A blissful home - mortgage_girl's MF diary

mortgage_girl

So half-term is finally here (and half of it has gone already! :eek:). I spent the first couple of days sleeping and doing a whole lot of nothing and have gradually been getting back on track. I'm gradually deep cleaning the kitchen and so far have washed everything down, decluttered the fridge, cleaned the washing machine and oven. I'm also slowly eating my way through my stash of batch cooked meals in the freezer as I've forgotten what's in there - although I did add to them a little by making this bean goulash last night which was absolutely gorgeous. I'm getting back on the bandwagon this month with my op's and I'm determined to be as thrifty as possible so hopefully my freezer meals will help with that.

I've booked my car in for a service next week and have set the money aside for that, so I'm feel quite organised. Someone is coming later this week to remove the fire surround so I can look behind it and see if there's a fireplace hidden behind it. If there is I may think my plans to get a gas fire fitted and restore it, so that's quite exciting - I wonder what's behind the mystery 'wall'? And I'm going to chase up the plumber after this week to come and do the few jobs that need doing.

The garden seems to be coming along nicely. The potatoes are growing and my courgettes and squash seeds have germinated. The rhubarb plants are becoming triffids again so I think a rhubarb and ginger crumble will be on the table tonight. All we need now is some nice weather - it's been rainy and very windy here for the past couple of days. I did set my alarm this morning though and went out for a run - I ended up drenched but it was quite invigorating. I am making the most of the miserable weather though and getting some 'indoors' jobs done - coursework is on the cards for this afternoon though.

Right, time to get started. (I may be back to procrastinate later)

MGx

BookWorm

Glad to hear you are enjoying your break (coursework excepted of course )

mortgage_girl

Thank BW. I've had another productive (but enjoyable) day today. I've cleaned the oven, done a few hours of coursework, cleaned the kitchen sink, baked a rhubarb crumble, submitted my meter readings, visited a few family members and claimed a £15 Am@zon voucher.

Now it's time to relaaaaxxxxx.

MGx

mortgage_girl

So it turns out that there was a fireplace lurking behind the plasterboard - although they stuck the plasterboard to it so its a bit scratched. It's an Edwardian arch fireplace with just a couple of tiles missing (i'll post pics if I figure out how). The renovation hinges on a couple of things - firstly if I can locate replacement tiles (I'm currently awaiting the arrival of an offcut sample so I can see if it's a colour match), secondly how much it would cost to have a company come and remove the scratches. I'd also like to convert it into a gas fire so I'm trying to source a gas grate that will allow me to keep the 'look' but have the ease of a gas fire. I've seen one that's mainly for decorational purposes but I want one that kicks out some heat. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated (I suspect I'll find a thread on here if I look closely enough). I don't really want a coal fire due to the hassle of cleaning etc, it's just not practical for me at the moment.

In other news, I've knocked another 1k off the mortgage so hopefully in the not too distant future my mortgage will start with a 2! Although this might be slightly hindered by my living room renovations, I have lived with it for almost 10 years now so I'm looking forward to making it cozy as it's quite tatty aka lived in at the moment.

I've been busy with coursework as I'm determined to get my course completed, essays submitted etc before the summer hols. The actual deadline is in September but I want to enjoy my hols and not feel bogged down. So it's full steam ahead for the next few weeks!

MGx

mortgage_girl

Evening all. I've been busily plugging away at schoolwork and coursework over the last few days and feel like I'm slowly getting somewhere. We've been to look round fireplace shops today and I'm now being swayed towards getting a new coal fire installed. The tile offcut for my current fireplace was a perfect match but the quote for a hearth was rather hefty and I'm already heading towards the £500 to restore it and that's before getting the scratches repaired, sorting a mantle piece and restoring the cracked fireplace back. So it's definitely given me some food for thought! I was good this morning and set my alarm early so I had time for a run before going out, so I'm feeling quite virtuous. I'm feeling it now though and am ready to go get tucked up in bed with a book, although snugglepuss seems too content with being curled up alongside me at the moment.

I've made £10 from some betting endeavors this week and I've claimed £20 worth of vouchers from cp which I'll be adding to the op pot and living room fund - think I'll need it the way the totals seem to be adding up! :eek:

MGx

BookWorm

I sympathise MG...It seems to be a spendy time of year

mortgage_girl

BookWorm wrote: »

I sympathise MG...It seems to be a spendy time of year

It certainly is BW. Hope today is kind to you.

MGx

BookWorm

mortgage_girl wrote: »

Hope today is kind to you.

Thanks and right back at you It's been an ok day for me..other than getting caught in yet another rain shower

mortgage_girl

Well it's been another busy weekend. On Saturday I went and purchased a coal fire, estimated delivery is in 3-4 weeks. I suspect there's another original fireplace in the dining room so I've arranged with the builder to have a look and if there is and it's the same as the one in the living room then I'm going to use the living room one for any potential repairs. If not then I'm going to try and sell it (or let someone who'll be able to do it up and use it have it) as I don't want it to go to end up in landfill.

Today has been spent catching up on housework and doing a few garden jobs. My gf listed a load of stuff on eb@y for me, so hopefully that'll be the kick up the bum I needed to get listing things again. Two of the items already have bids so I'm hopeful.

The plumber came round and started on the jobs last week, he's ordered a few parts he needs for the rest of the jobs so hopefully he'll get them finished this week. I'm also getting a few jobs done on the car next week - it turned out that it didn't need a service and that the computer hadn't been reset properly after its mot. It will need an oil change in a few months and that's about it, so aside from my other minor jobs i'm hoping that it wont cost me too much.

In moneysaving news, I've made a small op this week and have received some b n q vouchers from cp which will go towards decorating the living room. So it feels like things are ticking along nicely. Just 5 weeks to go until the hols - hooray! Loads to do before we break up though so I suspect it'll be a very busy few weeks.

Have a good week.

MGx

mortgage_girl

Just a quick update while I'm waiting for the chooks to tuck themselves in. Made a £25 op from a casino free refund offer which I won on. My mortgage has almost reduce by another £1,000 so I'm aiming to reach that by the end of the month.

3 of my items have bids on eb@y and I keep finding things to add to the pile, so hopefully I'll be able to keep that ticking over. I also did a £2.50 survey on pr0lific ac@demic so I'm waiting for that to credit. I finally feel like I'm getting my MSE mojo back. :rotfl:

In garden news I currently have tomato, cucumber, pepper and melon plants in the greenhouse; breans, mangetout, courgettes, squash, cabbage and potatoes in the veg patch. As well as a plentiful supply of rhubarb (and hopefully) strawberries, gooseberries and blueberries. Plus salad leaves and basil, so I'm quite happy with my growing efforts this year.

MGx