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

themadvix

Not much to report today - £1 TT made (account was at £131 - couldn't be having that!). TV survey done, halfway through the week now, £10 voucher at the end of it.

Had a lovely meal last night at friends, DH had pasta salad using up bits in fridge, so excellent MSEness. Came back to find him MBing, so that's still progressing -think he is going to query something with one company, but I can't remember the details of why. He is currently at work and looking for hotels for a trip his boss and he have to take in September - I'm hearing this and rubbing hands together at the cashback and topping up of free Hotels.com nights

Off to work a function in a bit - good job too as no proper work again today. I know I've got stuff coming later in the month though, so not panicking too much!

themadvix

Didn't get fed at function on Friday - got to canteen and everything had been cleared away. I ended up with a bowl of cereal when I got home. Was shattered again yesterday - function was very tough and there was a lot of running around. We make a good team though, so it's enjoyable despite the chaos!

DH and I spent yesterday putting glass back in our internal doors, watching the qualifying and not doing a lot. Did pick redcurrants - have huge quantities now in fridge and will have to decide what to do with them. Suggestions welcome! Only spends were milk and some bread flour. Still doing TV survey - it's much longer than they used to be, so I can see why the incentive has doubled!

Didn't sort TSB as we need to go into the branch - will get up and do this early next Saturday. Did get MOP form sorted - will post that as I head out today. DH has gone to the Grand Prix today with one of his suppliers - food and tickets all paid for, just fuel to cover, which isn't very much. Hoping he'll bring back some goodies from hospitality as we sold them on Ebay last time and made a small fortune! Sadly the supplier has agreed to pay for the hotels mentioned above, so no cashback/points there.

I'm off to a Brownie activity afternoon shortly - taking packed 'tea' with me. As it's further than normal, I'll be asking for some petrol money too - I've done quite a bit of running around for them recently, and never ask for fuel money as it's my hobby, but sometimes it's good to get a bit back and they can afford it.

Had a call from my events friend, am now working in the office tomorrow to prepare for function on Weds. Another day's work and free lunch Said friend owes me £15 from Friday - must remember to retrieve this!

Have made some decisions re saving/OP and will update with targets soon. Nothing to TT, just transmitting S&S. SBs done but losing oomph with this at moment. Hoping new challenge will inspire me this week.

lippy1923

Hi Just stopping by to say well done on all your current OP's and general money savingness. I too am shocked by the leave vote. Not what I wanted but need to stay positive. Great news about Santander and not needing to stick to £500 min OPs as well.

I'm with Nationwide and if I OP anything under £500 then it reduces the monthly payments. I have no choice but to pay a lump of £500 each month for them to reduce the term! Quite annoying.

themadvix

Hi Lippy, thanks for popping by. That's really interesting about Nationwide - I'd always thought I'd like to have a mortgage with them (my current a/c is with them and their ethics mean that I'd like to keep it that way), but with that in mind I'm not so sure!

Looking back, I've just realised that friend didn't pay me back - she did intend to, but we got caught up in preparations for Wed's event and never returned to the subject! However, I also didn't pop out at lunchtime to get the (necessary) bits I'd intended to buy so have 'saved' some money there... at least for a bit longer. Back home today with my cuddly cats - they miss me when I'm out all day! Finished TV survey yesterday too, so should receive a £10 voucher soon. Will add this to my stash and when I exchange I'll put the cash in the OP pot.

My sister liked her vouchers and have just filled her in on how to make the most of them - i.e. combine with money off vouchers to get even more free food!

DH didn't bring any goodies back from the GP this time, but he had a really good time by the sounds of it. Brownie event went well and I had a great afternoon - popped in on Nan and family afterwards and we sat in the back garden and enjoyed the weather. I felt very calm and happy as I drove home (when I mentioned this to DH he said he'd have to go off on his own more often - not what I meant! :rotfl:)

Still a distinct lack of work, but another function tomorrow (the last though). The events work will form most of my income this month I think, although I know I have some work arriving in the last week of July and August should bring another project (potentially). In the meantime, I'm going to focus on ensuring I get up-to-date with other jobs and minimise spending. Also have Brownie holiday in less than a fortnight - lots of organising to do for that! More importantly, Friday is OP day! Should be somewhere around £850 to pay then. Have also cancelled veg box for next week - the fridge is overflowing!

I have a fairly long to-do list for today, so had better get cracking!

themadvix

Just resurrected my OP account - it had £2 in it, so now I've done the profile updates I'm up to £5.10:T

Bread baked, redcurrants ready for freezer and beetroot cooked ready for... cake? I really struggle with to-do lists when I haven't got any work - I'm a much happier bunny when I can blitz through tasks in breaks from work... Today I have loads to do but little motivation. Don't think the weather is helping, mind you. It's so dark here!:(

themadvix

Did eventually get most of the jobs done yesterday that I needed to get done. Didn't manage any of the less urgent ones those. Redcurrants have been frozen for now - will have to use them relatively soon though as they're taking up a lot of space in the freezer!

Also managed to earn 300 SBs through surveys, which I was quite pleased with. It's not enough though! Have found a few more bits to put on the bay of E at the weekend... My mum wonders where I find the stuff to ebay and freecycle, but I'm a ruthless declutterer and don't like seeing things go to landfill, so often take things off of others' hands! Am beginning to scrape the barrel ebay-wise though.

Have ordered some bits for Brownie holiday this morning - should get cashback and will get CC points. Brownies got 15% off too, so I'm not keeping all the benefits for myself!

Just remembered I'll need to claim mileage for all the events work I'm doing at the moment - I do it through my company, so must get it tax free!

Out at a hen do on Saturday - £35 for some flower arranging, lunch, dinner and drinks to pay for. One of the hens is unemployed and another's husband is too (both redundancies), so hopefully we'll all be keeping an eye on the purse strings (whilst getting the bride terribly drunk!!). I will not be spending more than £100 (at the outside!) (much less than the Stag do was a few weeks back!).

As money saved from veg box, nothing to TT Have done a 50p YG survey so far. Will try to get SBs up to target before I go out.

try_harder

I have to say i do that too,anything that someone wants to bin i take ,then either sell or take to the charity shop ,it all helps.

Busy_Mee1

Wow - Madvix you have really been doing some awesome money saving stuff. I am impressed with survey stuff you do - I did SB for a while but tbh find it too tedious. I am however going to crack on with the eB@aying as I find this the most lucrative and am going to try and list 10 items a month.

themadvix

Thanks Busy Mee - a lot of it is second nature as we've been thrifty for so long, but getting back into doing surveys with some focus has been key. SBs is unbelievably tedious at times, but then other days I get loads of surveys where the criteria match - my criteria too - I'm quite particular about how long I'll spend for how many bucks! For instance, I know that my attention span is limited, so will only do surveys that are 10-15 (20 at most, when I'm really bored), and I won't do them for a measly number of bucks either - for Paypal they work out at 0.5p each, so I am fussy! I've not had much/any work the last couple of weeks (apart from the events stuff), so I've had time on my hands! I have a Windows phone, so no apps available so I don't faff around with the 'how many videos in different apps can I be watching at once' thing.... that would be too much work, although it seems lucrative for some.

Am finding OP quite addictive - keep refreshing the page to see if there's a new survey available!

In other 'so small you wonder how it saves any money' news, I descaled the kettle today. Good ol' vinegar and it's as good as new tea tastes better too!:T

I mentioned a while ago that DH wanted to upgrade his computer with his first MB earnings. Well, he thought it would cost about £200, but having done some research into the problem, he thought he'd buy a solid-state hard drive (as the hard drive seemed to be limiting the performance) - problem solved!:T And for just £80 (he went for the slightly more expensive option as it has a 10 yr guarantee).:j In less MSE news though, he's just bought a new phone. His old one wasn't holding any charge and was breaking charging cables (which was both annoying and concerning!). He got a good price through Flubit, despite their terrible customer service - must remind him to complain about that now he's got it.

Ended up having a McD on the way home from function last night It wasn't the intention as had had a main meal at lunchtime, but was starving by the time I left (8.30pm) - it was the biggest function of the summer and the clientele were very demanding. As far as I'm concerned it was £4.18 well spent though - I felt a lot better for some food. Also managed to tear my brand new work top yesterday, but hopefully can repair it (it was a lacy bit that tore, so should be able to hide the repair well!

Today I'm going to pay my tax bill for last year. Have decided to look into whether I could put my tax money into premium bonds while I'm waiting to pay it - it's not really earning any interest and there's always several thousand in there, so might as well take my chances!

Will pop out later and get ingredients to use with beetroot and redcurrants. Going to make a choccie cake with the former and some of this http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3113/redcurrant-and-red-onion-relish with the latter - if it's nice, I'll make more for Christmas pressies!:T

I have actual work to do today, so better get on with it! :j

themadvix

£886.74 OP this morning! :j:j That takes us down to £111, 533.05 - getting ever close to sub-100k! Challenge for this month then is to get below £110k.... Not sure quite how, as money is likely to be tight, but what's the point of setting easy goals?! It's very frustrating that I can't see the new balance online yet!

In other money news.... £3 PC survey completed! It might seem laughable, but it does add up. MF plans for weekend include opening joint TSB account, listing some bits on the bay of e, and sorting out the remains of DH's sharesave scheme - shares have gone below the value we were investing at, so will probably take the money out and split it between mortgage and savings. Nothing on 1P yet, but will do my SBs and £co clicks now.

Had a lovely date night out with DH last night - a meal in a country pub followed by a walk and a geocache. Meal only really cost us £10 as mum had given us some money for a meal for our anniversary last month It was really nice to spend some time just catching up as the last couple of weeks have been rather busy in the evenings.

Off to visit a pyo farm this morning with mum. Then will have to get back to work as I actually have some! :T