Its days are numbered ...

DawnW

Thanks Becky - all doesn't seem so dire now, probably because it is no longer Monday :rotfl:

Pipes now sorted, thanks to OH .

Parking thing I will probably end up just paying - and not using them again. I am not stupid enough to leave myself open to getting ripped off repeatedly :eek: But, I will immensely enjoy surrendering my very expensive season ticket and having them give back the money to put back in savings - it was a bad decision to buy it, as there are cheaper options and I can sometimes get a lift. It was just an easier, lazy option

Still haven't heard when my relative's funeral will be - I will have to make some phone calls, as that part of my family live some distance away.

Anyway, today:

Got loads of additional work :eek: I suppose the upside is I am very unlikely to be made redundant (I SUPPOSE that is an upside :rotfl:well, it is till the mortgage is paid off - not sure after that though )

OH made a huge curry for supper, and there will be enough for another day He has a limited repertoire cooking wise, but is good at these specific things.

I stayed up last night and made sticky currant buns All the rising took ages, but they are lovely. I had one for breakfast, and OH ate 'some' :rotfl:and froze the rest. Not sure how many that actually involved....

Bought a cardigan in M*ns**n today - not very MFW, but needed for tidy work outfits.

Paid off CC1 :T, still waiting for the bill for the other one. It won't be much though.

Got fuel bill - must study carefully, as they have not asked for a meter reading (so I assume it is estimated) and the account is in credit - hmmm...

Grandson 1's 17th birthday coming up, so suspect I will be asked for driving lessons :cool:

Must get off my behind and go and colour my hair, as I found a nice colourant on offer in S*perdrug today

misscousinitt

Hi

Just found your diary...and I must say its a great read.

Wishing you best of luck with your journey.

MCI

pink_poppy

Hello, I'm reading too :wave:

My DD1 is 17 this year & I'm dreading the "can I have driving lessons for my Birthday" conversation as I know all her friends are getting them for their 17th Birthdays!! I just think she's far too young to be behind the wheel of a car!!

Anyway, good luck with everything, have subscribed

DawnW

Thanks for all the support -I can't believe anyone else is interested in my waffling

Today:

Horrible cold, snowy weather and a boring day at work
However, progress is being made

I have discovered Zapper and have spent a happy half hour or so listing unwanted books. I haven't been through the whole lot, as OH is comfortably installed right in front of one of the sets of bookshelves, but I have found £10.80 worth of books that they want and I don't I will find a box to pack them in tomorrow and print out the freepost label.

I have received the other CC bill, so will pay that in a minute. I will then know how much I have got left this month to pay off the mortgage :D

Our electricity usage was higher than in the estimated bill :eek: so I have been investigating where it is going. There is a 'spare' fridge in the workshop that OH uses for his beer in the summer / overflow fridge for Xmas etc. It is so cold down there that it is probably keeping the beer warmer than it would be just out on the floor So I have turned that off. We also run a small fridge freezer indoors and a chest freezer in the garage and we really don't need all those. I am going to investigate a new A++ rated fridge freezer and if I find one I like I will freecycle the (old) freezer and fridge freezer - they are a bit old and scuffed, but work fine, and might help a couple of people out Although I will obviously have to pay for the new one, it should save a bit on the elec going forward. OH insists on keeping his beer fridge though - but he will be in trouble if he has it on while it is colder than a fridge outside

Had more of OH's curry for supper, this time with jacket spuds, creme fraiche and fresh coriander. There is still some left, enough for another meal, so into the freezer with it for next week as we are both a bit curried out

Apart from that, it is Friday night, so glass of wine in front of the woodburner - actually i have had that (one and a half in fact) so I have a cuppa now:)

beckylegs81

hi DAwn

indeed snowy boring days are no good... i am now turning into a spreadsheet queen at work and when i have some says off at the end of the month ill be doing the mortage and loan onto spreadhseets does this make me sounds geeky!!
sounds like u have been busy .
wine on a friday is always a good thing hope it was good xx

DawnW

OK, so it is Monday again but past the worst which is getting up and facing the journey to work. It is never quite so bad once I actually get there

So, this weekend:

Went for a long walk with OH and dog on Saturday
Looked into fridge freezers but didn't buy one
Did buy some baskets though,for my beautiful Indian Raj-era teak cupboard at the top of the stairs - it doesn't have shelves and is deep, so stacking baskets inside seemed the obvious solution. Also a new tea storage tin, as OH cut his hand on the other one as the hinge had broken.

Did the food shopping at A!di, and topped up at Mr S. The top up (small) cost nearly as much as the big shop :eek:
Walked round the C. Shops and spent about £4 on a vintage embroidered tablecloth, a pretty mug to replace OH's shaving mug that I broke a few days ago, and a pretty beaded basket thing to keep bottles in on the bathroom windowsill.

On Sunday, went to the junk market in the next town, and managed to spend only £2 :T
Went for another walk with dog, and cooked dinner for OH, DD2 and her OH and myself. Gave DD £100 spending money for her holiday (visiting family in Germany for 4 days) as she is really skint at the moment. Being able to help out my family is at least as important to me as paying off the mortgage early

Today:
Decided that I am NOT going to pay the phantom parking ticket that never was. It just seems such a scam to receive a debt collectors letter out of the blue long after you can even remember if you used the car that day :mad: Had I got a parking ticket and realised I had made a mistake / forgotten, I would have just paid it - Mrs Law-abiding to the extreme, me. But I really hate the idea of being ripped off by these pond life, so, they can take me to court if they like. If they did so and judgement went against me, I will have to pay, but other than that, no! (Not) looking forward to all the letters and phone calls, but plenty of other people on these boards have to put up with that on a day to day basis.

Apart from that, packed lunch to work, read free paper on train, didn't spend anything..... and ordered a fridge freezer from a little shop a short walk from my house :T who went to loads of trouble researching all the options for me. I could now go and get it cheaper from one of the chains, but I am not going to!

So, quite a spendy frew days :eek:

I have still to pay anything extra off the mortgage this month, but I will :j

pink_poppy

DawnW wrote: »

Being able to help out my family is at least as important to me as paying off the mortgage early

Exactly how I feel :T That's a big part of why I want to be mortgage-free, so that I can help my DDs out financially in the future.

DawnW

OK, so next comes the transition from running a fridge, a fridge freezer and a chest freezer , which has helped to accrue a giant electricity bill, to a larger fridge freezer in the kitchen and OH's beer fridge in the workshop (but ONLY when the beer NEEDS refrigerating, or when we have a lot of extra food in for some reason, such as Christmas). He has been running it with just a few cans of beer and a bundle of sausage skins in it, when I swear it has been colder out of it than in it !

This means that we have a huge amount of food to eat our way through Not all at once I hasten to add :rotfl:

So, shopping for the next x months (!) will mostly consist of buying things that go with things I already have to make meals :T

(not sure if that makes sense, but I know what I mean ) It will take a while :eek:

Should free up some money anyway for the mortgage pot :j

I got some mince out last night, so will make bolognese tonight, enough for at least 2 meals. That's the trouble you see, I get out a small pack of mince, bulk it out with all kinds of veg to make it go further, be healthier etc, and then I end up putting a large container of cooked bolognese sauce back in for another time :rotfl:I am sure it is moneysaving to make a small amount go a long way, but isn't helping with the space problem :doh:

misscousinitt

Hi Dawn

I know exactly what you mean about the freezer space and being money saving - I am guilty of it myself (trying to run down our freezer too). It takes longer when you are returning stuff to the freezer, but it really does help with the shopping bill (and if you don't feel like cooking one night!).

Good luck with this endeavour...I will be looking in to see how you are doing...

Good idea to keep a track of it on the diary...I think I will do the same if you don't mind.

MCI

DawnW

misscousinitt wrote: »

Hi Dawn

Good idea to keep a track of it on the diary...I think I will do the same if you don't mind.

MCI

Feel free to join in - the more the merrier

Well, I made the bolognese, using up bendy carrots, dodgy peppers and out of date mushrooms (:rotfl:it makes me laugh that vegetables from supermarkets have dates - the ones out of the garden don't, and come to that those in the greengrocers or farm shops don't either). We had half of it with spaghetti, and I made the other half into lasagne ready to pop in the oven tomorrow after work :T

Very exciting news - my new fridge freezer is coming tomorrow morning! I can't wait till after work to play with it I only ordered it on Monday, and the lovely lady at the nice local shop phoned me this afternoon to ask me when I would like it to be delivered (!) AND gave me a good price I LOVE independent shops!

So, OH and I have spent the evening dismantling the kitchen (too many things on the worktops - must find homes for some ) and moving the old fridge freezer into the conservatory (that sounds much posher than it is but I can't think what else to call it). So, it is plugged in, but the space is freed up for the new one. Tomorrow, I will have 2 fridge freezers, a fridge and a chest freezer :eek: but not for long - I will put the old ff on freecycle, and hopefully it will help someone out It is old, second hand when I got it, but works fine, and I like its slightly retro style.

I also managed to get through on the phone at last to C&G to get the account numbers to make online mortgage overpayments :j I used to do this, but 'lost' the account details when I switched bank accounts. Haven't tried this out yet - more excitement for tomorrow :j

Can't you just tell what an exciting life I lead :rotfl: