an invite only deal for a 55" tv which sounds very big possibly too big - but it's only £150. I like the price tag but could do with finding a tape measure to see if I could cope with that size tv. I think our biggest previously was 42". I've managed without for the last 2 years since my divorce!! I felt very skint at that point and it wasn't a priority for me while I was building my EF and my AVCs. It's becoming a higher priority now - especially as I have savings.

I'm thinking of doing a video course next year for which a separate screen would be very handy. I also watch a lot of utube - and am finding splitting my laptop screen and still having it big enough to play a game while watching is getting harder. Part of my conditions is that I need something to fidget with - and can't just watch something as it is too full on otherwise... I'm also starting to want to watch films again and it would be nice to have a better option than my laptop which is at a lower quality than whatever film media I've bought.LadyWithAPlan said:

Any attempt by me to draw anything especially my face would result in a v Dali type affair .. though the painting by square box sounds fun ..Kk 

I am trying to not to look at BF sales .. I kept quoting Don’t buy stuff to myself 
apart from Xmas pressies.. 
can’t you wait til you have moved as will be sales in Jan or do you need a tv replacement now?

Using grids genuinely works - another option is tracing and some people even use a projector onto their easel which I would like to investigate! They use a pixelated version of a photo so that they don't get over-obsessed on tiny details and 'clean' the image up if that makes sense. Dali made a lot of money.... 

On the BF I read a W1ch report that said 98% of stuff is as cheap or cheaper other times of year which helps - but not sure if it applies in this case. 

MovingForwards said:

Step away from the sales, there'll be more after you've moved and know what would really suit where in your new home.

You've a natural talent for art, embrace it with both hands and never let it go.

I know you are probably right on the sales but still tempted. For example I accidentally bought a course a while back for which I 'need' an 1p@d that still tempts me... I will delay that one. As referenced earlier I am contemplating an online art course that would be around £1700. Alternatively I could try their club which is more like £20 a month - so may start with the latter. I'm just using the free stuff at the moment. The more art I do - the more I want to do - but as I stopped doing art at school at 14 there's so much I was never taught. Today I did some nice pen and ink sketches from a photo while on a call to someone and coloured them in. Really pleased with them and I'm expanding my repertoire and confidence.

Clothed model this week at art class which should also be interesting. I don't know whether it was on here or RL where someone asked if it was therefore an unclothed model next week - but no - not least because there's an under 16 in the class.  My counsellor has suggested I start researching art classes where I'm moving - far too logical!! Seriously it's in the plan just hasn't happened yet.

savingholmes

Having a better week having halved the ADHD tablets. Still at least 1am before I get to sleep but better than when I was taking the full dose.

Tomorrow I plan to create a year 3 diary. Need to think about what I want to put in that. 

Currently listening to Brave by Sara B on repeat (that kind of repetition is soothing and clears space for me to think) - It is very much reflective of what I am currently feeling. Not the origin of the song for her and her friend - but that I need to be braver, and step out of my comfort zone - in my case literally move to the kind of area I've always wanted to live with all the challenges and opportunities that represents. It feels like this period has dragged even though there have been times where I couldn't cope with the challenges. Nearly 5 months since I put the house on the market although it sold in 2 and I found my hopefully new house a month after. It's taken longer than my divorce to resolve this transition - and the house surveys still haven't happened so will take a while longer yet!

It will make it easier for the kids at Xmas and help me get my most urgent work done so the delay isn't all bad. Although I'm decluttering the odd thing (7 OOD herb and spice jars today) - I'm still bringing in new art supplies so it's far from balancing one another yet! I had a Mr A delivery today. I had chilli from the freezer at lunch and CG veg soup for tea. Plus choccies and a C Blast ice cream. I had been running down my cupboards and FF but think I'm here until at least January now so thought I might as well stock up.

I got a delivery of special paper this week which I intend to try on some art that I care less about - I want to check it doesn't stick to the paint on those before I use it on my bigger pieces as part of packing for the move. I don't want to get rid of those canvases in case I decide to reuse any as part of next year's art extravaganza. I've reused some canvases recently to good effect so that seems a good way forward.

I ordered an elec blanket/throw (ochre) today as it was the lowest price it's been for a while. Mine is coming up for 2 years old - and the controllers fail on them - so I'd rather have a spare in stock.

Caught up with a sis on the phone earlier which was good. Can't believe how close Xmas is. I still need to agree what I'm getting sister's kids and my parents and DS.  

Merlin's_Beard

If you buy a cheap TV now you will need to pay to move it between houses, and it's another box to keep track of, so I'd definitely be tempted to get into the house and then get a TV after - there will be other sales!

savingholmes

I forgot to mention that I sent £450 to AVCs at payday, £25 to savings on 16th and expect to send £600 to savings this month. That includes £200 DD borrowed last month but has since returned.

The survey refund when it comes will help buy some gifts and therefore freed up £ to send back to my savings. Will update my signature later.

I've ordered some BF boots for DS and have now done at least half of Xmas shopping. So much easier with online delivery. I've sent a couple of things directly to DS so he can ensure they fit during the free return window.

KajiKita

Excellent ‘money moves’ there 😊🎉👏 Like me, you can really see when the sending stops,in your case on house dressing / sale prep, for me DIY, that the funds start coming available for savings etc. I think that shows that our base spend / money consumption is quite stable. 

I’m getting on with my shopping too. I’ve started researching what I want to cook for myself for Christmas as well - all the shop bought stuff always looks good and then is so disappointing! 😉

KK

savingholmes

Thanks KK. Good luck with the Xmas cooking prep.

My new thread is here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6487381/prosperous-creative-soul-mfw-year-3#latest