Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

daisy_1571

Agree with themadvix, this should be the last Xmas with a mortgage for you I think? You maybe feel like keeping adding things now cos I know it seems to have been a long drag but you are sooooooo close. Keep it a bit low key this year (and next if I miscalculated) and I am absolutely certain no one will notice or care, they come to see you and spend time with each other, they will likely have eaten the day before and probably will eat again the day after so you don't need to feed them enough for a week lol. Instead of scrimping and moving money about, keep strong and think how much nicer a fancy m&s meal will be the year you do it with no mortgage and without using all the head space you have to assign to chopping and changing your targets all the time:xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::rudolf::rudolf::xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::snow_grin:snow_grin:snow_grin:snow_grin

Daisy xxx

edinburgher

You could probably do a 'like M&S' of oven ready stuff for a lot less, even if you do decide to go for stuff that requires minimal prep. Lidl have some fantastic Christmas luxury stuff and Morrison's also offer a lot of ready to cook choices, although the quality can be a little bit hit or miss.

My current Christmas food fantasy is renting a cutesy cottage somewhere and escaping with Mrs E, DD and an Inverawe hamper :drool:

newgirly

That's why I love it here, it's the only place I get told "don't do it! :rotfl:

Ed that website is great! I think the Xmas holiday cottage idea is lovely, a real relaxing Christmas I should think.

Madvix and Daisy, I think you are right and we are so much closer to the end I want to splash out when I should be going the other way
The official end date Is April 2022 , but I am aiming for April 2018 which will be a big stretch!

I did go round mum's last night to discuss Xmas food choices, she's not the best one for mse options though as they spend close to £1k in xmas food and drink :eek: she said we can have some of their left over ham/turkey again this year, so I will say yes to that I think.

I stopped at Aldi on the way home from work too to see if they had any Xmas food leaflets but it's too early. Also looked online at Sainsbury's , Waitrose and Tesco. Will check Lidl out too. I think I might end up compromising and getting everything from Aldi except for a coupe of "showstopper" bits from m and s (I may have watched too much bakefoff ) like the cranberry topped porkpie and a couple of the fancy desserts on the cheaper end of the spectrum.

Off for a trip to he shops with best friend today and lunch out, have not done that in a while and I'm really looking forward to it, lunch out too but only something light as it's the dreaded weigh in tonight.

daisy_1571

newgirly wrote: »

That's why I love it here, it's the only place I get told "don't do it! :rotfl:

I did go round mum's last night to discuss Xmas food choices, she's not the best one for mse options though as they spend close to £1k in xmas food and drink :eek: she said we can have some of their left over ham/turkey again this year, so I will say yes to that I think.

OM actual G !!!!! :eek::eek::eek::eek: £1000 wow no wonder you have struggled at times to stay on course with that attitude in the family. I know you have said they don't understand some of your ideas but seriously that's a huge spend for a couple of days. And they know in advance they will have enough 'leftovers' to give away :rotfl:. That's not leftover's, that's just having too much food lol :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:


I take my hat off to you even more newgirly, the change in your money viewpoint in the last few years has been astounding, you should be very pleased with yourself and your lovely family xxxx

Daisy xx

newgirly

Thanks Daisy They can be a bit excesssive my family :rotfl: I often help doing the various Xmas shops with them, last year's cheese cost 1/4 of the total cost, fancy mouldy stuff from borough market :eek:

themadvix

Sounds like you've found a good compromise there - a couple of nice bits and the rest cheaper should work well. It must be very hard when you're surrounded by people with extravagant tastes and bottomless pockets!

However, I have to disagree with Daisy - we always make sure we have leftovers from the meat at Christmas - it becomes dinner for DH (he's fairly recently had the last of the delicious-smelling turkey curry - I'm veggie) and the scraps are for the cats. We buy bigger than we need deliberately!

newgirly

We always get left overs from my parents at Xmas, I'll take anything

Had a great Halloween/aunts birthday curry last night on our new massive dining table, 11 of us and room for a few more :T I ordered extra chairs (buy two get two half price, already reduced, plus 20% off code plus topcashback ) unfortunately they have changed them slightly and they are very slightly darker and shinier, as we can't get hold of the exact match I've kept them, you wouldn't really notice unless it's pointed out.

Dd has been asked to pay a free to change the flight name on a break she is going on to Italy as someone has dropped out-over £100 :eek: I've said we will pay and give her spending money, she never asks for anything and hasn't travelled with friends except a 2 night coach trip.

Car insurance has gone up and 2 years ncd taken for me reversing into that car in January £312

Conservatory repairs and carpet balance due £600

Cruise parking booked £67

This month is getting scarily costly :eek::eek:

Need to set a final realistic end of year target , we are nowhere near this year's one

Also need to set a budget for next year -woohoo hopefully the last full year of paying a mortgage :T

michelle09

£1k? Wow.... well at least there should be lots of leftovers for that much? I thought my Mum was a bit nuts for paying out for this £70 meat package (but not too much because we will get at least a week's worth of meat out of it).

Six months isn't long to go! Hope it goes quick.

newgirly

I wish it was 6 months! April 2019 is the hopeful end date, I must have written that down wrong next year will be the last full year, unless I keep spending like i have been lately that is :rotfl:

CathT

What are you doing down on page 5 Newgirly?!?!

How is the target and budget setting coming along?