The 9 year plan...hold onto your hats and here we go!

EssexHebridean

The council (who are the owners of our block's freehold) have decided that the block needs to have all sorts of work done to it - mainly cosmetic and largely as a result of them failing to maintain properly over a period of years! We get less benefit than most as ours already has UPVC windows throughout (paid for by our predecessors) and some of the other works they are doing don't effect us as we're ground floor. We still have to pay a straight split of the cost though - that being a minimum of £6800, possibly more. :mad: Absolutely infuriating, and pretty much nothing we can do about it.

So - news today. The refund I have been waiting for from More Than has finally come through - I inadvertently made an error on my first attempt at taking out contents insurance with them (via Quidco, naturally!) and had to cancel and take a second policy - was told that I would get a refund within 5 days - it's taken over a month! Got it now though which is a relief.

I have been drafted onto the testing workshop for our new system at work, so had to go up to our Bedford depot today for the first session of testing. There will be another one next week which they also want me to attend. I get to claim mileage each time I go as I use my own car, so that'll be a nice boost when it comes through as thanks to having a very economical car the rate paid far exceeds that it costs me! I was up there with my Area Manager today as well and he very kindly bought my lunch for me - cheers Paul!

The HUGE credit card bill with MrEH's car on it cleared today - in fact his pay went into the account before the CC bill came out - we looked extremely flush for about three hours! I'll have to use my Egg card for a few transactions now to use up the More Than credit too so that will reduce the load on the other one for the next month.

EssexHebridean

We got our veg box today so I now have to replan the next few days meals around the contents of that. It's like Ready Steady cook here once a fortnight! I think I shall go down the stir fry route for the day I have yet to plan (probably tomorrow) as there is a large amount of green leafy stuff (spinach, chard etc) in the box. Tonight was stuffed marrow with couscous - used up some of the great pile of tomatoes we got from my Mum too - their plants have been producing kilos of the things non-stop.

Quiet night tonight - we're still sticking with our "thing" of the TV not going on on Tuesday nights. Might try to get a bit of tiding up done in a while - especially filing. *groans*. Ideally I'd also like to work out when in the month, and for how much I need to set up the savings feed for the car depreciation - would have been helpful if I'd not forgotten to email the figures home from work though. Worked out after I checked the account last night that if we don't spend ANYTHING we shouldn't in the next fortnight we will just scrape through until I get paid without going overdrawn. Somewhere along the line though I need to book the Travelodge for the Good Food Show trip in November. Got the tickets through Clubcard deals again mind you! :T

Jo_R_2

Ah lovely lovely Clubcard deals... Come in handy don't they? I'm saving my points up for something... not sure what yet LOL but am saving them anyways!:D I love the Good Food magazine and website, that sounds like a good time out actually!

The car depreciation thing sounds a bit complicated but I understand the principle - I like the idea!

Pippilongstocking

sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiides in to say hi - promise to catch up later! Waves hello!

EssexHebridean

*waves back at Fay!*

Jo - the Good Food Show is a great day out! We always go on the Sunday as lots of the stalls are selling stuff off cheap - we generally come back loaded with stuff! Through Clubcard the tickets are only £6 each - and when you go in and as you go round you get given various vouchers - last year we ended up with about £40 in vouchers which we were just able to use off our regular shopping in Tesco. Bargaintastic! We also used Clubcard deals the other week for admission to Pensthorpe Nature reserve which was lovely - and only cost us £2.50 each. Next pone is probably going to be a trip to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford as it's only 25 miles from us.


So - update for today.....I've set up the new savings account for the car depreciation costs and worked out how much needs to go into it each month. I've also increased the normal savings payment from the joint account to take account of some of the cash we are saving by not paying for train travel for MrEH - it works out as a saving of somewhere about £120 per month simply by him using a car not public transport! I've also cancelled some old Direct Debits - general housekeeping, you know! The rest of the saving will sit in the account for a few months until I'm sure we've got ourselves back on course again, and then I will look towards another increase to the mortgage OP.

Still sticking to the meal plan - stir fry tonight and tomorrow will be cauliflower cheese, MrEH has rugby training so I'll do two separate portions and he can have his when he gets in. Still need to work out what we're having on Friday evening. I've also done a Tesco shop online tonight to make use of a £10 off £50 spend code I was sent. I've used it for all the heavy & bulky stuff - might as well save me having to carry it all in from the car! I won't need washing powder for a while, either!

Right - off to catch up with all the rest of your diaries!

EssexHebridean

Right - I have "stuff to do" at the weekend - if I list it here I can't forget about it, can I!

1) Tidy up the balcony at the front of the flat so if the workmen make a shocking mess it won't get all over everything that's out there.
2) I've volunteered to send some old photography mags over to one of our photography forum members who is currently on a tour in Afganistan- the least I can do frankly considering he's risking his life. From what he says (and doesn't say, more to the point) it's more dangerous over there than is even being reported. I shall also try to get into Wilko's to get some face-wipes for the females they have out there. The basic stuff like that costs a fortune at the Naafi apparently, even when it can be got at all.
3) I've got to go to the post office to sort out my Polish currency for the trip over there in a couple of weekends. I suspect they may well hold Zloty's in stock around here as we have a large Polish community. Will post Rob's parcel at the same time.
4) Remember to read the electric meter on Sunday morning - I need to get back into the habit of monitoring again as I've let it slip for the past months.
5) Depending on the weather might try to get out for a walk again - but preferably without getting lost like we did last week!
6) Meal-plan for next week. Need to come up with stuff for the weekend that will utilise some of the veg box stuff while it's still at its best, too.

Right - feel free to berate me if I fail on any of the above!

Jo_R_2

Hehe I shall be checking on you!

I do that with the lists... If it's written down there (and I write a copy in my notebook with tick boxes ) then I HAVE to do it or nothing gets ticked!

Oooh I didn't know you were off to Poland - quite like the look of it over there since some friends went not long ago.

Lemon_Tree

i'm a list queen as well, sometimes it's the only way i clean and tidy the house, i will do something just to tick one of the boxes. sad but true

EssexHebridean

Through the winter when I have less going on I do Flylady - I get to March with the flat spotless (well, ish!) and then the speedway season starts again and it all falls apart!

Ooh! (Sorry - distracted - we're watching a repeat of Spooks and I just caught a glimpse of Rupert P-J's bare buttocks - made my night that has! :j)

Where was I? Oh yes, cleaning......when I'm focused on it by the lists of Flyladyhood I find it incredibly easy to keep up with - and yes, the incentive of knowing that after I've done something I can repost my list with something else crossed off REALLY works!

Jo - myself and a friend are off to Poland in a fortnight just for a weekend - a place called Bydgoszcz (Yep - can now spell it without having to look it up!) for the final Speedway Grand Prix of the season. Should be superb and I can't wait now!

Managed to get into the farm shop on the way home - I got a call just as I left the depot to say to avoid the M25 as it was at a standstill so my alternative route takes me past the Farm Shop. Emerged ten minuted later with a gallon of malt vinegar and some shallots, 2kg of shallots to be precise! Looks like we'll be pickling then! :rotfl: Got some other bits as well including a cauliflower - so the pickles might be picallilli! I will drag out the River Cottage preserves book in a while and see what else I need to get.

chevalier

Hi EH I followed you over here from fay's thread. You seem to be very focussed. My oh is very under whelmed with the idea of paying off the mortgage early. this was originally because we thought we would sel the house and buy over here in NZ but we have heard so many horror stories about house building over here, that we might rethink that idea.... are mortgage interest rates really low still? chev