A little bit of me time!

Kittencat

A little bit of me time is what I have been craving for many years.

Things have got hectic lately and decision has been made to reduce my working week to a 4 day week. 

This won't be imminent as this needs to be covered but even making the decision and talking to managers has release the work stress some what.

Hence the diaries title, a little bit of me time. I know the day off will be mainly housework, groceries, school runs but just the stress of not rushing from the school run straight to work one day a week sounds idyllic.

Our situation
We are a family of 3, myself, husband and teenage daughter who are about to move to a new home.  New home needs a little love and attention but not overly. We have a small mortgage left which will take approx 2 maybe 3 years to pay off. 

We both have good incomes and should have £1800 left spare at the end of each month after all biils/groceries/extras but we don't and we have no idea where it goes. We don't drink/smoke, we dont go out much. Cafes and eating out is probably the main culprit. 

So we should easily cope with me dropping one day a week? Shouldn't we?  

So here I am hoping to be a bit more organised and making life a little easier.

Please say hello when passing and let's share some happiness for the future. 

redofromstart

Happy new diary kitten cat, and good luck with your journey. 

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary 
Maybe you could keep a wee spending diary for say a month & note down everything you spend so you know what your money is being spent on.

Kittencat

Thank you both for dropping by. Tea or coffee?

@redofromstart thank you xx

@beanielou Yes a spending diary is a good idea. This is something I will do but will wait until we have moved I think.

I will be getting my 4 day a week as of next week yeah!!!  I hoping this will give me some me time and help with our moving home which is going to be very soon. We are just waiting on dates.

I feel life has been on hold whilst waiting to move, it's been slow with lots of issues and last week we didn't think it would go ahead but issues have been sorted so we are hoping to move in next 2 weeks. 🤞🤞

We have not even thought about xmas as yet, nothing bought as waiting to move. This is also taking up head space as I would normally pick up bits and pieces from September and put away. 

I have lots more in my head that I need to put down in writing but time ha caught up and I need to get ready for work.

Kettle will be on later if anyone would like a chit chat.

Take Care

redofromstart

Tea for me please.

congrats on the four day week. I found I spent less when I was part time because I had more time to do things like bulk cooking.

Kittencat

Happy Saturday 

Family swimming time this morning.
Came home for food which is really good for us as it would normally be a cake and coffee in leisure centres cafe, so a thumbs up for us 👍.

Quick cuppa then I'm off up the attic room to box some stuff up as moving is imminent and we are nowhere near ready and I'm having sleepless night due to this.........and the perimenopause is not helping one bit!!! 

Do you think an SOE (think that's what it's called) would be a good idea? We know where are everyday money goes and we think we know where we could be better. How do I get the SOE? 

So couple of hours packing/organising then a relax with family for Saturday night tv. I have a 10k race tomorrow so need to eat and hydrate well this evening. 

Happy Saturday all.

Kittencat

Good Evening 

Lovely Sunday here. 

Up early for a 10k race very hilly very unprepared but it went better than expected with a niggling hip.  

Husband packed his garage and my daughter helped with Sunday roast. It was lovely having her help and she enjoyed it also. Will make this a regular thing.  Now have a tummy full with nutritious food and we are all happy. 

Going to settle down in next hour for a game of something (daughters choice) and evening tv. 

We are also trying to run the freezer stuff down. We have emptied the garage freezer and now just have the main fridge freezer left. Its an American fridge freezer so still a lot to get through. This in its self should save us money. 

We all tend to take lunch to school/work but I do tend to rush in the mornings and don't make my own. I need to get better at this. Left over Sunday lunch for tomorrow sorted.

Oh cuppa has arrived. Back later. Xx

Sarahwithlove

Hopefully once you are settled in your new place it will become easier to get a routine. I always make my packed lunch the night before whilst dinner is cooking. 

Kittencat

Hi @Sarahwithlove welcome. Yes I agree once settled it will be a lot easier. 

We do feel in limbo land at the mo. 
Most of the house is in boxes, it's organised but feels messy. 

Did a small shop on way to work thus morning as we had busy weekend and didn't do a shop. Not much needed so popped to supermarket before work. It was a speed shop and kept to my list.

Just about to pack another box this time with pictures, ornaments etc. 

I feel like I need an organising house forum rather than a mortgage free forum. 

See ya later 

Sarahwithlove

I think it always feels messy when stuff is in boxes but it will be worth it in the end. Are you having a sort out/declutter as you box stuff up? 

Kittencat

We have had a sit down to discuss things that need doing to new house when we move. We have savings to be able to do the work. It's good to see it in writing and to research the jobs that need doing.

We are moving from a village to a small housing estate 2 miles down the road. Our teen hopefully will get more freedom as no children live in the village and she gets anxious when i drop her off that she wont be able to get home (even though we are always available for lifts) She can come and go as she pleases and walk to and from school with friends etc. 
We are moving from a 3 bed semi old house to a 4 bed detached so will have more rooms but they will not be as big as the rooms we have here. Although good news is the new house is £15000 cheaper than the one we live in now. Therefore mortgage will be reduced, although not by much as moving fees are really expensive!!!!

Busy weekend planned - Did local parkrun this morning,  took teen swimming, made us all sandwiches for lunch (omg i had fish finger sandwiches 🤣) and now getting ready to pop to local retail park for a look around as husband needs winter running kit. 

Family theatre trip tomorrow which I'm really looking forward. I love the theatre.  We are planning on food out but it will only be a cheap high street restaurant/pub chain. 

I'm planning an hour of packing boxes later. Going to tackle the kitchen cupboards, Soup maker, slow cooker and stuff we don't normally use. Our kitchen here is massive and has lots of cupboards so will have to be strict and get rid of a lot of things we don't use. 

So nice to write all this down. 
Take care