Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

newgirly

Hectic few days again, so I’m behind with all things mse this week.

I’ve been out three nights this week and feel about 100 years old now :rotfl: only the cinema and to friends houses, nothing too crazy even.

Spending today was vast as I had a full head of highlights and cut and blow dry , I hung it out for about three weeks longer than usual to get closer to xmas, but £111 plus tip :eek: plus £15 on a curry round a friend’s house and about £10 on sweets and wine to take there.

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get time to have a good look at everything and see how bad the current account is

newgirly

Very stressful day today! First woken early by ds1 who was stuck at the station with no tube to get to work, so an hour and a half in a traffic jam to drop him off, then a ten minute gap to do a big shop in ald@ before I picked mum up to take her out. A whole day of cleaning and then started getting our stuff together for Budapest first thing weds and dh has lost his passport :mad: both he and ds2 lost theirs last time we went away! The only place left to look is a bag he left at another factory in north London. If it’s not there we have run out of places to look and both flights and hotel are non refundable.

On a happier note, I’m getting organised with the house, bought a couple of big “starlight” red jars in Poundland today (£2 each) which look great on the fireplace. I’m feeling quite festive now - despite the rage that is burning for dh :rotfl: I might put the tree up at the weekend :xmastree:

newgirly

Phew passport found :T after the most stressful day ever, dh found it in a drawer he had already checked :wall:

Still everything is done and booked except a hotel transfer which I was considering, we will either get a bus or cab now instead.

Missed a night out tonight, Dd actually got us both free tickets to martins :money: xmas live show that was on tv tonight, it was just too much though with work and going away first thing so we couldn’t go I did watch it though

Need to get up early as it’s payday and we have almost nothing left in the current account so lots of transfers need doing. I already have my new diary for 2020 ready for planning the finances next year, love a new plan

Edit, it seems we do have a hotel transfer as the message went through even though it said it didn’t! Oh well , a bit dearer but a lot easier.

BVic28

I’m glad you found the passport but it sounds like a lot of stress! Have a wonderful time

newgirly

It was stressful but thank you

We made it the weather is wet but the hotel is amazing, lovely but we won't be paying £24 per person for breakfast :eek:

Dh has just been out for wander and it bucketing down and everything's shut still,hopefully it will stop soon as we are not here for long

Moneyfordreams

Well done on finding the passport :T £24 brekki is a bit steep :eek:

newgirly

Well we had a nice break in Budapest, the hotel was stunning and right in the centre by the market , great for £90 a night but too dear to eat or drink there :rotfl: I’ve totalled up everything we spent and it comes to around £690 including flights/parking/hotel/tourist tax/drinks/tourist bus to Budapest castle/one small lunch out/2 evening meals (not big and barely any alcohol for dh) and £5 on crochet tree decorations.

Considering I was probably annoying dh a little with my thrifty ways this is more than I expected, dh took the boys in a big group for their 18th and it was 80p a pint. They were staying outside further out though! Still we had a great time. Part of the reason for the cost tracking was to try and decide whether to cancel our flights to Rome next March, I booked ages ago and we have since booked a cruise to Italy two months later. In my head I was thinking it would cost around £800 but I think this is way too low as we are going for 3 nights not 2 and want to visit a lot of paying attractions , plus Rome is dearer than Budapest I guess.

I feel like there’s a lot of pressure financially right now, not with xmas spending as that’s planned and budgeted for. I think we may keep dads (massive old expensive) car for a year at least, dh needs a car to get to work and to be honest it’s free I don’t want to buy another old car or commit to finance right now, so it seems like taking a risk is what we will do. I feel we cancel Rome it will help with the insurance and the tax will have to be squeezed from somewhere.

My parents have offered Dd money to help on her course while we were away, we have been giving her £300pm but it’s not quite enough apparently. The problem is they really only help out with Dd not the boys so we will give her an extra couple of hundred to top it up.

I don’t really want to have a discussion about this right before Xmas as we don’t have the same views, so we will find the money.

That being said, I do feel quite positive about next year, we can’t possibly be as rubbish at ops as we were this year with the new kitchen etc. :rotfl:

Ive taken the decision (with a downtrodden dh with earache listening to me) to bin the “we need more money to live off” plan of a few weeks ago and just go for it next year. Minimal spending and everything chucked at the mortgage. If it’s lasts great, if it’s cant be done then at least we will be slightly further on than if we hadn’t tried :T

December 1st may not be the best time to keep spending down but I’m going to try!

Planned spending :

Xmas day out with best friend this week , white Xmas at the dominion, already paid for ticket, yearly afternoon tea to pay for £30 (I know not mse but once a year :rotfl:)

Dd’s charity event she is running for her course in London Tuesday, tickets already purchased , won’t be bidding on stuff but will do raffles

Xmas day out with Dd - cinema and prezz@ , hopefully with cineworld card and a buy a gift meal voucher bought reduced :money:

Xmas food and booze - massively reduced booze costs now I’m teetotal :rotfl: (should have cleared the mortgage now really! )



Savings made :

Old Fake tree this year - no real one

Took back xmas blue velvet dress for refund (when I found i already had a blue velvet dress )

Given a gorgeous expensive black dress by aunt who has only worn twice , will wear xmas day

Voucher for dinner with Dd

Shopping for Xmas food in Aldi not M&S this year

Can’t think of anything else right now and this post is long enough :rotfl:

newgirly

Ds2 finally appeared yesterday, we were away then he was at his girlfriends house at the weekend. They turned up with a tub of chocolates and a little light up xmas house for me Then dh gave me two Xmas cds he had asked them to buy for him, Michael buble and Robbie Williams’s xmas cd’s , these were for me not him of course , he’s not a big fan of Michael buble :rotfl: very kind though as the radio in the car doesn’t work well.

For Xmas this year we are paying for a couple of things we need, Ive ordered a new iPad as mines almost unusable and very old, I would have preferred a mini but they were a lot dearer, so I got the cheapest full sized one. The cheapest I found is £249.99 from very with £50 off and £50 for opening a credit account plus 12 months 0% finance which I will use. It’s painful, but it’s been a long time coming and I don’t want it to die when the price is higher. Dh is having car insurance for the next year for the car upfront (cancelled Rome trip....) and I’ll pay the tax monthly with a reduced personal allowance for me.

Did a farm shop for veg yesterday as I couldn’t face the supermarket and bought 5 kilos of potatoes which I roasted and then ate most of :eek: stretching out the no shopping until the 5th when I can use the cc! May need to get creative from the freezer

Also coughed up for a month now tv pass last night, always used to get sky movies for a month over December when the kids were little as a treat. Dd mentioned it and I thought why not! Dh and I have no plans to do much or go out a lot so it will be worth it. Full price £14.99 but a code on amazon was only £8 :money: will force feed everyone’s xmas films if i can now :rotfl:

themadvix

Budapest sounds lovely, but quite expensive (given that your hotel wasn't, by the sound of it). If you're going to go for it next year, then I'd be inclined to agree about cancelling Rome. I've never been, but imagine it would be expensive, especially to do it properly and see everything. Maybe that should be your MF target holiday!

Gifts from DS2 and DH sound lovely - they obviously really appreciate you!

newgirly wrote: »

Did a farm shop for veg yesterday as I couldn’t face the supermarket and bought 5 kilos of potatoes which I roasted and then ate most of :eek:

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Sounds like a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon!!

newgirly wrote: »

Also coughed up for a month now tv pass last night, always used to get sky movies for a month over December when the kids were little as a treat. Dd mentioned it and I thought why not! Dh and I have no plans to do much or go out a lot so it will be worth it. Full price £14.99 but a code on amazon was only £8 :money: will force feed everyone’s xmas films if i can now :rotfl:

Bargain - so much cheaper than Sky!

newgirly

Think you are right Vix, I don’t want to go and ruin it by being a cheapskate worrying about the cost of everything I’ve been sold my excess euros to my aunt now so the decision is made!

Long day tomorrow, dd is doing a charity auction for part of her course in north London that we are going to after work that finishes very late. Since I gave up booze I just want to go to bed really early most nights , not very rock and roll :rotfl: