MeandO's mortgage-free musings

£10 added to the savings this morning to round it up and£51.83 overpayment sent to the mortgage to round it down - two nice round numbers!

Balances now:
Savings: £1700/£2000
Mortgage now: £78,700

I made a big batch of HM soup last night and have portioned it up for the freezer and for lunch today. I also wrapped all of the Christmas gifts and wrote cards for everyone at 'home' so that (hopefully) visiting family this weekend can take them back with them and I won't need to post anything. I only have a few more Christmas gifts to buy now but I'll be waiting until after payday in 9 days time to do any more shopping.

I've completed a few more surveys, have more to do but probably won't get time today, so will hopefully get to those tomorrow.

Have a good day all
X

Bit of a evening last night.
My wonderful Mum was rushed to hospital again yesterday. Her health has been very poor for some years and a few months back she was diagnosed with a terminal illness. It's horrible being so far away and not being able to do anything to help. Hopefully a change in medication will sort her out promptly this time. She was due to come up for a much longed for visit this weekend, so she's really upset. Life is just so unfair to the nicest of people sometimes.

In money news, I did a lot of work last night, getting orders made and packed, ready to post today. I didn't sleep well at all, so am really tired today. At least I got a big bulk of work done though.

I cooked chicken stir fry for dinner last night, but lost my appetite for it, so it's boxed up ready for lunch today. I also portioned up some chicken legs and froze them for use at a later date. The homemade soup also got put in the freezer for work lunches. Waste not want not and all that.

The latest £5 Amazon voucher arrived from surveys and has been put towards another Christmas present already. I also ordered myself some dampseal paint ( I know how to spoil myself:o) that I need for an area in my hallway. It was cheaper on Amazon than at the local DIY stores. Hopefully that comes before the weekend so I can get cracking on getting that area sorted as it looks unsightly and is bothering me.

I cancelled the automatic renewal for my central heating cover yesterday too. The renewal price was 3 times what I paid this past year. :eek: I shopped around and got a policy which is more expensive than I paid last year (it was an excellent deal last year that I can't get near to now), but it covers everything - boiler, heating, plumbing, drainage and electrical issues and I should receive £65 CB via TCB and a £50 Amazon voucher.

Today I need to return the wallpaper that has been sat in my hallway, boxed up, for the past week. That should net £70 ish when refunded. I also need to pick up a parcel, post lots of orders, run to sainsbury's to sort the double up points thing with OH and hopefully try and chill out for a bit.

M
x

I've just realised that you can now set up regular mortgage op's online with lloyds, so I've just set one up to round my mortgage payment up to a rounded £400 a month. That extra £18.39 a month will cut a year and a half off my mortgage term! It will be harder for me to make regular op's next year when my business income disappears, but I plan on aiming to OP by another £100 a month at least - more if I'm able to.

Monday morning already.

The credit card has unfortunately taken a bit of a hit this weekend. I finished the last of the Christmas shopping and put it on there, also bought a runner for the hall to try and make it a bit cosier and warmer on the tootsies (£17), some lights (£23) and some new jeans for myself as my others had all worn through (£12) and a pair of shoes in the sales for myself for the bargain price of £6.40. As soon as I get paid on Friday, I'll be jigging the budget round so I can hopefully more or less pay it all off, or at least do so asap.

The weekend was a mixed bag - slightly stressful in parts and lovely in others. We met up with one of OHs friends and colleagues yesterday which was lovely, and it may raise a few exciting new opportunities for myself and my career too. Time will tell, but it's so terrifying to even think about new work opportunities whilst being the lone bill payer and the budget being on the edge of affordability as it is, but I would be a fool not to at least keep an open mind. It may come to nothing, but we shall see.

Have had a fair few orders over the weekend too, but this will now be the last of them as I am out of stock now. It's quite sad to close down my little business which has done me well over the past five years but it's no longer feasible to continue with it.

So, payday is on Friday, I'm going to have to try to not spend a bean until then...