The mindful MFW: A healthy, happy journey to a mortgage free life!

Feeling not great. Sore throat, worn out, bit skittish. About to go to bed with a redbush tea and some honey to read for a bit.

Long diversion on way home to collect DD1 bedding set before returned to depot. It's out of stock so couldn't get another. Then got call from OH to pick up nappies urgently. Bought too much stuff and had to carry it home via 2 buses. Plus missed most of kids bedtime. Can you tell I'm very grumpy? :rotfl:

£33.17/ £250 groceries budget spent today. Includes Xmas food / competion qualifiers, OH coffee, nappies and wipes, and a stockpile of packed lunch snacks via Poundland.
£10.91 spent on Xmas presents including toy for charity appeal, 3 little buildings to go with our train set, pencil case like a watermelon and 3 terrys orange for the price of 1. The OH LOVES a terrys orange!

Laundry hung, washload ready on timer and now off to bed. Night all!

Thanks all! The numbers give an apparent sense of order order to my otherwise chaotic life :rotfl:! I find it helpful to do the monthly budgets, they really flag up the shortfall in our budgets and make us tighten our belts. It also takes a lot of the decision making out of our day to day - the path has been set, we just need to stick to it . I'm a real believer in avoiding decision fatigue where possible.

Good news - 3 day a week request has largely been approved. They've asked if can stagger the reduction over 3 months and also informed me it will be a permanent change. I can ask to increase hours in a year's time but, of course, there's no guarantee. This means I would be on 4 days a week until Jan when I would drop down to 3 days. The extra money from delaying the move to three days would of course help counter the major reduction in OH's salary (until April 2018). I've not been feeling well the last few days so going to spend the weekend thinking it through and talking to the OH. Feel a bit nervous giving up a full time role for a part time one but doesn't mean it's the wrong thing to do.

We've had our first invoice from DD2s new nursery and it's a little higher than expected, but not by much, have gone back to ask for a detailed breakdown. The main shocker is the 1 month deposit AND 1 month in advance plus 2 weeks comes to over £1000 :eek:! Will definitely have to tap our savings. Looks like our childcare for DS and DD2 will be about £500pm after childcare vouchers (saving £140pm from previous) and £250pm after childcare vouchers from Jan when I reduce their attendance (saving £390 from previous). If I save an additional £50pm on travel with an ebike this will mostly cover the £500pm drop in my salary by going part time. And of course I'll look to make some other economies - batch cooking, side hustles etc - to eek those pennies a bit further.

Won a £20 book voucher and had a rare NSD yesterday :j! Today £25.88 spent on a £50 shop, plus £4.16 on comping items and £2.25 from greetings card budget.

Terrible night's sleep, not helped by DD1 waking me up at 4am so I could check what the banging noise on her window was (spoiler alert: nothing!) Today have treated myself to a super healthy and tasty soup from my pocket money for lunch (£4.10) and just heading up for an early night.

Thanks wish, although I've just realised I did all my calculations based on a 25 hour work week and actually submitted a 21 work week request at the last minute _pale_.

My salary will be down £550 a month from January rather than the £500 I had in my head. Just relooked at figures though and should still be doable.

DS seems so much happier in Yr 1, I think the structure and change in learning style really suit him. Plus staff are more informed as to how best to deal with him when he is frustrated.

Home insurance paid for , £440 from savings pot moved to current. £220 saved vs renewal, plus 2,500 Mr T points earned . Good job I called as the code hadn't applied the extra vouchers to my quote :eek:. Also called to cancel auto renewal on old provider.

Had a lovely day with family, kids had lots of playing time and we had good food and a catch up. I have mostly eaten and sat on my behind though :rotfl:. DD1 given snacks and £1 for bagel at music school which seems to be a good compromise as she wanted a £3 meal deal every week which will mount up.

Have listed 2 items on fleabay within time limit so should get £20 at end of month from trial, plus any money made from selling items. :T Hoping this will kickstart another selling frenzy, would be great to finish the declutter this winter and bring in a few pounds from it too.

Two laundry loads done and hung out. Didn't need to make dinner either as we were so well looked after.

In other news, DD2 has deleted the notes application from my iPad :eek::eek: so have lost 18 months of work notes...

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

Oh no. Have you checked the cloud?

Yes, for some reason notes didn't back up to cloud, only 4 out of 300 :eek: so guess who will be going to IT department tomorrow with pleading eyes :rotfl:.