Mortgage Reduction Beginner to Novice - The Show Begins

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

edinburgher wrote: »

Well done on the 6 weeks of packed lunches - will you be finishing now - or plowing on?

My wife and I get a set amount out of salaries to cover lunches, so it's an incentive to make a packed lunch (anything I don't spend I can save!)

That said, I swear I'll scream if I have another roll with ham, egg and cucumber :rotfl:

Ploughing on till Christmas is my aim! I'm not a sandwich fan but I've already noticed that variety keeps me on track. I have access to a microwave at work which helps - I can take leftovers. The worst lunch I had was leftover roast dinner veggies and a dollop of pate on top for protein!!! The easiest was celery and cream cheese!

edinburgher

Mhhh... roast vegetables and pate, that sounds really good to me

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Apologies for my weekend in absentia, this is a long post to catch you all up:

Friday dinner would have been great if I'd remembered to put the tuna in the tuna pasta bake. Cue MRN apologising profusely to guests for a vegetable pasta bake... then the bland nectarines made for an equally bland nectarine crumble (no more experimenting)!

Saturday dinner party for our weekend guests went swimmingly... well done to MrMRN's three course spectacular (he's shredded the receipt for the food shopping but when it shows in the joint account online banking I'll add to my grocery total). I wonder if he'll return to cooking three meals a month instead of three courses in one night now.

I was awake before all our guests on Sunday so took advantage of that free time to clean the kitchen floor then while it dried I harvested the remaining marrows (but guests helped themselves so I may not have enough for preserving now), dug the free section of veggie patch over (garlic planting space) and got two loads of washing on the line.

Sunday, despite the prior rumbles, SIL's non-surprise birthday party was also successful. I refrained from smacking her round the chops at one point during the lunch - peace and love. She thanked me a lot for organising it too. Another relative got the hump about splitting the bill equally (their three soft drinks came to more than my G&T!). MrMRN blew £80 on her birthday present which I was a tad cross about because she got me a £1 tacky bracelet for my birthday (last laugh on her because I sold it at car boot for £1.50).

The remains of a sociable few weeks and full board B&B services are:
Mountains of guest bedding and towels to wash, a bathroom to clean (3 guests for a weekend equals same usage as me and MrMRN for a week!), a few average bottles of 'thank-you' wine, a lovely bunch of flowers, a lingering whiff of visiting relative and a duvet to clean (MRN weighs up an afternoon in the laundrette or the cost of drycleaning :undecided).

I ignored the cleaning yesterday evening and took full advantage of a quiet house. I got stuck into sewing some prototype Christmas presents... might turn out ok despite me catching up on Wartime Farm while sewing.

Starting the 7th week of packed lunches on a high - leftover king prawns... prawn marie-rose with cos lettuce on brown bread.

I've got two MS this week which should keep the extra income dribbling in. I have someone viewing a Preloved advertised item so I'm hoping they buy it. And I'm returning to the gym after a week of cancelling my booked classes to be a good hostess.

Still no news from the financial adviser regarding which mortgage to switch to... I'm getting impatient!

edinburgher

Week 7 of the packed lunches sounds delicious - I've changed wildly from ham and egg rolls to ham and cheese. It's a rock and roll life this MFW lark!

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Wow you are really pushing the boat out switching from egg to cheese Edinburgher!

I felt guilty eating my lavish HM sandwich of king prawns... I think it may have cost more than a shop-bought sandwich! Stupid two packs for £5 conning MrMRN into buying two.

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Lots of fiscal matters to report:

MrMRN's grocery shopping spend has appeared on online banking... total was £34.66 taking October grocery spending to £116.13. MrMRN is away Mon-Fri next week and the week after so I'm planning some batch cooking then licking the crumbs from the fridge to keep spending low. I may even come in under budget which would be good given the extra mouths to feed in the first part of this month and that I shaved £50 off last month's budget.

My personal credit card statement just banked at a fairly low £499 (this is low compared to my monthly average - bear in mind a typical £380 on fuel alone). My non-fuel extras were mystery shopping (will be fully reimbursed within 2 months), Christmas presents, £20 car tax, Mum's birthday meal out and the only things I'm ashamed of because I could have gone without are two half price Graze boxes. Tut tut me.

ammonite

Basically 2for1 on the Graze boxes though - did you enjoy them? That is the main thing!

misscousinitt

Well done on keeping the grocery spend so low.

And as far as the Graze boxes are concerned...you deserve a treat!!

MCI

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Hurray £20 for an old item of furniture that was clogging up my car boot cupboard! I'd advertised on Preloved for £25 but was expecting to drop to £10 before someone would buy it!!! MrMRN says it has to go to the kitchen fund.

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

I'm having an admin/money chasing evening: I visited next door for my £10 that I leant for ciggys (they know my stance on smoking so knew I'd insist on getting it back!). I have chased up the company for reimbursement of fitting costs for the faulty towel radiator to be replaced (I'm fairly certain I'm wasting my time on this one but worth a try) and I have contacted a mystery shopping company for a missing £20.

Food mystery shop went well... MrMRN is looking like he ate one too many slices of pizza!