Make hay whilst the sun shines.

MoneyMission

Hey Mally - summer is definitely well and truly over isn't it?

Not much to report today. Dinner was freezer surprise (mine was yummy curry, the kids got a mild chilli and OH got spicy chilli beans!). Perhaps I should label the pots in future and take the guess work out of it. Or, would that spoil the fun??

MM
x

PS. Confession: I did put the heating on but only for an hour. Never done it so early in the year before Not sure it was essential but I was tired and cold and no-one else in the house complained!

MoneyMission

Annnnnd there goes another month. Where does time go? Oh. I know: work, kids clubs, homework, cooking, cleaning, gardening, work, kids clubs, homework etc etc etc. You get the picture.

I am amazed a how much change a few more hours work a week can make. I used to think I was busy but this is taking some getting used to. Extra pennies are worth it though.

Mr MM has been at new job just over a month now. He's liking it and a bonus is that we estimated the petrol costs and it hasn't worked out at quite that amount so more pennies to the replenishment of savings.

Sold a few bits on Bay of E. Has paid for our winter delivery of logs and the majority of an annual ticket to Portsmouth Historic Dockyards so we'll have some fairly cheap days out for a year (just petrol and food to factor in). So cash neutral on that front.

One more payday to go until savings pots are back to where they were. Need to choose after that if we spend some money getting some stuff fixed in the house (garage doors , shed roof , boiler service - all VERY dull), or to put it off so that I can get a little bit off the mortgage. It might all be decided on the roll of a dice as my mental capacity has nose dived with the increase in my hours!

Happy Wednesday everyone.

MM
xxxx

MoneyMission

£2.24 Tilly Tidied.

Felt the need to send a £1 OP off to the mortgage! A gesture to let the mortgage know I haven't forgotten about it!

Brrr chilly here. No heating on though. Will do hardcore housework to keep warm. And eat homemade spicy lentil soup. :money:

MoneyMission

So. In car today on way to out-laws for lunch - 3 hour round trip. Kids are pretty good at chatting to themselves for a while so Mr MM and I have a bit of a chat. Managed to get ourselves a new challenge:

With our savings pot nearly replenished we are nearly able to start OP'ing on the mortgage again. With our OP's from Jan set to £500 per month we should clear £6k off the total in 2014. I thought (and then badgered OH into it ) that we could go slightly more hardcore and make it up to £8k off. This would bring us in under £290k by next Christmas!

So there we have it. £2k extra to find next year. Or, £166.66 per month to find. Need to work out quite how we're going to achieve that but I do like a target!

MM
xxxx

MoneyMission

Getting refunded £67.00 for council arts tutor chap being so useless at turning up for sons guitar lessons at school.

Stung for £132.50 for daughters residential trip next March.

Ho hum.

MoneyMission

forgot to say I'd made a huge batch of butternut squash soup with barley in. Lunch for the next three days for under £1.60 in total. Also, yesterdays left over lamb casserole was re-presented for tonights tea as a pie. I just shoved some mash (from previous left over and frozen bits) on top and heated it through. Served with the remains of the veg drawer. Was actually quite nice.

Log burner did a great turn yesterday. Didn't put the heating on and managed to position the clothes airers so they benefitted from the warmth but didn't stop the heat getting to the rest of the house.

JellyButt cat doing her fair share already tonight. Firmly planted on my lap and doesn't look like she's about to move anytime soon. Thats me nice and toasty - the rest of the family are under blankets!

MM
x

mouche

MoneyMission wrote: »

Opened the First Direct Regular Savers account with the maximum £300.00 per month going in there. This will pay off the 0% credit card that I'm using for groceries at the moment (so long as I stick to budget!).

Hi MM I've just been reading your diary from the beginning so apologise for quoting a very old post - but just wanted to thank you. I have read of stoozing before but never bothered to work out what it was - after all we have no debt so why bother with 0% credit cards. Your statement above has shown me the light! It is currently not a saver for me because I get 5% cashback on all grocery spends via my incahoot membership. And I won't get 5% interest on a regular saver after tax. BUT my membership runs out in 3 weeks and work has not yet said anything about offering us the ultra cheap membership fee they gave us last year. So if I don't sign up again, I will definitely get myself a 0% CC and a regular saver. Thank you MM, you are a genius!

MoneyMission

Ta Mouche. I only nicked the idea off someone else so can't take the credit for it. It does work though.

After half term I feel a little more in control of the extra work hours. At the risk of sounding like a total fruitcake the hardest thing was having to change the day on which I do my food shopping.:rotfl:Brain just didn't compute for ages!

On payday this month we are getting over £1100 spare money. :T Am going to OP £100 and stash the £1000 until we decide which boring jobs to tackle in the house. I'm of the opinion that nothing urgent needs doing (make do and mend) but OH is not easily persuaded. However, I know where the money is and he doesn't so I guess thats decision made!

Will be applying for a new fixed rate repayment mortgage in the next couple of weeks. Have done a credit check (result = excellent!) and comply with all the criteria. Just want to wait until OH's third payday at new job as a belt and braces tactic. It'll be the first repayment mortgage since having the littlies and me taking time out of work to be a SAHM. Now that I'm back working more we can afford it again and it makes sense. Still aim to OP on the repayment though.

Won a free Cadburys Crispello bar - will pick it up tomorrow. Never had one before - will save for Friday night treat. Doesn't take much to please me does it??!!! :rotfl:

MoneyMission

Gardening done. General tidy up, final (hopefully) grass cut of the year, more windfall apples picked up and into the kitchen for processing.

General housework done. Lots of washes through and all hung on airers drying.

Bread rolls made.

Log fire on (clothes airers near them so washing gets dry).

Tip run done with green waste.

Stopped in at lovely food shop on way home and purchased small Father Christmas and reindeer cake topper for the homemade Christmas cake. Its reusable so can enter into the MM family traditions. :D

MM

MoneyMission

massive 13p Tilly Tidy today

Left over gammon recycled into leek and gammon pie tonight with mash and veg. HM jam tarts for pud made with leftover pastry from the pie.

Pink MM found 20p roadkill today. Bless her - she excited.

That's it for today.