Turning Straw into Gold: Creating Long Term Security & A Solid Home

Dakota_Rose

I just had a lovely half hour to myself mapping out a floor plan of the house and gardens into blocks. 50 blocks in total with the value of £5k each. I have a key 😂 pink for ‘paid off’ and yellow for ‘renovated’.

We’ve been in the house under three years so it’s looking scarily blank at the moment.

May need to add a car one one for the loan or I’ll feel like I’m making no progress at all!

See what you’ve started 🙈 😂. Have a lovely Sunday!

MillQueen

@Dakota_Rose, that sounds lovely! 😍 Mine is pink for paid off too.

Hopefully it will feel like it starts to go down faster soon for you. I think it's really hard to feel excited about paying down the mortgage in the first few years, as it goes at such a slow pace. Mine is still at the point where the interest is about £1000 each month and less than £300 is coming off the capital.

Rhyddid2026

I was thinking roof tiles. My roof loan cost me 12k and I currently owe about 6,700 so I almost owe one whole side of the roof which is quite exciting!

FootyFanDan

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81992458#Comment_81992458

Absolutely love this idea, so creative as well.

MillQueen

Love the roof tiles idea, @Rhyddid2026, that sounds enjoyable to colour in. How much will each tile be? I'll have to do that as well when I get my whole roof done at some point, if I am still here in this house at a later date. @FootyFanDan, it could also be adapted for saving for a house deposit if you are doing one…

I have not been very productive today and must now have a couple of extreme productive hours before bed.

A good thing is that I haven't spent any money.

MillQueen

I began today with a small spend on a cup of tea from the machine at work, which felt ok for my budget since I didn't end up buying anything at all over the weekend. This was because I had to throw away the mug from my desk as it was in such bad shape. Not very MSE of me, but the mug was free in the first place, so perhaps the universe will gift me another. I am having lunch in the canteen with a friend today and I am going to offer to pay for us both, as I can't remember who paid last time. We'll have to do the "no I'll pay, no it's my turn, put your money away, no I'll get this, no I insist" argument. I am going to do 3 hours of concentration now.

😑 determined face - need to get back on track.

sunshineli

Just catching up on your diary. I love the idea of eating weetabix for the foreseeable until you get bored. It’s amazing how much energy is spent on making decisions, so reducing decision fatigue can only be a good thing. Ive eaten a hummus salad bagel/hummus salad wrap for my lunch almost every day for well over 5+ years 😂

MillQueen

@sunshineli, oh wow, I am SO impressed with your 5+ year lunch arrangement! You must have saved a fortune. I’ve been finding the cheapest own brand “wheat biscuits“ (only £1.46 for 24) and if I wanted to do a more extreme version I could use powdered milk or water, although I haven’t felt hardcore enough to tackle those variations yet. I haven’t properly done a lunch time version yet either, though I’m doing different variations of sandwiches currently, just because I’m tired and it’s all I can face making. I am enjoying the Weetabix though 😂.

I have been reading about the Effort-Reward Imbalance Model (in relation to work), where there is a high level of effort but not much recognition or prospect of promotion. I see that the research says it leads to chronic stress, burnout, health issues and heart disease. I can only see two realistic pathways through, which are to get a senior level job and fix it for others, or to look for a job elsewhere with a better reward balance. The first option is unlikely due to the difficulty in getting roles and the latter is probably what I’ll eventually do. I suppose another option would be to make no effort (which is what I see many others doing), but it’s not really my natural way of living.

MillQueen

WELL…. a thing happened. I had a meeting with a person higher up at work who is in charge of training opportunities, after the situation in which I was refused the training opportunity they previously promised. (Admittedly I may have got a bit emotional in the meeting, as I have been so stressed about it). It looks like I may be able to do the training and have most of it funded after all. I have got to make a few things happen over the next week, like writing a huge evidence document at the weekend and being pushy in some emails about paperwork, but it looks like the support is there. She was actually really nice about it and apologised that it had been a bad experience, so I think it was true after all that it was a bit of a disorganised system rather than them trying to stop me having the opportunity or not valuing staff. Feel ok about that now. It's going to save me thousands and will hopefully renew my enthusiasm and hopefulness at work.

I was considering spending £3 on a breakfast roll to celebrate, but I looked at my bank account and I am doing well and on track to pay off my overdraft and have a bit left over, so I decided not to. Having some water instead, for free 😂. I currently have £509.19 in my account and all I need to pay for is my phone bill, petrol and food for the next couple of weeks, so if I live frugally I should be able to finish with a bit left.

In my distress about work, I had also been considering how I could turn my creativity towards making some money outside of work, so more thoughts on that later on when I have time to type them!

Have a good Wednesday everyone!

Dakota_Rose

That’s really good news about the training offer. Well done for self-advocating!