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

themadvix

Evening all,

Weekend has been much as predicted - only money spent was £17.50 from car maintenance fund (sending off key fob to get it refurbed, something I've been meaning to do for ages, but not got around to). Annoyingly missed out on two bedside tables from Ebay that would have been a bargain (ours are hideous '80 chipboard things from the in-laws loft, so anything, literally anything, would be an improvement - bear in mind we've been here ten years in March!). Was tempted by takeaway, but have just put the dinner in the oven (toad in the hole, with roasted carrots and cider roasted cabbage). 

Rearranged our second and third bedrooms (and put loads of bits back up in the loft), so that DH can have an office. A lot less space in my office (which now has a single bed in it), but actually it feels more like a fully utilised room. And there's a bit more furniture to reorganise/shift but DH has a space for a desk and is probably having a desk from BIL, which is handy and free.

Had a really lovely surprise yesterday. The client who I did some work over the summer (which caused a few issues one way and another) had sent me a £50 M&S giftcard for going 'above and beyond'! It was a painful project at times but I enjoyed the content, so it wasn't really that much of a problem. Such things happen only very rarely as a freelancer (apart from my lovely English client, who does send an Amazon gift card each year - but then I send her something too!)

MS things:
* Comps entered and clicks done
* Takeaway resisted
* Badminton this morning - makes DH's gym membership better VFM

Gratitudes:
* Lovely evening on Friday with BIL and fiancee
* B&W cat is much happier now he has access to his favourite bedroom (and the bed, even though that's moved)
* Toad in the hole for dinner

Have a good evening all!

themadvix

Morning all,

Still have plenty of work to keep me busy this week, and promise of more to come, which is great.

Have nabbed some bananas and bread from my Olio colleague, so off to collect them shortly. Also popping to Sainsbury's as very concerningly, I've run out of tea! (Not entirely true, I have some nabbed tea bags from a hotel stay, but they are individually wrapped and useful for other occasions - want to get back to my loose leafed stuff for now). Am working on the meal plan for this week, but am going to have to buy a few bits to make the meals - only eggs, garlic and yoghurt though. I don't think I'll be under my £50 spend for food this month, but I should be close and much closer than if I hadn't tried! Still need to assess what's in the door of the fridge and see if I can use some of it up.

MS things:
* Clicks and comps done
* Sold one of my items on Vinted! Needs to be dispatched asap, although I've not looked yet at how they want me to send it.
* Chased an overdue invoice and it has now been paid
* Will check the Nectar app before I go to Sains.

Gratitudes:
* Free food, including fruit
* Some tea bags in the cupboard!
* The very golden leaves round here that are left on the trees - brightening up a very grey day

ETA: spent £9.60 in Sainsbury's but also got flour (which we'd run out of and it stops me buying expensive organic stuff, at least this time) and veggie sausages as they were reduced to £1/pack. Menu plan done until next Sunday.

themadvix

Morning all (afternoon by the time I post!),

Had a bit of a difficult day with work yesterday, caused by lack of sleep, so have been cracking on with it this morning as I should be further ahead than I am. Fortunately/unfortunately, this client doesn't give me hard deadlines (but will ask where I'm at with it today, I expect).

Finally I've reached payout on YouGov! Invitations had definitely slowed right down in the last month as I neared payout. Have also reached payout on VB, so that will arrive next month. Back up to £5 on 1P already - it's so much easier with the app. PA is also doing well this month - £12 in there and some still to clear. 

Am going to pop into the vaccination centre later (or tomorrow) and see if they'll give me a booster. I'm not 40, but it's been more than 6 months since my second jab as I was volunteering. I figure the worst that can happen is that they say no, but it's worth a try. (There's no guidance for awkward people like me!)

DH and I looked at holiday stuff again last night and came away rather defeated. The prices of hotels and car hire (and just basic boring cars, we'd booked a truck previously) in the US have doubled or trebled since we booked before. DH reckons we have the money (he's saved a lot during lockdown), but it's not really the point - it was an expensive holiday to begin with and now it's going to be considerably more expensive. It's very frustrating, especially as it defies all logic. Will be keeping my fingers crossed for a big cash win in a competition!

MS things:
* Clicks done and comps entered
* Item listed on Ebay
* Surveys - see above
* Meal plan sorted until Sunday and it uses bits and pieces up
* Must post Vinted item today!

Gratitudes:
* Work is progressing better than yesterday
* Mum is popping by for a cuppa (and to take some of her/my sister's stuff that we've accumulated here)
* Will have time for a walk later

Have a good day all!

Karmacat

Payouts on websites sound good!  

How frustrating about the American holiday!  As you say, finding the money isn't the point, it's become mega-mega-expensive, grrr.  

My sister and her daughter will be flying to the States soonish, visiting friends in Kansas - my sister found a December flight, a Chicago return, for £380.  I know you're holidaying across the whole country for separate parts of the hol, but would flexibility as to the airport help?  

The helpfulness of internet strangers, hey?   sorry!

themadvix

Help is always appreciated Karma, but the flights are the easy bit - we had open tickets from Virgin and they've been rebooked for a while now - we booked before the US reopened, knowing we could cancel again if necessary. So we fly into Atlanta and we fly back from San Fran. It's the bit in between that's the issue!

Nashville accommodation is more expensive, but OK; New Orleans was more expensive originally and is now ~£500 instead of ~£300 for 3 nights and the car hire to Nashville is considerably more. Original plan was to hire car in Atlanta, drive to N'ville, drive back to Atlanta, fly to New Orleans. Looked at getting the train from B'ham, AL as it would shorten car journey back, but it's an extra £/$200 (can't remember which currency!) to drop car off elsewhere, on top of already doubled costs for hire (original hire for 4 days was ~£150, now £300 + £200 for different drop off - again might be $ not £). Internal flights have gone up too - only equivalent priced ones are at awkard times of the day.

California is even worse - they want £700 for car hire for 7 days and just for a fiesta or something silly (£1000 for something more interesting, which is what we had had planned before). Haven't even looked at the hotel in Yosemite yet and we've scrapped Sequoia and Kings NPs because they've had fires, so have to work out what else to do... no idea about wine country costs either... Hotel in SF that we were meant to stay at hasn't reopened and we have a Hotels.com voucher specfically for that hotel, so we need to contact Hotels.com about that. Last night hotel (we'd splashed out as the other SF one had shared bathrooms - what?! It was the only one that was reasonably priced) has doubled in price. It's all just silly, silly money!

Trains are cheaper and would be cool, but timetables are *very* limited, travel time is longer, DH may not feel well and there's less opportunity for spotaneity (all the fruit stalls and pie stalls in California!!) Aaargh! (First world problems, I know.)

Karmacat

Good grief!  I see what you mean about the prices of the accommodation and domestic travel.  Blimey.  

Trains are also mad.  The last big trip I did to North America, admittedly an awfully long time ago, I got the train from Toronto to Chicago, via Niagara Falls, stopped there for a few days.  It was so slow!  I was there for a long time, and ready to veg out, but honestly, it was like that little two-carriage train that pootles over the Pennines between Manchester and Leeds.

First World problems, absolutely, but we *live* in the First World, still ... 

themadvix

We've watched a lot of Youtube videos about train travel in America (comes under the category of lockdown 'travel dreaming'!), so the speed would be expected, if painful. It would a good way to see some more of the country though, but only for a couple of shortish legs - otherwise we'd spend the whole time on a train (and miss out on the fruit pie stalls!).

Yes, it's the First World problem that has us committed to spending quite a lot of money - which is just frustrating!

rtandon27

LOL - oh KC you did give me good giggle - I can guarantee you that the current train from Toronto to Niagara is not 2 carriages and most certainly does not pootle!  Pre-pandemic groups of seniors of my mom's generation would routinely go to the casino at Niagara for the buffet followed by a few rounds at the slots.  They'd be home I  time to have dinner with the grandkids!

Chiglepig

So annoying, @themadvix - your iternery though is an absolute dream Nashville and New Orleans - and I would love to do it all by train. The last time we went to the States we had a red soft-top Mustang (tick off those cliches) which was enormous fun, I can't imagine doing US distances in a fiesta!

themadvix

Thanks for popping by ladies. That's just it, Chiglepig, we had booked a pick up and a Camaro (or something) to do the cliches thing... we were even going a long way out of our way to just change cars (spending the night in Sacramento) - never going to happen now.