greent's mfw journey

Karmacat

That sounds great! There's another parallel there with my teenage years, actually - my mum took my sister and I to London when I was 16, to see the Tutankamun exhibition, it was utterly magical. Enjoy your weekend right now though

newgirly

Hope you have a fantastic time greent, will you go for the bounce back tickets while there? We have not been this year and I do miss it London sounds good too, the HP tour is literally the best place on earth! Tussaud's it might be best to start to queue before it opens as its always chaos in the holidays. I think these sort of breaks are ideal to keep them all entertained as there is something for all of them to enjoy whatever age.

Watty1

Have a fab time

Alchemilla

Awww piggles! MWEE MWEE MWEE!

greent

Up at 6.15 yesterday (on a Sunday in the hols - ouch!!!) - got any still sleeping children (ie: the teenagers!) up at 7. Left at 8.05 and got to AT for a very respectable 10.15 - paid extra for the premium parking from a 'we'll all be shattered at the end of the day' pov. Was worth the extra £10 (don't understand how theme parks justify charging for 'normal' parking - how are you meant to get there if not by car???) Was a relatively quiet day there, just like the papers said it has been, so got a reasonable amount of stuff done (my fave 'dry' ride was Duel, 'wet' ride was a toss-up between the Rapids and the shooting water off a ship one (can't remember the name)) Took a picnic but did buy icecreams in the afternoon (yum) Got very wet, several times, despite wearing poundshop ponchos (they work pretty well for the rides - it's the people shooting directly in your face (so down the front of the poncho) which get you wet!! Good weather, too. Fab day out and we left there about 6.30 - after buying the bounce back tickets for another day @ £15 each (have to be used by 6th Nov) Found a Frankie and Bennys restaurant not far away so stopped off there for dinner too - which meant we didn't get home until 10.40pm - all 3 boys were asleep in the car on the way back


Having had to press the reset button three times today on the boiler and finding the cover to be very hot I've got [EMAIL="BG@s"]BG@s[/EMAIL] coming out this afternoon under our homecare agreement to have a look. They will tell me I need a new one - well, they could fit a new one if they weren't so darned expensive!!! Instead I have a local guy fitting one at the end of this month for £2000 cheaper - and his price also includes fitting 2 new radiators and an annual inspection/ service for 10 years (saving us money in our monthly budget, as I will cancel the homecare agreement as soon as new one is installed)


Now just need to get dates for windows and kitchen refit......

greent

Quick update on plans - some are more successful so far than others!

greent wrote: »

have been thinking of plans for next year....

• Pay off mortgage - DONE - almost a month ago :j
• Start to re-build savings after they took a massive hit last year when DH had no job - hmmm - they *have* increased - but are going to get hit again by all the planned house improvements!:p
• Start Florida 2016 Fund!:eek: - at about £80 so far!!:rotfl:
• Pensions.... still on my to-do list :o
• Lose 2stone (min - could do with more, but 2stone would make a big difference) - ooops - also still on my to do list
• Get fitter - will also hopefully help with above target! - was going out for a walk most nights (probably 6/7) but stopped. Need to re-start and do other stuff. Contemplating zumba :eek: and a set of Burlesque classes (sound waaay more fun than the Zumba!:D)
• Make £1500 (net) from selling stuff - whether ebay, facebook, nearly new sales or other - doing quite well to this - progress in signature
• Declutter house & garage - useful to help to achieve above target:D - doing ok at this Still lots more to do though
• Simplify life (am not rejoining WI as part of this - it's become a chore, rather than enjoyable of late, so clearly I need a break) - WI stopped - not missed at all. PTA treasurer-ship given up, and not even replaced with 'general' committee role - have stepped totally back. Although have gained 2 small part time jobs invigilating!:rotfl:!
• Tackle to-do list of jobs on house/ garden/ garage . somewhat neglected of late) - started this but not enough progress being made in reality. Although back garden much prettier this year than it has been in years, though
• Look at BTL and decide what to do - needs some work on it whether we keep it or sell - was definitely looking at selling. Now looking at repaying mtge (could make that my next MFW target!:D) and keeping it in the spirit of FIRE. (Currently makes approx. £4k pa pre-tax 'profit')
• Make memories together as a family - very important:) - there have sadly been some bad memories from the first few months of this year But we've had some free days out pottering in parks, a trip to Dr Who in Cardiff, @Bristol, lots of family games played and meals consumed together. Coming up: a family wedding this weekend (the first one in years!), the 4 day trip to London with the various outings whilst there, a return trip to Alton Towers and will do something in Oct half term

apple_muncher

Awesome achievements so far. And we're only at the start of August! Well done to all the greent clan :T:T:T

Karmacat

Agreed, awesome stuff going on! I like your idea of keeping your BTL - the £4k pre tax profit is presumably after costs like the mortgage? So yes, profitable, hurray Hint: that would help your pension fund too

greent

apple_muncher wrote: »

Awesome achievements so far. And we're only at the start of August! Well done to all the greent clan :T:T:T

Karmacat wrote: »

Agreed, awesome stuff going on! I like your idea of keeping your BTL - the £4k pre tax profit is presumably after costs like the mortgage? So yes, profitable, hurray Hint: that would help your pension fund too

Thank you, both I was feeling it was of the 'could do better' standard! But it's not bad overall - and I've just realised that losing weight before Florida gives me a 'proper' target date to work too - which may work!


And, yes, KC - that's the figure after mortgage int, insurance and usual costs, with a small amount for extra (there's always something which needs doing - eg: OH spent £13.50 on some pipe stuff to repair under the kitchen sink this weekend) So it's approx. 4k of profit/ income (before tax) for us (thanks to fix ending and going down to SVR:D)


x

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi Greent, lovely to read of the achievements. Your decluttering is still inspiring me to rid us of 'stuff'.

Best wishes Tilly x