Frosty melts the mortgage!

FrostyFrosty

No you source the boxes yourself - I just used old Amazon boxes. I believe postage is free though, it is via InPost lockers anyway which is how I send them. I think you can also arrange for a courier to pick them up from your home address.

FrostyFrosty

We have some good news in the Frosty household!

As I said when I first joined the forum, I needed to save £820 for a new cam belt, and it was stressing me out a little bit. Last year I saved £700 specifically for a girls trip to Ibiza to celebrate a big birthday. However, on speaking to the birthday girl, the trip is being delayed until next summer because the general consensus is that nobody can afford it. So while I'm a little sad we won't have our girls trip, I am a bit relieved that I basically have my cam belt money!

Now I just need to book in with the garage to get it changed, and it's happy motoring to me. That's really taken a weight off my mind.

I also have plenty of time to resave for the trip, so I can do that a little at a time.

So that good news means that now I can focus on splitting money on future paydays between my savings (to get to my £8.5k goal) and saving for some mortgage overpayments!

Hotel is now booked for my concert later this month. My friend has transferred me her half of the money, so I paid that off my credit card immediately. My half will have to stay on there until payday I'm afraid. On the plus side we got a good deal and have booked dinner and breakfast at the hotel and that's included in what we've already paid, so all I will really need to pay for that weekend is any extra drinks.

I only did a tiny food shop before payday so I'm running out of food. But with wanting to stick to my food budget, I'm not doing a food shop until the weekend, so I'm living out of the freezer. I batch cooked a load of chicken curry and chicken pasta bakes a little while ago so I've got more than enough to see me through to the weekend. I'll likely have to buy some more milk though.

I've seen some people on social media doing a 'how long can I last until I need to do a food shop' by using up all the random ingredients in the house and in the freezer. It's made for some really creative meals, but I am afraid I'm not that inventive! It's fun to see what people come up with though.

FrostyFrosty

I have done some very, very rough sums and I wonder if I should aim to be at around the £70k mark on the mortgage by 2027.

I think my regular payments, coupled with £3k of overpayments in 2026 and £3k of overpayments in 2027 should get me about there. I need to see how I go, but it could be doable.

It has made me realise though just how much further I have to go though. I am sort of kicking myself for not being better with saving for the past few years.

I had yesterday off work which was lovely, I spent the whole day outside and away from a computer screen! And today has been quite productive, I've:

• done two loads of washing and hung them up to dry
• shredded some old receipts and paperwork that were piling up
• done my food shopping
• cleaned the bathroom
• finished a book

I still need to hoover, and I think I also will list some things on Vinted. I've only ever bought from there but have never had a problem. I found a bag I'd never used and a dress that I've never worn and that doesn't fit anymore, so I thought I could start with those.

Hope everyone is enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend 😀 The ran has just started here ☔️

PennysIntoPounds

Don't worry about what could have been different in the past, we all do the best we can at the time and none of us know what butterfly effects for the worse there might have been if things had been different. You're now here and taking charge and making your life better 🥂

Definitely get on the vinted selling, in my experience it's a bit painful to start with as things only sell for much cheaper than you feel it's worth, but any and all sales really add up to an extra bit in your budget or OPs (overpayments) or towards a designated pot you're saving towards

FrostyFrosty

Thank you for your kind and wise words @PennysIntoPounds. You are right, there's not really any point in looking back is there, because I can't change it. We carry on!

I've listed two things on Vinted this evening… got a nice bag to list as well, but I want to take a photo of it outside in better lighting so I'll do that tomorrow. I figure if they don't sell within a month I can list them on eBay or just take them to the charity shop. Although, my dad has suddenly decided to spring clean (we went through some of his books today and I sent a parcel off to World of Books for him) and he's talking about going to a car boot sale at some point, so that's also an option. Every £1 helps!

FrostyFrosty

My second payment from World of Books has come in - that's another £18.04 into my savings.

I have sent a third box as well - a slightly smaller one this time so just £6.16, but every little helps. That's probably it for selling books for the time being. I have got many, many more to read though so I'm sure in a couple of months I'll have enough to send again. I think I'll see if they will take any of my recipe books as I have some I haven't looked at for years.

Couple more bits listed on Vinted. A few favourites but no sales so far.

What else has happened? Hmmm. I made myself a lovely egg mayonnaise sandwich for lunch… that's about it really. Kind of just waiting for payday really while also just finding work a real slog.

FrostyFrosty

I am having a really, really hard time at the moment. Work is really getting me down: everywhere I go, my manager is there. Every project I am working on, he has inserted himself into. And I don't think he does this with anyone else and I'm confused because nobody has raised that there is an issue with my work? He is new and my previous couple of managers were really hands off, you know 'crack on but let me know if you need anything/no, an update in our 1:1 is fine' sort of thing.

But all the while he's involved in my work, he's also calling me to ask questions about things he doesn't know the answer to. Last week: which version of the logo should he send. This week, two calls in one day about letters. So I mean I can't be that bad at my job if I'm the one he's constantly coming to with questions.

I am beyond frustrated. But I am also in such a poor headspace that sitting and applying for jobs is just so daunting especially with the job market the way it is. I did have a bit of a spree earlier this year where I applied to about 8 jobs. I had one interview but didn't end up getting any of them.

It feels like he knows I don't want to work with him, and he also doesn't want to work with me, so he's purposely putting on pressure to try and get me out one way or another. And there's no point going to my big boss about it. We had someone else managing another team, and 4 people within that team complained about him to her (one made a formal complaint to HR) and nothing happened. He just stayed until he got another job.

So I can't really go to her and say 'I don't like my manager', because I mean what's she supposed to do? I did tell her once about something he did that was extremely patronising and her jaw dropped, so I knew then I wasn't overreacting.

I'm just so, so fed up and it's getting increasingly hard to actually want to get out of bed and go and sit at my computer every day when I know I'll have to deal with him, but also deal with everyone else who is also working on things that are all extremely urgent (spoiler: they aren't).

I don't want this to turn into an 'I hate my job' thread as I realise I'm fortunate to even have one, but I just am really struggling right now. I guess if anyone has been in a similar situation, please let me know as I could really use some tips and advice.

beanielou

It’s a difficult one. Be kind to yourself.

PennysIntoPounds

Could you ask him if you could have an informal chat at the end of the week to 'review the weeks work and make sure you're on the same page'?

Everyone's in a better mood in Fridays, and it gives you a couple of days to mull over/jot down a list of things that have been 'different to how the previous manager liked you to do things' and ask how much/little involvement or feedback he needs, and ask how he's settling in and if there are any things he's particularly not feeling 'in the loop' about.

If you're the one to create a positive and reciprocal respectful relationship its likely it will be appreciated, most people are trying to style out floundering rather than deliberately being eejits!

beanielou

Great advice from @PenniesIntoPounds.