Prosperous soul, mortgage neutrality & creativity Year 2

savingholmes

Thanks WD - that makes a lot of sense.

I was thinking tonight I'm still falling into the trap of thinking 'I'll be happy when...' where actually I just need to learn to be happy now / wherever I am. While I still need to earn a living - moving further away from work will make my life harder and so the benefits would need to be really strong to outweigh that.

I will see if anything comes of my latest enquiries and potentially go and see them - but if they don't work out - try and focus on continued decluttering - and then some redecorating and organising to follow on from that. In an ideal world I also wouldn't move in winter which it potentially would be if I sold now.

Unless I downsize - I'd be wiping out all my EF just in moving costs and potentially more besides - so I need to really be sure it's a good plan. The costs of moving seem to easily be a year's mortgage payments so again I need to be really sure... I'm constantly flip flopping between wanting to buy a place with land for the simple peace of being surrounded by green and therefore spending more and therefore having to work later in life or trading down and then not having to work for so long. I keep having to remind myself that these utubrs that seem to make a go of such a life - a) are usually young families - with different skills and much higher energy than me and b) it's their main job. I still need to work full time so wouldn't have the same energy to devote to sorting things out even if I was capable of it.

I went to a garden centre today and bought six aquatic plants for my pond / pond margins. I potentially need to replant some of them. I may need to buy some special pots / soil / grit - as I don't want the roots to pierce the liner and cause a leak. After I'd had the waterfall on for hours the water finally cleared and went black (as per the food dye) and reflective rather than still having the scum showing. Will see how it looks tomorrow.  

WelshmansDaughter

The other thing I forgot was that if you like living in a certain size of house but get overwhelmed with all the tasks that go into home management it may be an idea to get something completely different in the area you want. For me that is something like a fancy mobile home in a country area (near a big supermarket). 
If you want to test how you feel about your current house, maybe get your cleaner in extra for a month or so and see what effect this haa

savingholmes

Thanks WD - I need to break any decisions down and take it slowly.

I've done two of my least favourite things today. Gone to a hospital for a scan. I dressed to avoid having to undress - and luckily my choices worked. I was in and out in about 40 minutes so it could have been worse - but with the journey I was out nearly 2 hours. I was really lucky with parking though. Then I was at the dentist to get the base sorted for my new crown and to do impressions. It was root filled already so he didn't give me an injection but there was still drilling. He tries to laugh and joke with me to take my mind off it - but I mostly put big headphones on and screened him out.

My neighbour has suggested I try her Osteopath as the Chiropractor I went to seemed thorough but full on wanting 2 sessions a week etc. I need to arrange that - but find all such appointments really difficult. This one is close to home though so would be easier to get to and require less time out of work.

I need to make myself work now. Again really hard as I feel I've already had a full on morning... I get some time credit for the hospital appointment though so I'm going to take it easy for a little bit while I settle back down having been to the dentist. I sat outside for half an hour between appointments but a neighbour is having noisy work done so it wasn't as restful as I'd hoped.

I think I may have lunch first... 

At least the weather is gorgeous and my house has stayed pretty tidy. 

Starlight_at_Sea

Gosh SH, that is a full on morning. Well done for finding your way through all that. I was just congratulating myself on achieving two small domestic frogs that required decision making I didn't want to do, and wondering how to settle back into work after an hour faffing about on those. Having lunch and then focussing on an afternoon of work sounds like a good plan x

beanielou

WEll done on scan 

mark55man

hello SH wow just caught up following my month off - you have so much going on at the moment, but you are making big strides, and putting yourself in the best position.

whilst you are keen to get on with the rest of your life, the decisions you make now will impact that for ages so I too urge a bit of caution and patience and not get carried away and don't throw the baby out with the bathwater

I noted (a while back) you talking about converting a DB into a lump sum - I understood that such valuations have come down from the crazy levels they were at (due to the rise in the interest rates) so it will be a lot of work for possibly not as much as you thought and the job of managing the post-lumpsum residual money pot is not without its own challenges

anyway will try and keep up but you are doing great

savingholmes

Thanks Starlight, Beanie and Mark

Yes I need to be kind to myself. I had to deal with a relative in pain yesterday so ended up taking a little time off for that too and then got rung in the middle of the night for the same issue so feel very unrested. I have to physically go in the office today and have a very unpleasant meeting (with impacts for someone else) later.

I spent a lot more this month than planned. I will work out at some point where it all went. At a guess I'd say my garden and decorating my home. I also bought some new sandals. It didn't help that I carried about £500 of CC debt into this month and tried to pay that off in full too while also sending £400 to savings. Net result is that I'm due to carry close to £400 of CC debt into the next payday (mid month). I am carrying over more than that as a float into next month - but still disappointing. It also wasn't helped this month as I didn't receive the board money that I expected.

While this is a 2 p1p month (4 weekly paid) I'm ignoring that £ as I need to set that aside for next month's mortgage due to where p1p now falls in the month. It's not due to come in before the mortgage until October now so I have to be extra careful the next few months and not see a nice balance and think it's okay to spend. Otherwise it's a lot of faff juggling between accounts as I have 4 main ones I use.

Mark I hear your warning on pension - and I'm at least 2 years away from being able to make a decision on that anyway. Having read the paperwork and seen that a) it appears I may be able to get it at 60 and b) they do inflation on a best endeavours basis when above 5% I'm coming round to the benefits of keeping it. I'm just checking out my different options.

Best dash now as otherwise I'll be late for work... 

beanielou

2 month P1P for me is August. 

Has DD stopped paying board? 

savingholmes

Sent you a PM Beanie.

Well the meeting I was dreading got cancelled permanently which was really positive. I was slightly late to work but given when I last posted on here that shouldn't have been a surprise to me (but it kind of was). So glad I'm due to work from home the next few days. Feeling pretty wiped. 

The EA got back to me about one of the properties I wanted to view last weekend but offered me a time I can't do due to a family birthday celebration this weekend. I have suggested an alternative. Will see what comes back.

I checked my smart meter and my pond pump only seems to cost 1p an hour to run - so I figure that's affordable so left it on for now. I haven't noticed any birds in the water though since I added the special black dye so will need to consider alternatives if that is the case as part of the joy of the waterfall working was watching the birds play in the water. It would also mean that I wasted £25. Sad.

I need to read my gas meter soon and submit a reading as they've accepted that smart meter doesn't work!!

Having a leftover roast chicken dinner for tea using frozen roasties so that's something to be grateful for.

This week feels busy. Cleaner tomorrow which is lovely. Counselling Thursday. Possibly taking some time off Friday to help DD with an appointment. Family birthday event Saturday. Possible house viewing to fit in... 

jwil

A cancelled meeting is always a good meeting, but even better when it was going to be a tough one.

Hope you get some rest tonight.