Our attempt at being MF!!

CathT

Just popping in before I go to the gym. My plans for a bucket list event have once again been scuppered by the weather! However, the mountain isn't going anywhere so will just rearrange.

On track for another 1 lb fat loss this week - hurrah! Will know true average tomorrow.

Have opened a new bank account through a switch offer which has netted a friend and myself £100 each. Was really easy to do and just had to nip into branch with passport which again was easy as there was staff everywhere and it was dealt with immediately. I would definitely recommend it.

Haven't checked the accounts as you can't really Tilly tidy when you're overdrawn! Payday for both of us next week though, we both get a payrise too so will have a bit extra in the budget. Will see what the figures say later.

Also need to mow the lawns today so will tackle that at some point this afternoon. Can you tell it's one of my least favourite jobs!

Moneyfordreams

I have been on mse for a couple of weeks, lovely to see its been positive for you. ( shh to OD )

CathT

Thanks MFD, roll on Tuesday to get out of it. Just been one of those months!

Smashed the gym this morning, increasing my weights each time and it seems to be paying off. I'm hungry today though so think I'll review data tomorrow.

Mowed lawns front and back after gym. Dh has cut the front hedge but it's so time consuming I'm starting to think it would be better getting someone to do it. Upstairs has been hoovered, washing line dried and paperwork delcuttered. All in all it's been a productive day. All enjoyed a roast chicken dinner and going to settle down to watch a film together. I do love family weekends.

October spends
Supermarket £207.£6
Fuel £118.16

chumpy45

You are doing so well with the gym. I wish I could get motivated to do some more exercise. I have trying to lose a stone since I had DS4 and he's now 15 ! Sounds like you had a lovely weekend.

CathT

Thanks Chumpy, I'm really enjoying it and starting to see results. Weekend was great, gym both mornings, dh did football and birthday party duty both days. Ds came to the gym with me and made some friends so that's going to be our regular Saturday morning thing. Ds and I went for a lovely walk yesterday collecting autumn leaves and got a bit crafty when we got home. It was really lovely to spend simple quality time together.

New mortgage deal secured yesterday so will drop from 2.99% to 2.05% in April. Had a few of £490 to pay but have covered that with this months wages. The next 5 years will be a great opportunity to get that mortgage balance down. At some point part 1 will 'overtake' part 2 which will be a major milestone:

Small food shop today. Will probably need a similar one before the end of the month but spends are looking very reasonable. Dh has made bacon and lentil soup which should keep me in lunches most of the week.

Right, time for a herbal tea and a chapter or two of my book.


October spends

Supermarket £255.95
Fuel £148.19
Total £404.14/500

CathT

Well it's been a busy few days. Payday has been and relevant transfers made. Sent our usual £300 overpayment with an extra 30p from tcb payout. Also sent an extra £2 today which was interest in the t3sco account (still haven't spent the money gifted to us by my mum).

Have done some calculations now that the new mortgage deal has been secured. Our current end date is October 2028, dh will be 52 and I will be 46 so pretty good ages. However I really want to keep knocking the months off, problem is, they're not reducing easily now! Paying £30 a month more than we do now takes us to July 2028 so think I need to get more creative!

Had to find some determination to go to the gym after work today which I did find and I had a brilliant workout! I'm no longer in the 'dieting' stage and am eating more now to build muscle which is suiting me. Just need to make sure I go to the gym regularly as planned!

Dd was being referred to the orthodontist and we've had a letter today to say she's on the waiting list which is 18 months. Should work out well time wise as she's only 10 so be an ideal age for braces when she reaches the top of the list. Am just relieved she qualifies for nhs treatment as private treatment would have been quite costly.

Have also been thinking today I probably need to start some Christmas shopping! Have never been so late starting (this seems to be a recurring statement but I am getting later each year!)

CathT

Happy Friday!

Just looked at my previous post as I have just sent another 30p Tilly tidy to mortgage as it has landed from tcb. Well, the account needed tidying anyway! Waiting until dh gets paid next week to decide what else to overpay/save/use for credit card. I read something recently which resonated with me and we are in a cycle of overpaying all our spare cash with very little being diverted to savings. Then we end up spending on the credit card.

I'm also trying to be mindful of what will benefit us long term compared with short term reward. I have £250 (spare) that I could either use towards Christmas, pay off holiday or overpay. My first thought was to overpay but that could potentially leave us short over the coming months and would maybe knock 2 weeks off the mortgage end date? I know some people follow the rule of 3 - spend/save/overpay.

I then come full circle in my thinking from the thought that mortgage free at 46 would still be wonderful with flashbacks from the NR mortgage proframmme recently which leaves me terrified to have a mortgage at all!!

Anyway, efforts this week include eating batch cooked soup all week for lunch. It's red lentil and bacon so not expensive to make and pretty filling. I've also had batch cooked casserole with leftover veg for dinner last couple of evenings. Nothing prepped for tonight so hopefully come home from work to something!

Half term for us next week do hoping to keep that inexpensive yet fun and memorable. Hopefully if it's dry we'll go out to places we have membership for and just take a picnic. Other ideas include movie afternoons and maybe some creativity. Ds has created his version of a storyboard for a play on the chalkboard so might get them to write and act out a play! I remember doing that at a friends when I was younger and it was filmed on the old video cameras. We had a great time and I obviously still remember it well.

pinkypig

Happy nearly half term Cath! Your gym efforts are amazing:cool:

CathT

Thanks PP, am enjoying weights especially now lifting heavier. I don't do cardio (just hit my daily steps) so don't have to spend hours at the gym.

Today has been an attenpt at being productive and crossing off a few jobs.

Between us we've had a few sainsburys transactions to make the most of their bonus points weekend. These points will be used for their Christmas double up event.

Made a start on my Christmas shopping today (bought one small present) so hopefully keep the momentum going. Just need to children to make some realistic lists as I've no idea what to get and I don't think they actually want much!

Gym this morning to smash an upper body workout. Managed to sort out a log in issue to new bank account (can't log in until next week). Uploaded a document needed for new ISA, am then hoping I can switch that account too.

Bought myself a lovely lantern and candle (battery operated) today but it has a really lovely effect and has the perfect spot in the lounge. Was able to support a small business by doing so.

Watched a couple of episodes of the haunting of h1ll house this evening, have heard so many good things about it!

Am prepared for an earlier start tomorrow with the clocks going back, the children no longer wake crazy early but am expecting tomorrow's wake up to start with a 6!

Any money shuffling on hold until dh can access his online payslip next week. However I was able to fill in another brick on out house as mortgage balance part 1 dropped just below 75k.

We've 10 years left on that mortgage, 120 months - how many can I knock off?

CathT

Well the clocks change has resulted in earlier wake up calls! Ds woke me at 5:40 this morning, alarm was set for 6:15!

Really need to keep an eye on our energy usage. We used over £5 yesterday. Didn't use washing machine or tumble dryer, but did cook a roast and has heating on for a couple of hours. That does seem like a shocking amount of energy used though.

No batch cooking done to prepare us for the week but we have some left over veg which I will make a meal of. I also made some baked raspberry (recipe said blueberries but I had lots of raspberries) oatmeal. Was really simple to do and I added some protein powder to the recipe so hopefully be protein packed and delicious.

25p Tilly tidy to start the week off well from current account cashback that landed. Unfortunately didn't win one of the big prizes in the tcb giveaway (30p doesn't count). Did get 4900 points from the Mr S swipe and win weekend though. That will go towards Christmas presents.

Will sort out the rest of our finances later once dh has accesses his payslip. Hoping a good wage will give us lots of choices.