Edinburgher gets cracking!

edinburgher

Apart from 2 foil Christmas decorations (99p each) and some chocolate reindeer for Mrs E's stocking, today was a NSD :T

We had a tasty breakfast together, I got groceries and we went to a garden centre to try and get ourselves into the Christmas spirit this afternoon (tree going up next Sunday :rudolf:) We also managed a short walk in the park, think Mrs E is still experiencing a bit of pain from her stitches.

HM bread is starting to smell nice, think dinner tonight cost us 70p + a few odds from the fridge. We're going for parsnip and red pepper soup, wholemeal bread and rice pudding with fruit.

After the money shuffle yesterday, I've been racking my brains to get back into the moneyhack mindset and have come up with a few areas to work on.

• Re-joined Yougov
• Re-joined Valued Opinions
• Transferred more money into N@tionwide for the increased interest rate
• Booked train tickets for Mrs E and family to go to London next spring (£2.26 from TCB)
• Thinking about meal planning again, but I tend to base our meat/fish around supermarket loss leaders. How can I plan meals without knowing what I'll have to cook? :rotfl:
• £4.32 to Freedom Fund
• £2 to Remortgage Pot
• £1 to Kitchen Pot

southerndave

We have tried planned menus, avant garde menus, no menus, shop and see menus and all have some merit and some poor points. Now we have settled a little on a type menu:

Mon- potato
Tues- pasta
Weds- light
Thurs- rice
Fri- fish
Sat- junk
Sun- roast

Exactly what the dish is, is up to us, often thought of on the way round the aisles and depending on offers. Our son also knows now that each night of the week will be involving whatever that night is, which makes things easier for the usual tea-time battles! Light is something like beans on toast or fish fingers or soup, etc. Junk is a take away or home made take away or similar. Try it.

Calfuray

Love P&P! Good choice. Don't like the new one

Tilly - you should watch it! I love ITV's Persuasion too, makes me cry every time.

Well done on nomination Ed

misscousinitt

Just Catching up Ed.

Well done on your nomination.

Hope everything is ok.

MCI

Alchemilla

You have been quiet of late?

PositiveBalance

*Sends out search party*

edinburgher

I've not been massively busy (unless Christmas shopping counts)?

Work is a bit gloomy, I'm stuck between teams, apparently transferred over, but with no manager to advise. Basically I'm keeping my head down for the next 9 days (10 working days, but I have a day of leave left).

I was a naughty boy in the Am@zon Black Friday deals. Not entirely convinced I needed that pop tent or bottle of Johnny Walker Platinum!

Booze seems to be a recurring theme at the moment, we also picked up a case from Virgin Wines :eek:

We're still waiting on quotes to fix our leaky roof, are plugging on with the saving and are looking forward to :xmastree: with gladness in our hearts

I've kept up the surveys and have got to £3.50 in YouGov and £4.50 in VO fairly quickly. Also made some use of cashback for the aforementioned shopping, but TCB seem to be going down the pan - I currently have 4 claims open with them for things not tracking.

Back to lurking methinks - work Christmas do tomorrow and then a chilled out weekend.

Alchemilla

MWC has created a monster.
You need to make some of this.

edinburgher

I hear you Alchemilla - currently at the fun stage of gathering equipment (empty bottles - hic!) :rotfl:

After a staggering lack of MFW stuff, I've sprung into action!

Spoke to our mortgage broker this morning who sent on details for our best bet for remortgaging. It's a 2 year fix with Wo0lich at 3.15% (80% LTV), with no fees and £250 cashback. We currently have 23 years left on our term and are slashing this to 17

They don't half talk some carp when they're trying to flog you financial products, eh? After a 20 minute conversation covering savings, stoozing, protection and investments, the broker tried the wonderful 'they're paying you to take the mortgage'..... Cue stony silence from me (wondering how the thousands of pounds a year paid in interest disrupt the broker's cheery thought for the day).

She redeemed herself by managing to prove how the cheaper headline rate I'd sourced was actually £50 dearer over 2 years, but still...

I will call the Spanish bank this weekend, but I can't really see them matching it (fully expecting them to mention silly things like losing £6.50 cashback a month, but will be going with whatever's cheapest from a stable provider.

I think Mrs E is leaving me to it, although she will be consulted before a decision is made.

Work Christmas do tonight, going to try and remain relatively sober. Relative to what, I'm not saying.

Alchemilla

The way to hell is paved with those.