Our attempt at being MF!!

debtfreeoneday

Glad you enjoyed your walk and your commitment free weekend!

CathT

Thanks MCI, hope they are both fully recovered now.

Hi dfod, it was fab and we all went for a lovely walk on Saturday morning.

Well, what a week! I've barely had a minute. By the time I get home, eat and spend time with the children the evening is just gone! I'm off work for a week now but have started with a cold today. I never get colds!!

Need to update food spends, think it's about £20 but do have receipts. This has reminded me I need to go to Mr S to get bonus points added on. Will do that tomorrow on the way to visit my mum. Had a couple of bank credits so sent another £45 to t3sco.

Build is progressing well this week and utility has been knocked through, it's now enormous and we have planned what we want. One wall will have room for a coat cupboard then a big American style fridge freezer then a run of worktop with washing machine and tumble dryer and cupboard underneath. Then a floor to ceiling cupboard next to that. Will also have cupboards above worktop so this should definitely help with our storage issues. I'm going to the place we got our kitchen tomorrow to see when they can come out. Scaffolding came down today and plumber is coming tomorrow to move a gas pipe. Am hoping now that lots of tradesman are involved it will progress as well as the internal alterations did. Bonus is that the children can now play in the garden safely (as long as they avoid the ditch running around the extension!) Good timing for half term next week.

CathT

Well I've come to the conclusion that I am either super busy or don't manage my time effectively!! I spent most of the day rushing around.

Dropped children off at school, (DD was unimpressed we were walking). Had chat with plumber about shower room and utility plans. Went into town to pay remaining holiday balance and check balance on a savings account passbook I found (account sadly closed ages ago and funds had been transferred). Spent time on hmrc website as I am potentially owed money from my re-training year, rang tax credits ( we didn't qualify but with new info should have! - no answers from them!) Visited my mum to collect washing, went to Mr S and got petrol. Had a lengthy conversation with a colleague (on my day off) Then straight to gp and local pharmacy for dh who is off work with a work related injury and then it was time to pick the children up!

We watched the new 'alice through the looking glass' film after dinner and I fell asleep!! Clearly days off are too much for me!

Stuck to cash budget and made 75p on y0ugov.

CathT

It's Friday :j

Another busy morning but pretty productive and frugal. Went to Mr S again and used up two more bonus points vouchers. Still have 3 to go! also went to Mr M as had a £10 voucher so bought a yard brush (ours got thrown off the scaffolding and broke) and mop heads, zero cash spend there! nipped to @ldi for wine for dh and some fruit for the 69p offer so got some bargainous blueberries! Was tempted to look at plants but here's no point yet due to the state of the garden. Although supplies are diminishing the lawn is totally destroyed. I'm debating digging some borders in as it shouldn't be too physically demanding now hat the grass has gone.

Also went to builders merchants to look at shower room suites. There are two that we like and need to total up costs.dh is swayed by the discontinued £500 one which also comes with white tiles! We have also arrange for company to come and measure up for the utility room next Wednesday so it's all systems go! Just hoping all the tradesman are as consistent as us! Plan of action now is cleaning the house before school run time. It is actually harder being at home!!

February spends

Food. £166
Petrol £70.01

CathT

Yesterday's busy day resulted in almost 13k steps! I walked to pick up the children and am Trying to encourage dh to start walking for them at pick up time. The extra exercise wouldn't harm him and I think children should be able to cope with a 15 minute walk! I drive in the mornings as have to get straight to work and every minute counts! The walk home is downhill and ds was pleased yesterday when he commented how much easier it was. Children definitely convinced, still working on dh!

Haven't managed to go through the quotes yet but believe do so and I'm coming round to he idea of he cheaper suite. I just don't want to compromise on the end result to save a few £££'s. However, a tile border or trim may spruce up plain white tiles. Also not decided if we want to tile the whole room or just the shower cubicle and sink area. Any tips?

Have made pancakes with dd his morning and she's now making trial cakes for her Eisteddfod entry. I am day 20 of a 30 day plan which I am loving so can't be on the taste panel. DD is incredibly competitive and would really like to win!

Mortgage statement for part 2 has arrived today. interest is around £100 a month. All our OP's are off part one as is a higher interest rate but might see what OP we would need to get that interest under the £100 milestone.

michelle09

Well done on the interest drop! Would love ours to be that low, maybe one day.

It's always a fine balancing act between getting good value, and not regretting being cheap area. We also got the discontinued tiles - my main concern was size. Bigger tiles have much less grouting to clean.

We didn't tile the whole room and as we have a lodger who seems to live in the shower (two forty minute plus showers a day when they first moved in, now down to one fifteen minute...) I wish we had forked out slightly more as the paintwork is looking a little worn and it's only been 9 months. The tiles in the shower area still look as good as they did last summer.

CathT

Thanks Michelle. I think the room being fully tiled would give the room the 'wow factor' we are looking for. Dh's reasoning is that we could buy the discontinued suite with the free tiles but we don't necessarily need to use them and could sell them on. The company we are using don't have tile range online so think we need to do some calculations and see how much the tiles are going to cost.

Food spends updated, we have spent £126 so far this month :j payday for dh tomorrow so I'm going to do a final sweep of the accounts and check the budget. Also need to check ISA as not checked for a while and by my calculations it's had pretty good growth in the time we have had it. I may look into increasing our standing order.

Had a productive day outside yesterday, managed to tidy up the back garden as although the builders are fab at cleaning up they do have a lot of supplies/wood off cuts on the lawn. There's a sith around the extension at the moment so chucked them all in here, moved here garden furniture to the decking, tidied the bikes (we have more bikes than children) and brushed the patio. It looks so much better, just need to get the rotary line back in (somehow our space got snapped during the build!) And it's pretty much sorted. Also sorted out the side of the house where we keep the bins as there was rotten wood and old plant pots and baskets. I completely took advantage of having a skip on the drive. Brushed it all and it looks so much better. Hopefully the cement trail will stop for now especially now the scaffolding has gone as it used to drip mucky stuff! Somehow still had the energy to tidy and hoover dh's car and will do mine tomorrow.

I was absolutely exhausted yesterday afternoon though! I keep getting dizzy when I stand up too so wondering whether it's back to gp for me to check my ferritin levels.

smallholdingsister

There's a Sith around the extension?!

I will put a pic on faceache of our white tiles with a border shower room. Have you looked on pinterest at mudrooms? Great utility ideas.

PurpleFairy26

Cath, couple of things to consider with the tiles. Could you buy the cheap suite and sell the white tiles and put the money towards to others tiles you'd rather have. As for full or part tiled rooms, we part tiled our bathroom and really glad we did. Means we can change the look if we want with a simple lick of paint, plus if we screw things to the walls we don't have to damage tiles.

Just a couple of thoughts. You've done loads. Can't wait until we are that close on our extension (not signed a builder yet so miles off ) or until we have our mortgage that low. Enjoy!

CathT

smallholdingsister wrote: »

There's a Sith around the extension?!

I will put a pic on faceache of our white tiles with a border shower room. Have you looked on pinterest at mudrooms? Great utility ideas.

Haha, so many typos in that post! :rotfl: I think I meant ditch!! I'll browse mudrooms, had a quick look at utility ideas but very open to more inspiration. Thanks for the photos too

PurpleFairy26 wrote: »

Cath, couple of things to consider with the tiles. Could you buy the cheap suite and sell the white tiles and put the money towards to others tiles you'd rather have. As for full or part tiled rooms, we part tiled our bathroom and really glad we did. Means we can change the look if we want with a simple lick of paint, plus if we screw things to the walls we don't have to damage tiles.

Just a couple of thoughts. You've done loads. Can't wait until we are that close on our extension (not signed a builder yet so miles off ) or until we have our mortgage that low. Enjoy!

Hi PF, thanks for popping in. We've had another look at the prices and the first suite we preferred is actually costed with a sink vanity unit costing £450 which we don't need to can just replace this with the cost of a pedestal so think we'll discount the reduced one now. Mainly because I didn't like the toilet :rotfl: it was old fashioned and I want a modern and sleek design.

Payday for dh today, CB tomorrow and my payday with backpay end of the week so a busy week of money shuffling!

50p on y0ugov yesterday and 93p Tilly tidy. Next 0% card (we only have 2 now, we had 7 at one point!! :eek:) ends in May so all tt's directed there and also a plan needs to be made! Dh had no overtime in January so his pay lower than usual so not as much flexibility this month. I'm happy to stick to a really tight budget though and encourage dh to do the same. Need to stop thinking about holidays as the remaining balance for the May one has temporarily gone on the t3sco card