Mortgage freedom..Shala_moo's attempt at a diary..

shala_moo

What a beautiful day :T:T:D

I've had the windows open to air the house, the washing is flapping on the line and the cat is basking in the sunshine.. then earlier I spotted all the snowdrops coming up under the hedge.

No spend today but we popped out yesterday to get some fruit, veg, milk etc. ended up spending £18 but this is way below what we'd spend on a normal weekly shop. Hopefully, we'll be able to spend the same next week and keep the food budget down somewhat after last months ridiculous spend!

I've decided to have quiet time this afternoon, OH is out at band practice so I thought I'd switch the TV off and sit and read some diaries in peace and quiet (with a cuppa naturally!) before starting a hectic week at work next week.

So off to get a cuppa and catch up with everyone xx

BlueMoo

No spend today but we popped out yesterday to get some fruit, veg, milk etc.
ended up spending £18 but this is way below what we'd spend on a normal weekly
shop. Hopefully, we'll be able to spend the same next week and keep the food
budget down somewhat after last months ridiculous spend!

Have you tried the Grocery Challenge thread on Old Style? It's really helpful and full of advice and tips.


*****

£1 to lottery syndicate at work - didn't win

Boo! Maybe next time (at least that's what I keep telling myself )

shala_moo

Hi Bluemoo, I do pop on the grocery thread now and again but I find it a bit overwhelming with all those recipes, I just don't know where to start.



Well I didn't win the lottery this week again, but I did win £25 on the premium bonds :j:j

I will be putting my winnings towards the new steam mop (£40) that I wanted along with some survey money, which means I only actually have to pay out £6 for it:T:T

Money savings/making

• caught up with surveys
• 10 hours overtime this week
• £25 win on premium bonds

Money spendings

• £6.76 on groceries (need to pop and get some more bits tomorrow too, hopefully less than £20)
• think I've broken a tooth so another expensive trip to the dentists at some point

xx

shala_moo

shala_moo wrote: »

Money spendings

• £6.76 on groceries (need to pop and get some more bits tomorrow too, hopefully less than £20)

Sainsbobs trip was £24, I had a couple of extra things that I needed to pick up which was the extra £4.

I was going to use some of my nectar points to pay for it to reduce the cost but it took me over ten minutes to get through the check out and I'd lost patience and forgot!

Honestly after today i'm sticking to Monday late night shopping or the local green grocers, I've never know people faff so much in a queue! :mad:

The first lady couldn't use the card machine, then the second lady must have had a £3 off £30 shop and hadn't spent enough so went and had a jolly round the store for 5-10 minutes while we all waited for her.

The worst bit was she was £2.48 under spent and she must have bought £10 worth of stuff to get her £3 off.. it didn't seem logical to me :doh:

Anyway rant over :rotfl:it's the weekend :j and i'm off to go and read some magazines in bed and then tomorrow i'll have a lie in because I forgot my nap this afternoon!

xx

shala_moo

Well as the title suggests I've spent a bit more than I should have this week:o

• Steam mop - £55 in the end with P&P - paid for with £10 voucher, £25 premium bonds win
• Some cake tin dividers - £10.89 but £10 voucher so 89p
• Utensil holder - £4.99
• Lunch out £25:o
• Sainsburys £25
• Sky box office movie - £3.50
• icing for the neighbours cake £10:eek:

So I make that a total of £135 give or take, but a saving of £45 by using vouchers and winnings. Ooppss

It's not often we have lunch out or rent movies so I don't mind paying occasionally (until I notice how much it's affected my mortgage OP:rotfl:)

Unfortunately i'll be spending more money tomorrow as we are going out for work but I don't think it's an expensive place and someone else is driving so no petrol spend :j

shala_moo

Afternoon all...

We didn't go out in the end on Monday so that's £30 not spent :T and the rest of the week has been a no spend week too. :T

Payday seems a long time a way this month, I think it's because OH got paid early.. not wanting to wish my life away but I haven't done any money shuffling in a long while *sigh*

Eaten out of the store cupboards all week so haven't had to buy anymore shopping:j although I've ordered a biggish shop for Saturday (toilet rolls, cat food etc)

Right well, I now have to visit the dentist to see what he can do about my broken tooth. Hopefully it won't cost anything till I have it done.

Laters x

shala_moo

Morning all,

I need another filling so that will cost me £56 also got told to go see the hygienist, that'll be another £63. I can see my teeth costing me a fortune in the next few years.. we drank a lot of fizzy pop when we were little and now I'm facing the consequences

D*mn those sodastream manufacturers!! :rotfl:

In other news, I had my mortgage statement come through today:j My spreadsheet was a little bit out so I've adjusted for that.. only 6 months until I can look into changing provider and lowering that interest rate :T - hopefully the BOE won't put the base rate up between now and then!

I was a bit bored the other day so I spent a bit of time playing around with the spreadsheet. I worked out we would have paid back £2.16 for every £1 borrowed if we'd left the mortgage as it was :eek: now it stands at £1.86/£1 borrowed.

I'd love to get that ratio under £1.50, we'd have to pay it off by 2023 to do this which i'd like to do anyway!

Anyway I have some housework to do (boooo) but my new steam mop has arrived so it should be a novelty the first time I use it (yyeaahhhhhh)

All the best xx

e.t.a. just realised that the council tax hasn't been paid this month, for some reason I thought it was MAr/Apr we didn't pay it - half to the savings pots and half for the family debt pot :j

shala_moo

It's a busy week next week as I'm baking two novelty cakes for the neighbours so I thought I'd get myself prepared with some batch cooking this afternoon..

I made

• chicken enchilada lasagne (was meant to have this yesterday) lovely and definitely on the planner again
• cottage pie - turns out I accidently used pork mince - only realised after i'd put the beef oxo cube in :eek: taste's ok though:rotfl:
• falafels - not very tasty but OH will eat them
• beef meatballs - now pork meatballs:rotfl:
• 20 instant porridge mixes - made plain, chocolate, pineapple & coconut, cherry and almond and choc-coconut :drool:

The sad news of the day is that my beautiful square creuset dish has cracked, i'm gutted luckily it was free from the Good Food show one year with my magazine subscription.

It would cost £34 to replace which is just too expensive for this house (this is the second dish we've broken in 2 years!!) so i'll be looking out for a cheaper dish to replace it

take care x

shala_moo

Pay Day Shuffle... (just a quick update today!)

Feb Monthly figures
Outstanding Mortgage £148,975.78
LTV rate - 66.21% (need this below 65% before Aug)
Family Loan £3,450 (OH will pay this each month)
Daily interest £16.34
Offset Savings £13,488.32

Total Debt as present moment £138,937.46(-1,696.87):j :j

Health goals 9.5lb lost :j

shala_moo

3rd time trying to post to my diary keep losing my posts! I did this one in Word so sorry for the formatting.


A stressful and busy week over and done with.. phew!

I haven't looked after myself properly this week, as no time, so I'vebeen eating rubbish and not drinking enough water - end result, bloated tummy and 3day headache..

Turn around time!! 2 large glasses of water drank this morning(along with a couple of ibupr0fen!:D) and I shall be re-organising myselfso that my life runs smoother than a baby's bottom this week.. I intend to dono thinking at all :j just a lot of list-reading.


Money savings/spending of this week

• £33 hairdressers - be gone grey roots!
• had a lovely email from Np0wer saying they were reducing prices - we'll see
• free trial entered for some hair products - £25ish of goodies
• grocery shop £50 at Waitr0se dishwasher tablets were half price though - need to find an alternative to F1nish - but the cheap ones I've used aren't very good
• TT of £4.18 done
• chasing a refund from ebay - naff goods - £8ish
• updated all surveys - quite close to some payouts so i'll keep checking today
• OH's car failed it's MOT - £180

To do list for the week :

• go to work - every day
• go to the dentist - Tuesday - already paid for
• take meter readings - Friday - man's coming to change the meter so i'll take final readings as I assume it'll start back at 0 ??
• go dress shopping - Wednesday
• meal plan - today
• [STRIKE]go see Father - Monday[/STRIKE] he's just popped round now so don't need to go tomorrow
• post returned ebay item back - Monday
• take shredding pile to work and shred - Monday
• write to old dentist to tell them i'm left - any day
• catch up on diaries - today
• win lottery - Tues, Fri or Sat
• try to get to pay out for CP, VO, GTM