*sigh* this is still taking a while, but moving forward (slowly!)

lucielle

Go for it, do what makes your heart sing!
L

savingholmes

Perhaps see if you can do some online questionnaires to find what makes your heart sing. You work part time now - I know you have lots of kids at home still - but there may be opportunities to gradually change in a new direction rather than going for a big bang approach. Perhaps save up some sort of transition pot - could give your savings a boost - and you may be more motivated to save as it's towards something - greater life freedom - compared with what you have now.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Thanks L and SH

Think that's my issue, I've never figured out what I'd actually enjoy doing!

I've still got 23 years of work ahead of me and I may well do more hours as kids get older. Online questionnaires are a good idea, I'll look into those. They might come up with an idea that I hadn't even contemplated :)

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Quite a chill week this week, I took a few days off and have caught up on some life admin.

I'm still sticking to only 2-3 nights of having a drink and feeling much better for it.  I'm averaging 10000 steps a day and finding that eating more protein is keeping me fuller with less snacking.  I've lost 5 pounds since the new year, with some fluctuating, but definitely feeling better and it all feels more sustainable.

Money wise, we're doing well, pots are getting topped up and we're saving a little each month which is an improvement!

savingholmes

Sounds like you are improving your health and your wallet.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Been so slack at posting!  All ok here, no news really.  Only debt is still the car and we've been filling our pots as per our budget.
Not very happy with the interest rate rises, we're fixed at the moment (1.7%), but next June our deal runs out.  Been on calculators and on current rates, our mortgage payment will jump from £1800 to nearly £2400.  Yuk.  That's a third of our take home pay. 
Personally, I'd like to sell up and buy a house outright with our equity (£500K), but that would buy nothing around her so would entail a big move and shifting kids schools etc.  Less drastic plan B is to extend our mortgage term by 3 years and get rid of a car... the combination of the two would absorb the £600 increase.
Either way, we plan to move away eventually, just a matter of when!

savingholmes

Welcome back.

 It's good that you are planning ahead and thinking through the options. Let's hope that mortgage rates improve before then.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Thanks SH.  Yes, hopefully, looking painful at the mo.
On the bright side, it's making DH reconsider the idea of getting rid of one of the cars.  We have one on lease and one on PCP... the payments for both add up to £450.  The lease finishes in a few months and the PCP has about £6k 'equity', we're thinking of selling it and then buying a 4-5 year old car which will be our only vehicle.  We'll save as much as we can, but it'll necessitate a small top up loan that we'll aim to repay very quickly.  We're doing the sums at research at the moment.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

DD is still enjoying her apprenticeship, she's nearly finished her first year and has had a payrise so is now on £33k.  Not bad for 19 we've said we won't charge rent as long as she saves some of it.  She showed me her savings the other day and she's saved £10k in 10 months, so that's good.  She's aiming to save £50k over the 4 year apprenticeship.  She's still left with £1k a month to spend and has been going on lovely holidays, socialising etc so I'd say she has a good balance.  She's much nicer to live with too.

My other 4 are all doing well and seem happy, no 4 is going up to secondary in September, so I'll only have 1 in primary.  That'll be very weird!

I've given up alcohol completely for now.  Since I did dry January, it made me much more aware and although I was moderating fine (only drinking Fri-Sun) it just seemed an effort.  I've just found it easier to abstain completely.  I might have the odd one on occasion in the future, but I don't keep anything I like in the house.  DH has beer in, but I don't like it so it holds no appeal!  I'm definitely sleeping better and just feel 'lighter' in general.

I've recently rejoined my local gym and have been going 3 times a week focussing on strength training, not great timing as is the summer hols, so I'm having to be organised to fit it in.  Kids are included in my membership, so I've taken them swimming a couple of times which they enjoyed.

crunchy_time

All sounds like it is going in the right direction!!

Can't believe how well DD1 is doing!  Wish I had that at 19 years old.  Nope, just debt debt debt from uni.

Well done on the car as well.  I know that has been an 'issue' for a while.