Mortgage Free by 01/01/11...so goes the plan

wynnvegas

Morning Gallygirl,

In fairness, distant cousin is just about believable. Give me a couple of weeks of popping you bread and milk round then we'll broach it with M!

I know - properly poor effort on the hobby stakes but I've always loved jigsaws and we've done about 20 of the various places (Rome, Cairo, Vegas, NY, Washington etc) we've been. When this one came out, I thought we'd have to arrange a visit to Shanghai but it turned out to be Singapore and we've been there so the natural balance of the universe was restored. Our grand plan is to sink this jigsaw into the floor of one of the rooms in the house we plan to build but we're a few years off that venture yet! The only exception to the "places we've been" rule is this one http://www.jigsawgallery.com/details.php?refnum=ED13434 - looks stunning but would take an age!

Incidentally, it's taken nearly three years thus far from Boxing Day 2007. 18 months of that was San Francisco's black bushes at the bottom as I'd all but given up - 800 pieces of nothing but black was no fun at all! With the breaks for christmas and summer holidays, the NY one took about 6 months and we started Singapore in August - I'll get a picture up tomorrow with the updated state of play with that one! Bet you wish you'd never picked up on it now!!

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Morning Folks,

All proceeding nicely over this way. Another small loan repaid this morning which takes us to only three debtors remaining. Helped my auntie get a job so she started this month and will be able to start repaying from the end of October. I'm swithering as to whether or not we write these debts off to give them a bigger helping hand but I'm not too sure if it sends the wrong message to people - that and M would be able to get her bathroom a few weeks early!

We have a family get together planned for tonight to fondly remember M's grandad who died a year ago today so it'll be chinese food and a tear-fest to be sure. It's made all the worse that her granny died in July. Both lovely old souls who are sadly missed.

Cheers,

Billy

gallygirl

Think I'll stick to me 1000 and 1500 pieces for now :eek:.

Shame I live south of the border Billy or your food parcels would be welcome! I used to live near Albion Rovers so it would have been feasible!

Good luck tonight, I deliberately 'don't do' anniversaries (I was asked yesterday what date my mum died & I couldn't remember, it was only 2 years ago ), but not always sure that is the right thing to do.

[Deleted User]

hey Billy
wow on the jigsaw puzzles (and love the idea of putting one into a floor!) I havent done a jigsaw for ages but must confess it is the kind of thing that would quite happily keep me amused (ah simple pleasures eh ) maybe see if mrtyo fancies getting one for xmas which would keep us occupied for sure..not sure if I like the idea of trying to fit 800 pieces of just black together tho... may have to go for a littler one
re: the family loans, I see what you mean about the message it sends out- I guess it depends on the person and how you think theyd view it, I know with siblings I have sometimes written off loans etc because I knew they were struggling, one though now expects everything to be written off and is constantly overspending (despite earning a v good salary- much more than me) so I wouldnt say its done him any favours! and new bathroom early would be a big incentive for me anyway to get the money back!
well done on the xmas shopping- I have tried to get a few bits as I avoid the shops as much as possible in the run up to xmas, waaaaaay too hectic! am also gonna try and do the homemade sweets/tins.. but as mrtyo opened the first box of chocolates in the cupboards (clearly marked "xmas do not eat") I think I shall hold off from buying anything else edible till about the 23rd december!
thanks for the compliment on the diary- I dont feel very positive at the moment (maybe that gets saved for poor mrtyo rather than here!) but it is nice to know other people think so! I think re: the money front I have been quite positive and really buckled down (as there was no other option!) combined with generosity of others in helping out when they could, and mrtyo's support of course ... its more the going back to work situation that feels pretty daunting and negative so I need to start some positive thinking/action there..
hope the anniversary meal goes okay, Im the kind of person that tends to remember (and dwell on) those kinds of things (gg I agree never sure what is a good idea) but as a celebration and remembrance of a wonderful person I think its a lovely idea

tyo

wynnvegas

gallygirl wrote: »

Good luck tonight, I deliberately 'don't do' anniversaries (I was asked yesterday what date my mum died & I couldn't remember, it was only 2 years ago ), but not always sure that is the right thing to do.

Hi Gally,

As a matter of course, I think we've always done it. It's the 24th anniversary of my dad's death on the 14th of October so I make a point of getting down to "visit" on that day - mainly as we're away for his birthday in Vegas (I do give him a $20 shot on a mad taxi slot machine though) - scary to think that on the 12th of October, I'll be exactly the age he was when he died - and other than a few jigsaws, I haven't done anything yet!! As sad as these things are, it always turns out to be a collection of fond recollections in the end so it should be ok.

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Hi TYO,

I have to say, for moneysaving, an 18,000 jigsaw will save a fortune although it might instigate the odd grey hair as well. I can fully recommend taking a photo and getting it made into a 1,000 jigsaw. M took this stunner (http://s826.photobucket.com/albums/zz190/wynnvegas/) in Vegas and I got it jigsawed for her birthday last year - not realising that it too had a good bit of only black - at least it's not 1,000 pieces of baked beans!

We're on a roll with the christmas shopping - worked out that we've probably three or four people still to buy for which is a big bonus as we'd pretty much written off the November salaries to cover christmas shopping - at the current rate, we'll have no shopping to cover so the bathroom may yet be moved to a February project. I have to say I'm with Mr TYO in spirit - it's a very optimistic person that leaves chocolate around when I'm in the vicinity. M literally has to hide it away from me to ration my intake as I'd be a good few stones heavier if I had my way!

I think the thought of something like going back to work after a bit of time away is far worse than the reality. As an HR Manager, I deal with people returning from various lengths of sickness absence and the longer term ones are always massively stressed about coming back. Within a couple of days, they normally realise that it's back to normality and that no-one is secodn guessing or judging them - I work everyone too hard to allow freedom of thought!!

Thanks both for the good wishes for tonight. I'm sure it will be fine. M has a family totalling 10 so it's a much easier gig than any of my family gatherings. My big brother (the one that works!) is getting married in May so there'll be at least the 83 of our immediate family before we get to friends and the bride's lot! Worse still, he has decided that this is the perfect occasion for the four of us to make fools of ourselves by doing some ridiculous dance routine - he's even booked an instructor so I can't laugh it off as a joke anymore!!!

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Hello again,

Forgot to mention that my eBaying went not too badly yesterday Sold a grand total of 5 things for a profit of £70 - a shirt went for £35.99 on it's own! Who'd have thought a clearout of the cupboards could be so rewarding!? M's stuff is next to go up for the auction process but I've learned enough to know to wait for the free listing days.

Cheers,

Billy

Jock_Tight

Good to hear the eBaying went well!

I need to have a tidy up myself and get some things listed.

We did a loft clear out over a year ago and made over £100 at the local car boot, its surprising how much stuff you tuck away in the loft and end up never using!

babyb06

I used to love puzzles - not done one in years, so i think i may put it on my Christmas list (yes, I am 26, but my mum likes to have presents under the tree for my sister and I, so I don't complain!).

I hope all goes well tonight, I am sure the family will appreciate it

BabyB

wynnvegas

Morning All,

I hope everyone is comfy - I'm in full on rant mode albeit now that I think about the general ignorance of people, it's probably not that big a deal. If only everyone's universe revolved around me, my life and my desires, I think things would run a lot more smoothly!!

Got myself sorted with the regular overpayment today (£1,678.65 since you ask) which takes care of everything down to a nicely rounded £2,500 to go. Got confirmation that the credit cards are both back in the black so we'll get the tiles tomorrow (incidentally, if anyone else is reading this and is at all interested, the bathroom tiles (ranging from bottom to top are floor, wall and decorative border tiles as picked by M are here - http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/zz190/wynnvegas/Jigsaws/DSCN4277.jpg).

Decided that today was the day, with one final overpayment to go, to query if the bank had any ideas as to a) what happened next with deeds and the like and b) if there was any reason they could think of that would mean it was better to keep some part of the mortgage ticking away. The answer to both questions was a resounding "what the hell do I care" - not explicitly of course - even HSBC aren't that daft. The best they managed to come up with in the 20 minutes I was in (having waited 20 minutes for the numpty in the first place) was "now that you've nearly paid your mortgage off, could we possibly offer you another loan, maybe for a holiday?" Of course, my full intention was to scrimp, save and steal to pay the mortgage off only to then take out another loan at five times the APR - unfortunately, it would appear that sarcasm is completely lost on the Chinese so I came away without any form of congratulations, any inspiring feeling, a leaflet for the great range of loans HSBC now offer and the full intention of looking for a new bank - not that I expect any kind of better customer service from any of them, mind, but at least I'll take their free offerings and intro deals in the process.

The next calamity, prior to my meeting in Edinburgh, was my notion to go and check out the i-phone4. When my current £10.20 balance runs out on the mobile I moved to PAYG at the start of the year (I'm guessing about the beginning of next month), I've decided to keep up with the world and get an i-phone. First question - "do you already have an i-phone 4" - first answer - "yes, of course - I just want another one for Tuesdays" (sarcasm lost again) - that I didn't have one seemed akin to somehow not having evolved properly. The idiot shop assistant pretty much chucked it at me and said "that's it" when I asked about it and, when I tried to get into the Apps Store, he nearly had a fit. I wanted to see some of these things in the flesh, particularly the Vegas casino apps where they keep you up to date with offers and the like. What I got instead was a lecture about how I "obviously" couldn't get into the Apps store without an Apple ID. Whilst fair enough, when flogging the bloody things, you would think they would have a generic show account to zip you round the top titles and the like - what I got was an introduction to a game where the main objective seemed to be catapulting a bird into a treehouse, doing it again and then doing it some more. I just walked out at this point, utterly confused and now wondering if I need to get into the Apps store, buy a couple of hundred of the things and then wander into the phone shop proudly demanding something to use them on. Sometimes, as a grumpy old man in training, I properly despair!

Anyhoo, the good news from my Chinese pal, is that I can phone up on the 29th of October, an HSBC phone lackey will adjust my online balance to show the outstanding amount including all interest up to and including that day. I can then clear the whole thing, uncouple the bank account and then plan the move away to the first place that will give M and I £100 each for the pleasure of our custom. I wasn't expecting balloons and whistles from them (well, not 100% seriously) but I did think they'd realise that paying off £105k at 29 would be a big deal and worth some degree of congratulation. Maybe I should have gone into my 18000 piece jigsaw to try to elicit some degree of enthusiasm - incidentally, the current state of the jigsaw as promised is here - http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/zz190/wynnvegas/Jigsaws/DSCN4279.jpg - they did at least seem excited about their Christmas party which was being heartily planned around the place with about 6 people wondering why they were waiting whilst all these uppity bank folk decided what they were going to wear. The women needn't have bothered as they all had !!!!!! like the number 3 bus so no dress is going to flatter them come what may!

The thing last night actually went off really well. Fond memories to be sure but it was mostly everyone just casually catching up. We all trooped outside before leaving to give the tree planted in M's grandad's memory a wee dram at which point the RAF kindly decided to give him a flyover with a couple of Eurofighters so that was a nice touch. Shame we couldn't have gotten the red arrows as well!

As for the weekend, a bit of a party on Saturday, a bit of visiting on Sunday and, thankfully, a lot of nothing tonight other than making up a couple of photobooks on the computer - maybe a bit of jigsaw and a catch up on the golf highlights...the 29th will be here before I know it!!

Cheers,

Billy