Buying a little piece of Middle England; Manifesting my way to mortgage free.

debtfreewannabe321

Morning all, 
Well I have written down all spends up to date including our little shopping trip  
I underspent on the money put aside for the household bits by almost exactly the amount overspent on the kids uniforms. Only 60p difference so that works out okay really and I don't need to borrow money from anywhere else. 

Tallying up my emergency fund (I have some in an envelope at home and some in the bank) and I have £446.75 already I will try and put more in there before the end of the month as I feel we may need it if DP changes jobs soon.

I have two parcels due today, DD new shoes - thank goodness as she has worn her old pair in today and the sole is quite literally flapping off and my new kettle. 

The dog is okay this morning, tired and a bit wobbly from being sick. But he hasn't been sick since yesterday. Every time he drank water yesterday he was throwing it up immediately. I let him out for a wee at one point and found him literally in the stream of our fish pond he's a bit deaf in his old age and didn't hear me shouting at him to get out. He was happily lapping up the water from there. And all I could think of was what sort of colour will the sick be this time. However, whatever was in the stream, well it seemed to settle his tummy and he wasn't sick again!?! He's been bathed this morning and blow dried and happily sleeping now. He hasn't ventured into the kitchen for food yet but he is a fussy eater and will go days without food especially when he's had a dodgy tummy, so I trust he will eat when he wants to. He's drunk plenty of water so I am not worried any more and no vet visit needed thank god. (A BIG reminder as to why we need an emergency fund!) 

My back is better today, I spent twenty minutes or so doing some gentle yoga yesterday to ease the sciatic nerve and stretch my back. I slept much better last night because of that - although right after stretching I could have cried because it felt worse for a few hours right after doing the stretching. This morning I have done another twenty minutes stretching and easing it out. It is almost back to normal and I got a good few clicks out of it this morning too. 

EX H is looking to reduce my maintenance this month because he had his children for a week more than usual. I did point out to the kids that he was supposed to actually have them every two weeks but the kids are loathe to go that far now for just two nights so for almost 7 months now he has actually only had them in the holidays and that was always part of the deal anyway. Every other weekend and half the holidays each. AND for three years he was underpaying me by around £150 until I went to the child maintenance to do it officially. So, umm, he can swivel for that reduction. It seems he finally realised how much children cost and he doesn't like it. These part timers eh! 

DS has spoken to me now about his S-M but isn't really happy to divulge how he's feeling about it all. DD seems to be okay. Honestly I think they are most upset going to dad's house as he is in a deep depression ....EX is in the army, quite high up in the ranks now and earns more than DP & I put together....and yet he is deep in debt, owns nothing not even a car as it broke down, and I feel sorry for him but I have to protect our children from what is fast becoming a very toxic environment for them to be in with ex h drinking and emotional blackmail. DD has already made an excuse not to go in half term, she has said she needs to study but I know she doesn't want to be there. Her bedroom was given to Ex H step daughter as he has taken her in, and now my DD feels displaced in what should be her second home. It's all a bit of a mess really.

Anyway, talking of half terms, I have that week off work and it can't come quick enough. DP & I have been talking about my job and I seriously want to quit now, so as well as paying down the mortgage I will be looking to make savings across our budget and keep the savings sustainable so that I can quit ...I am thinking the latest I want to be there is July, so ideally before then I want £1500 in EF, and I would rather have a job to go to but if not I think I need to put my health first. It is emotionally draining, it is a toxic environment and it is too much exercise. I have hip dysplasia which I have had kind of fixed but it is never a permanent fix, it is an expensive chiropractor non permanent fix that I do when I am desperate (very costly too). Walking actually helps it, as does yoga, but too much exercise triggers pain in my sciatic nerve which causes nerve pain all up and down my back and legs (as in this weekend's pain) and it undoes all my good work of keeping fit. I have lost a stone and half over the last year  which has helped with any back pain but the walking (sometimes I can walk 6 miles in 2 or 3 hours and doing that five times a week is too much) is getting too much. So I have a goal.....£1500 as quick as possible really and make savings of £500 in my budget that will remain a saving and not a one off. I have already saved £125 on the loan as we paid it off, £125 on the gas & elec so only another £200 which I feel will be the food budget. I want to keep it under £500 for a few months to see if it is sustainable....

Off to do the dinner prep - I have a nice new bulk cooking pan which I am excited to use!  

debtfreewannabe321

Goals for Feb (Jan 26-Feb 25):
1- 15 days free of social media (I struggle with this because I use mark3tplace so often but I will do it as have nothing up for sale atm) 
Today will be my first day off it!

2- Practice gentle yoga every day for at least 10 minutes (it helps with nerve pain from sciatica)
Already done two days of this in a row

3- Read 1 book to the end 
Had a nice bath yesterday for my back and read 5 chapters of one book I had already started (I have 6 books I have started recently oops ) 

4- Catch up with 3 friends in real life (am totally fed up with SM being our only interaction with people these days bring back pre internet days)
Have two dates in the diary for two different friend groups!

5- Two weeks of no sugar (I meant to do this in Jan but had too much Christmas sweets left)

6- 10 NSD 
Today is my first one 1/10

7- Get out in the garden and start the clear up after winter (we've dead fallen trees everywhere)

debtfreewannabe321

PAD direct to mortgage £3.26

debtfreewannabe321

Good morning, so today would have been a NSD but little fussy dog is still refusing to eat. I went to the shop to buy him another type of food. He ate a little and spat the rest out. I was beginning to fear the worst that he was seriously ill, but a neighbour knocked on the door and lfd (little fussy dog) decided to jump all over him for around 20 minutes, tail wagging and wandering up and down the street. Hmph, so I walked him and fed him a little food and he ate that. I think he is just still feeling a little rough. Kids have had a stern talking to about leaving food around and hopefully LFD will start eating soon (this is not the first time he's gone on hunger strike!)
Only £1.40 spent but still, not a nsd. Oh well.

I have had a move around in the kitchen and decluttered the sides. I bought a stove top kettle instead of a new electric one so I've moved all the tea, coffee caddies over to the hob side of the kitchen. I have a tiny little greenhouse that I have made space for too near the window there. All clean and ready for DP to put up a rail for my tea cups to hang off. All very pretty and cottage-y. Suits the style of the house. I haven't had a new kitchen since moving here. It was the only room that was okay and recently done when we got here. I removed a couple of wall cupboards in favour of some pretty shelving units and have prettified it. It was a really dark olive green, which from Insta I can see is very fashionable right now. I hated it. The room is dark and long and narrow and it was miserable in there, so I painted it grey and then a cheery yellow/ lemon colour over the top. It is about as much as I want to do in there aside from perhaps replace the floor as we ruined that moving white goods in and out. 

As I spoke to the neighbour I realised how lucky we are on our plot, we have good neighbours to the side of us, and we are a corner plot so have houses opposite (one of the neighbours I was talking to) where our side door opens to. And we use the side door more often than the front door so we consider those neighbours to be our closer ones even though they are across the road and not adjoining. He was telling us how the neighbour to him is possibly moving very soon as his wife is sick. They are in a council house. We have obviously bought ours, as had the neighbour we spoke to, and the neighbour adjoining me is bought too. He was telling me he is planning on selling up if they go as they want a bungalow anyway (both those sets of neighbours are 55+). Anyway it made me realise we were lucky enough to own ours (even with a mortgage) as the neighbour who's wife is sick, well the house is in her name and not his. And they don't even know if she will be released from hospital, I believe she has a DNR on her and was in ICU for months, her partner is in his late 50s and could possibly be made homeless? I don't really know how council works but he's not on the tenancy. The neighbour I was talking to was telling me they both had the right to buy at the same time and only he and the guy who lived in my house took it up at that time. If the neighbours with the sick wife had done it they would have paid their mortgage off already, as it stands they didn't. And all whilst his wife was in ICU he had to still go out to work to pay the rent. How awful is that. Long story sorry, but it hammered home (excuse the pun) that being mortgage free is freedom. Freedom to be with your sick family instead of working. Freedom to take on less work to be able to live well. Freedom to do other things instead of paying down a mortgage. This poor guy will pay rent forever, he's too old to get a mortgage on his wages. 

I also am thinking of moving on from here, and it is another reason I want to pay the mortgage down. We did not have enough equity to get on to the next rung of the housing ladder when we bought this so could only afford either very poor quality housing (with 40-50k worth of work needed doing and we need to live in it) or an ex council house. Our house is very nice, a very small estate with possibly 100 odd houses, many of them bungalows with elderly in. But I would like to get off estates entirely eventually, so having conversations with people like my neighbour really helps me to focus. The guy who sold us this house was really nice, he and his wife have been to have a look round when we were nearly done with doing it up. They told us they regretted selling it and moving on, perhaps we can sell it back to them  

Anyway in MS news, I have opened two more savings accounts because my brain was getting frazzled at trying to fathom one savings for everything. I just cannot do it. So I have one now for EF, one for Christmas & birthdays, and one for everything else- prom money put aside, DIY money put aside, clothes...this pot is likely to be dipped in and out of regularly so any temporary funds for things we are saving for will go in here. Thanks to our bonus all are looking pretty healthy right now, even with having spent over £400 on uniforms, shoes and household items. 

I am debating trying ynab again on the free trial, but I will hold off until next pay run so it can work for the whole month for me and I will see how I get on with it.

DD & DS have an optician appointment on Saturday so I will use that opportunity to drop some bits off at my sister's house I think to save on petrol. DP is using the car on Sunday to collect some broken electrical items to fix and re-sell. He's done pretty well so far and aside from the inital outlay he is in profit (albeit not much and as it comes in it goes back out again on parts) but it's a good hobby and keeps him busy. Not sure it will ever amount to needing to do a big tax return and take us on holiday but it's good to have a hobby I think especially one that pays for itself. 

I am off to read my book and do my yoga before work. I have nearly finished one book! Imagine that...then only 5 more part read ones to go

debtfreewannabe321

PAD £2.37 & TT to EF £0.13 ....ELH (every little helps ) 

debtfreewannabe321

Morning all,

This morning I saw a beautiful sunrise as I opened the curtains, pinks and oranges and blues filled my room. That has sadly turned into a white and grey sky now. Roll on Spring...

I got DP to check his accounts yesterday to make sure money was all in the right place for bills coming out tomorrow and £125 was missing. It turns out he had paid off the loan in full and they had still taken the DD out for the month. Grr. I did ask him to cancel the DD as he did it but he obviously didn't hear that bit. He's emailed them asking for the refund but that will probably take at least a week to come back. At least being on the ball with finances I could see what was missing and we could also see what it was that had gone wrong. Usually we would not realise these things until the end of the month, so that is progress.

I have been in pain since yesterday with my foot, the pain is coming from that back and hip pain I had at the weekend. I will do my stretches this morning and see if it helps but it's really quite eye watering to stand on for a long period. I have a tea and natter booked in with a friend in town in an hour and half so I will have to walk there and back. And then DP is off out today for meetings so I will have to walk to work and back. Those little trips alone are around 2.5 miles never mind the actual shift which is usually a good 4-5 miles walking. I think I will budget for a podiatrist sooner rather than later because I know what the issue is and I know I need it sorting out before I am unable to walk (this has happened before and I've been literally laid on my back for weeks unable to move because of full body spasms). And well, I don't do big pharma where I can avoid it so the most I take is a paracetamol or ibuprofen, although I found one co-codamol last night and took that before bed. 

Anyway.... DD brought home a letter from Air Cadets, please pay £48 by Friday for tickets to their passing out parade. *heavily rolls eyes* This is right after I have spent hundreds on uniforms and boots and shoes. DS doesn't even want to stay he has told DD. Urghhhhhhhhhhh kids. 

I have had news this morning that someone else has quit work. This is right after we had a new starter last week who only lasted a week. That is three in one month. The work is hard, and takes it toll on you. It isn't for the faint hearted or the unfit (I was unfit when I started and it soon helped whip me into shape but if dedication and resilience are not your strong points you've no hope). I am still job hunting. I want to be the next one to say, stick your job, but for now....I plod on, very gently on one foot and normally on the other one. I can't really afford to quit right now.

Unsure where to get the money for the air cadet tickets from. I did actually give DP a buffer for his account of £50 which would be perfect, but obviously that is now with the loan company along with another £75 until they refund it. I guess we could still use it because at least he has an overdraft. I need to re-check my budget because I know I did leave wriggle room as I remembered when I first started budgeting years ago that something would always be overspent in the first few months whilst ironing out the budget so I will see what I have spare. 

Talking of budgets, I think I may have wildly under guesstimated the toiletries one haha. I have been writing down spends EVERY single day. And getting DP to do so too. I realised I was lumping things like, vitamins, other supplements, makeup, loo rolls, razors, shampoo, household cleaning items etc into this budget so it was pretty obvious I was always going to overspend on this if i had thought about it properly lol. So, it is January the 453rd (or so it feels like anyway) and I have nearly spent my £250 budget for the year in one looooooooooooong month. I have also been trying to swap out things with sls, aluminum, paraffin, and other toxic ingredients for more natural ones so it was always bound to be expensive I guess as I started over. I'm finding it more funny than frustrating to be honest. I am grateful I can and do have the means to make these swaps and I'm not sorry for spending the money in this area, same as the water filter. So I will assess this budget once again and make it more realistic perhaps lol. 

Okay, I am off to finish the S'bury shop online and get ready for a hobble into town (might actually dust off my bike and take that at least then there is not much pressure on my heel). Have a good day all

debtfreewannabe321

Goals for Feb (Jan 26-Feb 25):
1- 15 days free of social media (I struggle with this because I use mark3tplace so often but I will do it as have nothing up for sale atm) 
up to two already

2- Practice gentle yoga every day for at least 10 minutes (it helps with nerve pain from sciatica)
Needs must so I have been doing this because of pain every day like clockwork. 

3- Read 1 book to the end 
Didn't finish one but have been reading one every day.

4- Catch up with 3 friends in real life (am totally fed up with SM being our only interaction with people these days bring back pre internet days)
Seeing one friend today, and perhaps make a new one as she is bringing someone she wants me to meet  

5- Two weeks of no sugar (I meant to do this in Jan but had too much Christmas sweets left)
Failing on this one. I thought I had one in the bag yesterday but I remembered I put it on some crumpets at our elevensies snack lol

6- 10 NSD 
 1/10

7- Get out in the garden and start the clear up after winter (we've dead fallen trees everywhere)

2024 Mortgage-free wannabe #17
too blood y cold still. 

TT 60P TO EF.
ROUND DOWN ACCOUNT FOR PAD TO MORTGAGE OP £4

beanielou

Not sure of your issues but might a physio be more helpful.
Pricey but worth it.
Have you worked out your WTC or UC to see how much worse off ( or not) you may be if you had to give up work? 

debtfreewannabe321

A physio was the first place I tried @beanielou and not much help tbh as I was already doing the same exercises they suggested. A chiropractor was the best help as they manipulated everything back into place (pregnancy and childbirth have left one side of my body out of alignment basically & the chiropractor can crack it all back into place). They were also the ones to tell me I had hip dysplasia. The drs were utterly useless. They sent me home with full body spasms and told me to take ibuprofen 🤦🏻‍♀️...it was the chiropractor that told me to go and see a podiatrist for some insoles because as well as hip dysplasia I have really high arches on my feet so I'm all out of alignment apparently. Doesn't always play me up, hence why I've not been bothered about getting it sorted. But I might lift something awkwardly or sleep on it funny and then it's back to hurting for a while till I get it sorted.

I've done my stretching for today anyway and it is helping a lot with movement and stopping me seizing up.

I've been out for tea and cake and picked up something at the charity shop on the way so £10.55 spent overall. All out of pocket money spends so that's okay. And I've just had an email from the air cadets that I don't need to pay for the kids, the letter wasn't worded well, it's just adults to pay for so not £50 (or thereabouts) and £25 (or thereabouts) instead! Yay! So will send that over as I have that in my account.

Also I am writing this here to hold myself accountable. I did an online shop with s'biry this morning and was naughty. I did the 'old style shop' I always used to do. Because I am lazy. I went and added last week's shopping basket into this weeks and cut out the stuff I didn't need like flour and mustard etc (cupboard staples) and checked out. £100.....
Upon looking in the fridge I didn't need lots of what I've ordered. I didn't even look in the fridge. Or the freezer. Nor the cupboards. Lazy shopper. Equals no money....urgh. but glad I had a bit of a lightbulb 💡 moment before I have my cut off point later today and I am about to take the laptop. The meal plan. And make a proper shopping list and do it right. No wonder I end up with four pots of hummus. No bread. Six cartons of oat milk and no dinners lol

beanielou

Intersting how people's experiences differ.
I see my physio weekly & she does manipulaion & massage & some other bits & bobs.