Sweetdaisy's aim to be mortgage-free

BlueMoo

Yay! It's Crimbo time!
Hope they enjoyed themselves?

*****
Re: water - honestly utility companies are shocking with bills/estimated usage etc. We recently got a credit, and in return they have upped our monthly DD?! Madness!

sweetdaisy

BlueMoo wrote: »

Yay! It's Crimbo time!
Hope they enjoyed themselves?

Thanks BlueMoo. The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We are going to a Pantomime on Saturday and have no idea how I am going to keep DS2 (2.5 years old) still throughout the show?

Habibiboo

sweetdaisy wrote: »

Thanks BlooMoo. The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We are going to a Pantomime on Saturday and have no idea how I am going to keep DS2 (2.5 years old) still throughout the show?

:wave:
SweetDaisy, if it's a good show, you won't have to worry about keeping him still - he'll either be enraptured by the whole thing or bouncing up and down in a way which is entirely in keeping with the enthusiasm and fun of a pantomime ~ "oh yes it is!" Don't worry, hope you all have a fabulous time!

sweetdaisy

Watched DS1 in his school Nativity play today. The class did well and sang around 10 songs, however over the past few weeks when I have asked DS1 how many songs he had to sing - his reply "only one song" :rotfl:.

Had the central heating serviced (DH's friend is a Plumber) and it cost £35. That's one job out of the way for another year. Our boiler is over 12 years old and it looks like it should keep on going for a couple of years yet.

I have been doing quite a bit of thinking of late :think: (dangerous for me, I know) and I'm not feeling overly comfortable with what we have in our main savings account. This means that I may scale back a little on the mortgage overpayments for a while and concentrate on building up our savings.

I am safe in my job for the next Financial Year, however for 2015-2016 I am not so sure. There are so many spending/budget cuts that the sector I am working in (as are many others) are getting hit hard. I've been thinking that should I lose my job and DH gets laid off (as he is still on a temp contract) then it would be a struggle.

Also, even if things go well with our jobs, we may have to replace our cars before the mortgage gets paid and I don't want to re-mortgage or take a loan out for this, so I need to start concentrating more on increasing our savings.

My new plan starts on Friday when DH gets paid. He worked overtime last week, so this extra money is going straight into Savings and some into his own savings pot of course

sweetdaisy

Went to the Pantomime yesterday with children, DH and my parents. It was a good show (Snow White) which was enjoyed by all .

Usual shift of money done for next week and I have allowed an extra £20 in my food shop budget for extra treats (got to live a little, right?) . I have written all cheques for school dinners/after school club/nursery etc. DS1 breaks up from school on Wednesday, so luckily due to DH's shifts he doesn't need to go into school club over the Christmas period, apart from an Inset Day on 6th January.

Work is going to be very stressful from next week up until the end of January, so I have a box full of Kalms at the ready as I know that I am going to need them .

Received a letter from the Water company to say that they are going to start work on my water meter week commencing 23rd December. As the meter is on the pavement outside, they don't need access so at least I don't need to be around when they turn up.

Have plans to visit family next weekend and hope to take the children to our local Winter Wonderland next Sunday. Hopefully by then it will start to feel more Christmassy :rudolf:.

southerndave

Busy as usual SD. Glad you enjoyed the panto (oh no you didn't) oh yes you did!

sweetdaisy

southerndave wrote: »

Busy as usual SD. Glad you enjoyed the panto (oh no you didn't) oh yes you did!

:rotfl:. It was a little bit cheesy in places, but the children thoroughly enjoyed especially when the audience had to get involved in singing and shouting the customary 'boos' at the evil witch.

sweetdaisy

Thankfully I have a couple of weeks off from writing some childcare cheques due to the Half Term, so am saving myself some money over the next fortnight.

Received my pay on Friday (a few days earlier than normal) and have set up my new Financial spreadsheets for 2014. All extra money from my pay has been put into Savings.

No more overpayments for me this month, as I am throwing everything into Savings. I have a couple of expensive months ahead as we have two lots of car insurance due in February and house building/contents insurance due in March.

Received my Cashback credit card statement and earned £18.55 cashback last month. I have earned £155.95 cashback throughout the year, which will be paid back to me in my January statement.

sweetdaisy

Monthly interest added to the mortgage today: £148.22. This is £10 less than last month, so pleased to see it go down . Mortgage balance is now £65,438, but will probably round it down to £65,400 by the end of the month as I'd like to end the year with a round figure.

sweetdaisy

The children are sound asleep in bed, the mince pie, carrots and glass of milk have been left out for Father Christmas and his Reindeer's, Christmas Stockings have been filled and the presents are under the tree.

I'm having dinner at my parents' tomorrow, as DH is working. I have put some presents aside so we can open them together with the children tomorrow evening when DH comes home from work. He is going to tell the children that Father Christmas left them in work for him.

:santa2: Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :snow_laug