Going to get rid of my mortgage!

bbh30

Well the car sounded even worse this morning. I drove to work very carefully- but the engine was so noisy I could barely hear the radio. I asked my colleagues the question, "Just how low is your exhaust meant to hang down??!" and promptly got laughed out of the room! They all told me to go to Kwik Fit which was down the road so at lunch time I drove the car to Kwik Fit who told me I needed a new exhaust at the grand old total of £231
As they couldn't do it before 3pm and I had the children to pick up from school, I asked them to leave it. Got home and phoned our local garage, took it in there and they have welded it for me for £30!!!! They have said to me that it is only a temporary solution though and I do need a new exhaust, they have given me a quote for £190 for the exhaust. I rang another local garage who said they can do it for £160 so I will contact one of them once I have been paid and sort that out. The welding should last a month or so depending on how much I use the car. Husband is going to USA next week so I can always use his car for 2 weeks whilst he is away which should delay the cost for a bit also.

The kids had their first private swimming lesson today, I was so pleased with it. I was able to swim some lengths during the lesson also, and they actually had the lesson in the big pool where they can't touch the bottom- so didnt spend the whole lesson walking from one end of the pool to the other.

Watching Martin Lewis show, it's really good, he has actually told me some things I didn't already know! Love the tips about finding cheap hotels as I would never have thought of that!! Although I'm not quite sure who the woman is that works with him. Seeing as we aren't going on a summer holiday this year, Im off to check out some vouchers for free days out! Thanks Martin!

Spendless

Eeek to the £100k rise in the mortgage. That's around what it was cost me here to move to a 4 bed detached new-build within school's catchment area and that's in a deprived town in the North. It even seems so much more expensive to me too as we bought before house prices became silly and my outstanding mortgage is less than £50K now. It's the reason we are staying put.:D

Glad you found a cheaper alternative to kwik_Fit. I read the first paragraph thinking please don't tell me you ended up paying their prices.

My husband is also away in the U.S next week and I intend using his car so I don't have to fill mine. . He flies today to Orlando. My sister and her family are also holidaying there at same time. I've told her if she catches hubby on the tea-cups I want a pic cos he's told me he's working. :rotfl:

bbh30

Been an expensive weekend in these parts! I have kind of lived life a bit on the edge and spent loads of money! (well for me, anyway!!)

On saturday, I decided to use the national trust free voucher to go to a large country house and estate place, we took a picnic but stopped at Sainsburys to buy the picnic (£10.70). Had a lovely day out with the kids but on the way home we stopped at a new big Home Bargains which I had never been to before. Oh, the opportunities!! I stocked up on kids birthday presents (for when my kids get invited to parties), cards, some toiletries, some tin of butter beans and chickpeas, in total I spent £18.27. Argh. By this point, it was getting late, and we were really near to Costco, so I took the kids there to get a hog dog for their dinner (£3.85). So that's Saturday's spending, phew. Nearly bought me out in a hot sweat that lot, but I think I have forgotten how much fun it is going shopping and being spontaneous sometimes!

So today, sunday, the boy child had a birthday party to go to, so we cycled there (saved money on petrol!), and whilst he was there I took the girl child to the park next door. Then I got her and I some lunch in the cafe whilst he was at the party (£6.30) and I sat and marked exam papers whilst she added up the scores for me!

Once we had picked up the boy child, I saw there was a local miniature steam railway running, so said the kids could have a go on it. Cost of £1 per ride but you could get 6 rides for £5. I had only £4.86 in my purse so begged the ticket lady to let us have 6 tickets for £4.86 and she said yes!! Hooray!! So the boy, the girl and I had 2 rides each, they enjoyed that. Then it was on our bikes to cycle home.

So Ive spent more money this weekend on "rubbish" than I have done in a long time, but I enjoyed it. Im now baking bread for the week ahead and Ive hardly got any yeast left so Ive had to make it with only half the quantity of yeast I usually use- so it's taking double the amount of time.

Back on the non spending wagon this week. I will aim to do the food shopping on wednesday, my day off, Im sure we have enough food to last until wed. I did buy a load of fresh tomatoes and grapes etc for our picnic but that's all been eaten now. Weve got a few apples and pears and thats about it on the fruit front. The girl child is refusing to eat apples as she has a wobbly tooth!!

bbh30

The husband got back from his trip to Holland this evening.. and goes off tomorrow morning to the USA for 2 weeks. So he suggested we all went out to dinner as we have hardly seen each other recently. We went to our local fish restaurant which was nice, me and him had the set menu and the kids had a kids menu- and instead of ordering drinks I asked for a big jug of tap water! The kids did moan a bit about drinking water in a restaurant but I reckon drinks would have come to another £10 and water was fine. Meant we enjoyed the food more!
The total bill came to £32 which wasn't too bad, I know we could have gone to a Hungry Horse type place for cheaper but I do like nice food and I think I would have been disappointed with spending that amount of money on a plate of a greasy burger and chips. We did eat early so got an early bird discount. I had a delicious lemon megrim sole which was served whole- including the head- I am not keen on seeing the eyes on my plate!

Thistlewhistle

Did they follow your fork around the plate?:rotfl:

Spendless

That sounds good. There's a new fish and chip restaurant opened not far from where I live. I've been once for my nan's birthday. Cod/haddock and chips are £9, peas and bread and butter aren't included and cost another £1 each! I've also started asking for water with meals, I find it helps with the bill a lot!

bbh30

I was just logging on to report I had had a no spend day when I realised that I hadn't! I spent £1 this morning on my way to work for some ingredients but lost the receipt so can't claim it. At least it was only £1!
The girl child started Brownies tonight, she seemed to really enjoy it, she rated it 9 out 10 for fun so that sounds promising!
Tomorrow is my day off from work, I dont really have any plans, I will go to the gym at some point, but other than that I need to do the food shopping but I am worrying about spending money. Saying that I have no idea what Im even going to give the kids for packed lunches tomorrow as we have hardly any food! Maybe Ill venture to ASDA tomorrow. We need fresh fruit, veg, flour, yeast and veggies. The house needs a good sort, de clutter and clean so there will be plenty for me to be getting on with. Maybe I can arrange a trip to the tip to dump some stuff also. If I do it when the kids are at school they won't even be able to moan about the fact that I'm getting rid of stuff they havnt touched for years but suddenly want to keep.

bbh30

I have been running around like a headless chicken today, Ive just sat down for the evening and its gone 9pm! Ive still got loads to do.
I feel like I have been spending money left, right and centre recently. Did a food shop in ASDA on Wed, that was £77, just for me and the kids!! I really do save money going to LIDL and ALDI so I'm going to avoid going to the "big 4" apart from branded goods as I just cant believe how much I spend there!
I have paid to have a gas safety certifcate which is needed before exchange of contracts on our new house, I also need an electric safety certificate but havnt yet found an electrician. Problem is with the husband away, I am struggling to find a time for a sparky to come and do this, apparently it takes about 3 hours and I work for a chunk in the middle of the day, doing school runs either end of the day, and Im not keen on leaving a key with someone I dont know. The gas was really easy, took about 10 mins!
Ive been quite thrifty this week with my sewing machine and made the boy child some school shorts with his old pairs of school trousers that are too short for him. They look pretty good, I have to say, you would never know they were his old trousers! It was so easy to do, I dont think Ill ever pay for a pair of school uniform shorts for him again!

Ive swapped my current account to the nationwide one which pays 5% interest, as we are now focusing on saving to 10k we need for stamp duty when we move house. Hopefully that will help to boost the savings a bit.

bbh30

We have had a fairly quiet day at home today. The next door neighbour kid has spent all day playing with my 2 and they have kept each other entertained pretty much all day. I took them all out to McDonalds for lunch (not very MSE) and we also popped to LIDL for some ice cream and milk top up.

Ive received an enormous package from the solicitors about the new house-about 2 inches thick worth of paperwork. Ive had a quick flick through it but I need to sit down and read it all properly. Wish the husband was here to help me decipher some of it!

Tomorrow I will take the kids out swimming early in the morning and then one of my oldest school friends is coming to visit. Looking forward to seeing her. Ive plenty of food we can have for lunch, she will be happy to have something out of the freezer!!

bbh30

I am not happy with the husband! Just got off the phone to him (he is in USA), and whilst we have had a really frugal no spend day, he has been out shopping! He has bought himself a pair of trainers (grrr he literally has about 10 pairs of trainers already) and new shirts (again, he has a wardrobe full of shirts). In total, he spent about £100. Im really not happy with him, he does run alot but he seriously has sooo many pairs of trainers already, I do not know why he wants another pair. I have one cupboard which is just full of his sports shoes, he has running shoes, racing shoes, off road shoes, road shoes, trainers without laces, then he has all the bike shoes- shoes that clip on to the bike, shoes for his road bike, shoes for his off road bike, you name it, he has it, So I am seriously unhappy about him buying even more shoes.

I took the kids swimming this morning and then my lovely friend came over. We spent the day chatting away catching up on the gossip. I cooked us all some rice with veggies and chicken for lunch and she was really happy with that.

Ive got a long day at work tomorrow as I have a meeting after school, the kids are going to after school club, this week alone I am paying £50 in after school and before school club fees. Grrr again.