Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

newgirly

I have nearly finished DD's bedroom, it looks really good, I did spend on a new light, rug and bed clothes so all in all the total for everything has come in at £75 exactly. It seems strange spending after being so carefull in the last few months but I'm so glad i did, and it is a fraction of what I would have normally spent decorating in the past, and managed with only one roll of paper!

I have opened another halifax current account today in joint names with DH, so we have three accounts in all, so all going well if I remember to transfer £1000 in and out each month we should get £15 paid in total, each account hopefully should get £50 cashback from topcashback as well, so I'm quite pleased with that.

I have found some clubcard reward vouchers that I had exchanged for a theme park and not used, so I'm sending them back and swapping them for colchester zoo tickets to take the kids for october half term when its spooky week, so that was a bonus as I thought the tickets would not get used.

I think thats it on the money front for today, I will have to go and get some food this week we are running low on everything, I really need to do some meal planning and a proper list.

Iris_Blue

Hi Newgirly

Oh that's interesting about the H/F account as I thought there was a limit of 2 for couples. Something that I read on here. Thanks for that ! ...The cashback is brilliant too.

And well done on the decorating too :T

gallygirl

newgirly wrote: »

I have opened another halifax current account today in joint names with DH, so we have three accounts in all, so all going well if I remember to transfer £1000 in and out each month we should get £15 paid in total, each account hopefully should get £50 cashback from topcashback as well, so I'm quite pleased with that.

Thanks for that, have opened one, hopefully will get £50 topcashback and £50 from Halifax also :T.

Well done on room makeover, that is a great result

CathT

Great results on the cashback on opening the accounts, free money!!!

newgirly

I hope its possible to open three halifax accounts, it seemed to go through ok , will just have to wait and see.
spent all day clearing out the boys bedrooms, another two car loads for the tip and quite a few things to sell on ebay (they get to keep the money).
I have tried doing some surveys again but keep getting screened out or they are full up quite quickly, I will have to start checking in a few times a day again, still have to check one poll today though. DH is at work again today, he has been doing seven days a week lately as he is having new machinery delivered soon and needed to do some renovations first, no extra cash for the op's though, just a tired and grumpy OH!

I am going to do a nice roast dinner later, I bought a chicken from tesco on offer the other day, and went to the local farm shop with the kids yesterday which was quite cheap, the best buy was two huge cauliflowers for £1.25 , I think I might try and go every couple of weeks and have a look at what is on offer. Most of my food shop seems to go on lunch box things and snacks rather than dinners, I might have to start doing a few homemade cakes as I have got a bit lazy lately.
I'm taking the kids to costco today as I want to see if they have their xmas wrap and tags in yet, I got them last year and one pack of each was enough for about 40 ish peoples presents. I would like to challenge myself to have everything done super early this year, so when it comes to December we can have some xmas themed days out and treats.

Its the 19th already, this month seems to be going quite quickly, am I the only one who wishes the month away to get to mortgage payment day!

newgirly

Woken up at 5am by DH leaving for work this morning, so I went through the current account, discovered I'd not written down a couple of receipts in my book so have had to transfer £75 from my isa to cover it. I know what some of it was - my trip to costco yesterday where I managed to spend £37 on ribbon, tissue paper,tags and musical cards for xmas. (I was begged by the kids for the musical cards, they are great just not very MSE).
I need to start being more organised in the kitchen as most of my extra spending is on food in the last week or so. The less organised I am the more I seem to spend and eat, so I need to sort that out as all my jeans are now too tight!
DD's school have also kindly sent a letter asking for their annual donation of £15, which helps pay towards insurance apparently, so that will have to come from my new secret stash of £2 coins, I'd just managed to get to £20 as well.

A very frugal week is needed I think, and maybe a bit of Ebaying.

newgirly

Another school payment request today £4.00 for DD's cookery, plus £8 for Dt and yesterdays £15 school donation, all for one child this week, oh plus £50 for DS1&2 's basketball lessons before school. Thats £77 since they went back, not including the boys PGL trip next month which is £650 if I remember rightly. I feel like all I am doing is paying out money left right and centre at the moment

I am going to make a chilli in the slow cooker today, and make a loaf in the breadmaker, I can't remember the last time I made bread, I've been buying it for the last couple of months. I'm going to try and make some soup to freeze as well, DH is a big eater and will eat a big dinner and still be hungry so it might help to have a starter first.
I feel much more like cooking when the weather turns a bit colder and it gets dark earlier.

I am thinking of doing a SOA, but I'm a bit nervous. I might have a look at other peoples first.

[Deleted User]

hey newgirly
whew you have been busy- well done on the decorating! I have to admit one of my least fav things to do (love the result when its finished tho!) I am currently tyring to declutter the house (courtesy of MGs thread ) so will start with that !
mmmm...all the homemade food sounds good, we have a bread maker that I am still trying to get to grips with, have read the instructions and it is seeming rather complicated... but I love the idea of homemade bread so shall persevere!
sounds like the kids are all expensive at the mo! hopefully it will settle down once the new term has got into gear
dont be nervous about an SOA I think it was one of the best things I did as it really helped me see where all the money was going!

tyo

newgirly

I will do a SOA soon I think, the car and house insurance are due soon as well so I'll have to get some quotes.
I have not done any of the ironing I should have done this morning, instead I've booked next years holiday. We had more or less decided on the Isle of wight but I just wanted to make sure that was the best choice.
DH did want to go for a cottage on the park we are going to, which was £665 for the last week the kids are off school in August, but a top of the range caravan was £100 cheaper. Luckily before booking I had a quick look at hoeseasons online which were selling the same holiday at last years price still, and with a low deposit. So for the same week we are only paying £470 now and the caravan looks great, we could have gone for a more basic caravan but as its for a week I thought it would be nice to have a bit of luxury.
I would have thought that it would have been cheaper to book direct with the park to be honest.

I have a chilli in the SC cooking for later on , haven't got round to making the bread yet, I might put it on timer so its ready in the morning, I love waking up to the smell of fresh bread in the morning!

newgirly

Still did'nt get round to putting the bread maker on yet, but did have a nice chilli last night and are having it again tonight as there was enough for about eight people.
I have had a few problems with sky this week it keeps losing signal, I contacted them and they wanted £65 to come out and look at it. I obviously said no thanks I'll cancel instead, so they offered the call out for free. I'm sure they will try and get us to pay for a new box if we need one which I am not prepared to do.
We do use sky a lot, the kids love disney and sky 1, it costs £19 a month I'm trying to find out if there are any cheaper alternatives, but they all seem to include broadband and phone calls which we get free from DH's work.

I'm not sure whether to cancel or not, but quidco are doing £165 cashback on new contracts with virgin media, which is tempting but i'm supposed to be spending less not more at the moment. If I talk to DH he will say go for it and want the top of the range package, HD etc. so I don't want to talk to him! Do any of you MFW's have tv packages or is that something that has been cut back on to save more for the OP pot?

I feel a bit mean cutting it out as we don't have many treats really, but then less tv is not going to do the kids any harm is it.