Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

themadvix

I think you picked good days to sit outside NG! We're having a belated afternoon tea in Mum's garden today and it's really not looking promising, weather-wise!

Exciting stuff about the children getting married. I'm sure they'll appreciate your help, in whatever form it comes - whether financial or practical. With the state of the world and your work situations (which I'm sure they must be somewhat aware of), I'm sure they'll be grateful for whatever you can do for them. And they all sound like self-motivated individuals, who want to work hard, so you've done the hard work bringing them up that way!

ETA: our parents all offered to pay for a specific thing for the wedding with a budget attached - Mum the dress, Dad the reception meal and in-laws the Routemaster bus (obviously an essential for all weddings ), so I think that helped them with limiting the financial contribution - just an idea.

greent

I'd second similar to what vix has said - my mum paid for my dress and the evening buffet (really nothing fancy - very old school) and DH's mum paid for nothing. The important thing is the wedding - not necessarily any fripperies - one of the nicest weddings I've seen in recent years was the men not in morning suits but chinos and white shirts, for example

themadvix

Agree about the fripperies - we had a church wedding and then a reception in a village hall (we scouted out the prettiest from the outside so we could have nice photos!). We did want a sit down meal but it was a hog roast (salmon for me), cake for pudding and Costco buffet/pork leftovers in the evening. We brewed some beer, got 80p a bottle sparkling wine from France for the toasts and had collected/donated wine (ferry crossing offer case for example!). If people wanted spirits they had to bring their own (we provided mixers, I want to say on sale or return but I can’t actually remember!). It was more important to us to have everyone there that we wanted than to have a posh reception. What’s more, in conversations people still say (unprompted) that it was one of the best weddings they’ve been to - I think the relaxed atmosphere and free booze helped (and they loved the bus journey too - bus to match the mini obviously)!

Debsnewbudget

Finally reached the end and caught up on your diary.
At times I wanted to shout at you, other times I wanted to hug you, but the main thing to say is well done
You have  achieved so much and should be very proud of yourself.
I look forward to now keeping up to date with you and your family.

newgirly

😆 I love that debtsnewbudget, Shouting is probably more deserved! Thanks for reading though 😁
Hi Vix and greent, I think they may well go down the quirky route anyway, and dd has done years of events work in London so has great ideas but is quite mindful of spending too much thank goodness 😆 we have a fab rustic barn nearby where it could be low key or huge depending on budget at the time, but they won’t even start looking until they have moved out, so that will be booked up no doubt 🤦🏼‍♀️ At least the wedding albums/guest book/invites will all be free from dh 😬
Best friend has hosted a few big dos at her house and one of the most successful things was a traditional fish and chip van in the garden. I think a tardis photo booth may be on the cards for dd too. 

I cooked a huge Easter lunch yesterday which took forever, I’ve got lazy lately! Then we ate lots of chocolate and watched line of duty which is my main pleasure in life at the moment, It has to be watched twice over to comb over for clues we may have missed 😆 

Financial news, I’ve no idea I  will be having a good look over today 😱

South_coast

I don't know how you lot can all be watching Line of Duty when there is new Midsomer Murders on the other side 😮😮😮

newgirly

😆 Don’t worry it’s on record! I’ll be watching it tonight, I also LOVE Midsomer murders 😬

killerpeaty

On the ITV or channel 4 morning show yesterday (with Alan Tidmarsh, I don't know the name of the show!) there was someone who binds and restores books and I thought of you!

I don't envy you for the upcoming weddings, they are a lot of work! But it's very exciting! 

newgirly

 Not many b@@kbinders left now sadly, they are all getting old 😆

Just been having a sqiz on rightmove today and noticed a unit in our block is up for rent, it’s quite rare as most of the tennants have been there since it was built about 7 years ago, this particular one is the same size as ours except they have not put a mezzanine floor in making three proper levels. It’s up for £30k a year plus vat which is great news and £6k more than we are getting, I shall keep a close eye and get dh to find more info out as he knows all the neighbours there 😬 it’s a good sign I guess though for us. 

I have decided to give my brother some money to gamble (as opposed to invest🙄) in crypto currency 😱 he’s been going for a few months and has friends who have been in for over three years and have made quite a lot. It is a huge risk for someone usually so risk averse but I can’t resist giving it a go in the fairly short term, so I think we will gamble with £250 from the holiday pot as I’ve put in some extra on top of the monthly payments I’m putting aside. hopefully we will be able to not lose it all and pay it back in a year or so and fingers crossed there will be a surplus, if not I’ll have to make up the extra! 

newgirly

So all pots are basically empty now 😱 I’ve taken £191 from the holiday savings pot and topped it up from my personal spending pot to increase to the £250 we are gambling on crypto. Personal spends pot is now £3.67 😂

After a month of spending too much, I did manage to op the full amount of our wages and we did just about scrape by living on just the rent again, we are still just about ahead of schedule saving in premium bonds for dhs 50th birthday cruise. So although it’s not been a great month, all the important bits have still been ticked off and we have plenty of food 😊

I also collected a bargain dress today spotted on Hduk site, £25 reduced to £2.49 at m@s, click and collect and it fits perfectly - happy days 😬