greent's mfw journey

greent

So.... this weekend we met DD's boyfriend - she phoned me about 9.45 on Thurs night asking if she could come home for the weekend (duh - no need to ask ) and if the bf could come too I collected them from the station at 4pm on Friday and we got back here to DS1, 2 & 3 and DS1's gf - and then my mum arrived within 5 minutes - poor lad!! OH left work at 4 so was home after a good run just before 6.30. I was so tired from last week (poor sleep all week) that I opted we have a takeaway - cue a Nandos partly paid for by cash in my paypol acct from fleabay sales

Smallest 2 really took to the bf - kept showing him Leg0 all weekend, playing MArio kart with him etc - was lovely They (DD and bf) spent the afternoon going around town (buying nothing except food) and then had originally planned to go out with some of DD's friends but none could make it in the end - so they had a night in with fishfinger sandwiches, dvds, games consoles and Smirn0ff ice When they eventually got up yesterday we did a big cooked brunch so they were well fed before heading back - although first we subjected the bf to playing several board games with us all - we're quite competitive and it gets very noisy He survived - and I think we passed OH took them back to the station and I chased them off the drive with an item DD had left behind - and then later on as the evening progressed found another 3!!! Posted them all back to her today with a couple of books and 2 bags of chocs - using stamps from RM surveys, so it didn't cost me any actual cash:T

OH's first full week at the new contract place - he left just before 7 this morning. He has a place to stay sorted on a Mon-Fri basis - a self contained converted dbl garage - has an ensuite and a decent enough sized room with bed/ sofa/ tv/ table and chairs/ wardrobe/ c-o-d and a tiny kitchenette. The guy who owns the house works in the same building as OH and it's about 10-15 minutes walk to work Contract runs until 21st July - which is when the boys all break from school, so fab timing

Money news... not much - Ziffit monies received and added to running sales total for the year. Bid on one fleabay item, 2 others listed (both of which will be CS-ed if not sold) More items priced for NNS. Food spends for the month are just about on target (extra incurred with this weekend) - which is lower than normal as I (still) want to use up some things - much easier to do so when OH isn't here Batch of soup and chilli made for easy food for me - may also stew some of the many cooking apples we still have.... Made a big batch of cookies at the weekend - lots got eaten, but some also sent off with DD yesterday and another load with OH today - leaving just about enough for the boys! Will make flapjack later in the week to use up some slightly stale (still in date) granola which is hanging around along with the last of a tub of glace cherries.

BTL - still waiting for the electrician to visit there and resolve a couple of not-working-quite-correctly sockets and then give me a new certificate. Once I have that bill I can have more of an idea how much I can pay off the mortgage after the start of the new tax year Sooo looking forward to making some more payments on there! :T

With OH working away until late July it is actually good that I have resigned from the festival committee - meetings are on an evening which is hard when there are activities on with children every night at varying times/ locations and I'm not happy to leave DS1 to get the small 2 to bed on a school night at the start of the week unless it's for something a bit more important! Also, actually going to the festival would be problematic - would need OH here for a week for me to be there. Will be interesting enough juggling work with the children - although my mum has kindly offered to do drop offs/ pick ups as necessary. I wasn't going to ask her to do all of them (that's about 7 weeks solid of every day in the summer if it's like last year's schedule) and had started looking for a childminder to at least do drop offs on a morning (no luck yet) - but she is insistent WIll get DD to step in where possible for the last couple of weeks when she is back from uni. Also DS1 has about 2 weeks off school with only 3 exams so will ask him to do a couple if necessary (also will make sure he is up and about at a good time, rather than midday!) Which means no money spent on childminder fees - will give my mum some of the stash of red wine we have (OH isn't drinking it fast enough) and will pay DD and DS1 something (but less than I would a childminder)

Have a list of things I want to achieve whilst OH is away (when I'm not working). This week's includes co accounts (end of the month is company year end, so looking to get it all up straight so they can go to accountants asap) and sorting some stuff out for the charity I volunteer for. Both are quite time-heavy paper/ data intensive tasks Time for a cup of tea and then to make a start
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greent

Well over half way through the week now (yeay!) and the company paperwork has all been done - just need one invoice to be emailed to me from OH as I don't have a copy and then the only other bits which need doing are any expenses from now-until month end and then this month's bank rec Will be nice to get it to accountant asap as I think the co is due a refund of tax, so the sooner it's submitted the sooner we get the money back

Haven't made much progress on the charity stuff - have started it but kept getting distracted by doing other things (such as making 15 jars of strawberry jam, watching Silent Witness whilst ironing, doing YouGov surveys etc... ) Will crack on some more with that after Zumba later this morning.

OH has certainly been thrown in at his new role - he didn't leave work on Tues night until gone 9.30pm! He's finding it rather tiring, unsurprisingly.

I found an old phone in the kitchen drawer at the weekend - it doesn't work, but was kept in case my provider wanted it back and was then forgotten about (I had real hassle last year and got through 3 phones in as many months as they just kept dying on me - I kept getting replacement handsets and some they wanted back and some not) Anyway, have parcelled I up this morning to send off - only £6 (+ cashback) but that's better than nothing - pays for my 2 Zumba classes a week :T

Am working next week and the week after, thankfully only 4/5 days each week - but that will mean being more organised. My mum will take the smallies to school on a morning for me but I need to ensure they're ready for when she arrives (she doesn't do anything, essentially just sits with them and then takes them) - which is about half an hour earlier than they're used to.

Talking of the small ones, they have an inset day tomorrow - which I'd totally forgotten about! :eek: It's a bit too cold to be out and about tomorrow, so I shall see if there is anything at the cinema they may be interested in - otherwise I shall see if I can persuade them to sort through some things in their room - they know if they clear stuff out and it sells they get the money, so I can usually manage to get them to sort and tidy a couple of areas....

Off to shuffle money - just had a text to say one account will be going odwn by £12 today otherwise... roll on payday tomorrow!
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Karmacat

Blimey, greent ... your life is so demanding! Kudos to you for coping with it all! Sounds very positive that you've resigned from that festival lark, it hasn't sounded right for you for a very long time, as I recall.

YouGov! I haven't got back to yougov yet, and there's nearly 4000 points in my account!

So glad you passed DD's test in relation to her BF :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

greent

Thanks Kc

DD is at the bf's house this weekend - said his parents were nice (and the dog gorgeous) when she texted yesterday DS1 is away with cadets - meaning it has been just OH, myself and the smaller 2. Spent lots of time yesterday playing board games and also watched a dvd with them snuggled on the sofa - good fun, free and much warmer than outside! Have promised at least one game today too.

My day so far has been (after a lie in until 8.40 ) mainly in the kitchen, it feels - really sticky flapjack (using some soft granola in the mix to use it up), rocky road-ish bars (using up some choc cereal which my mum bought and no one eats, the last of the not-nice prosecco flavoured fudge from Xmas and some soft cookies) (am determined to waste as little as possible ), an oven baked risotto (prepped - will be baked later - used wrinkly mushrooms and chicken carcass scraps from Xmas - and stock made from the carcass - leftovers will be my evening meal for some of the week ), steak pie for OH to take away (again prepped but will cook later and potion up and put the rest in freezer -he will buy takeout every night unless given easy food.....), 2 loaves of white bread (on final prove) and 2 dozen soft rolls (also on final prove) Was going to make a fruit crumble but changed mind on carb overload

Just about to attack the ironing now before DS1 is due back shortly (complete with a pile of manky washing). Will then play game with small ones (and DS1 if he wants - but he is usually whacked out after these weekends) Rainy day here, which is keeping the temperature down. OH was part of the way through fixing the curtain pole in the family room (middle of it was hanging precariously out of wall when it was used last week) but is currently napping in the living room in front of footie

greent

We're already beginning to settle into a 'new normal' routine here - surprising how quick it feels normal Tues nights are hellish (DS2 finishes Scouts 9pm ish (sometimes 9.15) and DS1 Cadets 9.15 ish (sometimes 9.30) in different locations - and I have to take DS3 (7) with me - which means he gets to sleep much later than normal (his bedtime is 7.45 and he is usually asleep by 8.15, definitely by 8.30) - so Weds mornings are a struggle!!

There's something quite nice about Mon/ Weds/ Thurs evenings though after activities are all done and dusted for the night (latest finish is Weds at 7.15) and coming home, locking up fully for the evening and knowing that's it Once DS3 is in bed I organise school clothes for him and DS2 (make sure they're ironed etc - only usually an issue for Thurs and Fri, as they have min 3each of trousers/ jumpers/ polo shirts), organise 3 lunch boxes (get everything ready bar the drinks and the rolls - I do both of those in the morning) and get my clothes ready for work if necessary (this week and next week), Zumba or just normal stuff Bit of paperwork/ housework/ ironing in front of tv and then I'm ready for bed! Rock n roll it sure isn't, but there's already an easy rhythm starting.

Managed to list some things on fleabay yesterday of the children's - hopefully some will shift and they can pocket the money after fees

Just realised it's currently quite a nice day - was raining when I went to work this morning and I was in a huge windowless room. Have an hour's break in between the 2 sessions ( 20 mins left ) - think it's meant to start raining again when I'm due to finish! Am not at work tomorrow - am looking forward to the day off, even if it will be spent mainly on the house! (and an hour at Zumba )
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greent

Ooof - I suppose I should write something mortgage related for once, seeing as this is in the MFW board!

Got the bill for the electrical inspection on the BTL today - paid that. Knew there would be some remedial work and had a figure of max £600 in my head (hoping for less) - it's actually just over £1k.... the consumer unit needs updating (well, one of them does - it's an original 1975 one - there are another two which meet current standards) That's £450. To merge all 3 into one would be a further £70 - so I've asked for that, as that makes it much neater. Plus there's wiring which needs sorting, etc - and we've had 2 qualified electricians do work in there over the past few years - scary stuff. Mind you, one was a friend of the tenant (and a bit mad - we knew him vaguely) and the other originally did some work on our house but was far more interested in my shoe collection than anything else (having spied a pair of red patent stilettos one time) - and took to texting me at all times of day and night - quite disturbing!

Anyway, we need the work doing, so it must be done - being arranged for later this month. As both of those previous electricians have also undertaken work here I may get our electrics looked at - we have some dodgy sockets, I know - wonder if there are any other surprises!

So - the result of paying out £1k+ on electrical works means I may not be able to pay my planned OP in April Looks like I should still be able to make it in May, though - so only slightly behind schedule

Current daily int on BTL is £4.22. Planned OP will only take it to £4.15. Have calculated I need to repay £3567 to get daily int to below £4 - which is above my 2017 target of £3286. Having just done some cashflow projections for the BTL I think I should just be ok to do that extra in Dec (scraping in before year end ) - whilst still maintaining a reasonable EF in relation to the property. That would mean Sub acct 3 would be fully repaid and I would have moved onto sub account 1 which is the big one (sub account 2 has a longer end date than sub acct 1, so am tackling it last - all have the same int rate and terms)

Realistically the rental income cannot repay the BTL in its entirety by the end date (simple maths - even if there were no costs involved the rent received in the next 6 years does not cover the outstanding balance on sub accts 1 & 3) Taking into account costs (known and some put in as just-in-case and a small letting void) we can clear half from 'excess' rental income in the next six years - meaning we need to find the rest from our income stream.... do-able, I believe (providing we take no more Disney holidays!! ) Sub acct 2 has a further 4.5 years to run after that - which is more than ample time to clear its balance.

Phew! That's the MFW bit out of the way for now!

Saw T2 Trainspotting on Sat night with OH - not sure how I'd rate it, but am glad I saw it. Mixed feelings on exiting the cinema - but I felt like that when I originally saw Trainspotting, I seem to remember. There are some parts in both films I didn't feel comfortable with - but have seen the original lots of times, so I guess you get desensitised to it in a way.

Almost time for DS3 to go to bed.... must go
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apple_muncher

Ouch to the electics bill - but better to have it done properly that for it to all fuse together in one messy melted ball of copper...

greent

apple_muncher wrote: »

Ouch to the electics bill - but better to have it done properly that for it to all fuse together in one messy melted ball of copper...

Definitely - and as the fuseboards are all in the 2nd bedroom there which is where the 2 boys sleep (I think they are just 6 & 7?) and the one is made of combustible material (the really old one) - it's just too horrible to think of what *could* happen (I can only guess requirements have (rightly) changed since we last had a certificate issued)

brizzledfw

Glad all going well and Mr GT is coping xx

greent

Thanks, brizzle. Poor Mr Gt is having very long days - one night was gone 9.30pm leaving the office, and 7pm is fairly usual it would seem. Not that he has much else to do whilst he's there, I guess! He has taken his guitar and his running kit - not sure either have had an outing yet though!
He's not a reader, so books are no good (unlike me - I'm reading more whilst he's away as I don't tend to put the tv on and once the smalls are in bed there's no one to talk to (DS1 occasionally pops downstairs for a coffee, but that's not the same!) so am working y way through some books (which I'm enjoying - and they are being passed on once read, so more things are leaving the house ) He's also doing a bit of work on an evening - apparently phase 1 of the project is set to go live - it should calm down after that.

ETA: ironing all done in front of Law & Order (catch up tv) with a Baileys hot choc - time for bed with a book for me
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