The loooooong road to being MF!!

chocoholic_chick

LauraJo - I'm already seeing little ways we're saving money. Normally we'd buy at least one lunch a week whilst at work, so would spend maybe £10 a week on lunches if not more. This week we've spent nothing as I've been organised and made lunches to bring in every day :T

ammonite - I'll have a look at those sites over the weekend, don't seem to have time to do anything through the week! The "healthy eating" kick is going really well though, been making some really lovely recipes this week and although it's a bit time consuming I don't mind as I love cooking and the they've been tasty and good for you! Though I have to say that jointing and skinning a raw chicken last night for dinner was NOT a pleasant experience!! Worked out cheaper than buying chicken breasts though but maybe I'll get the hubby to do it in future!

kandfs mam - Thanks

Mortgage Reduction Novice - In all honesty at the moment we don't have time to do anything on an evening, the earliest we get back from work is 6 and then we're still doing things around the house ( painting the fence last night for example ). We used to use the gym regularly but we haven't been in months so it was basically throwing money away. The price is still the same though so if we get back into it we can sign up again and pay the same price at least.

So this morning I finally got round to cancelling our PPI which means we'll have an extra £36.26 a month from next month and also rang Santander ( the call centres only open until 7 on an evening so by the time I got round to ringing them the last few nights they were shut ). They can't just up my payment over the phone, they have to send out new terms and conditions which I have to sign and return so hopefully I'll get that all sorted and sent back in time so that the increased repayments are actioned next month. Also checked how I can make extra overpayments and I can just do it online, though I have to phone each time to make sure it's allocated apparently??

Checked my mortgage balance when I was on the phone as well and it's currently £99,127 so slightly less than what I thought

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

chocoholic_chick wrote: »

Mortgage Reduction Novice - In all honesty at the moment we don't have time to do anything on an evening, the earliest we get back from work is 6 and then we're still doing things around the house ( painting the fence last night for example ). We used to use the gym regularly but we haven't been in months so it was basically throwing money away. The price is still the same though so if we get back into it we can sign up again and pay the same price at least.

I wish I was home by 6pm! More usually 7pm (having left at 7am)! Anyway, I know what you mean... during our few months without the membership we got loads of house renovation done. We need to save again for the last two rooms so we're time rich again and spending it at the gym!

chocoholic_chick

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice wrote: »

I wish I was home by 6pm! More usually 7pm (having left at 7am)! Anyway, I know what you mean... during our few months without the membership we got loads of house renovation done. We need to save again for the last two rooms so we're time rich again and spending it at the gym!

Lol well 6pm is us actually getting out of work on time which very rarely happens, often its 7pm or later, and I was doing a home learning course as well so would often get in from work then do coursework for 3 hours so really got out of the routine of going to the gym as we just didn't have time. I've finished my course, but hubby wants to start a course to help him better his career so we're going to be in the same situation again really, the gym is quite far from where we live, and we only have 1 car and there's no public transport so it would mean dropping him off at home after work then going to the gym myself which I just know wouldn't happen. We do try to get out and do walks on the weekends when we can at least!

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

chocoholic_chick wrote: »

it would mean dropping him off at home after work then going to the gym myself which I just know wouldn't happen.

I know exactly what you mean... if I don't go to a 7pm class on the way home. I'll never go back out again in the evening.

At the weekends we walk to the gym which adds 5miles and makes us feel very virtuous!

chocoholic_chick

Evening all. It's the weekend :j

Tonight I have called Sky to cancel the sky talk from our package as it wasn't needed so another £5 saved meaning we'll now have an extra £91.26 a month between all the things I've cancelled over the last few days!!

Transferred another £30 into my mortgage overpayments pot today, it came out of our food and petrol pot as I think after taking this out we should still have enough left to cover what we need to spend on groceries and petrol this month so thats at least £80 to put towards the mortgage at the end of the month

Keeping this diary and reading how well others are doing is really good motivation!!

Off to read through my new hairy bikers diet recipe book, I've been dying for it to come! So looking forward to reading through it and sorting out our meal plan for next week

chocoholic_chick

So a few good and bad things to update on:

The good...

Signed up with ciao as per a recommendation and wrote my first review, think that ones going to have to take some getting used to though. Realised I used to be a member of valued opinons years ago but completely forgot about it so logged on to their, updated all my profile so its fully completed and hope that means I'll start getting surveys, especially as I have £4.50 sitting there from when I used to use them. Also signed into my maximiles account ( previously ipoints ) so will keep an eye on that again. Any other survey sites I've missed???

Bagged up £48 of loose change with every intention of taking it to the bank this morning but ALL my local branches are shut on Saturdays so will have to try to pop out on my lunch break through the week to pay it in.

The bad...

After spending very little have spent £57.95 on a raised bed so we can start growing our own veggies next year and £25 on some paving stones, cement and sand as a base for when our shed turns up. Planning on sorting through the rest of our loose change and it should cover the raised bed, but we've been wanting to get this sorted for 3 years now so im really excited its actually getting done

And the ugly...

Spent £36.89 on wine for hubby ( not really going on nights out now so is still cheaper in the long run ) and £29 on an inpromptu lunch out today. Did watch what we spent in the pub though, it wouldn't be uncommon for us to spend £50 in the past but we had our mains and shared a pudding. Hubby had sweated and slaved away in the garden so thought it would be nice to go out for a treat, though I've made it clear we can't afford to do this again this month so will have to use the vouchers for strada and pizza express if we want anything else

Started putting together my meal plan based on the hairy bikers new book, some fab recipes but I'm worried about the cost, especially as alot of the recipes use chicken and I'll only buy free range chicken which isn't cheap!! Will compare on mysupermarket later to see how much it's going to cost and who's cheapest.

Two loads of washing done and dried but the pile is now sitting on the sofa beckoning me to iron it so will get that done in a bit.

Ooh our new credit card came today so hubby can now book his course as we decided to put it on that with it being a 0% for 15 months and pay it off monthly. Hopefully once he's got this qualification it should open more doors for him career wise and enable him to look at higher salary jobs too :T

chocoholic_chick

Morning all, another beautiful sunny morning here and I was woken by the sound of swallows fledging their nests, was amazing to watch them all, they were obviously a little unsure at first as they were all clinging on to the walls on our house, but did mean we could peek out the windows to watch them up close.

Today I've got my parents and sister coming round, parents are just dropping sister off who's staying for lunch with her partner working today. So I've got a rather yummy smelling ginger cake in the oven for when they turn up as inevitabely they'll be staying for a while and want a cuppa and being on my health kick I haven't any biscuits or cakey things in the house. A quick raid of my baking cupboard and I've managed to knock together a sticky ginger cake, just have to refrain from eating any myself. Doing roast chicken for dinner, was what I'd meal planned for me and hubby in any case so it's easy to make it stretch to feed another person.

Today will definitely be a NSD as we won't be going anywhere, definitely need a few after what we've spent over the last few days :eek:

Best go get showered and ready, got a few things to sort out in the house before they turn up. Hope everyones enjoying this weather while it lasts!!

exarmydreamer

Hi, Chocoholic Chick :j

I used to love listening to the little birds, outside my window as a child. Having since moved to the seaside, all I hear in the morning are the gulls. I much prefer the sound of small birds, compared to the loud greedy ones.:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

chocoholic_chick

exarmydreamer - I know what you mean, hubby grew up by the sea so if I ever stayed over at his parents house when he was still living at home we'd be woken up by seagulls, not a pleasant sound at all but he seemed to not even notice it! I do love living in the countryside though, it's so peaceful and calming

Just dropped sister off at home, her poor OH is still at work so I made a dinner up for him and sent it back with her so at least he's got a nice dinner waiting for him when he gets home Does mean there's no real leftovers for us, but I think I'll raid the fridge and see if I can knock together a chicken soup to make use of the carcass and any chicken that might be left.

Bagged up the rest of the change from our jars and along with what I was supposed to pay in yesterday but couldn't we now have £84 to bank. Weighs a tonne though so I think it'll have to be done in a couple of trips. Don't know whether to put part or all of this in my overpayments pot or use it to bump up our money after forking out for garden stuff the last few days. Think I'll transfer it into my overpayments account, I'm not planning on doing the OP until the end of the month so if we are a little short towards the end of the month I could use some of this then.

Still have a terramundi (sp?) pot which we only put £1 or £2 coins in which we've had for years. No idea how much is in there, but it's still not full so don't want to smash it yet, want to wait until it's full but it is tempting. No idea what we'll do with whatever money is in there though

chocoholic_chick

Morning all

So last night hubby stripped the chicken carcass of meat and theres enough to make a curry for tea tonight then I made soup with the carcass and some veg and have a big tub to do hubby and me for lunch for the next few days. Quite pleased how many meals I've managed to make out of one chicken :money:

Got £40 of the change with me today to pay into the bank. We've decided that of the £86 we'll be putting £20 towards our overpayment this month to round it up to a nice £100 and the rest is going towards the garden fund ( we need to buy more fence stain today! ). Spent MORE money last night on a herb kit thing for our kitchen windowsill. It was £14.99 but comes with herb seeds and the website actually says it comes in a pack of 2 so if I end up with 2 even better, though I can't see it happening as the manufacturers website sells them for £14.99 each. There's so many recipes that I need fresh herbs for but only like a tablespoon so the rest tends to go to waste so I figure it'll save me money in the long run.