SmlSave's extremely small steps to reducing the mortgage

SmlSave

DD's temperature has come down :T:T:T

I'm so relieved :

Bags are mostly packed apart from fridge/freezer bits and I've even got sandwiches ready for the car journey tomorrow :A feeling pretty pleased with myself

SmlSave

Back from a lovely week away and we're all suffering from holiday blues :cool: My ninth load of washing is on and DH had taken the monsters to church so I can clean the house in peace.

I find myself getting more and more tempted to hire a cleaner just to clean all the glass in the house! Every door downstairs has sticky fingers over them and two more neighbours are doing building work so the outsides are grimy too. Must think of saving and just clean them :A or order DH to.

Told DH we have to be careful this month as our buffer has disappeared. The credit card with the new washing machine, tv licence, life assurance and swimming lessons has been paid. :eek: It's far too easy to forgot how much the statement will be. DH just replied that he'll order the coffee on his cc to pay off next month so I feel he misses the point. :wall:

I haven't costed up all the holiday extras yet but I think we spent:
£80 on groceries we took. Must remember bird seed and fish food next time. We also had deer come close to the cabin :T
£50 on pottery painting (won't be doing that again)
£35 on the spa
£80 on food while there
£13 on mini bowling which DS thought was amazing. He's growing up so much

SmlSave

Yesterday I committed chemical warfare on the bathroom leaving it sparkling and the whole house was hovered and tidy :T I also cleaned 6 window panes :beer:

It lasted almost 24 hrs :mad::rotfl::mad:

The kitchen is trashed as I made soft tortillas for the first time (yummy) lentil burgers, lots of salad and apple pie.

I almost forgot that I'm working overtime for the next two weeks! That'll be £200 to hopefully get the accounts looking healthy again.

I'm cream crackered

CathT

Good to hear you had a great cp break. We go back this year for winter wonderland. Those spends aren't too bad. I think we will be more organised with freezer ready meals this time but have no doubt dd will want to do a few of the more expensive activities so will have to strike the balance.

I've been so tempted by a cleaner too and it was meant to be my reward once nursery fees reduced, but I still can't justify the cost!

selloptape

I hear you both on the cleaner... Maybe I will treat myself when the mortgage is paid off :rotfl:

SmlSave

Ohh, winter wonderland sounds great CathT, I'd love to do it one year. We are back to Longleat in October with the in-laws (wish me luck).

A cleaner, a gardener, personal stylist ...... all things that would be nice to have, one day, when the mortgage is history

It's beautifully sunny today and as such very hard to motivate myself to do my actual work. I just want to nap and eat ice-cream.

I'm going to horrify the family by not getting a grocery order this week, just bread :eek:

how will we all survive? :rotfl:

SmlSave

Just noticed our mortgage owing now is only £125,070 - that almost the price of our first house!

Perhaps I haven't mentioned that I was getting fed up of my £350 savings getting gobbled up by DIY, holidays etc (I totally moaned about it, I know ) so I'm now paying the £350 straight to the mortgage as an overpayment.

To protect Dad's money I've created a Trust Deed so that should the house be sold/we divorce he gets his money before we get any equity. All free of course, there are benefits of being a legal secretary

SmlSave

So I got lucky on the way home yesterday and picked up a bag full of reduced bread including wheat/egg/dairy free wraps that were perfect for today and my guests. DD's friend is just a little younger and they played so well

The house is fairly tidy and I've cleaned more windows, slowly, slowly I will get there.:T

Our water bill has gone up £10 a month as has our council tax. Not really surprising as we now fill a small swimming pool several times in the summer and the dishwasher and washing machine practically every day!

I've halved the amount of washing powder and the temp down to 30 to make myself feel better as the savings are negligible. :rotfl:

CathT

I keep looking at the windows and think 'maybe next weekend!'

Good luck with food shop challenge, it's amazing how little you can spend when you are being focused. We are down to under £200 a month for 4 of us. We eat much less meat and don't waste anything!

SmlSave

CathT wrote: »

We are down to under £200 a month for 4 of us. We eat much less meat and don't waste anything!

That's amazing Cath T, well done :T can I ask what you do for snacks/on the go food? I'm sure if I could get the snack food under control the savings would not be small as swimming Saturday morning means leaving the house at 7:30 and we're all ready for brunch at 10! (This is after having breakfast at 6)

In fact, I'm pretty sure if I could stop eating two breakfasts my jeans would thank me :rotfl:

I had big plans today such as cleaning (such glamour) household catchup, some gardening and a bit of diy being our window sil which needs a plaster and paint. _pale_ however I got to spend most of today in hospital _pale_ there's nothing quite like hearing your dad's brain is bleeding to change your plans!

I've had so much coffee today that I'm wired :coffee: so I've still managed to hover, do clothes washing, cook dinner and wash more panes of glass.

I actually spent a couple of hours in a&e last night, getting home after midnight. He'd been in since 5pm but I only found out after 10pm due to not 'wanting us to worry', poor signal and me not checking my phone :cool:

He's stable, waiting for more scan results and should be home tomorrow night. He was really annoyed at missing the 5 mile race today :rotfl: but has said he won't play rugby again - I think this has shook him up to say that!

A hot toddy and an early night for me