Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

newgirly

Not having a good day today Feeling quite fed up with being the only one in the house who is trying to not spend at the moment.

I am seriously getting on dh's nerves I think by watching every penny, and he is getting on mine a bit by not!

Went out this morning and bought some rolls and doughnuts for the kids for lunch,and ds 2 got a few free books (for a small donation) from the bookshop in town and a dvd from the charity shop with his pocket money, at least one of them is learning.

I've made a veggie lasagne for dinner tonight with 1/2 a big bag of quorn mince from ic*land for £2 and , value pasta sheets, and homemade tomato sauce.

never_too_old

It does get very frustrating being the only one that tries to be fugal/I feel your pain:)

skint_spice

I am also worried about getting up on Monday although DS does seem to manage to crawl out of bed if MOTD is on I am getting as bad as him though so setting alarm for tomorrow at 8am to break me in to single figure rising again...

pavlovs_dog

is Weezl's curry recipe on her blog or the cheap family meals site? Sounds like something I could cobble together from things we normally have in the house

newgirly

Hi Pavlovs, it is from her feed 4 for £100 cheap family receipe site.
Its base ingredients are chopped toms,kidney beans and baked beans plus onions and spices.

newgirly

Morning Its back to school tomorrow, it feels like months ago that they broke up before xmas and we went away!

Last year I bought a book on self sufficiency as I love the idea of that (not sure I'd be any good in reality though) and we are going to make over the garden this year, so I'm hoping to incorporate at lest something in the new design that will be useful.

Our garden is about 19ft wide and 42 ft long, but has a conservatory out of that space as well, plus a massive log cabin thats about 17ft x 10ft.(don't ask ) So a useable space of 19ft x 16ft , with a little paved square with a storage cupboard next to the conservatory too.

I am a bit stuck as this is a tiny space and we have 3 kids (15,12, 12) and the younger two do like to kick a ball around even though there's hardly any room. Dh wants to astro turf it, and I would love to have a little cottage style space with plants/paved areas something quaint. Plus dh will be doing the work himself, and astro turf is much easier than paving.

I think I will have a look through some garden design ideas, and see if I can do a bit of both, my friend has astro turf (and a dog) and says its much easier than real grass, but I'm not sure that I like it.

Anyway, back to mortgage related stuff, today I've op'd 10p and checked surveys. Dinner will be leftovers from last night for us and freezer food for the kids. Last night I was naughty and had 2 glasses of wine with dinner so have broken my no alcohol pledge already, strangely though I didn't enjoy it as much as I usually do, maybe I'm losing the taste for it.

newgirly

Back to reality, ds2 has a school trip this morning on his first day back and needs to be in at 7.30am :eek:

Today I've got to do some work for dh at home, take my granny to the shopping centre (mum has a sick bug, so I'm taking her place) Catch up with all the washing and tidy up a bit, and maybe do a bit of batch cooking.

I has a mini success yesterday as dh took the twins to the cinema so I had a few hours spare, I sat and watched a movie and made a sock monkey as my homemade present of the month. I'd like to make a frilly knitted scarf for dd next so might order some wool online. It seems a bit odd making stuff for next xmas all ready, but I would usually be buying bits in the sale for next year so its not that different I suppose.:D

lulabelle1

Yay - congrats on the sock monkey - sticking to your NY resolutions, that's brilliant!

newgirly

Cheers Lulabelle

Have done a 10p survey and op'd 10p today, also batch cooked some spag bol for dh. Other than that I've been spending money, just one birthday left to buy for now this month and just enough left to pay for it. Hopefully feb will be a bit easier.

Spent a bit in poundland on lunchbox snacks and toiletries which has reduced the grocery budget down to £49.16 so from tomorrow an average of £5.30 a day left.

Still have cleaning ,work and ironing to do and its getting late!

MissOptimistic

Hi Newgirly!
I feel your pain with the one poll, I am up to £21 and its the hardest £21 I think I have ever earned! I think I will throw a party [STRIKE]if[/STRIKE] when I eventually get to £40!
I have just been reading back through your diary as I couldn't remember whether you decided to go back to repayment or stick with the IO. I am on IO with a mortgage that ends in 5 years, we have no hope of being able to remortgage for this house as we self-certified our income when we bought the house. We have lived here 8 years and pay the mortgage every month, but just can't prove our income as its made up from lots of different things. I have spoken to our lender who has said if we switch to repayment we can up the term to 21 years (I will be 60) the payment will rise from £750 to £1230 but it feels like a lifeline to me, I had started to think we might have to sell up and rent in 5 years
I know we are similar ages and both have 3 kids of similar ages and I just wondered if you could point me in the direction of your last SOA, it would be really helpful to see if my spending is inline with what you spend on your family before i take the plunge!
P.s we also like centreparcs and have booked 4 days in may for my DD's birthday