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

themadvix

Ooh, that's good to know Ed - am looking forward to them now. Certainly will be cheap - I bought the onion and carrot (despite onions arriving in veg box today, whoops) yesterday for 14p - I'm amazed you can get anything for that these days!

KC - the fumes from the radiator paint weren't too nice, but it didn't take long and then I left the room (with the door firmly shut - cats stuck to radiator was not something I wanted to see!). The woodwork was satin paint, so low VOCs and much nicer to deal with. Thanks for your concern though

newgirly

I've made those too -very nice

Watty1

Another fan of those burgers.

Kittenkirst

Oooh Im tempted to try those burgers with all these recommendations. I do love jack Monroes recipes

Ireland sounds lovely- a free bar?!?! Sounds dangerous to me!

themadvix

I can confirm, the burgers were tasty, we'll definitely be having them again.

KK - yes, I think it probably did get messy, but we left about midnight as I had a headache (so neither of us took advantage of the bar, disappointingly!). The bride and groom were still up at 5.30!

Carpets are now fitted, hooray, so returning furniture to the rooms can begin - hooray! This morning has largely been taken up with preparing for that and some work. Am waiting on another person to come for the item I'm selling on FB - think this is the 4 to say they're coming.... they were meant to be here at 11, now 1.... we'll see. If he turns up it's a tenner for OP fund (probably, it's DH's item, probably should let him choose what to do with the money!).

MS things:
* VB polls, MS rewards
* £10 Starbucks claimed from SBs and £10 Argos voucher claimed from S&S for bathroom scales I want to buy. We've got a backlog of Leisure Vouchers from S&S and I'm not sure what to get with the rest of the balance - I'll guess we'll just have to force ourselves to eat out! :rotfl:

NY resolutions:
* steps 9800 yesterday - but I was too tired to finish!
* Kitty playtime donw
* Now carpets are down and house will return to semblance of normality (for here anyway), there'll be room to do yoga!

Gratitudes:
* To DH's Nan, whose generous Christmas present has paid for the carpets without us having to work out where the cash was coming from
* To ginger cat for a lovely cuddle - he was terrified of the carpet fitters, so once he'd come out from hiding he plonked himself on me
* For finishing the decorating at long last (there's a few bits of snagging, but that's not the same as the disruption of whole rooms being out of action
* Sunshine - about to put my washing out!

Happy Friday everyone!

Karmacat

Loving those very specific gratitudes

themadvix

Happy Monday all!

We had a very busy weekend putting the house to rights, baking and a bit of a walk and some family visiting time. For the first time in 6 years I feel like I actually have a 3-bedroomed house - it's wonderful! And all fairly tidy too now!

Have offered a load of leftover decorating/electrical bits to friends, but they don't seem interested, so they'll be going on Ebay/FB/car boot pile and then eventually Freecycle. Also had a clear out of some CDs/DVDs, so will investigate what we'll get for them from MM and co, or ebay for the rarer ones.

More excitingly, the annual mortgage statement came today Despite having a terrible year workwise for me, and redoing the kitchen and decorating three other rooms, we've managed to pay off £8367, which isn't too bad. Most importantly, we're under £100k now, which psychologically seems to make a huge difference. Here's hoping this time next year, I'll be announcing a reduction of even more - it seems doable with a prognosis of more work, no more decorating and hope of a payrise for DH, even after we've saved the necessary money for moving costs etc.

MS things:
* TCB on *ahem* takeaway on Saturday night (DH paid, he didn't feel well and fancied pizza and it was our 15 year anniversary of being together).
* Meal out (see above anniversary excuse) last night cost £2 real money (tip) due to S&S vouchers. Unfortunately it wasn't the greatest meal, but I did get half the money back for my food.
* MS rewards, VB poll, YG survey, SBs (limited to a couple of bucks daily now) done
* S&S and FOTG submitted
* Stuff to sell sorted out but still needs listing

NY resolutions:
* 11k steps yesterday, 8k and 7k respectively the other days (but there was a lot of hard work happening with them!)
* Kitty playtime - yes!
* Must, must must get back to yoga and podcasts

Gratitudes:
* A finished house! It's amazing how happy this has made me!
* The favour from the wedding - a Greek-Cypriot biscuit/cake thing (groom was G-C) - nutty and delicious!
* Mortgage statement joy!

Have a good afternoon all! x

ch4rly2002

Lovely post, lots of great gratitudes there

Congratulations on having a finished house! That is wonderful news, and I can imagine how nice that must feel after all the work you've put into it. Well done on getting under £100k too, what a marvelous achievement / milestone! :beer:

Happy anniversary as well! I agree, a take away and meal out are needed to celebrate... at least you got TCB on the take away and used vouchers for the meal out - lovely celebration and MSE savvy, what's not to like?! x

themadvix

Thanks Charly!

When I say 'finished', there's a lengthy snagging list.... but at least all the rooms are now functioning as rooms!

themadvix

Forgot to add food budget update: £51.68 (including takeaway pizza and restaurant tip). DH is away with work tomorrow until Thursday, so will make some savings then. However, milk bill will almost cover the remaining budget (£75), so I think I'm going to fail - especially as we're having a bargainous lunch out on Thursday with two friends and their babies. £6.45 each, including drink, but DH will be paying for all four of us as he owes one friend for last time and it seems rude not to treat the other (esp as she's on mat leave). Maybe I'll move this to another budget.... hmm....

Also forgot to add that FB item man did turn up - hooray, so £10 in (and currently it's been claimed by the sheepbank, as DH left it lying around for too long!).