Finally I have a mortgage I can start to pay off!

themadvix

Busy weekend here and productive too.

DH had Friday off to look at my car - unfortunately he couldn't see a leak in the fuel tank (which is what we expect) and there's no drain on it, so he's now using it until the petrol has been used up. I'm not entirely happy, but I've probably been driving around with a leak for a while, so hopefully no problems will arise. At least the fuel won't be wasted.

Brief trip to Waitrose on Saturday - but remembered to use a £2.50 Shell voucher, so will transfer that across to OP fund. MB still going well - DH reckons he's up to £23 profit now - slow and steady wins the race! Listed the Spectrum and various related bits on Ebay - Spectrum already has a bid on it, and watchers on other items, so fingers crossed we'll get those bits shifted asap. Ate very well from cupboards on Saturday night, which was really nice - salmon and asparagus risotto. Asparagus came in veg box and we had the salmon in the freezer and one bit between us was perfect. Followed by some prosecco, and strawberries, yoghurt and crushed ginger biscuit with a drizzle of Baileys! No idea why we were living in such luxury, but it definitely cost less than a takeaway!

Still not bought any bread - made wraps for yesterday and will make two loaves later which should last the rest of the week - especially as DH is away tomorrow night.

Today plan is to crack on with the project I'm working on as I'm due to receive something from another client on Wednesday and the deadline for this is looming!

themadvix

Bread made yesterday as well as egg noodles using my pasta machine - result! So noodles for dinner, with another 3ish portions drying and a loaf in the freezer and one for today/tomorrow. DH away with work tonight, so I'm having some lasagne, frozen last week, for dinner. He'll get his portion on Thursday when I'll get a free cooked lunch as I'm working at a client's office.

Another £3 survey done, so money to OP fund when it arrives. Not sure where DH is with MB - he spent a long time last night trying to get it sorted out - he's been having problems with the spreadsheet, but I'm none the wiser. If nothing else, the cashback from opening the accounts seems to be good.

Work went well yesterday and hopefully will start being able to return it to my client today, bit by bit. Work on it will be suspended tomorrow when another project arrives - and hopefully resumed next Monday to finish by Friday. Better crack on!

themadvix

Have recently rejoined the GFK TV surveys and have already won £3 in vouchers, so very pleased about that - will OP, but not until I've got enough to claim something I want with them - still undecided on what. I won £500 from them some years ago, so it's a survey I'm quite happy to do (and I like to give my opinions - it's nice when they actually want to hear them!).

Bidding on Ebay has happened overnight - I guess that's when the night owl/computer geeks come out! Spectrum now at £11.50 and a bid on something else. All money for the pot.

Popping into town this morning to do various bits - hopefully mostly money saving rather than spending (returning library books is definitely saving!). Pizza dough is proving for tonight's dinner and half jar of passata is out of freezer (a huge achievement to have put it in there in the first place, I'm terrible for leaving it in the fridge until it's furry). My sister might be joining us, so there's enough for 3.

Need to sort utility switch either this evening or tomorrow as First rescheduled our smart meter fitting to after our fix had expired. It's fitted now, so time to switch!

I might be extravagant this morning and have tea (and possibly cake) in a coffee shop while I work. Working from home all the time with just cats for company can be hard, so I see an occasional treat like this, that gets me out of the house, as a rare necessity. The last time I did it was 6 weeks ago (at least), so I figure I'm entitled!

try_harder

Great diary themadvix ,sounds like you have the balance right between money matters and enjoying yourself.

themadvix

Thanks Try Harder. We aim to enjoy ourselves, and fortunately we're fairly easily/cheaply entertained!

Have just discovered that we can apply to view our mortgage online - I think this must have changed since we took this mortgage out as I'm sure originally they said we could only do that if we had a current account with Santander. So I have applied and I'll soon be able to see all that horrible interest going out! It should spur us on!

try_harder

I am afraid it becomes addictive ,its great to see it come down during the month only to see it climb up again once the interest has been applied,but at least it is coming down slowly that is the main thing.

themadvix

I did write a post yesterday but then lost it!

Try Harder - yes, I know how addictive it can be. Our old mortgage was with Natwest and not only could you see the balance/interest being added but you could overpay as much or as little as you liked - so much more Tilly Tidying happened then! Now, with Santander our OPs have to be £500 or more, or they'll 'put it in a holding account for you'.... i.e. they'll have twice the money off of you! Which I think is utterly outrageous!

Just completed a survey for YouGov that asked about overpaying

Yesterday was a looong day at the client's office, but did manage to do surveys when I got in. Had one from Newvista that asked me all the questions and then screened me out - so I've written to them to ask for the points! It's very unlike them for that to happen though, so I'm not too worried.

DH's MB continues, although he's been having fairly major computer issues, which has slowed him down the last couple of nights. We're not sure what's wrong with it, which is unusual as DH is good with IT.

Taking my Dad to a local classic car show tomorrow with a picnic in the mini, so hopefully it'll be nice weather. This is his Fathers' Day treat and I'll bake him some biccies too. Hopefully fairly MSE!

Picked up a reward card in Costa the other day, so will at least be able to get the odd freebie in there when I make my monthly visits.

In bad news, DH forgot to get bread out of freezer, so failed to take lunch today - I'm not counting this as failing my challenge, because the bread was there! He might manage to find something in the kitchen at work, we'll see.

Tired today and very uninspired by the weather, but loads of work to do (if I get enough done there's another couple of day's work at my client's office next week, but I can't see that happening at the moment - I don't really feel like working the weekend!). Better get on.

themadvix

A busy weekend here. On Saturday took Dad to local classic car picnic in the mini. It was excellent, friendly, relaxed and inclusive - anything went really, as long as it was of interest! Cheap day out too - £5 for the car-load to get in and a picnic, which I used the remainder of a Christmas gift card to buy, except for the last £6.04. Ate so well at lunchtime that we didn't need much dinner either and there were leftovers for DH's lunch yesterday. DH's parents away, otherwise we'd have invited them too.

Yesterday was spent catching up on housework and DH did some flooring in the cloakroom - progress is slowly being made. Also switched utilities as we'd come off of our fix but were waiting until they'd fitted the smart meter. Gone for 100% renewable electricity (and gas) from LoCO2. Looking forward to the cashback to pay off the mortgage! Will cost about the same as our old fix, so really pleased. Also confirmed the go-ahead for a new boiler, which should mean that we won't freeze next winter and it won't cost any more to run! Current boiler is 20+ years old and G rated. Decided against a couple of additional extras in the end, as we aren't planning on being here forever and we won't make the money back on the sale when we get to it. It's going to cost £2200. We've got £466 we'd already ring-fenced for this, I've got another £1100 in savings from the last couple of months earnings that isn't earning any interest (running out of good accounts to put it in!) and we'll find the last £600-odd either from this month's savings or by dipping into my buffer fund. Having decided to do it, I want to get on with it!

Sold a couple of bits on Ebay at the weekend - still waiting on payment for the bigger one, but transferred £4.33 to OP fund this morning. Also cashed out on SBs and Maximiles. Will transfer the monies from these when they arrive/when I actually remember to spend gift card in Waitrose rather than real money!

Matched betting still going well, but DH has decided to spend first earnings on upgrading his computer, to make it easier to do the MBing - in fairness he does spend ages because it's old and slow, but.... I want that money to OP!

Miserable weather here today, but at least it saves me from having to water the garden and means the water butt is topped up! Still not bought bread, wraps made yesterday for today, even though I really didn't feel like it. (In fact, considering I didn't feel like doing much at all yesterday, I got a lot done!)

themadvix

Quiet on the MF front here today. Have been doing the surveys etc., and have transferred the bigger eBay money across to OP fund - which now stands at £397. Still waiting for a) £5 from SBs; b) the second part of my mortgage log on details; c) to hear about the Royal Mail surveys thing.

Plumber has got back to me about boiler dates, so I'd better reply and get that booked in. DH away with work tonight, so dinner from stores for me. Veggie sausages, new potatoes and greens (the latter from veg box). With lashings of gravy - oh so seasonal, but it's what I fancy.

Checked credit card bill yesterday and was pleasantly surprised - we've definitely been more restrained with spending this month and it has shown in the CC bill. Statement is due on 26th, so all being well it should remain reasonable. Sadly, it does mean I'm earning fewer Virgin airmiles though!

Scrap what I said about SBs £5 - it's arrived while I've been typing. Which means OP fund is over £400!! When we get to the pay day I'll see if there's budget to add £100 and send it straight over, but it depends on whether one of my big invoices has been settled.

Off to cook dinner now!

themadvix

Have failed miserably on the bread front today.... Made two lovely looking loaves, but stupidly thought I'd heat something else (non-food) up in the oven at the same time to make use of it and it's tainted the bread... and I didn't like the plasticky smell (don't ask!), so I'm not sure I fancy eating it. Probably going to have to bin the bread now. Will wait till DH gets home and get him to taste it - the kitchen stank of the other stuff and the smell is in my hair, so it might be me imagining it. Hmm...

Very quiet on the surveys front today - managed to get to lower target on SBs though, so that's something (it eases the pain of getting to the next payout).

Two exciting bits of news though: Santander log in came through today, so can now see exactly what we have left to pay off the mortgage (and how much interest we're paying monthly :eek:). It stands currently at £112829.36. Which poses a dilemma.... Having been reading everyone's diaries, I'm now trying to work out how quickly we could get to sub-£100k, but to do this we'd have to be making much bigger overpayments, and the problem is, I'm not entirely prepared to be flexible about the cutbacks that would be needed... hmm... I'll keep thinking on that.

More excitingly, my sister is having a baby! I'm going to be an auntie!:j Very excited about this as I can have all the fun bits and hand baby back come nappy changing time! Baby due 3rd Jan, so just before my birthday - I hope I don't have to share, it's bad enough be that close to Christmas as it is! Will be trying to educate my sis in the ways of MSE - she's good in some respects, but hopeless in others and the baby wasn't planned - they were planning on buying a house at the end of the year. She's yet to be persuaded that they need to continue to focus on this or it'll never happen.