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

Jo_R_2

Dublin lovely, have frequented Ireland many, many times over the years as my mum's side of the family is Irish so that's where we used to go on holiday.

Loads of choice for hotels, depends what sort of vibe you want to go for as to what area of the city you pick. Would deffo recommend doing a bit of reading/internet trawling before you choose somewhere.

EssexHebridean

Not much to report really - been another hectic week at work, it remains to be seen whether my colleague comes back this week or not - gut feeling is that he'll get himself signed off again while he looks for a new job (he doesn't like the heavy workload we have) in which case the madness will continue....! Still, could be worse, and I think I've got past the worst of the really manic stuff now. Sadly my Manager - who is also a really good friend - told me on friday that they're moving him to a different part of the business in a few weeks which is quite sad, I'll really miss him.

Got a fair amount done over the weekend - went out with my Mum for the day yesterday - we went to the market in the morning where I got a few foody bargains, then Makro and the Chinese supermarket in the afternoon - we're now well stocked up for loo rolls thanks to Makro's BOGOF on 24 roll packs of Charmin! Popped into Lidl on the way back and managed to get a bucket containing all sorts of bird-food type bits which will form part of my Aunt's xmas pressie - she's a nightmare to buy for but she always puts food out for the birds so that'll be a good one for her. £5 too so a good price. Brought Mum back here for the evening and we had indian - all home made apart from the Naan breads - you just can't make those properly at home so OH went and got those from the takeaway. Today has been pretty quiet - went into town this morning to grab a couple of the tins of sweets that Asda have on 2 for £7 - that'll be a couple of christmas pressies sorted out. Also got some travel sized toiletries to put into a pretty washbag for something else for my Aunt, and some christmas decorations for the hallway here at the flats.

We'll bok the Travelodge tonight for the food show weekend - the money for that has now been transferred from the Clubcard plus account where we had some slack so that's effectively paid for. I get paid at the end of this week so the start of next week will see some movement on the savings. Car tax reminder arrived on Friday so I must get that sorted out.

Right - tea time! Sausage sarnies with rice pudding to follow!

EssexHebridean

Just ordered the new Robbie Williams album on pre-order at Tesco entertainment - 500 extra clubcard points! :j

taxi73

All sounding good at your end bar the workload.

EssexHebridean

Not much in the way of actual money updates to be done as although I have been paid, technically I haven't yet, until tomorrow! LOL - savings payments go out early next week so once those have gone the figures get a boost.

Am making the most of a windy and rainy afternoon here - MrEH has gone off to play rugby and I'm catching up on some niggly little jobs that needed doing. So far this afternoon I have made a pot of roasted squash soup using up the rest of a carton of crene fraiche I had last weekend, done the bank transfer to my Mum to pay for my Avon order, pre-ordered the Harry Potter DVD at Tesco (500 extra CC points, plus £1.11 from Quidco) to put aside for MrEH for christmas, applied for a Halifax easycash account to get an electron card so I can save money on booking Ryanair flights, sorted my car tax out online, and rung Virgin media to sort out the problem with my ebilling and alter the payment date from early in the month (ugh) to later in the month (better). It's that wretched payment coming out too early in the month which has taken us overdrawn a couple of times so it's nice to get that sorted. :A

Went to the farmers market this morning nice and early - glad we did too as in spite of the weather which was frankly foul at that stage it was packed out. The one we use doesn't have a market in December or January (they are a pig & turkey farm so are to busy in Dec and too shattered in January!) so lots of people were there stocking up! Came away with the usual mince, stewing beef, liver, sausages and bacon, plus managed to get a huge bulb of organic fennel from our veg box man (which will add to the one he put in our box this week and go into a rabbit stew in the week), some rather nice looking cheese crackers for MrEH's parents christmas hamper, and some beer for part of my Dad's present. Some of our bits are already divided up and in the freezer, the rest will follow over the next day or two.

jo1972

Wow sounds like you had quite a productive day EH!! I'm exhausted now, just reading your post :rotfl: xx

mineallmine

HI all, Hope you don't mind me joining in here. EH, very impressed with the plan! How wonderful it will be to walk in and buy a car with cash! I wonder if you could use a tesco credit card to get points! I have a number of stretching financial goals in place (for next 18months), it is amazing how if you tuck those extra bits away (like the teeny pay rises) your savings can build up. I must admit to not shopping around to get the best savings/ISA account deal (note to self, I must do this).

I've slimmed down the Christmas list a bit this year. I found I was going over the top and sometimes you don't need to impress friends with stuff, just invite them round or go out to the cinema or something.
Thanks for the inspiration EH. And everyone else on here.
:A

EssexHebridean

Come on in mineallmine - all welcome here! Thanks for posting and also for your kind comments. I must admit when we went out and got OH's car a few months back it was a great feeling knowing that although it was bought on a credit card, the money was standing there waiting to pay that card off in full when the bill came in! :j If we can do the replacement for mine in a couple of years brand new and on the same basis, it will be superb, and something I would never have thought of a few years ago - back then, buying a car was just something you got a loan for!

You're right to about all the inspiration to be found on here - I'm very grateful that the DFW's don't mind me squatting on their diary section as technically I'm not really a DFW. There are some incredible people here who have found themselves in situations through no fault of their own that they are now trying to put right. Then there are others who have overspent, and know they have, and are now learning lessons from that and are paying it off without wanting or expecting any free rides. Seriously impressive stuff and I take my hat off to each and every one of them.

mineallmine

Thanks for the warm welcome. I've just caught up on this thread. Look forward to hearing progress.

Ooh and by the way I believe in buying stuff local. My local butchers is fab. I bought a chicken for £6 today but didn't realise how big it was, it's now done a Jamaican chicken curry tonight (makes a nice change) and a roast tomorrow. http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/610917

Karmacat

EssexHebridean wrote: »

You're right to about all the inspiration to be found on here - I'm very grateful that the DFW's don't mind me squatting on their diary section as technically I'm not really a DFW.

Hi EH! I never realised that you're like Benben, being on dfw to overpay the mortgage. I think its a brilliant idea. I only wish I'd thought of the concept before I bought my apartment in France thats been such a millstone round my neck. I'd be mortgage free by now, and in a lot better position to do ... well, anything I wanted - really, to stack up money in the pension pot.

Your afternoon sounds *incredibly* productive. Good for you! I've mostly given myself the day off, in spite of making a few plans to the contrary, because of how hard I worked on the Accounts this week. And now I can play again - just for a little bit :rotfl:

Have a good evening.........