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

themadvix

A busy/spendy weekend. Spent Saturday at home and DH managed to get quite a lot done - fixed a problem with my car and made excellent progress with the downstairs loo. We might even have a plumbed in toilet for Christmas (we do have another one upstairs!). However, plumbing progress did cost £50 in bits in B*Q and Wockes... some bits can be returned I think and a couple we only needed one bit rather than the two in the pack - so can be sold.

Yesterday went shopping in town near to DH's parents - various Christmas presents sorted, but spent a few £s in Wilks on other bits - naughty cat knocked the glass jar of cat food off the worktop on Saturday, so needed a new one of those (reduced though). Also found a couple of vitreous enamel baking trays that I'd been looking for for ages, so snaffled them up pronto. So I think it's safe to say that spending wasn't extravagant! Had nice lunch with in-laws to round off the day - didn't need any more food when we got home either

Have been to Drs this morning (I walked ) about what seems to be a recurring problem... prescriptions are so expensive these days! Another £8.40 down What's more annoying is I'm doubtful it will work.

1P is over £30 now, so inching closer to pay out. SBs, nearly halfway to another Am £5 gc, keeping up with other surveys and just done a PC one (sadly they didn't want me to test the product - usually I don't want to and say no (environmental ethics!), but this one would have been okay, but no such luck).

CC bill was looking very small (7 days to go), until the weekend - it'll still be considerably less than usual though and much is allocated spends from present budget. Would think we're unlikely to spend much more tbh, apart from food delivery on Christmas Eve. Off to pub tomorrow night (if I'm feeling up for it) for free sausage and mash (when you buy a drink) - small spend on drink and veg there and that's about it (hoping DH will pay!).

As I'm feeling under the weather the heating has gone back on, which is a bit disappointing, but needs must!

60p TT from prescription charge OP fund stands at £78.66. Had better get on with some work...

ETA: I did ring about the kitchen scales and they were meant to be sending me an email - not received, so will have to chase that up!

themadvix

You lot kept me accountable last night - was really tempted to go out for dinner, despite having plenty of food options here, but I knew I'd said we wouldn't be spending much more before Christmas, so I didn't feel I could go out! I got off my lazy backside and cooked a lovely roasted butternut squash risotto... Amazing what a bit of accountability can do!

PC survey credited and another £5 on the Am balance. Also found £5.32 awaiting payment in £co, so have opted for Am vouchers this time to get 5% extra Unfortunately have spent £6.99 of Am credit on last pressie for DH, so that rather undoes that extra! (Will transfer from present budget when all is sorted.)

Have been out and done a few bits this morning, including paying in contents of sheepbank - the lady keyed it in as £34.21 but it was actually only £24.21.... I didn't notice until it was too late and then kept schtum... imagine it will be amended... have only transferred the £24.21 to OP fund for now. Combined with another TT (not sure what from), OP fund now at £102. Returned my mobile to the phone shop for a repair... it's going to be 14 days, not sure how I'll cope - repair free as under warranty.

Having cuddles with kitty and a cuppa and then heading out again. Hoping that once I've got some of these jobs ticked off my brain will allow me to focus on work!

themadvix

Had a really successful day yesterday - got loads of jobs ticked off, last few presents bought and got to the vets to sort out a prescription - will pick that up today and it should save us £80/year.

Had a nice evening in the pub with an old friend - DH paid for dinner (£13 for two drinks, free sausage and mash and top up of veg and onion rings, bargain!); I got away with a cheap round of orange juice while we were waiting for friend to arrive - £3.60! I did have to pay for the train fare to get there, so DH could have a drink - £6.20. I did save by walking to station rather than getting the bus - a nice bit of exercise there too!

Money paid in yesterday hasn't been corrected yet - still says £34.21, so I'm guessing we might be £10 up? Weirdly the £24.21 which I transferred yesterday (and then into OP fund) is showing as paid into my current a/c and not transferred out, despite OP fund statement showing it being transferred to there - it seems to be magically multiplying money We'll have more of that!

Keeping up on surveys etc., not much else to report - intend to get work more or less finished today, friend visiting tomorrow for coffee, out on Friday evening at a friends - all low cost stuff, already sorted.

DH and I had time for a good chat in the pub last night before friend arrived - we both acknowledged that we're a bit scared about moving to our intended location - we won't know anyone there and we're not the most outgoing people (this is more likely to be a problem for me as I will be working from home still). It's still a couple of years away, so things might well change/it might not be feasible with DH's job (although he has tested the waters regarding this). In the meantime, we know what the plan is and need to stick to it - get mortgage down as much as possible/save into investments and minimise expenses, whilst still having a life... much the same as ever! It was nice to have a chance to have a chat about it though. We might also use some of the time over Christmas to have a day out in our chosen county and see whereabouts takes our fancy

Must get on with work now (I always seem to be saying that!)

themadvix

Not a lot to report, have been doing the usual. The bank error hasn't been corrected still, so I've transferred another £10 into the OP fund Sadly the confusion in my current a/c has now been sorted out, so the money has stopped multiplying!

Didn't get to the vets yesterday, so that's a job for this afternoon. Just waiting for friend and children to arrive for cuppa and kitty play time (have warned the cats, but imagine they won't cooperate!!). Will be lovely to see her/them, but am beginning to panic that I don't have child-friendly snacks - i.e. shop-bought things! They'll have to deal with it, or I can make some popcorn!

Had casserole for dinner last night - intended to have dumplings but could I find the suet? In the end abandoned dumplings and used most of the remnants of some quinoa... I won't be buying it again, and it was edible in casserole sauce, so was quite pleased to have used most of it up. That is my plan for January - use things up in cupboard (lots of bean soaking coming up!) and not replace them with more of the same, as they just don't get eaten! Will need to do a freezer stock up at some point, but cupboard staples we have plenty of. Would be nice to have a super low-cost grocery month in Jan.

themadvix

Just lost a post. To summarise, I've had a bug for the last 24 hours, so baking is off the cards - will have to buy things I was intending to bake and instruct DH in making the oreo truffles tomorrow. Upside is, I should have more time to do relaxing things tomorrow, assuming I'm feeling properly better by then.

Must get jobs done, but only gentle pottering allowed today...

In case I don't make it on here tomorrow, have a very Merry Christmas everyone!:xmastree::xmassign::xmassmile

try_harder

Hope you feel better soon themadvix.A very happy christmas to you too .

Kittenkirst

Feel better soon Hun & :xmassign:

kirtsypoos

Merry Christmas

Watty1

Hope you had a great Christmas.
I had a thought about you meeting folk in new area, a pal has just moved to the other end of the country and she explored "Meet Up" and found a couple of groups there to join and is slowly getting to know people. Might be worth a look?

themadvix

Hi Watty :hello: thanks for popping by! You're right about Meetup - that's a good idea, thanks

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas!

Ours was fairly standard, but enjoyed spending time with family (although glad to have the house to ourselves yesterday!). Yesterday we finished dealing with the turkey, which MIL had kindly brought round for us (some used on Boxing Day for tea) - half for the cats (about 10 days' worth) and half for DH (5 portions of turkey curry - 4 for the freezer, one last night). I think we got our money's worth!

Annoyingly I missed the opportunity to haggle on the cat insurance - it renewed at midnight last night. It's gone up £1 per cat per month, which is rather annoying as we've not made any claims. I was going to ring and hassle them about it, but probably can't do that now. Will have a look with DH tonight at switching and see if it's worth taking advantage of cooling off period.

Another £6 to OP fund this morning from a web monitoring thing Have been shockingly lax on all other earning fronts though - mainly because I've not been at my computer. Will be working for a bit this morning, but then off shopping with my mum (for important things like Christmas cards for next year and maybe to spend some of my FFace gift card I got!). Sister's baby is due to come out tomorrow (she's booked in for a c-section, much to her horror), so potentially won't get much work done after midday tomorrow... but it might be postponed until Friday... or it might decide to arrive sooner, who knows?! :rotfl:

ETA: Another £46.99 added to OP fund from present fund for presents bought using vouchers OP fund now at £166 - it's a long way from £833, but it's a start (and I'm not expecting to hit £833 each month, some months will be bigger than others!).

Oops, PPS: Covered all presents out of my fund, so money sis has transferred for presents we go halves on has been added to the pot (£24.50), so now at £191!