Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

newgirly

Sc, I have more festive than non festive probably 😆

KP, I’ve not been to Birmingham but it’s on the to do list, got as far as looking at trains and hotels once 😬 Bury st Edmunds is a great one which we started going to a few years ago, but the last few times it has been just SO busy it’s been a pain really, probably as it’s only on for one weekend though. York is a good one and we were lucky enough to squeeze in Budapest last year a few months before lockdown and that was both relatively cheap and very good. Any other suggestions for Xmas markets welcome as its a nice way to kill some time making plans for the future 🙂

 Most of the to do list is done, except the mammoth task of the ironing which I may just leave until in the week when dh is busy rather than do it today when I could be more sociable with people here! 

Just ordered some t@ssimo pods for the coffee machine, I’ve not bought them since full lock down part one as they are so dear and a treat. I’ve been watching them again for a week or so and they have dropped again back down to around £14 for five packs which is ok, it’s coming from my personal spending budget as they are too much of  a waste from the food budget as I’ve bought hot chocolate and flat whites, I won’t be drinking coffee out this month so that will cover it 🙂

South_coast

My BF has a bean to cup coffee machine, it's a bigger outlay (although he got it on a Black Friday deal) but now he just needs to buy beans so I think it works out cheaper in the long run. I'm definitely the most MSE regarding coffee though, as I can't stand the stuff! Saves me a fortune 🤣!

I seem to have multiple pairs of Christmas socks rather than bedding. I never take much notice of what I'm putting on though, so they get an airing all year round 😀!

themadvix

I’m the same with Christmas socks - they get worn all year round otherwise I’d be inundated with them and they’d never wear out!

South_coast

*whispers* I actually have a sock rotation system to make sure every pair gets worn equally 😮!

newgirly

Sock rotation system 😱 I thought I was organised having knickers all the same style and colour so no need for decision making 😆 Sc if we were more refined we could try the bean to cup machine but aside from ds1 we want sickly shop style frothy ones 😬 Have got a few flavoured beanies lately too from Lidl , they work out a lot cheaper but it’s not the same as a frothy c@sta cappuccino. 

I’ve just received a parcel from best friend of a personalised quality street tin, it’s amazing! Will be keeping that and refilling for years 😁 unfortunately it’s meant I’ve had to finish the box of lindor to make space on the chocolate cupboard....

South_coast

Er, I also have one drawer for knickers and one for bras so I can quickly find a set without rummaging 😳! The joys of not having to share drawers 👍

Personalised Quality Street sounds amazing, I'm sure the Lindor knew it was for the greater good....😀

killerpeaty

Apparently Winchester Christmas market is lovely too, I haven't been but I really like Wincester regardless. They have a bee themed cafe.I would love to go to York Christmas market (or just York in general), it's been on my wish list for a long time.

I wear christmas socks all year around as well. The more glittery the better! I've been known to show off my favourite socks to my colleagues, I've rubbed off on them and sometimes they were specifically wear their most colourful socks to show me.

newgirly

Oh thanks I will have a look at Winchester for the future 🙂 I love York and highly recommend it! Also love the Christmas sock showing off 😆 

I’m about to ring up to change our cruise booking to 2022, should be able to just flip the small deposit over from this coming April, phone lines open in five minutes so fingers crossed! 

newgirly

I managed to switch the cruises booking over, it’s dearer (£169pp) as we had a brilliant deal on the original one but it’s still a lot cheaper booking in advance. It’s £809 pp and I have £1200 put aside from the cruise we had the refund on this year, so not too much to find by 2022🙂

I’ve been having a think about how much we should be paying off the mortgage when our income goes up again thanks to the business rent coming in next year. Dhs job is still I feel not 100% safe so I’m thinking we should focus on attempting to make sure the rent part (£1500pm) covers the food/bills/car ins etc. and wages are used for the mortgage ops and non essentials we can do without, Xmas gifts, holidays etc. Of course the bulk being for ops 😬

Then if something goes wrong we can scrape by still, I’ll being paying all ops into the offset and not off the balance as we need a cushion due to the fact he works for the company that rents the factory we own, so if they went under we would have a no wage/rent situation for a couple of months.

So I need to get the mortgage term extended now as we have made all the required monthly payments to prove we can afford it, then as of January it will be full steam ahead with the overpayments. So the wages will be £1800 from which I’ll probably do along the lines of :

£1450  basic mortgage payment plus ops 
£150 holiday savings 
£200 general savings 

All being well (I’m sure it won’t be by past experience 😂) we will be mf about four years later! Holiday savings may seem a bit of a luxury when we are trying to pay it off quickly but it’s our 25th next year and dhs 50th the year after (as well as the boys’ 21st’s) we won’t be doing anything for the anniversary so I may book something for dhs 50th at the end of 2022.  I’m a bit more in the mindset of “life is too short” at the moment and we are not getting any younger.

I am also bearing in mind ds1 may want to learn to drive so I may swap Geraldine for a very cheap old runaround we can share in the next year or two, he doesn’t really want or need a car I doubt but it seems daft to have two large engined cars that the kids won’t get insured on, but I will only go down this road if he actually takes lessons though! 

Food spending is £438.33 / £1000 since 15th October , so I’ve overspent by £92.19 now, although I won’t be shopping again until Tuesday so I should catch up by £51.28 and will be £40.91 over budget by then, phew 😆 Lidl is proving quite cheap but not so good for frozen stuff so I’m at start doing a split Lidl shop and Iceland free delivery as there are always slots here and it’s a nightmare to park and carry stuff in town. 

Anyway that’s enough waffle for this evening 🙂

South_coast

Great to hear you sounding so positive NG 😀 Your plans sound good