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

themadvix

Have just made a £30 OP from build up in my budgets/bills account. Also moved £30 to savings. Neither mum nor I have received the £100 from TSB for her switch yet... will have to investigate how long that should take.

My NW RS is now fully funded, so will expect some interest soon and then have the dilemma of where to put it now...

* PA survey
* NV survey

themadvix

Morning all,

Isn't it lovely today? The sun is shining, the birds are singing and I've just made an OP of £100 (and £100 to savings) from home insurance budget. Still haven't sorted home insurance - used their online service which is supposed to be amazing and it said they'd get back to me within 48 hours! We'll see.... Mortgage now stands at £69.948.15 and OP allowance at £4,719.93. I need to find another £70 ish this month to ensure that, however briefly, that balance does not go above £70k when they add interest on (I think they do this the day before the regular payment is taken, so if I can't find it, I'll just have to not check it! ). There'll be some more ebay money hopefully.

Have had the expect email from Nw about the regular saver, so need to make some decisions about what to do with that soon. Have updated the spreadsheet with my savings balances this morning and was pleasantly surprised by how much I have in cash above my buffer fund! (Yes, I know I'm a MFW and supposed to have an iron grasp on my finances, but there you go....)

After some snippiness elsewhere on the forum (why??), I managed to get an answer about the TSB incentive payment - 28 days or 5-6 weeks possibly. Which scuppers me for a possible NW switch incentive as the offer ends on 2nd April. Hey ho, there'll be others... 

Visited the zero-waste shop yesterday and did a top-up. Always surprises me how good value it is (obviously you don't really have any idea how much it's going to cost until the end - unless you weigh everything as you go along and do lots of maths... which naturally I don't!). So we have *plenty* of food in now, both staples and fresh. I'm looking forward to cooking lots of nice stuff in the next week or so.

Friends have cancelled dinner for tomorrow night (seems to be a recurring pattern - different friends though!), so will be a fairly quiet weekend, although I am taking niece for lamb bottle feeding and egg collecting at the local farm tomorrow - so excited about this (me, I don't know about her!). It was her birthday present and I think she'll love it. Mum is coming too (sis and her partner decided they'd rather have the peace and quiet!). I think we'll come back to mine for lunch afterwards, so niece can see the cats too.

Today I'm popping to mum's - we're going to photo the underside of my wedding dress so I can list it on ebay (it didn't come completely clean at the dry cleaners - I was very naughty and wander around outside with the train on the floor); finish a small framing project I have to do and then go to JL for her free cuppa and cake (we buy a sandwich and split both ). Then this afternoon I'm meeting a crafty friend who is hopefully going to help me/guide me to turn my Nan's (and many ancient, dead rellies') beautiful (but often stained) embroidered tablecloths and tray cloths into bunting. It will be really lovely to be able to enjoy their hardwork in a 21st century way.

MS things:
* Clicks etc.
* Some work before I go
* Used up some pizza sauce on pizza last night
* Fuel costs should be down today - less heating and no oven use planned
* OP made

Gratitudes:
* Sunshine and birdsong
* A lovely and productive day planned
* L&G have just called! (insert hand clapping smiley!) and I've paid on my Amex, so points towards Eurostar!
* There's £4 leftover from insurance budget... you know where that's going

Have a lovely Friday all!

Suffolk_lass

That will teach you to stray from the friendly part of the forums! My experience of banking, saving & investments and the pensions parts is that although many of the posters really know their stuff, many f them have adopted a sort of supercilious, condescending style of answering questions that seems to try and show how clever they are. As you know, it is much friendlier over here (where is that group hug emoji when you need it!?

Have a lovely Friday

Jessy103

Congrats on the overpayments, vix! Shame about the snippiness though. 

Hope you have a lovely time with your niece!:)

the_cross_rabbit

Why can't people just be nice. Can't be doing with people like that when you just ask a simple question. 
CRx 

South_coast

Morning Vix, have you considered opening a donor account for the bank switching so you can still take advantage before the offer ends? Some banks you can open an account online and get the sort code and account number instantly (am sure Halifax do that), then you're ready to get going straight away and hoover up the offers faster. I had two sets of accounts doing the rounds of the offers when I hoovered them all up a few years ago, all the while leaving my actual bank account well away from it. Just a thought (Warning: You will get a crazy amount of post though - and not sure how you would feel about new bank cards being printed for it - could they be the next craft project?)

Loving the tablecloths into bunting idea by the way 😍

themadvix

Morning,

SL, Jessy, CR - don't I just know that it's much nicer here! There really wasn't any need for the snippiness... although at least they don't take offence easily... I may have responded snippily too and they still came back with the answer! SC, to answer your question, this is a donor account anyway really, and I'd still have to work out the DDs (as it doesn't have any at the moment), so I can't really be bothered with opening another one - the aim would be to make things a bit simpler, rather than more complicated. Will see what the situation is when the money has been paid (and well done for spotting the waste issue - it's certainly a factor! )

Had a great day on Friday, really productive and was lovely to see my friend (who massively helped with plans for tablecloths). Sadly though, her husband has been diagnosed with bowel cancer (only 55). He's just about to start chemo, but obviously now is not a great time for that. So we spent quite a while chatting about that and life in general.

Farm visit with niece was a mixture yesterday - she loved the lambs (and so did I ) but had a meltdown in the chicken field as 'they were going to eat her'... threenagers! She didn't want to leave though as she wanted to collect the eggs ('this one's dirty' *drops it back into nestbox!* :eek: emoji needed here!). It was rather stressful - she wanted to be held but my coat was already covered in chicken poo from where I'd inadvisedly picked her up once and she's too heavy to hold for any length of time. So I squatted down at her height, but she kept trying to sit on me, which meant I nearly lost my balance quite a few times! ('Nana' was outside the enclosure and some way away as only one adult was allowed to accompany her.) I think I should have stopped at the lambs!

MS things:
* Clicks etc. today
* Used up a savoy cabbage from veg box in cabbage thoran last night (and made naans for then, tonight and lunch on Monday)
* Trying the one-pan dhal again tonight, which has helped create space in freezer (split peas are soaking now)
* Rhubarb crumble from 3 pots of stewed rhubarb in freezer - the tryffid is already nearly pickable, so I need to get the remnants from last year out of the way!
* Cat sitting today and tomorrow
* Came back home for lunch with niece and mum yesterday, rather than buying at the farm cafe (wise move too as it meant we could really wash our hands well - niece also fell over right in the muddiest bit of the chicken field!)

Gratitudes:
* A lamb nibbling my fingers - so cute!
* The success of the bottle-feeding Niece enjoyed that
* Cat sitting in (short) walking distance, although cat has forgotten me!

Happy Sunday everyone!

newgirly

That sounds so much fun, takes me back to our farm holidays when the kids were little 😊

themadvix

Morning all,

NG - were you missing the bit where I said it was stressful?! I think I was probably rather snappy by the time we got back to mine for lunch - oops!

Today it's out 8 year house-iversary (which I was reminded of by good ol' FB)! (We'll gloss over the minor issue of the plan being 5 years max here). Celebrations are going all out tonight, with veggie spag bol to use up the passata that needs using and more rhubarb crumble from yesterday - who says we don't know how to party?!

The dhal didn't work again, last night. I'm going to try boiling the leftovers for my lunch for a bit. To say I'm peeved would be an understatement, I don't like being beaten by recipes! I think I'll try again soon.... maybe.

Today I have a selection of worky bits to do, starting by going to feed my furry charge over the road. I also need to email the company we bought out mattress from in August as it has collapsed so much that it's giving us both back ache (neither of us are large - DH is usually underweight). It's not fit for purpose. However, I don't really know whether I think it's faulty or whether another one of the same will do the same. It was fine to start with (and really comfy), but now has big dents and a ridge in the middle where we don't sleep. It wasn't a cheap mattress (£900) and was from a well-known manufacturer. Just concerned that we bought it from the online, cheaper wing of M4ttressm4n (B3dman) and I bet their customer service is rubbish. Will go to the manufacturer if we have problems, but it's just hassle, isn't it?!

MS things:
* Nothing that's left sold on Ebay last night - need to look at the listings
* Celebratory spag bol tonight
* Meal plan done for the week - loads of food to enjoy and people coming on Weds and Fri (and seeing others on Sat, but think that'll be a takeaway, whether at theirs or here)
* Clicks done
* Must enter comps - forgot last week
* ETA to add, obviously I'll be making a house-iversary OP, will update later with amount!
Gratitudes:
* Lots of lovely food - having the energy and enthusiasm to cook is the gratitude here. Between decorating and being ill, it's been a while since I've had the oomph to do as much
* A nice walk with DH yesterday - such good chatting time
* Busy but fun week ahead - lots of socialising, topped by Ronnie Scott's on Sunday for DH's birthday

Happy Monday all, have a good one!

themadvix

Evening all (ooh, sound like a policeman!),

Have done some income forecasting for EOM and won't be getting paid as much as usual, due to one client not being due to pay until May(?, Americans with minimum thresholds and silly credit terms), so have just made a small OP of £24 - £3 for each year if you need some significance! I found the money in the virtual pot for the window cleaner and also transferred £20 to savings.

I'll need to watch my spends for the rest of the month now - I have an idea of what I have left. Was meant to be meeting Brownie pals for a catch up and cuppa out tomorrow but we're now going to help with some baking at Brown Owl's house, so I'll save there. Food should be all sorted except for milk and veg (and small supermarket order coming Thurs - but it's accounted for already). Cat stuff all covered and I have a full tank of fuel (and use of DH's car for next two days).

 Big expense is that we're off to Ronnie Scott's on Sunday for lunch - tickets for show paid for and budgeted for, but food and drink and train still to pay (and this is DH's birthday present, so he's not paying!). Quite a social month too, but all at home or DH can pay (bowling, takeaway). Apart from these bits (and Mothers' Day present), minimal spends needed.

Right off to cook that celebratory spag bol!