£161,044.25 reasons to be mortgage free

wantabetterlife

I know what you mean Fi, i dream of having hundreds of pounds sitting in the current accout for us to do whatever we want with! I find having a wishlist of places to go to really motivating and my husband constantly has new ones to add. We also want to go on a family holiday to disney world florida and i have always wanted to go to canada...not asking for much am i :rotfl::rotfl:

In preperation for the dreaded return to work i spent yesterday batch cooking sausage casserole and chicken curry which is now in the freezer and will be so handy on the days i cant be bothered cooking...which happens to me on a regular basis . Tomorrows batch cooking is going to be beef casserole and salmon and broccoli bake.

Treated myself to a curling wand today...was on sale in argos for £20 and thought it would be good as a long term investment . We have a wedding reception in a couple of weeks and i want to get my hair curled...it costs £15 in my hairdressers...so in the longrun this will save a fortune. Had a wee practice run tonight and it actually turned out quite well for a first attempt...the heat glove thing takes a bit of getting used too though and as a result i have a few singed finger tips.

Because i have basically been pregnant for the last two years i had absolutely nothing suitable to wear and ages ago i seen a dress in coast that i loved but it was almost £100. Decided i would take a look on ebay and got one for £20 and a pair of sandals to match for £6.50 :j:j.

superwoman247

Well done you for discipline. I have a wedding in September too and tried going around House of Fraser, trying to justify why I deserved a Karen Millen Dress. I tried it on and thank God it was too tight. I went straight onto ebay soon as I got home!!!

wantabetterlife

Hi Fi, so its not just me that is an ebay fanatic then , i have saved a fortune over the years buying and selling stuff on it. The problem is when i start buying things i tend to get a bit carried away and the competitive streak in me doesnt like to get outbid on anything :rotfl:

Didnt manage to do anymore batch cooking but i did manage to clean and sort the two large saucepans drawers, the cupboard with the dishclothes and tea towels and the main kitchen cupboards. I love it when my kitchen cupboards are all clean and organised...very sad i know .
Tomorrow i am definately batch cooking and tackling the hotpress as it is really bugging me at the minute...if you open the door to get a towel everything starts falling onto the floor and the whole thing is a mess.

superwoman247

I'm into batch cooking too!!! Made a large pot of goulash last night in my slow cooker and just getting ready to pack it into freezer bags before I go to bed.

wantabetterlife

oohhh goulash...havent tried that one...in fact im not sure i even know what it is :rotfl:
Today i batch cooked two family sized salmon and brocolli bakes...these are a favourite in our family. Also cooked a large pot of potatoes, mashed them and portioned them into containers so that i will have an emergency supplies of ready made mash for a few days.
I managed to completely sort the hotpress and it looks wonderful...as wonderful as a hotoress can be that is. I have actually opened the door a few times on the way past just to admire the neat stacks of towels etc....think i need to get out more
Need to get a few school uniform bits for DD tomorrow so im sure i will be a few pounds lighter after that experience.

superwoman247

Wow working really hard. Goulash is a hungarian stew, really cheap and yummy. I will post recipe when I come back. I have never made salmon and brocolli bake actually, my kids love salmon. It will be one to try def

CathT

Well done on the batch cooking, it's definitely worth doing. I often find if I don't I end up putting the oven on for one piece of chicken etc, what a waste!

wantabetterlife

Thanks for the support cath, it is a real pain at the time but i know i will be so glad i have the meals in the freezer when i am back at work.
Yesterdays efforts were 2 portions of beef casserole done in the slow cooker....smelt absolutely gorgeous and today i made a big pot of homemade soup and potato and portioned them out for DS dinners to take to the childminders.
Yesterday i took a bag of clothing into town to one of those clothes recycling places...it was really old worn stuff that wouldnt be any good to anyone and i got £5.20 for it...i have loads more stuff i can get rid of and it is definately easier to keep the house clean and tidy when it is less cluttered...so a win win situation.
This is on my to do list tomorrow as i have to go into town again on tuesday i will bring whatever else i have to the clothes recycler
The dress that i bought of ebay arrived yesterday and it is lovely but really needed dry cleaned so i have left it in...i didnt realise how expensive drycleaning is. a knee length dress is £10 :eek:...thank goodness i hardly ever go to the dry cleaners
The rest of DDs school uniform has been bought and cost £24, so not too bad.

wantabetterlife

Hello everyone..i have survived the first couple of days back at work after being on maternity leave for nine months...it has been a bit of a shock to the system and i feel really tired already and i have only done two days :eek:. I spoke to my manager today and she has allowed me to reduce down to 4 days a week on a temporary basis for a couple of months so this has taken a bit of the pressure off.
This month i am concentrating on clearing the balance on the credit card which is about £800...it is usually only a couple of hundred but as i was on SMP it crept up a good bit. However it is cleared everymonth so we dont incur any interest on it .
I am hoping by next month we will be back on an even keel and will be able to start overpaying and saving more...i only have 7 more payments left on the loan for my laser surgery so that will free up an extra £83 per month.
A few days ago i got my student loan statement in and i owe them just less that 4k,,,i was delighted to see that i only paid £35 in interest for the whole year ...i would really love to get this paid because if i did go to 4 days on a permenant basis then my wages would still be fairly decent. Decisions decisions..........

cha97michelle

I missed you being back at work already with being away. It does sound like you prepared well for it before you went, but nonetheless a shock to the system eh?

4 days does sound good if it works for you. Better to take some pressure off if you can.