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

debtfreewannabe321

Morning all, 
I would like to know where the promised temperatures of 18 degrees are....it's cold here this morning, but I have a jumper on and fluffy socks to try and resist the urge to put the heating on 🥶. I've woken up with a headache which isn't great and has kind of slowed me down already this morning.

Finances
I've had an email from my ISA to say I need to decide what to do with money on maturity so I will go sort that out to be sent to one of my bank accounts so I can pay off the car and put the rest aside for the extension. I'll probably get it sent to the EF account as that is quite easy to get out if needed quickly.

I did some surveys whilst sat in bed with a cuppa and already reached payout threshold, £7.21 taken out and sent to the EF. I have £1454.47 in the EF now, next goal is £1500, which i would like to reach this month if possible. So only £45.53....

I have nothing left in the ski pot because of ex.. I was on track *rolls eyes* but I will roll with the punches and I shouldn't have expected anything else tbh. I need £240 for the next payment. I have £300 in the driving lesson fund so if EX doesn't pay I will take half from there and half from next month's budget. 

I also have £300 in the holiday fund which will be for days out and expenses in school hol time. Would have been spending money for a trip away but hey ho, perhaps next year will be the one we get to go away. For now that will pay for a few days out. 

I also have £400 put aside for windows for the extension. We took them out of the plans originally (sky lights) and then put them in and then out again and the last quote was without windows and then we changed our mind again. They aren't very expensive so we have opted for 2 because that side of the roof is westerly facing and should bring some light in, the back of the house is so dark I thought it silly us cutting costs on things like that which would make us regret not putting them in the minute it is built and it's so dark in there and then add another 6m extension on and it would need lights on all day inside. So I need to save a bit more towards this and that cost is done. I am also trying to save some money for flooring too, unsure on the cost at the moment but hoping it won't be too much more than the initial quote. 

Monthly budget has somehow gone a bit pete tong. Don't know why. Food is low (about £330 left for 2.5 weeks). PM is low (although I did spend a fair bit on ferns for the garden straight off ) and so are the other 'daily spends' accounts. I do have money dripping into my PM budget though, every Monday when I get CB that is my PM as I didn't keep back the full amount from wages this month. So next Monday I will have another £43 plus whatever is left in my account. 

I don't have much to sell to be honest so not sure how to make any money for topping up daily spends and sending to the EF. I will carry on with the surveys and have a think how I can make a bit of money. 🤔 Or perhaps I will just see how little money I can spend in the hols and therefore it will all work out anyway  

Today's plans...
I will do the loft room, stairs and first floor landing with the hoover. I did downstairs yesterday and need to finish the rest of the house. I then want to go round with a duster as there is lots of spaces the hoover isn't reaching when I am looking for dust and webs etc. I want to have a polish around too as anyone would believe I am actually collecting dust at this time. 😏. I scrubbed all bathrooms clean last weekend so that's not a high priority for me. And I did the kitchen/dining room yesterday before going out. I need to keep on top of cleaning, as since I have been ill and lacking in energy I have really struggled to work and keep house and cook- something had to give. DP doesn't seem to see the dirt / dust or if he does he doesn't care. The kids, well, they're kids..... they don't care either. So it falls upon me to nag them all or to just bloody do it myself. I usually choose the latter as I can't be bothered arguing. I could do with the exercise anyway. 
Then I wanted to pop to town and park up and have a wander around as DD was haranguing me yesterday on my amble....it turned into more of a quick glance around and leaving again. So DP comes into town in the afternoon on the train so I plan to get there perhaps an hour or two before to have a wander, then I will meet him at the train station as he comes in.  

TV
I don't usually watch a lot of TV but since being off I've watched a few films. And one that stands out as a lovely feel good movie was called Hampstead. So anyone looking for a feel good one it's on netflix I think (might have been prime can't remember now). 

Right off to start the chores, it might warm me up too....and get another cuppa. 

debtfreewannabe321

Did the hoovering and thought I'd dusted everywhere until I walked back up the stairs and realised I'd missed an entire bookcase that's built into the stairs 🤦🏻‍♀️ ahhhhh! It was tough luck though as I'd already brought all the bits back down. That can be on the job list for tomorrow.

DP is on his way back and will be here 2/3pm. I've eaten an early lunch so I'm not tempted when I go for a wander round the shops and I will meet him at the train station when he pulls in. DD is staying at home and revising so she'll be grateful for a quiet house. If she can get off her phone for long enough 🙄🤨. 
Enough cleaning for one day. More dusting tomorrow I'm sure.

DP has booked Fri and Mon off so he's having a long weekend with me 😁 it should have been child free but nevermind. Doubt we'll see DD much anyway. She has a date of her own tomorrow 🥰 young love eh. 

Right off to wash up lunch then head out. Intending for a low spend day but I know my top budget and won't go over it. 🙂

debtfreewannabe321

Got lucky on a few studies, cashed out £6.26 and sent to EF. £1460.73 in there now....I have £5.07 ready to cash out and £7.13 pending at the moment. When it reaches £6 again I will cash out. Determined to make that £1500 this month.......!

slm6002

I am sure that you will make it

debtfreewannabe321

Thanks slm! Have £7 pending and £5 ready to cash out. 
We had a lovely date day out yesterday and got my steps in - over 12,000. Had a 'free' pizza Express with vouchers I had. And had a wander up the canal path and through town. Was a beautiful warm day, long may they continue!

I've ordered some seeds from a website I came across. Yorkshire seeds. 20% off with a £20. Spend so I ended up spending £16 something. I'm hoping that with all those seeds at least some flowers will bloom and my bare beds will be covered eventually with pretty colours. 😍

Today I think we may stay in but if we go out it will probably be to a local garden centre run by my old neighbour. We are looking to replace a few laurel hedges in the front that failed. I've emailed the company I bought them from for a partial refund. I don't want more sent out. So I'll see what they have to say on Monday.

Hope the weather is nice where everyone is ☀️😁.

debtfreewannabe321

NSD today 👏🏻
Spent the day in the garden and then went for a little walk. Ate leftovers for dinner with a nice salad and need to sit and chill now as absolutely exhausted ourselves in the sun and gardening.
We decided to move three trees that we recently planted as I felt they didn't have enough space to grow properly. So after that we were pretty tired anyway 😆 then carried on clearing where the greenhouse will go and I re-potted about twenty indoor plants. I have too many spider plants so may need to give some away/ sell. I've probably about thirty now 🫣. Lots potted on and lots put in water to root first. 
DP and I will unwind with a drink and some snacks now I think.
DD is having a sleepover and we fed them the last of the burgers and wedges. They're happy wandering around the house all dressed up making tik tock videos .... 😆

Freezer is looking very bare and the fridge is not looking great. I have enough for a ratatouille tomorrow though and then will go shopping on Mon for a week's food. No idea when DS is coming home I've not heard from him all week! As is usual when he disappears to Dad's house. Guess I will find out soon enough!

ladybird1106

I can’t keep a spider plant alive so in awe of your 30.
love 🐞

debtfreewannabe321

ladybird1106 said:

I can’t keep a spider plant alive so in awe of your 30.
love 🐞

If you were close to me I'd give you a handful! I've too many 🙈 and yet I can't just throw the babies out when I cut them off I always root them and grow more 🙈. Might bring some into work with me or put a sign outside the house to sell some as I don't have the space for this many ☺️.

I've woken up today in a bit of pain. Need to take it easy today. Got hip and leg pain on one side and I've hurt my rotar cuff (again ). 

We have a little list of jobs to get on top of in and out the house so will work through them but I need to be mindful of overdoing it. I didn't sleep well last night as I'd roll on to one side and hip hurt and then roll to the other where my shoulder was hurting. I'd try sleeping on my back but I'm a side sleeper and once asleep I'd naturally move again and wake myself and repeat for the whole night. 

The neighbour popped his head through our gate yesterday - it's in between our gardens and was put there years ago when he was good friends with the owner of our house. He wanted to tell us how we'd made the garden look so nice again and how he appreciated looking out of his window in the morning on to pretty gardens (their garden is one of those perfect ones that looks the grass is hoovered ) that was a nice compliment ☺️. He also said he would replace all the fencing up our side because he could see we were going to take care of the garden (the last owner didn't really have time to do it tbf to him he was always at work). So we should get some new fencing soon and he said he would put the nice side facing us. 😊
We plan on doing the other side but it currently has I think 4/5ft concrete posts rather than 6ft and we'd like to raise the fence to 6ft... As every time we are out there and that neighbours dogs see us over the fence they just continually yap. She has seven of them and it's already tiresome 🙄 and we haven't even had one summer yet here. Anyway we will look to see how we can raise the posts first and then replace the fencing there. That's probably a next year job though.

DS1 messaged me the other day he's sounding much happier now he's moved house..I queried him as to whether he thought he'd stay in the forces now but he seems adamant he's wanting to leave. So I guess he will bide his time until he can hand his notice in. So we'll carry on with the extension plans so we have a space for him to come stay. I think he preferred the idea of the garage conversion but I couldn't justify spending £25k on something that is so temporary and not adding that much value to the house it's a lot of money to me. So hopefully he doesn't mind the idea of the loft room we're currently in. We will move ourselves to the ground floor and live in the current living room if he does come. And he can have the loft room which is more private and has the ensuite. I think he'll be okay with it. It's certainly more than I had when I moved back to my mum's in my early twenties and stayed for two years so I could save enough to buy my first house. I slept on her living room floor on a blow up bed that had to be put down every night 😆 and I had a toddler with me (DS1) for good measure. I paid her rent too 🤨😆. 

Anyway going to try and move my achy body now and get going otherwise I'll be stiff and not able to move at all. 
Sun is Starting to break through after a very cloudy start, it is forecast for rain here next week so I will make the most of the nice weather while it is here. 

debtfreewannabe321

Plans on hold for today. It's turning into a bit of a write off as not feeling very good mentally or physically right now. DP has gone out and done a few outside jobs though before the weather turns. He's removed some old satellite dishes from the house and tidied up the back garden of tip run stuff. 
DS2 just came back, ex brought him all the way back and collected DD and took them both out for lunch. I'll do them a small dinner later of soup if they're eating a big lunch. Although DS 2 has come back with huge bags of sugary sweets and snacks with lots of calories telling me he's severely underweight and malnourished according to someone. He wouldn't discuss who. I think we can all guess who. That 'someone' forgets I've known him since he was 18 when he weighed about 10stone at 6ft and was just as skinny as DS 2. And that DS1 was almost as skinny as DS 2 until he stopped growing upwards..I have no fight in me and DS was angry as is usual when he comes back from ex house so I left it and shut myself in the front room. Saw ex through the window looking over our house, car, gardens - for some reason he didn't see me sat in here. His energy is just entirely toxic. DS no doubt will be reporting back that he is being fed soup rather than a meal 🙄. Thing is we've been taking down DS plates for a few months now because he leaves them up there and there are perfectly good meals left untouched. So if he's not eating what I'm giving him I don't really know what else to do..the bag he's brought back of food.....full of sugar, sweeteners and E numbers. Someone please tell me how that is better for him. 
Ugh. 
Anyway I've fed myself soup for lunch rather than giving in to the cravings of a sub way. I also have a hot water bottle and am under a blanket watching TV. Feel drained and in pain and ready for bed already. 

RedLipstick

Don't know how old DS is but maybe offer some 'gamification' and suggest checking out the Yuka app? I've been recommended it by a colleague at work few months ago and was shocked to see how unhealthy some "healthy" stuff I was eating was. Don't know about android but I've got it on iOS, maybe worth checking out.