Hello All! So sorry for the delay in writing but things on the suburban farm have been a bit crazy. As I think I mentioned, my partner was furloughed in March. He has been at home sitting in his harry potter under the stairs work closet for the last number of months teaching himself how to do data analysis on Coursera and he managed to get a new job. Yay! We are waiting for a start date but this is a very good way to start 2021 especially given it was such a shit year! We are so lucky. I honestly hope that you are lucky too. ❤
Meanwhile, as he was unemployed, I was tossing out job applications right left and center in order to deal with his unemployment and managed to maybe snag a job in his home country. It will be very interesting to see whether or not we go and how this shakes out. His home country is very very expensive and so we are working hard at still paying down debt (as much as we can on one income). Another concern is that we will not be able to be on the property ladder in the expensive country, which, I must admit, has been such a boost to our net worth. You can see here our progress over the last year. We managed to go from a net worth of about -12K to a positive net worth of about +25K. I’m really really proud of us for doing this but a lot of it has to do with paying into a mortgage. If housing prices go down, this could easily be weakened. Yet, on the other hand, both of our families live on different continents and neither lives here. As they and we age, maybe it seems more prudent to be closer such that we can care for them.
In terms of house projects that I have been doing (these seem to be the most popular posts), I decided to repaint my green dining room ceiling a more traditional colour. It used to be green (that tabernacle paint I used for the bedroom? I slopped it on the dining room ceiling!). it was nice and a bit funky but I think we got sick of it really soon. So, instead, I went with a slightly darker and creamier shade on the ceiling than on the walls and I think it looks quite nice! The cream makes the light in the dining area less stark and it kinda brings down the ceiling a bit but not too much.
As another project, I also re-oiled my kitchen counters. In total, these two projects were probably about 100 pounds but I think they were worth it, especially now that we are spending so much time at home and in the dining room and kitchen, and not eating out because I am terrified of getting myself or other people sick. Both projects didn’t take too long. The next thing I want to do is paint the inside of the green pantry that you can see in the photo. I bought some paint to do but Im also swamped with a lot of work so it’s hard to justify spending more time on home projects right now.
This brings me to the actual reason that I wanted to write this post #frugalplanning is that we are going to try to save my partners entire salary starting next year which means I am going to have to stop buying clothes. I really have no need to wear them anywhere because the only place I go is to walk the dog and to the grocery store! And, if we are indeed moving back to the expensive city (more details on that once it’s for sure), we need to save, save, save and debt payoff, debt payoff, debt payoff!
So, I recently purchased a book entitled “Sewing Your Perfect Capsule Wardrobe” and it looks fantastic. I think the book is a bit advanced for me, but I am going to start with the vest and see how it goes. Thats all for me. I’m so grateful that we were able to manage the (small) unemployment period that we are having. I do sincerely hope that you are managing it too.
Happy New Year!
Scanty
