NST October 2023 A New Start

ldee2111

Hi turtles 

That’s us back from our holiday. It was fantastic but always glad to get home to my own cosy bed. We’re all exhausted and in need of another holiday 🤣.  

Happy to report that I’ve returned home with a decent amount of pennies in my pocket. The underspend has already been transferred to our next holiday fund. 

We’ve been catching up with parents: Mum, OH’s parents, Dad and his partner. But they were really just wanting to see DS, not us. 🤣

This morning I’ve been catching up with all your updates. They’re also helping me to get my mind back into turtle territory after 20 days of continuous spending! 

Will make a plan for what’s left of the month with my NST head on. Xx

ldee2111

Holiday clothes washing cleared thanks to doing most of it in the holiday house.  I’ve a few random items left to put away like a neck pillow, a charger, adapters… and then it’ll be like we were never away. 

Returned home to a parking invoice for overstaying in a private car park in September. The deadline to pay £60 passed while we were on holiday, so I’m going to take the risk of ignoring it to see if it goes away. 🤢 It feels quite unfair because the car park appears to be part of the shops we were visiting (and stayed 1 hour longer than the ‘allowed’ time.) But it’s owned by a private company. I went there yesterday to look for parking signs and they’re definitely there (I’ve never noticed them despite visiting those shops many times over the years). Posted a message on a local forum with the majority of respondents saying to ignore the invoice and not engage… people saying that it can’t be enforced in Scotland. Hmm, I’m not sure about that. Anyway I’ve taken the decision to ignore it and will deal with the consequences.

I am going to redirect my weekly underspends again. They were going to holidays but I’ve decided I’d like to pay off our mortgage for C-day 2025 instead of April 2026. It means I need to pay an additional £80 per month in overpayments. I don’t have a spare £80 in our budget but I think I can manage to save £20 between underspends in food, transport and leisure budgets most weeks as long as I have NST focus. Online sales of DS’s outgrown clothes will continue to go back into his ‘bigger clothes’ fund. And once I hit the £20 a week overpayment, I’ll put the rest into holidays.

x

grandmanerd

Sunday 22nd  October 2023

R   Rest, relaxation and maybe a reset.  I'm a big fan of hibernation. It's dark, it's cold, time to curl up in an armchair with a good book, unwind from the stresses of the day, work on a handicraft. It's especially important if you fell that you are coming down with something or you or others in the household are ill - rest will help you get better more quickly. No rushing off to the gym as soon as you start to improve (that's a good way to have an early heart attack). If things are really going awry, you might need a reset. If your goals feel unattainable and your bad habits are creeping back, take action. You may need to set smaller goals - baby steps, remember forward is forward, better to get there slowly than give up in frustration. Think about goals for next year and put in some baby steps on those.

I think I need a whole  life reset. All my careful plans have been smashed to pieces and I'm not sure where I go from here. Mum's  lodger will be moving on next month so  I'll have  a loss of income, responsibility for more bills (try to get brother to do that) and  another house  sale to process along with the  accompanying hassle. 

DS3  and  Beloved?  I don't know where to  start. 

My house is a wreck, filled with other people's junk (including stuff mum bought from other people and insisted I should keep). things I'm supposed to look after included my brother ('he's the baby') and mum's lodger (they're both over 60 but male and therefore incapable of doing anything for themselves but should be treated as demi-gods and waited on hand and foot according to mum).  Obligations again.

I can't have any of the adaptations I need done without more space (ie DS3 and Beloved gone). I'm trying to write notes and possible solutions - DS3 and Beloved could move into grandma's house until it's sold and take over responsibility for the bills (also helps  their credit scores.

And I feel like a wet dishrag (my head is clear but lots of gears are  spinning atm). So many things need doing and most of it is physically beyond me. So for now:-

Emotional Health Resources
1*    Take a Breath   3 min
2*     Stop saying 'Should'     3 min
3*     Identify Your Values      3 min
4*     Show compassion for others   2 min
5*     Show self-compassion    2 min
6*     Practice Gratitude    4 min
7*     Make  a Plan      4 min
8*     Accept emotions   2  min
9*     Recognise your  Strengths   4 min
10*   Share your  appreciation     5 min
11*    Take a breath  3 min

f0xh0les

ldee2111 said:

 I’ve decided I’d like to pay off our mortgage for C-day 2025 instead of April 2026. It means I need to pay an additional £80 per month in overpayments. I don’t have a spare £80 in our budget but I think I can manage to save £20 between underspends in food, transport and leisure budgets most weeks as long as I have NST focus.

Open a burner current account with your current bank - you can do it online, it is not hard, start 2 x £2/ £5 direct debits - Medecin San Frontieres / Unicef / Wateraid / GOSH whatever you like, let the dd go out, swap banks - that is 2 months mortgage overpayments.  You do it, your partner does it, that is 4 months and takes you to C-Mouse, if you fancy dong the NST thing, you could both swap again 4 months later, that would be mortgage over August 2025, if you were to sell your baby things, and keep up the underspends, well, that might even be June 25  you could be Mortgage Free .. just saying....... 

f0xh0les

I am resisting going back into the downstairs bathroom, which is ridiculous because it simply has to be done, and needs to be done today - doesn't it? 

Yes it does.

Thank you for clearing that up for me.  It really helped.

I'm going in!  Reward will be a lovely cup of coffee at 11.00 - the race is on!

ldee2111

f0xh0les said:

ldee2111 said:

 I’ve decided I’d like to pay off our mortgage for C-day 2025 instead of April 2026. It means I need to pay an additional £80 per month in overpayments. I don’t have a spare £80 in our budget but I think I can manage to save £20 between underspends in food, transport and leisure budgets most weeks as long as I have NST focus.

Open a burner current account with your current bank - you can do it online, it is not hard, start 2 x £2/ £5 direct debits - Medecin San Frontieres / Unicef / Wateraid / GOSH whatever you like, let the dd go out, swap banks - that is 2 months mortgage overpayments.  You do it, your partner does it, that is 4 months and takes you to C-Mouse, if you fancy dong the NST thing, you could both swap again 4 months later, that would be mortgage over August 2025, if you were to sell your baby things, and keep up the underspends, well, that might even be June 25  you could be Mortgage Free .. just saying....... 

I’ve seen you talk about this in the chat before and thought it was a great idea. Then I forgot about it. 🤣 Thanks for the reminder. It’s done!

ditty1234

Hi All, it is finally the half term, and somehow I think I really need it. Yesterday I managed to pour a whole pot of coffee over my arm and all of the kitchen. There was grounds and stains everywhere. I kept my arm under cool water on and off, and went to the pharmacy to get some stuff. I now have a few blisters fairly close to my hand and a slightly miscoloured arm. The advantage is that I can't do cleaning and gardening very well, it has really eliminated the excuses I had for not getting caught up on paperwork. 
Grateful that burn was as mild as it is, and that ds2 eventually made it on a train home to his uni town, only took a couple of days after the rains.

f0xh0les

Ouch Ditty!  Be careful of those blisters.

So far today I have recycled 3 lock and key sets, a wii and box of wii bits, and a spare roll of Marvel (ous) Wallpaper.

I also disposed of a slice of cake.  Proper tidying up! 

Half term is over tonight. Schools go back tomorrow, but both schoolboys will be on bikes for the first time. All kitted out with hi-viz and flashing lights, mudguards and helmets.

Toni'sfriend

Idee - As you probably know we don't drive/have a car but there is apparently an ongoing problem re parking fines at our local shopping centre exactly like yours and the advice seems to be "ignore it, they can't enforce it". The problem seems to be that the company can't actually prove that people have actually been there, stayed over the time etc. I suspect that it is the case that it isn't worth their while to pursue it and although they use threatening language they just give up in the end.

The magpies have totally wrecked containers. They were looking so nice and my neighbour had carefully tended them whilst I was on holiday. I'm so annoyed. Any gardening turtles got any advice on how to stop the little blighters from digging everything up. If the weather is OK tomorrow I'll go to Aldi and get some pansies/violas to repair the damage.

Tried to tidy the larder. OMG!!! What am I going to do with all the stuff that's in there? I had forgotten we had most of it. Well, first thing is a Thai curry tomorrow to use up some of the coconut milk and curry paste. Chicken taken out of the freezer. And I found a huge tin full of chocolate biscuits/bars that I knew nothing about. Obviously Himself has been collecting them. Why he feels the need to buy them but not eat them I'll never know. Some of the sausage mountain in the slow cooker making a casserole for dinner.

Did a few jobs that have been sadly neglected for far too long. Thoroughly cleaning the washing machine, cleaning the bath and shower sealant, etc. Plodding along.

Apart from causing insomnia these steroids are making me starving hungry. I'm going to end up looking like the side of a house at this rate. xxx

lcc86

Slept really well last night, up early and went off to the gym. Came back, had a light breakfast then went horse riding. Stopped off at the supermarket for some batteries for my instant camera, and also at the car wash on my way home. Turned into a gorgeous day down here so got a load of washing done. Cleaned the fridge, chucked some long-forgotten about pastes and sauces and gave everything a good wipe down. Want it nice and empty for holiday. 

Dyed my roots, slapped some fake tan on and painted my nails. Packed all my toiletries and checked in online. Feeling really nervous about holiday, just don't like leaving the house and the pets for so long. But it's too late now so I need to suck it up and start looking forward to it!