My Mortgage Free Mountain - A 7 year expedition to climb to the top

craftingmad

Morning all.

It's a bit of a wet start here on the Broads this morning. The puppy dog is not happy that she had to go out for her morning wee today. Water and her do not mix!! Bit like me really  

I've had a very naughty start to the day and spent £35 on a set of dies from Create and Craft. I have been so good and not bought anything from there all year (I used to spend thousands) but I received an email about them and they look so adorable and super versatile that I just could not resist and I figured that after everything which has happened, me working so hard and to celebrate paying off our mortgage I would treat myself. Lets just hope they are as good as they look when I get them! 

I've got the delight of going into the old chippy to pick up my wages today so that will be fun - not! but it will give me another £40.50 to add straight into the OP savings pot so that makes it worthwhile. It's also payday from the new chippy today and I'm hoping it will be around £600 after the nasty tax man has got hold of it so that will be being added too. 

It's been an expensive month this month with having to pay for an airBnB for the funeral, funeral flowers, food for the wake, the van failed it's MOT, bus pass for son for college and bits needed for daughter for Uni so hubby's payday cannot come soon enough. It might even be today but we never quite know - we may need to wait for Monday for that.

I'm feeling that we have not made much progress this month (even though we now have no mortgage on our own house) but fingers crossed I will be pleasantly surprised when I sit down and update the spreadsheet on Monday.

I really need to try and knuckle down and work some more on the business so got to get my bottom into gear and start crossing some things off my not so little list today:-

1. Play on Mistplay - DONE 52 points earnt  
2. Look more into business buyout opportunity and make a decision
3. Resize banner for Etsy order and email over to complete the order - resized - just waiting customer confirmation before emailing over  
4. Complete some of an online course included in a membership which runs out in two weeks
5. Comment om In Search of Posts on Facebook to hopefully get some more orders - DONE
6. Record programs on create and craft so I have some ideas on how to use the die set when it arrives - DONE  
7. Advertise my business in 3 FB groups to improve my visibility and hopefully get some orders
8. Go through costings and increase prices if needed
9. Post on FB about postage costs - DONE pretty scared its going to make me have even less orders but I cannot absorb the price hikes anymore  
10. Create a new item to sell
11. Upload a new cardmaking sheet on Craftsuprint
12. Check freepostcode lottery, win a dinner and freeemoji draws 
13. Complete surveys on Prime Opinions 
14. Complete surveys on Inbox Pounds
15. Complete surveys on Panelbase
16. Get some swagbucks as offered a 50 point birthday bonus if I redeem a gift card within 30 days 
17. Get quotes for house insurance due on 8th October
18. Declutter 10 items from the house 
19. Turn off lights left on by family and unplug something to save electric - DONE lights turned off in sons room again and lounge and kitchen plus TV's unplugged in mine and daughters bedrooms  
20. Action one idea on my MF list
21. Collect wages from original chippy and pay into OP savings account - collected just need to pay into bank
22. Transfer wages from new chippy into OP savings account - DONE £697.64 transferred into OP savings account  
23. Chip shop shift - DONE

Oh heck that's quite a long list considering I am at work from 4pm today but fingers crossed I will manage more than I did yesterday.

Let the crossing off begin  

badmemory

Just remember to add to your list for towards the end of next month as I know you are a busy person & I am sure I am "preaching to the converted" but make sure that your ongoing 2nd chippy tax code only includes the amounts you have actually received from chippy 1 & keep your last pay slip.

craftingmad

badmemory said:

Just remember to add to your list for towards the end of next month as I know you are a busy person & I am sure I am "preaching to the converted" but make sure that your ongoing 2nd chippy tax code only includes the amounts you have actually received from chippy 1 & keep your last pay slip.

Thank you. I've added that to my To Do list x

craftingmad

Morning all.

I've got to pop out to the shops today to get a black tie for hubby as he cannot find his and also get a black jumper for our son ready for the funeral on Tuesday. It's really starting to hit me again and I cannot believe that in just 4 days it will be our final goodbye to such a wonderful man. I'm going to try and be kind to myself today and not pile too much pressure on myself.

I'm at work this evening from 3pm so that will help keep my mind occupied for a little bit and my boss has asked if my hubby can help him move a huge fridge freezer which he is happy to do. In return he gets a lovely fresh fish and chip supper for free so seems like a good trade to us. Hoping he might feed my son too if he comes along then I won't have to worry about food tonight when I get back in. If not I have a quiche in the fridge which will be perfect for his dinner.

 I didn't seem to achieve much yesterday but did manage to pay quite a lot into the OP savings account which is the main aim so I'm not going to beat myself up over it. My list is long today as well but I am not too bothered if I don't cross it all off today. As I said I think I need to be kinder to myself at the moment as well.

So here is my list for today. Let's see how much I can achieve.

1. Play on Mistplay - DONE 117 points earned  
2. Look more into business buyout opportunity and make a decision
3. Pay in wages from original chip shop and transfer into OP savings account
4. Check to see if hubby has been paid and transfer amount left at end of the month into savings account - DONR £2000 transferred (made up of £1k left at end of month and £1k overtime)
5. Email over banner to complete the order
6. Make nail planner for Etsy order and post off to avoid higher postage fees from Monday - proof emailed over ready for customer approval  
7. Raise a claim with Royal Mail for missing order
8. Complete some of an online course included in a membership which runs out in two weeks
9. Comment om In Search of Posts on Facebook to hopefully get some more orders
10. Advertise my business in 3 FB groups to improve my visibility and hopefully get some orders
11. Go through costings and increase prices if needed
12. Create a new item to sell
13. Check freepostcode lottery, win a dinner and freeemoji draws 
14. Complete surveys on Prime Opinions 
15. Complete surveys on Inbox Pounds
16. Complete surveys on Panelbase
17. Get some swagbucks as offered a 50 point birthday bonus if I redeem a gift card within 30 days 
18. Get quotes for house insurance due on 8th October
19. Declutter 10 items from the house  
20. Action one idea on my MF list
21. Chip shop shift - DONE

craftingmad

Morning everyone.

We got through what must have been one of the hardest days of our lives knowing that our lives will never truly be quite the same again. However on their way home yesterday my Brother and Sister In Law were involved in a serious car accident which has left my 19 year old niece fighting for her life after suffering internal bleeding and being operated on for nearly 7 hours. If this does not make you re-evaluate your life then I really don't know what will. Our priority has to be to get a better work/life balance as tomorrow is never guaranteed it appears.

Hubby and I have talked long and hard last night and have come to the conclusion that although we still want to focus on paying off all the BTL mortgages as early as we can, we also need also strike a much better balance between work and home life. We have committed to also make time to live our lives too and make amazing memories our loved ones can treasure forever. We both know we work far too hard so are committing to each have at least one day of each week (little steps hopefully leading to bigger ones) so hopefully we can start enjoying life much more too.

That said we are both at work today so I think it will have to be business as usual as much as we can until the start of next week when we can both get another day off.    

Have to be honest I'm really struggling to concentrate as so worried about my niece. She is only 4 months younger than our daughter.

Here is my list for today but I am honestly not sure how much I will achieve:-

1. Play on Mistplay - DONE 39 points earned  
2. Look more into business buyout opportunity and make a decision
3. Pay in wages from original chip shop and transfer into OP savings account - DONE £40.50 transferred into OP savings account  
4. Transfer money from Etsy earnings into savings account - DONE £126.87 transferred into savings account
5. Meal plan for rest of the week (hopefully I will be able to live out of freezers and not do a food shop) - DONE no shopping needed for the rest of this week apart from chickens for the dog  
6. Update spreadsheet with new mortgage amounts - DONE pleasantly surprised as our first BTL mortgage has gone down around £200 more than I thought it would have so that a little bonus. the overpayments each month are clearly helping lots  
7. Email over banner to fit Facebook and Twitter
8. Raise a claim with Royal Mail for missing order - tried but it would not let me as says tracking number incorrect. I will try again tomorrow  
9. Complete some of an online course included in a membership which runs out next week
10. Comment om In Search of Posts on Facebook to hopefully get some more orders
11. Advertise my business in 3 FB groups to improve my visibility and hopefully get some orders
12. Go through costings and increase prices if needed
13. Create a new item to sell
14. Check freepostcode lottery, win a dinner and freeemoji draws 
15. Complete surveys on Prime Opinions 
16. Complete surveys on Inbox Pounds
17. Complete surveys on Panelbase
18. Get some swagbucks as offered a 50 point birthday bonus if I redeem a gift card within 30 days 
19. Get quotes for house insurance due on 8th October - DONE cannot beat quote with existing lender unfortunately  
20. Declutter 10 items from the house  
21. Action one idea on my MF list
22. Chip shop shift - DONE 5 hours so £52.05 before tax will be added to my Oct wage packet  

  

MatyMoo

Delurking to say I’m hoping for the best for your niece such an awful thing to happen on what was already a difficult day. 

Baileys_Babe

I'm sorry to hear about the accident, I hope your niece makes a full recovery.

craftingmad

Thank you for the get well wishes and support. They really mean a lot.
Yesterday my niece had to be rushed back into surgery as she had another bleed but fingers crossed it has been stopped and her blood pressure seems to have stabilised again so we just need her to fight like crazy now. She did open her eyes for a very brief moment when her sister went to visit her so this can only be a good sign and as a family we are hoping for a miracle. 
Sadly my brother in law is far worse than originally thought also as he has broken several bones in his chest and back which means he may not be able to walk again but we won't know 100% until the swellings have gone down. Our fingers are tightly crossed that he will heal well and make a full recovery. 
I feel like we are living in a horror movie at the moment but as a family it is making us even stronger and we are coming together even more than we did previously. You have to look for positives in every situation right no matter how small?

I'm also driving my kids crazy at the moment as I'm insisting they message me as soon as they arrive at uni/college etc so I know they are safe but I'm hoping this is normal behaviour?

craftingmad

Work really helped me yesterday as I currently feel so helpless not being able to do anything at all to make the situation better so I'm planning on keeping myself as busy as I can again today to try and take my mind off everything as it is all out of my control. I've got another shift again tonight so I just need to find things to do before 3pm to keep my mind and hands active even though I am struggling to concentrate.

So here is my (really long) list for today:-

1. Play on Mistplay  - DONE 39 points earnt  
2. Email over banner to fit Facebook and Twitter
3. Raise a claim with Royal Mail for missing order - Still not accepting tracking number  
4. Complete some of an online course included in a membership which runs out next week
5. Comment om In Search of Posts on Facebook to hopefully get some more orders - DONE two posts commented on  
6. Advertise my business in 3 FB groups to improve my visibility and hopefully get some orders
7. Go through costings and increase prices if needed
8. Create a new item to sell - DONE bumble bee seed bombs created and advertised on my FB pages  
9. Check freepostcode lottery, win a dinner and freeemoji draws 
10. Complete surveys on Prime Opinions 
11. Complete surveys on Inbox Pounds
12. Complete surveys on Panelbase
13. Get some swagbucks as offered a 50 point birthday bonus if I redeem a gift card within 30 days 
14. Renew house insurance
15. Declutter 10 items from the house  
16. Action one idea on my MF list
17. Chip shop shift - DONE  
18. NSD - sort of completed - popped to Morrisons when taking son to college and got some food  

badmemory

I think you wanting to know they are safe is a totally normal reaction to the situation.  At least you aren't trying to keep them locked in.