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

themadvix

Afternoon all (already? What happened to this morning?),

That's really interesting Karma - and good to know. I saw the 'girls' for my final visit this morning; they've been a real pleasure to look after (not that my boys aren't!).

I had a really bad night last night - hardly slept at all. Have just managed to finish the work that was waiting for me. Need to finish stripping the wallpaper - I did a fair bit last night (it's really quick to do, fortunately). Think I need a sleep first though and something for lunch.... hmm.... maybe I'll make some more minestrone (no bread, too lazy to bake any and it's raining...).

MS things:
* NV survey
* Clicks etc. - managed a SB survey yesterday, and 5SB from Swago (better than nothing!)
* RM special survey begins on Monday (can I count that here?!)
* Resisted takeaway last night and Dad called in for a cuppa but didn't offer to take me out for dinner (cheeky, I know, but he often does) - put some food from the freezer in the oven (nothing high quality, but reasonably okay and cheaper than other options! (Poor weather does discourage me from temptation!)

CC @ £156 (with a £29 transaction pending that I don't know what it is... doubt it's fraud, but will keep an eye on it - sure I've forgotten something...). Food: £33.66 (milk for today and next week).

Gratitudes:
* Central heating (very necessary today)
* Tea
* The wallpaper comes of easily
* A grateful and communicative cat owner

Have a good afternoon all, think I'm off to bed!

themadvix

Morning (suspect it'll be afternoon by the time I finish typing) all,

Had a good weekend. Ceiling in living room is now plastered, we met up with friends and yesterday we attended a family first birthday party. All good stuff!

We did have takeaway on Friday night as we were finishing the prep for the plasterer (DH paid). It kept us going for lunch and tea on Saturday too though, so made the most of it! There were also some small spends on drinks and a snack while we were out on Saturday afternoon, but again, DH paid!

I remembered what the £29 pending on the CC was - the extra cost of the new car on the insurance. CC bill now at £192.83 with the insurance and some sugar soap, as well as a couple of food bits (food @ £36.72 - helped by takeaway). Will discount the insurance in my total though, so £160ish currently. Lunch today and train fares on Friday will finish me off. Still fairly pleased with balance though.

We're in the process of switching energy company to 0ct0pus - they have an EV tariff with electricity at 5p/kWh between 12.30 and 4 am. Bargainous! And the rest of the time it's cheaper than what we're currently on. And cheaper and greener for gas too. (Clearly we've been a bit lax lately on this front). Better yet, Mum is referring us, so hopefully we'll both get £50 credit (tbc as it's complicated by the tariff we want).

It's Mum's birthday today, so we're going for lunch somewhere (with the Pickle-niece), but near me as she needs to return something to a shop here - so saving me petrol money

MS things:
* YG surveys
* Won £10 on GfK tv survey Have converted it to Wagamamas voucher as I got a £10 one for Christmas - now we've got enough for a meal, more or less
* Various work done (did some on Saturday - what else to do when plasterer is here?)
* Clicks etc.

Gratitudes:
* Lovely catch up with friends on Saturday - it was beginning to feel like it was all going to be too much hard work (balancing plasterer, who came a week early with needs of their small child), but it worked out really well
* Sunshine
* The purry ginger beast who is sat next to me as I type (less grateful when he puts his big bum on the caps lock key and won't move!)

Have a good day all - hope you manage to get out into the sunshine!

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Just popping on quickly to do a tiny bit of work, clicks and update here. Have spent the day so far washing down one wall of the living room. It's not *that* big (although it is the longest wall), but it was caked in wallpaper paste! Have made a start on the next wall now, but losing the will to live! FIL is coming to help tomorrow, but I was hoping I'd have got this done today, so that we could make painty progress tomorrow. Never mind.

MS things:
* Lunch from stores
* Clicks etc. done
* Received link for £5 voucher for survey invite that came through the post

Gratitudes:
* Radio 2 for keeping me company, although it does get a bit much after a while and the wonderful peace when I turn it off is lovely too (I work in silence, so noise all day is a change for me!)
* Sugar soap - not sure where I'd be without it!
* Sunshine - had a lovely walk this morning

Have a good evening all!

themadvix

Morning all,

Painty progress was made yesterday, mainly by FIL. I finished the washing down and we got first coats on two walls and all the filling done. I need to crack on with the sanding and more paint very shortly.

I have a dentist's appointment this afternoon though and then some jobs to do before dinner at Mum's. DH is away with work (he was last night too).

MS things:
* FIL paid for chips for lunch - he insists (and there was enough left over for me to have some with leftovers from the night before for dinner :T )
* Clicks etc. done
* Did my research and bought the paint from the cheapest place - NOT the cheap paint though - been there, made that mistake.
* Have made the switch to 0ctopus, but it's going to take a while and be complicated (in terms of switching tariff more than once.... don't ask!)
* MM money arrived - a whole £20. Will split with DH so some for mortgage, some for car.

Gratitudes:
* FIL's sterling work yesterday - I really feel we made progress
* Hassle-free journeys for DH - train and plane
* Bits of work - give me a reason to sit for a bit (but not too much, so I can keep on with the decorating!)

Now I need to sort my plans for day out with Dad tomorrow and print the Tutankhamun tickets! Have a good day all!

themadvix

MM and TT of £11.93 OP'd off mortgage. :T

Forgot to add... CC is now definitely over the £200, but still much lower than it would have been. Bought some Grasmere Gingerbread for us when ordering for cousin's delayed Secret Santa present (it was planned this way!) and might have underestimated postage on all of it - let's just say she did very well out of it! Also bought Mum and Niece lunch out on Monday for Mum's birthday. Seemed only fair as she'd done same for me.

Also bought paint on cc, but can't really count this as one of the reasons for the low limit was to afford the decorating... CC @ £209 (excl car insurance and paint). Still train tickets to add and expenses tomorrow.

Additional 95p on food budget for milk - having to get a bit creative now, but cupboards are looking clearer and haven't wasted anything. Freezer still quite full! £37.67. Will need veg box this week though - that will have to be it!

Bennettxoxo

I love reading the gratitudes on your posts.
It's always the littlest of things that make the day really nice.

I saw the Tutankhamun's treasures exhibition at the O2 in London when I was at school (probs around 2007/2008ish) and it was so interesting. I would love to see those things again. It's really fascinating.

Karmacat

Madvix, you and your FiL did amazingly well on the decorating, thats a *lot*. I'm glad there's fun stuff in there too

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Thanks Bennettxoxo for calling by Gratitudes are really important, I think. They make me a happier, more contented person by drawing my attention to how lucky I am in my day to day life.

Thanks Karma - wait till you read about my exciting Saturday of Decorating (below ).

So, Tutankhamun was AMAZING! **Thank you so much, Karma** for giving me the idea. Dad really enjoyed it too and I just can't get over how beautiful, detailed and amazingly preserved some of the artefacts were. Just stunning! I'm really glad we went.

Saturday I spent all day decorating on my ownsome , as DH (having returned briefly from a business trip) went off to see his uni friends. He doesn't tend to see them that often (as they're scattered all over the country), so I can't complain. I got the first coat on the ceiling and a second coat on the walls. It took me all day and I was exhausted. Fortunately, my sister invited me to hers for dinner They'd been to the zoo (with niece and my mum), so we had a lovely evening of catching up.

On Sunday I'd had enough of decorating so went and helped mum with some chores and did the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch (typically of course, all the many and varied birds my mum gets in her garden did a disappearing act for the hour we watched! :rotfl: ).

So finances: Friday was not particularly cheap as I bought Dad's train ticket as well as mine and a cuppa for us both (although I used our *bucks credit for that). Saturday - NSD for me (best not to dwell on what DH spent) and free dinner . Sunday - I bought some more paint but Mum bought me lunch out (which was all I needed for the rest of the day). Not too bad then...

MS things:
* I appeared to have mainly subsisted on food provided by others in the last week! :rotfl: Not intentionally and I have offered to pay!
* Clicks etc.
* Largely have kept to stricter heating regime during the day

CC came in at £315. Much lower than normal and has about £60 of things on it that are covered by other budgets, so pretty pleased with that. Food budget continues until end of month. Currently £41.47. Veg box money will be taken tonight (for Weds delivery) - £14.70. However, as most of that will be for next month, I'm pretty pleased with this! I do need to buy some cheese for dinner tomorrow, but otherwise we'll be okay until the end of the month. We still have quite a bit of stuff in the freezer too, so will set another budget for next month that will help us to keep using stuff up.

Today has been a very expensive day though as I ordered the new carpet! :eek:

Gratitudes:
* I went out for my walk/to order the carpet earlier - it's chucking it down with rain now.
* I have a new work project - January has been pretty quiet
* No painting today - I have got to borrow the sander from my Dad later, so will pop round for a cuppa (and to return the wallpaper stripper!).

Have a good afternoon/evening all.

Karmacat

I'm so glad you liked the exhibition so much! I seem to have let the gratitudes go again , I think because I read when I get into bed ... must have a think how I can include them easily.

You're doing **amazingly** well - all that decorating, new work coming in, a new carpet, food that other people have paid for because that "to" will give you a "fro" - our webs of connections are wonderful things :beer:

newgirly

Glad you enjoyed the exhibition vix