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

themadvix

Morning all,

Will let you know QueenJess - I'm hoping it's as good as the ads make out. We enjoy escape rooms, murder mystery dinners and a game of Cluedo so it should be right up our street.

DH has been off work this week and I've not had much, so it's been a lovely relaxed week, even if the weather hasn't been great. We went to North Norfolk yesterday for the day which was lovely. And this morning I woke up to a lovely surprise - DH has bought me some Airpods as a replacement for the headphones the cat ate. I'd been looking at second hand (refurbished!) ones and other ones, but couldn't make my mind up. I've never really got on with in-ear headphones (the ones eaten by the cat were better than most), but these are truly so comfy and don't come out - I'm such an Apple convert it's embarrassing! The best bit is there's no cable to attract the naughty ginger one!

We've spent some time thinking about the future this week and our plans have become a bit clearer. I don't want to go into detail, but the main aim needs to be (shockingly) to pay off the mortgage and save lots over the next 4 years. DH is in the process of starting up a side business which will hopefully do well and bring in a little bit extra. I've redoubled my efforts to finish the bunting from old tablecloths as I'm seeing the family at the end of the month and would like to give it to them then and am thinking I might start selling some too. My only issue is finding the old stained tablecloths and pillows - there's plenty of nice ones on eBay, but a) they are too nice to cut up and b) they sell reasonably well so would cut into my profit margin. (If anyone has any they'd like to give to a good home, I'm happy to exchange for a length of bunting made from some of it!)

In more basic MFW stuff, I need to get back to basics with saving the pennies without impacting our quality of life too much. DH isn't too keen on cutbacks that look like cutbacks, but that's partly because he saves well anyway. I can definitely get our food budget down though and (and I keep saying this), lazy takeaways must be eliminated.

MS things:
* Refrained from purchasing things we didn't need yesterday (apart from some Lime Tree Pantry pies, which we'll have for two meals)
* Have sorted the present cupboard and discovered 2 bottles of redcurrant shrub which can be given as gifts should we be invited anywhere. (This is a key part of the goal - use our resources for gifting; we have plenty of gifts from the garden). 
* Intend to set some wine fermenting this weekend from another kit (will ask in-laws for bottles when we see them later)
* Clicks done (even yesterday) 
* YG survey done
* PA survey done
* Have done a round up of points I have - £21 in Nectar, £4 Coop, £2.16 Boots (but have eye test booked, so will probably boost that!). Will endeavour to use these up soon (and get back into using loyalty cards - this stopped when the pandemic meant getting in and out asap was key!).
* Will sometimes be buying d/w tabs with supermarket delivery and not from zero waste shop (just a cardboard box in packaging) - cheaper when on offer and staff discount. (Will have to keep an eye on this). Would feel guilty about not supporting local independent but they get plenty of custom from me!

Gratitudes
* Sunshine, sea and ice cream yesterday
* A cold (sometimes wet) pub lunch earlier in the week - ooh pub chips, not had them since September!
* Saw my uncle last weekend - he visited Mum's garden - hadn't seen him in person in over a year!
* My lovely new Airpods (and wonderful husband)

Have a good day all!

Karmacat

North Norfolk!  I love that coast, I really do.  Norfolk as a whole, actually, so many wonderful places.  Your future plans sound very interesting - and getting *all* the little bits to work for you is important, yes. 

Trying to think about sourcing your old tablecloths etc - in normal times, I'd say do a long weekend to France and visit as many brocantes as you can get to.  Instead, I'm wondering about charity superstores, like this lot Our superstores | Cancer Research UK  there's actually one at Great Yarmouth.  HTH

themadvix

Thanks Karma. We love Norfolk too 😊 I wasn’t sure about CSs as I figured they would get rid of stained/damaged ones. I do intend to check them out though. The antiques place we went into yesterday also had some but very pricy and not damaged. Am thinking a bit of word of mouth might do to start with (my mum has already mentioned it to a friend who is clearing her mum’s house!) and maybe a relationship with a house clearance type company at some point. Will consider France though (any excuse!), but what is a brocante (excuse my ignorance!).

themadvix

(Have looked at the link - there’s one near me so it might be worth a chat with them about what they get in/throw out- if I give them double what they’d get for rags they might be keen)

 For the time being I’ve got the yellow/orange coloured stuff of  my Nan’s/g-grandmothers/great aunt to be getting on with (and testing the water) 

greent

CSs may well be a place to buy non-stained stuff -I know the one where I volunteer just rags stained items straight off - but we often sell duvet sets @ £1 (ones priced higher than that are usually kiddy licensed/ themed ones, which aren't really what you'd be looking for, anyway!)

themadvix

Good heavens, a cat sitting request! Had almost forgotten I do that! 😂 Fingers crossed they get back to me to confirm.

themadvix

Cat sitting have got back to me and I’m visiting later in the week.

 Have also had a reply from the Dart charge people (can’t remember if I mentioned this but when I tried to log in to pay for my crossings last week it said there was no record of my account, which had a credit balance!). They’re refunding me the money…. Good job I checked and followed that up then - probably only £10 but that’s £10 they’d have had from me just because they made my account inactive 😡

 Also forgot to say that I’ve had the money from the cat insurance, very impressed, straightforward and quick to process 🙂

Karmacat

themadvix said:

Thanks Karma. We love Norfolk too 😊 I wasn’t sure about CSs as I figured they would get rid of stained/damaged ones. I do intend to check them out though. The antiques place we went into yesterday also had some but very pricy and not damaged. Am thinking a bit of word of mouth might do to start with (my mum has already mentioned it to a friend who is clearing her mum’s house!) and maybe a relationship with a house clearance type company at some point. Will consider France though (any excuse!), but what is a brocante (excuse my ignorance!).

Brocantes are the second hand shops, country stores that sell everything and anything.  If you ever watch/tape Escape to the Chateau, you'll see them visit a brocante sooner or later.  Even on the French trips on Salvage Hunters, he goes to (upmarket) brocantes.  Nowadays, they can be markets too 6 of the best brocantes in France - Homes and Antiques I went to the one at Bordeaux, in 2012, it was huge and very like a country one, although Bordeaux is such a big city. 

Suffolk_lass

We love Brocantes - brought back some brass pots and a marmite with damage (that now holds dried orange peel firelighters)

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Thanks ladies, they look interesting! When we're allowed to travel again, they may be worth checking out.

This morning, in the interests of using what we have, using bits up and making sure we're set for the week, I've baked a loaf and biscuits, stewed rhubarb for a crumble and done 3 loads of washing (now all dry as it's so lovely and warm). DH and I have then been clearing, levelling and weed-proof lining (don't get me started on the plastic) an area in our (fairly private) front garden and replacing the slate that was there. We're watching some bistro sets on eBay, hoping to get a bargain to put out there. We'll need a little bit more slate too - trip to the garden centre after the grand prix.

Have managed to get a couple of new bits of clothing from the Bay too at much discounted prices, so that's helping the wardrobe crisis.

MS things:
* NV survey
* Used up cheap Christmas chocs in biscuits
* Clicks done
* Comps entered

Gratitudes:
* A home-baked loaf - it's been a while
* Warm weather - so fed up of being cold, even if the sun does shine!
* A break from the back breaking stone moving...

Have a good afternoon all!