Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

newgirly

Thanks vix 🙂

Considering it’s our 25th anniversary we didn’t make that much effort except going away, dh didn’t even buy a card tut tut! 

The cruise is strange but ok, it’s great to get away and wake up to the waves while in bed (I often try to have the doors open) but I’m the other hand it’s very odd not going anywhere 😂

Its our first time on this line and I’ve tried to change what we do a bit. Usually it’s about getting dressed up and posh meals etc. But this is the same ship coincidentally we will be on in the us and Canadian on 2023, where we will be a lot busier so we have been practicing slobbing about and eating pizza watching films outside rather than doing the restaurants every night, it’s been far more relaxing 😁 with the added benefit I’ve only spent £12 on this trip onboard buying dh a strap too keep the tracker thing they give you. 

Also downloaded an app to do some star gazing as it’s so clear at night, such a change from our get tipsy and hit the nightclub days, must be getting old! 

newgirly

Back home yesterday to a small amount of chaos! Dd and ds2’s fiancée have moved all of dds stuff from her room and painted the pink wall white ready for ds1 getting back from his festival tomorrow so he can move in. He will be ecstatic, he’s either shared or been in a small room his whole life, now he has what was originally the main front bedroom, within a week it will be a mess I’m sure as he’s the lazy one 😂 

About to start on the accounts before I put Vera on, the food spends we’re very low this month and that’s with paying for ds1’s festival food. So I’ve done a tesc@ delivery for ds2 and partner as he hasn’t stayed here all month and they are struggling with money. Her top up loan for uni has not gone through (issues with dad doing paperwork I think) and ds2 is still on minimum part time wage, hopefully not for long as he’s started proper training now. He is still paying rent so I felt I should. £7 club card vouchers send so spent £49. 

Back later tonight or first thing with a proper financial update 😁

killerpeaty

It might be odd not going any where but it sounds like you had fun!

Sorry to hear that D's is struggling a bit with money , I'm sure it'll turn out alright though.

newgirly

Thanks Kp 🙂

I’ve been missing for a while! Had a really bad cold that I caught from ds1 when he returned from reading festival, both of us are testing constantly since (and always negative) but I have not felt so rough in ages though. Today I missed mums best friends funeral, as although I’m clear and feel ok I’ve a cough that won’t go and I thought I might scare everyone with it 😱 

Also had the large 4x4 we got from dad looked at this week finally, and it needs a new gearbox imminently 😩 I think we have had it about a year and have spent over £1k so far on repairs, to rebuild the current gearbox is an insane £3k at the specialist (non bmw) garage and a new gearbox is more. The manager said it’s probably not worth it as being 3.0 diesel sports it’s going to be hit with the UlEZ from October from Stratford inwards, but if they extend the zone further in the future it may hit our town as we are an outer London borough. Not sure what to do really, have no money for replacing it and not too fond of finance, plus I’m in travel the world frame of mind now 😂 will stew on it a bit longer, the problem is persuading dh that a “main car” can be something smaller and slower! 

Managed to pay the extra £380 as planned on top of the normal mortgage payment of £347 again this month, so far so good. Grocery and fuel budget came in at £468.23 this month (£500 budget) so I will overpay the surplus, not bad considering we drove to Southampton and I also bought both boys a food shop this month to take away. 

newgirly

Fairly lazy day today, we are going out with ds2 and fiancée for lunch soon (assuming we can get a table) as its her birthday this week and they never go out 😆 will be trying to get in a local pub that does a Sunday meal deal. 

Food shopping since sept budget starts on the 5th is £58.42 in Lidl, £11.08 in Poundland/Superdrug on toiletries and a whopping £30.05 on a ten pack of flat white coffee pods from Amazon 😱 I can’t help it , it’s a lockdown addiction I’ve developed 😂 not helped by dd working from home for a few weeks and glugging them too! 

Still no decision on the car situation, we may just go with repairing the beast for now. We do fairly low milage and dh still uses the electric van most days for work, I could really do with getting rid of Geraldine the beetle as she is kind of surplus to requirements. On the other hand during summer with the roof down she is an absolute blast and I’m not sure what dd is doing wedding car wise as they have hired a vintage double decker , but I don’t think she will arrive in that, I’m hoping she might want to use Geraldine covered in flowers 😊 
Dh is keen to buy a new car and pay it off, that’s just making me go cold really, I wouldn’t mind if it was a little “cheap” run around , but anything bigger seems to be vast amounts of money.

themadvix

Double decker bus is awesome (not that I'm biased or anything!). Geraldine covered in flowers would look rather lovely I imagine (Sorry, nothing helpful to add, except that the coffee pods are less than a coffee out, so that's quite MSE).

killerpeaty

Sorry to hear about your car troubles. They are terrible things financially! They choose to go wrong at the worst of times. 

Well done on keeping to budget last month. I'm not a coffee drinker but I hear they can be ridiculously expensive!

Jessy103

Geraldine covered in flowers sounds fantastic! ❤

newgirly

Thanks guys hopefully dd will choose to use my car 😬

Busy day today and the personal budget has taken a hammering 🙄 Bought coffee out for best friend and I first thing and then bought ds2’s fiancée lunch at bell@ itali@ (using my tastecard free trial so 2 for 1) as it’s her birthday this week, also bought her and dd a bunch of roses each from Aldi. Tonight ds2 and fiancée and dd and I went to see a new “scary” horror film (cinema passes and meerkat codes so free) which was so bad it had me crying with laughter in places, well worth the trip out! All in all a great day, I’m starting to feel so much happier than I had been over the lockdown period at times. 

Need to check the finances tonight, no point trying to sleep until dh is home as he will clatter about and wake me up and he’s out with a friend until late, fingers crossed I have not totally emptied the personal spending pot which was rather echoey to start with…

Moneyfordreams

That's nice to read - happiness