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

themadvix

Afternoon All,

My NY resolutions are slipping I need to get back into the habit of yoga and podcasts in the morning, but it's so difficult when I don't get a good night's sleep.

Quick weekend update:
Saturday - decorating... all day for me. DH worked on my car. Both of us quite successful, although still a long way to go both projects.
Sunday - exhausted, did some more decorating (but not a lot) and some more car (bit more). Had a nap, went for a walk.

Today, I've just had the carpet man round to measure up and quote. There's 15% off at the moment, so I'll be ordering the carpet for the dining room and last bedroom tomorrow (need to check our underlay stocks!). Mum and niece came round for lunch and helped me get a few jobs done (although it chucked it down, so no walk). Am waiting for a lady to turn up to collect some speakers I've sold on FB - she was meant to come this morning but when she didn't turn up I messaged her and she said she was dealing with something urgent but would try to get here about 3pm. Hmm... why is it that people so frequently get interrupted by urgent things when having made plans to collect FB/freegle items. (Freegle generally bothers me less as I don't need to be in for them!).

MS things:
* DH has been a star at reusing the bits of my exhaust that can be reused and he's diligently sought out the cheapest/but decent quality replacement parts. Many deliveries expected this week.
* Saved 25p on bread for lunch (on top of offer - loaf was only 75p
* VB poll; MS rewards; *really CBA with SBs today!
* Work done
* 2nd T3sco savings a/c opened - ready to go now on the tarting

NY resolutions:
* Steps have been good - 10k Friday and Sunday. Didn't have fitbit on on Saturday because of decorating, but definitely did a lot of steps and up and down the step ladder!
* Kitty playtime all good
* As I said above, yoga and podcast need work - but I ended up sleeping till 8.30 this morning after DH left, so needed to get up and on (cats were hungry!)

Gratitudes:
* Cats make great hoovers when niece's tuna sandwich decorates the living room
* The money from DH's nan for Christmas - carpets are no strain on the finances
* Yummy homemade curry at the weekend (two days on the trot). No desire to get takeaway when the homemade version is so good.

Busy_Mee1

Wow that sounds an exhausting but productive weekend. It sounds like all your work on the house is coming together.

Your mention of your OH repairing your exhaust reminded me of years ago when our kids were little and we were very poor, my FIL welded a baked bean can over a hole in my exhaust :eek: it held for a while, when I just didn’t have the money to replace it.

ch4rly2002

Well done on the decorating, and that's fantastic that DH can repair your car for the minimum!

I know what you mean about people collecting things - something urgent usually crops up to delay the collection! I hope she doesn't/didn't leave you waiting too long.

15% is a nice discount, especially on carpets for 2 rooms, that should be a nice little saving. Hope the underlay stocks are sufficient

I've been wondering about tarting. Is that where you borrow money on a 0% credit card then stick the money in savings to earn interest? I'd be interested to learn what you're doing with that one.

I love that your cat hoovered up all of niece's dropped tuna sandwich!

Busy Mee - that's amazing! I love that he improvised with a baked bean can repair!!!

Karmacat

ch4rly2002 wrote: »

I love that your cat hoovered up all of niece's dropped tuna sandwich!

Busy Mee - that's amazing! I love that he improvised with a baked bean can repair!!!

Those are the bits I liked best

themadvix

Thanks BM and Charly! It was an exhausting weekend, but you're right, the house is coming together and this is the final big push. Once these two rooms are finished we're done (unless we end up staying longer than intended, in which case the living room will be in line for some redecoration). There's still lots of bits (and finishing) to do, but no big projects.

Loved the baked bean tin story BM - I've heard of that being done; I think it counts as a great use of resources!

Charly - I think you're confusing 'stoozing' (an official word) with 'tarting' (one I or someone on here has used (BM?) to describe getting all the switching bonuses by having a donor account set up! I'm not sure I'm brave enough to keep up with stoozing and for the paltry interest rates available, I'm not convinced its worth it.

The woman, naturally, didn't turn up for the FB sale.... I've now contacted another enquirer and he's coming Weds evening. Fingers crossed. Have had a request for a refund for an ebay item I sold - apparently it doesn't work, even though it worked fine when we sent it. Not sure what to do there, but I don't want bad feedback. Any suggestions?

Off for a dental check up now, so hopefully everything is well there. DH has got his boss giving him a lift today so I could have the car (they were meant to be going to a meeting, so it wouldn't have been a favour, but meeting has been cancelled!). Will have a quick cuppa with mum afterwards and then will be back to post properly and do some work!

Happy Tuesday all!

ch4rly2002

Ah yes, I think you're right, I was thinking of stoozing. Good idea with the tarting though as they tend to offer a nice chunk of money as opposed to a measly bit of interest

I'm not sure of a way round the eBay issue, unless you took a video of it working before you packed it? eBay pretty much always sides with the buyer unless you can absolutely prove otherwise, so it's probably best to refund them to avoid the negative feedback

try_harder

I completely agree with ch4rly i just send a refund and if the item wasnt too costly let them keep it to save any negative feedback.

You are doing a great job with the house ,it must be looking so nice you might find it hard to leave.

themadvix

Morning all,

Things have slipped the last couple of days, but for a good reason - lots of work! It's been a long time since I've had so much that I've worried about fitting it all in, so it was a lovely feeling. It did highlight to me however, that between lots of work and poor sleep I really struggle to keep on top of other aspects of life. I'm working on the sleep, but I'm running out of ideas

The ebay saga is just about to come to a close. The man made all the checks I asked and says it still doesn't work, so I've sent him a postage label - DH is convinced it works, so I'm going to get it back. Unfortunately I don't think there's a way to dispute stupidity, so if it is returned and then works, I will still have to pay for all the postage, which seems unfair. If it works we'll sell it on FB next time!

MS things:
* NV and YG surveys done
* SBs met target yesterday (first time in ages, it's dropped to a sensible level now); claimed £10 coffee voucher
* FB item *still* awaiting collection :mad:
* Lots and lots of work
* Money shuffle later
* Carpet ordered - with 15% discount. Sadly underlay wasn't enough and wasn't the same as they supply, so we've just ordered the full amount. £620 for two rooms of good quality carpet seemed reasonable though (and paid for by GMIL).
* Mum sold Santa shares yesterday, so should be £250 coming my way :j

TH, you're right about us not wanting to move when we've got it so nice. I'm beginning to be concerned that we probably won't move as soon as our mortgage deal comes to an end for various reasons and am thinking that March 2019 is possibly the worst time to come off a fixed rate deal. All the more reason to be paying the mortgage down asap. Hopefully with a good month of work behind me, next month (when it's all paid) I should be able to make a significant dent in my savings deficit and join DH in attacking mortgage/moving savings. Anyway, I digress...

NY resolutions:
* Podcast - two in the last couple of days, after a spell of none.
* Yoga - hmm... I did some stretches last night? Not enough though! Need to get back into this as I feel much better for it (but extra sleep in the mornings has been so necessary!)
* Kitty playtime - by and large, this has been happening
* Steps - 9K yesterday - a lot of marching on the spot, so effort was made (I always think it's more than I would have done, if I'd not been measuring it, so the news story yesterday hasn't affected my view of the target!)

Gratitudes:
* Lots of work :j
* Chippy lunch with FIL yesterday - I had to squeeze in lunch with him and a trip to the dump (he's very good at helping us!)
* The lighter evenings - it's amazing how quickly it changes
* Winterwatch - I love this programme!

Have a good day all!

Karmacat

Great to have the work! It always makes the most of your time, financially speaking.

But ebay ... sigh. I haven't sold anything on there for ages now, but I have bits to do, as opposed to books that can go on Amazon - got to figure out pricings on gumtree and facebook. That'll be at the end Feb, because of other commitments.

A chippy lunch ... oh my. I like the sound of that

themadvix

Selling stuff is hard work, isn't it? It's nice to get the money back, but between fees and people messing you around, I do sometimes wonder (but then, the mindset is always 'I need the money, it's worth the effort)...

Chippy lunch is a tradition when FIL comes and helps with house jobs He even pays, even though I insist he doesn't have to. The cats love a chip too (greedy one stole one from his plate yesterday - fortunately FIL finds it funny, but I do shut them out when we have other people over usually).