A drop in the ocean?!

I always thought saving the pennies was not much point. I mean, you can't do much with those 1p's that I seem to find scattered about the house and in pockets.  It is just as drop in the ocean, right?

Over the last few days I have been thinking, that yes, saving pennies is just a drop in the ocean.  But then, that is all the ocean is made up of, countless drops.

I have to remember that it is not just about putting in big chunks into my savings (although that would be nice!), it is also about those pennies.  Every one of them.

.....................................................................

I have recently been reading about No Spend Days and the Sealed Jar Challenge over at the lovely SFT blog, and have decided to do it myself.  I have not spent anything for the last three days which is great!   I had to get some vegetables from the Co-op for tea yesterday, but used my dividend points to pay for it.  I also stopped myself from sticking a bottle of drink in my basket - it wasn't on my list and I really didn't need it.  I am amazed how liberating it feels to realize that I really don't have to spend loads.  We were also lucky enough to be taken out for lunch, so no money spent there.  This was followed by a play at the park for the little monkies - again, all free.

I have also made my Sealed Jar.  I have 2 at the moment - one for our holiday in France this summer and the other is the Mortgage Pot (it is in a lovely old milk tin from the 40's).  I am going to make another one for my trip to Dublin later this year.

I am very pleased that I have been able to feed my little pots already.  I have taken all the silver change out of a pot we keep on the side and popped it in the France Jar.   I also got a bit of a bonus - my Dad came and visited for a night and gave us a bit of cash (lovely man!).  This has gone straight in the pots.  Usually any money like this would disappear into my purse and be wasted in a matter of days - now it can actually go towards something.

Still feeling very happy about this.  Not sure my husband is quite and excited - but a warning, he had better guard his pockets, as any change found is fair game and my little sealed pots are HUNGRY!

P.S  A big hello to SammyLeia and thank you for your post already.

Is it really possible to be mortgage free?

I want to say a huge hello to SFT - my first real follower on my new blog!

It is because of  SFT and reading her inspiring blog about becoming mortgage free and saving up for those important things in life, that got me thinking about my own finances.  I am not great with money, but I am not that bad either.  I am not in debt (thank goodness), but I never really know how much is coming in or going out.  I save very half-heartedly, and usually spend it before I have saved much.

And when it comes to the mortgage, well, I just assumed that it is something I will have for the rest of my life.  To be honest, I had no idea we were just paying off the interest (hangs head in shame).

So yesterday I decided it was time to get my head out of the sand and take a good, hard look at my finances.  Hubby and I were home yesterday (kids both out), so we sat down with our bank statements and finances and for the first time had a really good look at our mortgage.  At the rate we are paying into the mortgage account, I think we would be paying it off when I am 100.  Not a good thought.   So we have decided to start paying it off £1000 at a time.  This would be coming from putting money aside, not spending when we don't need to, and changing our savings to go into the mortgage account (there is not much point having savings earning a pointless interest rate, when we could be paying off the house).  By our reckoning, we got it down to 29 year - ok, more manageable.  By adding an extra £100 a month into the account would slash the repayment time.

Why have I never thought about this before?!  It is so clear and becomes achievable.  I have been so happy today.  Finally I know where I stand.  And I think the idea of being mortgage free will stop me spending  on all those little things that rapidly drain my purse.

My new budget for the month is £60 (food, bills, petrol etc have all been accounted for).  So £60  is mine and I intent to do my damdest to stick to that figure and try to put a little aside every day.

Bring it on!

To do before I am 40......

I have worked out that I have 1521 days until I hit my 40th birthday and I have decided to give myself 101 challenges to complete before then.  I have so far only written out 50, but I will think of more and I am going to give myself chance to edit and add some should I be inspired.

I started this last year and have only done 4 so far.  Lots more to do.  A lot of them involve travelling which is going to be expensive and not something we can do until the little monkies are a bit older (there is no way I am going to drive across America with a 3 and a 5 year old!).  So they will have to wait, but I can dream until then!

I will keep posting my progress and see how I get on.

How are we half way through January?

It is the 17th January and I am only just writing my goals for the year.  Or rather I have been thinking about them, but have only now got round to writing them down.

I can't be doing with giving up things, simply because it never lasts and I just end up feeling, a) like a failure and b) guilty for doing the thing I probably once enjoyed, like stuffing my face with chocolate.  What is the point?

Goals are much more fun and can be things like going to Paris or spending the day at a spa.  Much more my kind of thing.

But this year, my main goal is to be more aware.  Doesn't sound like much, but I find myself wandering though life, constantly thinking about other things, never really enjoying the moment or what I have right in front of me.  Also, I just take for granted that everything I have is always going to be there.  That those I love will always be around, that I have lots of time to do the things I love.  So I need to open my eyes to all that is around me, be aware of what I eat, drink, do, say.  Aware of how everything impacts on me, my family, the world around me, for good or bad.  Aware that I have the power to change the world.  Aware of the influence I have on my childrens lives.  I guess it is just time to take my head out of the sand and live.

That is going to be an ongoing challenge for me but at the same time, there are other things I want to achieve this year.  Some are big things, some are silly little things that I have always thought I would like to have a go at.......

• Gain my blue belt and be on the way to my orange belt in Aikido, by the end of the year. 
• Go to Paris with my lovely husband.



From planetware.com

•  
• RUN the 10k (need to book this one up!)
• Light a fire without matches or flint and steel.  
• Get a job I like (I know what job I want, just need the balls to go for it)
• Swim in a river. 

From wildswimming.co.uk

There are plenty more, so will add to them when I can remember them.

The lovely Ben Howard.

Just cannot get enough of this guy.  Lucky to see him in a little venue in Lincoln and he was just amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KrU1LY-pQU

Christmas is coming.......

Christmas is rapidly approaching and for the first time I am just not feeling the Christmas thing.  Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas.  I love the build up, I love decorating the tree, getting out the books and the Christmassy films.

But this year?  Meh.

I am wondering if it is because it is the lack of television in the house (got rid of the TV earlier this year).  So for the first time in my life we have not been bombarded by endless Christmas adverts that start at the beginning of October.  No more adverts showing the perfect family enjoying a version of Christmas that just doesn't exist.  No more of that feeling of never living up to the happy, smiley, beautiful, well behaved telly families.   No more big, shouty 'IT'S CHRISTMAS, BUY STUFF'!

So perhaps this year it will be a bit more of a gradual festive time in our house.  The slow realisation of a special time.  Perhaps it will make the big day more special, instead of the slight deflated feeling that seems to accompany Christmas day for me.  Only time will tell.

But in the meantime, I think it could be time to get out 'It's a Wonderful Life' and crack open a Chocolate Orange.

Where I have been spending my days........

For the last two weeks I have been spending my time invigilating my solo exhibition in Lincoln.  This is my third solo show and possibly the scariest.  The gallery is much bigger than the last ones and, to be honest, I was woefully unprepared.  I have known about this exhibition for 18 months, yet only did the work in the last 6 weeks.  So, basically 6 weeks of late nights, one poor stressed husband, canvases cluttering up every surface and the permanent smell of paint in the house.  I do have a studio (shed really) in the garden but space and the fact that it is bloody cold forced me to decamp inside.



But, it is done and hanging and my time here is almost at an end.  I am not sure how I feel about it all.  I am not sure of the point of exhibitions.  Is it just my own vanity to put my work out there?  Is it just that I want people to see it and validate me as an 'artist' (a term I use very loosely about myself)?  I am really questioning if I should continue with the art.  I am not sure if I actually enjoy it anymore,  heck, I don't know anything anymore.

So as this exhibition draws to a close, the question remains, what now?  Do I continue or do I return to my life of tea making and hang up the paint brushes?