Escape to the country & living off savings

~FlowerPot~

hi SYA, work was good.

i do prefer home visits. as not so rushed!!

We always said that about the old articfial tree, it dropped so many of its needles!!! Now we have a new tree (well its prob 4 or 5 years old! ANd stupidly I bought a grey/ silvre one with glitter. I have no idea what possessed me to do so. I hate glitter!!!! SO you can guess what Im left clearing up for weeks after we pack it up!!!!!

SuzeQStan

Glad I’m waiting till the weekend to put ours away - we have weird flocking, needles AND glitter to sweep up 🤣

Skint_yet_Again

Good luck to you both clearing up the glitter 😆
I used to have a snowy tree but left it behind for DS. Always took weeks to get rid of the snow! 

Sunny day & blue skies again today with a breeze so I washed & hung out towels. Aquafit changing rooms were warm but cool in the pool. That is the last one until February so I will try and do more walking when it’s not icy or snow on the ground! Then hopefully the pool heating will be fixed. 

Treated my friend to lunch at ‘spoons. She had tuna melt panini & chips. I had chicken breast bites with salad. Total £15.82 including  a pmax cola each. Bought myself a calendar £1.49 & birthday card and picked up a boxed set of yankie candles half price £8 for DS’s gf’s Christmas bag. 

Have just transferred all the birthdays from last year’s calendar onto the new one. Am now sat with my feet up having a cuppa 

Doris17

Enjoy your cuppa.

We have bitterly cold and frost here,no chance of putting washing out,it would be stiff as a board.

Lunch sounded lovely.

MovingForwards

Happy New Year.

That's a big decision to make and I'd also be looking at option 2 as you could get a little temp work to boost funds before SPA. Have a read through some of the posts on the pension board as it's frequently popped up.

Food and overall holiday period sounded great.

Skint_yet_Again

Thanks Doris & MF 😊

It’s a bit warmer this morning. The early frost has gone. They say it warms up before snow! We are expecting some later & next few days. 

Kitchen cleaned, dishwasher emptied and reloaded. Stew on in slow cooker. Just back from asd@ with milk, bread, fruit and a hot roast chicken. Should have enough in stores / freezer to last until middle of next week if the snow is heavy. Hopefully it will all be gone by Tuesday when I have my hospital appointment. 

Chicken sandwich for lunch with toms & cucumber. Beef stew for tea. Should be at least 3 portions for the freezer. 

~FlowerPot~

sounds like you are well prepaed in case of the snow forcast.

Being on the south coast Im not expecting any and if there is it will be a dusting as usual, being here, does mean slightly warmer temps! Although I do love to see a good snowfall. There is something very magical about covering of snow. That is until you have to move around in it, then it just becomes trecherous and difficult!

Skint_yet_Again

We rarely had snow when I lived on the south coast Flowers but we certainly have snow here up north this morning ! 

It was so mild yesterday afternoon that I went for a 40 minute walk around the village & called into DF’s for a cuppa. I won’t be going anywhere today 

Interest 1 Jan 2025

6% regular saver £25.48. This is the same every month now it is at max £5k and interest has been moved to the visiting family pot. 

Other savings account £1.74

Annual living (reduces monthly) £4.87

Current pots

Visiting family £50. The next 2 months are council tax free (paid over 10 months) so the amount will be put into this pot

Annual bills £480

Car pot £585

Xmas/ birthday £212. This will go down in next few days when I pay Christmas credit card

1 year and 2 year bonds mature jan / feb 2025

SuzeQStan

It just feels like yesterday you renewed one of those bonds SYA! Time flies!

I’ve learned something new today from you about regular savers - for some reason I didn’t think you could make withdrawals from them!  Good to know I might get one 😊👍🏻

stay cosy and wrapped up xx

Skint_yet_Again

Mine is a regular saver with n west. It doesn’t have a maturity date. You can pay in max £150 a month. Interest rate is 6.17% / 6% AER / Gross pa (variable) on first £5000 and 1.50% / 1.49% (variable) on anything over & you have to have a n west current account to open one. 

Can’t believe it will be 2 years in feb since I left work and moved.