greent's mfw journey

greent

Morning Queen-Bee!

I'm looking forward to OH doing his own washing & ironing there and not carting it home every weekend!!:rotfl::rotfl: He's looking forward to cooking (hmm - doesn't have that attitude when at home!;))

We do lots of things like flapjacks, cornflake/crispie cakes, fairy cakes with sprinkles in (rainbow cakes) and/ or icing on. My 4 yo also demanded a choc and vanilla teddy - we have a mould/ silicone baking teddy 'tin' - I had to do choc paws, tummy, ears. eyes, nose and mouth and vanilla the rest - fiddly!! We'll also do scones, 'big' cakes, muffins etc - ooh and lots of cookies - 4yo likes squashing the balls flat on the baking tray

Ebay - I'm only selling stuff that's already mine (or someone else in the household's) - I can't be bothered with any faff of buying/ selling and record keeping!! My tax return is a pain enough as it is!:D Sometimes things just make more money than I'd expect - I was going to put my old Guide badges on for 99p just to get rid, but had a look at some completed ones and listed them all singly at first and then some in sets of 3 - they went for just over £20 in the end - ok, not a large amount - but a HUGE improvement on the 99p that I was prepared to let them go for!:D I still am getting rid of a reasonable amount ot charity/ freegle, too, just to make sure the bloomin' stuff goes!

I get obsessed with looking for watchers/ bids, too....:p

greent

Hmm - never did update last week's list:

1. [STRIKE]finish my SA tax return [/STRIKE] - £7 rebate due
2. start DH's tax return (long & complicated - will result in a large tax bill!!):eek: - started - will carry on....
3. do DH's expense claim for July - 3/4 done, but he hasn't given me paperwork for 1/4 - need to chase him!
4. [STRIKE]start DH's expenses for August - ongoing -up to date! [/STRIKE]- DONE
   
5. [STRIKE]do business account online banking [/STRIKE][STRIKE] keep [/STRIKE]- DONE
6. [STRIKE]make optician's appt for 3 children[/STRIKE] - DONE - 2new scrips!
7. [STRIKE]give blood! - [/STRIKE]DONE
8. [STRIKE]take DD to get braces fitted (pay money out )[/STRIKE] - DONE - but needs to go back this SAturday
9. [STRIKE]deal with ebay items that finish later this week (hopefully money in!!)[/STRIKE] - DONE!!
10. list 10 new items on ebay - NOT done
11. [STRIKE]do some more baking with the children - fun & more MSE than buying goodies[/STRIKE] - LOTS DONE
12. [STRIKE]rub down and paint a small area in DD's bedroom[/STRIKE] - DONE - yippee!!
13. clear one box of junk from DD's ensuite - started
14. [STRIKE]increase mtge DD payment wef Sep?[/STRIKE] - DONE!
15. do all the surveys as I get the invitations (easier when DH is away!) - NOT Done

Not too bad overall....
To the outstanding I shall add:
16. Get business filing up straight
17. Phone accountant - no idea how to deal with food re rented accom!!
18. Book my car in for 1st service (paid for)
19. Research (buy?) BF's 40th bday pressie....
20. Reduce ironing mountain!

But not doing any more tonight!:D

greent

£25 cheque from premium bonds in the post this morning, so have sent an OP of £35 to the mortgage. Hmm... my statement in Jan next year is going to be PAGES long with all these little payments going over all the time:rotfl::rotfl:

No watchers/ bids on any of the 16 items on ebay so far Will try and list a few more up at the weekend on 7 day listings (normally do 10) Have found a box of stuff to list with starting prices greater than 99p, so am hoping next month brings another FLW

HAve almost finished DH's tax return - tax bill is almost £14K:eek::eek::eek: However, I put £15K of his redundancy payment into PSBs in anticipation - so we do have the money set aside (and have had £225 in wins in the meantime) Think when I cash them in for the tax bill I'll send the excess £1k+ to the mtge as a yummy OP:D:D That'll be in Jan - so a nice start to 2011, hopefully

greent

Right - am 3/4 childless for a few hours (m-i-l has taken DD, DS1 and DS2 to W-s-M for the day) - just have the baby to contend with (well, I say baby - he's almost 15 months old) Am going to be organised and go out to lots of shops and stuff and get:

• BF's bday present (main bit, anyway)
• 4 chairs for camping trip (urgh!!)
• research (maybe buy) 2 additional sleeping bags....
• return school trousers of DS1's that don't fit
• quick bit of shoe shopping for me
• buy school socks and tights (had forgotten these!!)

much easier to do this without all the (bored) children in tow

Didn't do any ebaying over the weekend, either -so should do some of that, too.... And catch up on surveys again! And ironing, tidying, gardening, clean the kitchen..... argh! Too much to do! Will make a start and make a list of shops to go to, what I want and then decide the order in which to visit them! BAck later!

greent

Have just made an OP for £50 - that's the tax credits for 3 weeks and some money that is being repaid to me at £5/ week for 3 weeks and then rounded up That takes it to the month end - am really not expecting any more OPs now until Sept (our last month on a fixed rate on the large part of our mtge - quite exciting!!)

Have some little things on ebay, but very little interest (and bids of £1.64) so am not expecting any funds from paypal the rest of this month. Can't seem to get ebay motivated at the moment (actually, have very little motivation to do anything other than waste hours on mse ) Will start afresh in Sept - new month and the children are at school, so easier to get some sort of routine in place



Outstanding list:

1. start DH's tax return (long & complicated) - almost done... expected tax bill almost £14K:eek::eek:
2. [STRIKE]do DH's expense claim for July[/STRIKE] -DONE!
3. DH's expenses for August - ongoing -up to date! - DONE
   
4. list 10 new items on ebay - 5 DONE
5. do some more baking with the children - LOTS DONE - more planned today
6. clear one box of junk from DD's ensuite - started
7. do all the surveys as I get the invitations (easier when DH is away!) - NOT Done - last 3 days now outstanding Will do tonight
8. Get business filing up straight - almost done..
9. [STRIKE]Phone accountant - no idea how to deal with food re rented accom!! [/STRIKE]- DONE
10. Book my car in for 1st service (paid for) MUST do this!!
11. [STRIKE]Research (buy?) BF's 40th bday pressie[/STRIKE].... - bought
12. Reduce ironing mountain! - an ongoing challenge

greent

Small amount transferred from teeny ebay sales to current a/c and OP of £25 set up for next week.

Will get an update on mtge balances as at end of next week, ready for the upodate for MFiT (2) challenge - should be roughly £96370 by my calculations, but I know mine aren't precise.

I then need to find about another £500 in 'extra' OPs to get to my target of under £95k by end of Oct... I have about £190 of validated cashback, so hopefully some of that will arrive by then! (Only due about £20 beginning of Sept) I've also got about 40 items on ebay with start price value of £140 between them, so hopefully some will sell (will also try and list some more tonight when children are in bed) There's an NCT sale in Oct, so that might get me another £50 if I'm lucky... With OH working away in the week I'm going to chop the grocery budget and see if I can put the savings to the mortgage - I *should* be able to find the extra £500 through all of that, I think..... Still way off my target of £OP for the year, though Oh, I think I've managed to get enough points to claim £20 from a survey site too - finally!!

Oh, this MFW lark is frustrating!!!

Iris_Blue

Frustrating but fun!

I've just read through all your diary . Well done on all your OP’s – a good reduction so far and it shows how hard you've worked.

It sounds like you are in a lovely home, just the type of home I would like for my family. I must admit about being slightly jealous of you having a bespoke fitted kitchen ! I'd love a big kitchen... I will have one in the end! ..just need to find the right house first.

Horay for your OH’s job. Like you say it’s for 3 months and although you aren’t together during the week at least it’s money coming in. Sometimes we all have to make little sacrifices in order to achieve our goals.

I look forward to catching up with you

Iris

greent

Aw, thanks, Iris

Our home is quite nice, I guess - other people always really like it. We bought it because we had to move and there was nothing else and hated it when we got here (our old house was lovely, this one was a mess) We're gradually beginning to think of it as more of a 'home' than a 'house' It still needs a lot of decorating doing to it - I'm hoping DH can do some when this contract ends (I find it impossible to do with a toddler around!)

Our kitchen is a decent size - about the size of a double garage. We were going to spend about £1k tarting the old one up and then thought 'S*d it' and got the bespoke one - in real maple - yum Although I was somewhat offended when a friend visited shortly after and asked if it was from Ikea!:rotfl: That's one of the first things that needs decorating though - it's in the North corner of the house, so even though it has 3 windows can be dark (and cold) - it has a colour on the walls of fresh plaster (but it is painted!:rotfl:) so I want something warmer, brighter and more cheery:D Haven't decided what yet

OH's contract is going ok - we're onto week 5 of 13, so almost half way Plus he's managed to get an extra £50/ day +VAT wef this week added to his daily rate - yippee!! It's better than I thought it would be. He's struggling being away from home (missed DS3's first steps ) I'm finding it tiring having no other adult here - but it could be a lot worse

Right need to get off here and feed the brood, I guess

greent

Have just calculated (blame Dan's Mum!!) number of days until mtge paid off - 2806!!

It's my wedding anniversary today - 15 years. Dh has sent me a lovely bouquet We're off camping tomorrow (eek! weather! never been camping with 4 children!!!) until Monday, so I shall have to catch up with you all after then

[Deleted User]

aw happy anniversary greent
hope the weather clears up for your camping trip and you have a good time
at least your day count is within 4 figures- dread to think what mine would be! ;o)