Making the future happen - museumworker's MFW diary Pt 2

EatingTheElephant

We had the same thing the other night, just before bed talking about house moves then I couldn't sleep for hours!

i might steal your idea for no life planning after 9pm.

museumworker

So easy to do and I get really :mad: with myself afterwards! Feel free to steal away - I reminded the OH of the rule last night

Yesterday I had an 11 hour day at work, but my small things were choosing a (smaller, nicer) £1.50 tub of soup rather than a larger £2 one, and choosing a pack of ryvita rather than a roll to save a few pennies there too. I also didn't buy any snacks as had hummus and carrots in the fridge at work from Tuesday.

Did my first yoga class of the year last night, which was lovely and making use of my gym membership. I've booked in for next week's already.

Today I've brought leftovers into work for lunch and have snacks already here :money:

Now going to confirm my bookings for tomorrow - won a hotel stay (in London :rotfl:) so me and the OH have booked a family member to babysit and having some very rare time to ourselves. I've got a very discounted afternoon tea for us so going to print off the vouchers and see if booking is required. I also won an exhibition ticket for the OH (I get in free) so will hopefully do that too. So apart from the train fare for the babysitter, hoping will be a fun and not too spendy weekend.

museumworker

Mortgage statement is through!

OP in December (which I think was only one of 2016) = £6,436.90

Balance as at 1/1/2017 = £107,729.65.

I now know my mortgage balance

Off to update signature.

museumworker

Up since early with the youngest. Have ordered DD1 a replacement Oyster card (her 4th :eek:) which she will pay the £10 for. This will save her paying adult fares (like today, grrr!) She's off to a new (and free) weekend orchestra for the first time, have given her £3 for a meal deal as it goes on til lunch but any suggestions on how to reduce this with a picky teen and a busy mum much appreciated as I don't really want to do this every week. Although perhaps the fact that it is £4.50 a week travel and food for her to do a 3 hour orchestra should just be something worth accepting??

Also have progressed my house swap agreement for this summer, now just waiting for partner to sign. Means will have free accommodation for our holiday, saving ££££s

Now just need to pack, get kids dressed and finish tidying house ready for our weekend away

museumworker

Agreement signed, air plane tickets booked! £500 all in for a family of five to return fly in August, including seat reservations and checked bags.

Just car hire to sort out at some point.

The links suggested paying from £2,500 for accommodation, so our house swap is definitely money saving!

Courgette

Great to hear from you MW! Are you gonna be posting regularly again?! :T

Sorry to not reply to your email, I don't appear to be very good at life. Thank you so much for all your helpful info though. Due to aforementioned not being very good at life all the rooms in the hotels near you were booked up by the time I actually got round to booking so we're staying in Greenwich instead. Got free tickets for the Skygarden on Saturday afternoon then plan just to mooch around Greenwich Park I think. How likely is it that we'll actually see deer?

I was thinking about your question about food for DD1 when she goes to orchestra. Could you compromise and send her with sandwiches but also money for the tuck shop? That's what I always did and have very fond memories on spending my entire breaktimes at music centre queuing up for sweets :rotfl:

Your mortgage figure is looking great. I can't remember what it was when you first started on here but it made me weep a little bit for you. Now it's kind of normal AND you'll have a great house in London at the end of it!

museumworker

Hi Courgette, lovely to hear from you. Yes, planning to post little and often, mainly to help keep my focus on the MFW goals.

Greenwich is lovely, you'll have a wonderful stay. I would suggest taking a river boat from Greenwich to the city or back, the kids will love it. Am sure there will be offers. Also near Greenwich are the cable cars over the Thames which are fairly cheap. I've never seen a deer in Greenwich :rotfl: but the museums are great. The Maritime museum is free and has a great under fives play area. You can walk up the hill to see the start of Greenwich mean time. I also remember there being a good playground behind the maritime museum.

Sky garden is great and free, it's in the City so you can easy walk to the monument or south to the river and walk along to Tate Modern.

I don't think they have a tuck shop but I am going to try make her a sandwich next week, she has enough money on her card to buy sweets (and does waste all of it on junk food)

Mortgage was £190k when started MSE journey, and this WILL be the year we get under £100k! Just having the mortgage start with a 9x,xxx is going to be a massive motivator!

Had a lovely day with the OH, the afternoon tea worked out great value and very charming, with unlimited drink. We had already paid for that. We then went to two upmarket cocktail bars for a round of drinks at each, which made for an amazing night. Wonderful to just cross the road to bed! The hotel gave us a free bottle of wine which was unexpected. Breakfast was good this morning, and got into exhibition free. Kids were happy and we spent afternoon playing in the park so no spend day, today's MSE thing. Plus I have my lunch ready for tomorrow. How I'm going to GET to work with the tube strike is another matter.

Courgette

Thanks for the tips! Do you know anything about a tunnel under the Thames from Greenwich? Is it in any way interesting or does it just smell of wee? My kids are quite easily pleased (driving through the Tyne Tunnel has been the highlight of many a trip up north!) but obviously I don't wanna do anything rubbish if I can help it!

museumworker

Oh yes, I remember doing that with DD1 when she was about 4, it is very atmospheric and just the right side of a bit scary! We did it the other way, so got to Greenwich to explore. Not sure if there is a playground the other side in Island Gardens, although the view of the Cutty Sark is worth the walk alone. You could walk up to Mudchute city farm which is free and has a few animals and a good view of Canary Wharf. Or get the DLR (a driverless train) and sit at the front. The Museum of London Docklands is on the DLR and is free, with a good free play area for younger children and the recreation of an east end sailortown.

The WORST day yesterday with tube strike and OH being away. 2.5 hour commute to work and 2 hours back, most of it with a 2 year old in a buggy. Then was so tired I accidentally booked a hotel break WITHOUT using the £200 off voucher I'd won :eek:. It got sorted, but took an hour which meant I didn't get to bed til about midnight. Am actually shattered today.

Moneysaving wise not great, I had to spend an extra £11.80 to travel yesterday :mad:, although the fact that I saved £200 on a hotel stay in the end should count :rotfl:

Today the other half made a lovely soup for dinner from the massive stock of potatoes we had ("they looked smaller in the photo" :rotfl:), and I managed to log into a rewards account and apply for £40 of vouchers.

9pm and I'm in bed, night all!

museumworker

Still tired but hoping for another early night. Today I took snacks in, just bought a soup for £1.50. OH pickes up some sales clothes I had ordered, only 2 potentials and the rest are being returned so over £200 due back in oir account. I'm tempted to send one of the others back because of the price, but it is a lovely item..