greent's mfw journey

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  • apple_muncher
    apple_muncher Posts: 14,662
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    Hope you are enjoying dh's company and not having him get under your feet too much now that he's home for a while...!
    NST March lion #8; NSD ; MFW9/3/23 Whoop Whoop!!!
  • Happy New Year Greent
    CRx
  • greent
    greent Posts: 10,669
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    Hope you are enjoying dh's company and not having him get under your feet too much now that he's home for a while...!

    Hmmm..... some days are better than others..... ;):rotfl:
    Happy New Year Greent
    CRx

    And to you, cr! :) x
    I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul
    Repaid mtge early (orig 11/25) 01/09 £124616 01/11 £89873 01/13 £52546 01/15 £12133 07/15 £NIL
    Net sales 2024: £20
  • greent
    greent Posts: 10,669
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    Happy New Year to one and all!!!

    Quiet NYE in here - I was shattered. Had a takeaway, with leftovers of it eaten for yesterday. Only had 1 small glass of prosecco to drink - and that was to make sure the bottle (from Xmas Day) was not wasted! Also gained an extra meal from the takeaway as they messed our order up - frozen for DS1 to take back to uni with him/ eat another time :) Smalls insisted on staying up until midnight and then went straight to bed after we went outside and watched fireworks for about 10 minutes. Thankfully DS1 then slept in until almost 9.30 - unheard of!!!

    Have started tracking my food again from today (didn't see much point yesterday with leftovers still around :D) And have signed up to RED January (https://www.redtogether.co.uk) - approx. 45 min walk done yesterday and today, average of 335 cal burn for them. I have my eyes on the prize of being less lumpy at DD's graduation in July - and I want to be fitter for my 50th in 2020 :)

    Small (less than £2) tfr to mtge today to keep balance at a round figure after mtge int gone through. Likewise a small tfr to holiday account to round up balance after month end with all the auto 'save the change' tfrs (sort of like auto TTs) No spends so far this month at all (a first!!) but want to get a bit of food shopping in tomorrow (milk, juice and some other bits) and may buy some scales (haven't had scales in over 20 years) to help track progress (am fed up of moving things around to use the Wii fit board to weigh myself!! :rotfl:)
    I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul
    Repaid mtge early (orig 11/25) 01/09 £124616 01/11 £89873 01/13 £52546 01/15 £12133 07/15 £NIL
    Net sales 2024: £20
  • greent
    greent Posts: 10,669
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    Disclaimer: I reserve the right to amend/ add to these following Brexit or if I see anything which I want to copy from someone else's plans! :D;) They may also be changed depending upon OH and a contract.

    FAMILY
    * Make Memories - a perennial favourite now. Ideas include days out (possibly with some Tesc0 CC deals), more family games, the family events we have this year, time spent together doing things together.
    * Family Events - this year we have 2 family weddings (2 of my cousins), OH turns 50, DS3 turns 10 (he's very excited for 'double digits'!), DS2 turns 13 (this month) and (the biggy) DD's graduation. I'd like all of these to be memorable and enjoyable.
    * Continue to support DD and DS1 whilst at uni (financially and otherwise!!), DS2 in y8/Y9, DS3 Y5 into Y6 (so through his 11+ entrance test - our local comp is poor and so is the attitude from some of the staff (I've worked there twice and seen it myself)and OH whilst he's looking for another contract....


    HOME
    * The House - update the spreadsheet of jobs to be done around the house. Aim to achieve something each month from there, especially if little/ no cost, just time.
    * Garden - look at what food to grow (if any) Make it a pretty place to spend time in (am hoping for nice weather again!) Paint fences. Finish decking (??)
    * Maintain decluttering - we have made lots of progress on this over the past few years. Ensure things identified to go have a clear exit strategy - sell towards 2020 holiday fund where possible :)

    FINANCES
    * Pensions - increase our monthly contributions from April (currently 10% - look to increase to 15 or even 20%, depending upon OH's job)
    * Ensure company accounts and personal tax stuff delivered tp accountant asap after relevant period ends (Company = 31/01 - deliver records in Feb; personal tax stuff to be delivered no later than June (depends how quick I get my P60 from invigilating)
    * Extra funds (sales of items, surveys, cashback, £2 coins, invigilating money) to be added to 2020 holiday fund
    * Reduce outstanding capital balance on BTL mtge by £5K over the year
    * Look at a new ISA. May consider just cash one until Brexit
    * 2 x CTF accounts for smalls - look at transferring these elsewhere for better returns
    * Make our money work harder (eg: P**kb0x vouchers for shopping)

    HEALTH
    * My fitness levels to be regained to minimum where they were a couple of years ago.
    * Lose weight/ reduce dress sizes - better for mental as well as physical health
    * Small niggles to carry on being dealt with (trapped nerve/ eczema) and any others as they arise

    A year of mindfulness (seeing as social media seems to be full of people choosing a word for the year!)

    That'll do for now! :)
    xx
    I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul
    Repaid mtge early (orig 11/25) 01/09 £124616 01/11 £89873 01/13 £52546 01/15 £12133 07/15 £NIL
    Net sales 2024: £20
  • greent
    greent Posts: 10,669
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    edited 10 January 2019 at 1:38PM
    So I've signed up to the 'Mtge Free in Three' Pt 5 today - I did a couple of those for our prsnl mtge, so thought I may as well do it for the BTL too :D Have set a target of 20k over the 3 years - we'll still be supporting at least 1 child at uni for all of that time. I'm thinking (although the charts won't take account) of effectively 5K/ 7k/ 8k for the 3 years -so I'll always be running behind the end goal until Y3. That allows for our 2020 holiday savings, though (which will take priority over BTL if necessary)

    The 2 students are due to return on Monday, so I've spent part of today sorting out things they can take back with them. Have made DS1 breakfast bar/ flapjack things (various bits of dried fruit/ nuts/ seeds/ small hotel pot of apricot jam/ bananas from the freezer - and then oats/ syrup/ sugar/ butter) and a big tray of rocky road-esque, helping to use up some remaining Xmas chocs in it, along with some biscuits which no one will eat as they are :T Have just parboiled a full bag of potatoes for HM aunt-Be55ie style roasties for DD and parboiled a full bag of parsnips for my freezer to ensure they're not wasted (I'm the only one who likes 'nips) Most of the remaining Xmas goodies will be leaving with them - which is very much a Good Thing - far too much temptation lying around here!!

    Tomorrow is DS2's 13th bday - all his presents are wrapped - just his card to write. We shall go to Nand0s for a meal in the evening - which is also a nice pre-back-to-school and goodbye-students treat all rolled into one :D I will, however, be nipping out to Sainz in the morning as I have 3 vouchers I can combine for one shopping trip (1 expires tomorrow, 1 on Monday and 1 starts tomorrow - so tomorrow is the best day for max points/ money off!)- but armed with a list so I can whizz in and out - plus he'll have opened his presents at that point, so he'll be busy with those then :)

    Small sale via fb00k this morning - not being collected until Mon, though, so I won't count it until then. I have a few other little bits to list, but several things have also gone in CS bag instead. As long as things are leaving, I'm happy - it's that time of year! :D

    xx
    I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul
    Repaid mtge early (orig 11/25) 01/09 £124616 01/11 £89873 01/13 £52546 01/15 £12133 07/15 £NIL
    Net sales 2024: £20
  • Karmacat
    Karmacat Posts: 39,460
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    You're back at your wizardry full tilt already! Happy 13th birthday for tomorrow for your DS2 :)
    2023: the year I get to buy a car
  • apple_muncher
    apple_muncher Posts: 14,662
    First Anniversary Mortgage-free Glee! First Post Name Dropper
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    :bdaycake::bdaycake::bdaycake: Happy birthday to ds2!
    NST March lion #8; NSD ; MFW9/3/23 Whoop Whoop!!!
  • greent
    greent Posts: 10,669
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    Thank you both :) He had a lovely day and we had dinner at Nand0s (his choice) - always a winner! :D Yesterday (as he is now 13) he decided to set up a fb00k account - he had a fun time all evening setting it up and adding people (family members) as friends

    The students went back on Monday - they have exams this month. Lots of food went back with them! I've taken the opportunity as a result to sort/ tidy/ inventory the freezer (using my new notebook - when I say new, I mean an unused one which has been sitting in the office cupboard for at least 3 years! :D) - my freezer is now a thing of beauty when you open it! Things have been identified to use up (OH just needs persuading....) Also cleaned out kitchen food cupboards and cleaned outsides of all cupboards - will move into cleaning insides (and sorting if necessary) in next day or 2 :) Made some sugar free jelly up using a packet found which went ood mid 2017... :D

    Smallest 2 went back to school yesterday - all seems to have gone well :) Hopefully we will be well and truly back in the rhythm come next week :)

    Money news? - absolutely none!! :rotfl:
    xx
    I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul
    Repaid mtge early (orig 11/25) 01/09 £124616 01/11 £89873 01/13 £52546 01/15 £12133 07/15 £NIL
    Net sales 2024: £20
  • greent
    greent Posts: 10,669
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    Still not much happening over here - have made some small faceb00k sales of things belonging to the student-children, so they've had the money. Some other things have been donated (to my sister, the CS, shoebox appeal, a friend's DS) Was (very unusually!! :rotfl:) in a domesticated mood last week/ early this week so did quite a bit of deep cleaning around the house - sort of an early Spring clean, I guess! Still more to do, but I've lost the enthusiasm now :D

    Still no real money news here. The lettings agent for our BTL has merged (well, more like been taken over by) another local agent. Looks like we need a couple of checks done (a few £) to comply with their 'rules' but they do give us the rent every month a full week earlier. They all seem far more on the ball about legislation and procedures and have systems in place, so it's not a bad thing to have happened!

    I'm debating about applying for a part time, term time only job at the school where I invigilate. I'd still want to do some invigilation - I've committed to this Summer, anyway! Pay is not brill, but hours are flexible, it's reasonably close to home and it's where I'd like DS3 to attend from Y7 (currently Y5) Job description I could do standing on my head, tbh - without meaning to sound like I'm bragging - but it's organisation/ admin. It's the kind of thing I was thinking about applying for once DS3 was at secondary school, so about 18 months too early - but something as good a fit might not come up again for years! Anyway, applying won't hurt - I might not get it, but it may show the school that I'd be interested in other positions, I guess. If I got it, I'd need to buy more work-y clothes, though.... And be a bit more organised at home.... :cool:
    I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul
    Repaid mtge early (orig 11/25) 01/09 £124616 01/11 £89873 01/13 £52546 01/15 £12133 07/15 £NIL
    Net sales 2024: £20
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