The Crumpet family's journey to Mortgage Freedom:-)

Crumpets

I managed to sell one more item on eBay this week so a few more £ to the pot, the rest of the things can wait until the new year now...this time I mean it:)

Today dh and I have managed to work our way through an enormous list of jobs so it's been a very productive day:T some things have been put in the loft and some have been demoted to the garage so the house is feeling a bit more spacious.:) This morning we went to look at cookers and kitchen appliances which are going to cost us a fortune:eek: we're going to buy them on our clubcard cc so that we get the points and then pay it off straight away. We did look at cash back cards but there's not many deals around.

I still have a few presents to buy which I'm hoping to get tomorrow. Hopefully from boots so I can get lots of points and use the 3 for 2 promotion. I still have lots of wrapping up to do, I was hoping to have it done by now:mad:

Tonight dd1 and I are having an unexpected night out to watch the nutcracker, our kind neighbours have given us the tickets as they can't go due to illness:( we went last year too and it's such a lovely ballet to watch. We will be having an icecream in the interval but shouldn't spend more than £10

Dinner time now, just baked potatoes tonight, nice and easy and warming.

Crumpets x

littlegreenpeas

Well Done on the ebay, I love ebay for buying and selling and if you haven't realised I have a shopping addiction. I am hoping that I can put another £300 quid in the OP Pot, this month. I haven't started a diary as I have only just started lurking recently but maybe by the end of next week, I will kick myself to do it. When you find a cooker you want you can try using pricerunner.co.uk to compare the prices and then try and get the shops to lower the price or buy it thought topcashback.
Happy Friday
LGP

Crumpets

Thanks for the pricerunner tip LGP, I'd forgotten all about that website:beer:

I've had another productive day today. I managed to buy 2 more Christmas presents and a birthday present for my Sil. I also brought a Christmas present for my Ds for next year! It was part of boots 3for2 so I thought I might as well get something useful:D so all I need to get now is a present for my awkward mil and some garden centre vouchers for my parents.:T tonight I'm going to get a crack on with the wrapping up, I really want to get it done now!!

I took the little ones to get their hair cut this afternoon:eek: the only way Ds would sit still was to hold the wall clock in the hairdressers :rotfl: it cost £18.40 though for the 2 of them which I thought that was quite expensive.

Dd2 is nearly 4 and is still in her 2nd stage car seat as she's such a titch so I took her to halfords today to see what car seat she can go into next. She can go into the next stage seat now which luckily I had saved from dd1,it just needed a clean but it looks as good as new now. As I didn't need to buy a new one I'm going to transfer £40 to the op pot (the cost of the one I was going to buy):T

I've managed to sort my teacher gifts out today, my friend runs a traditional sweet shop so she's going to do me a jar of retro sweeties for £3 each,I need six of them so £18 spent, not bad for 6 gifts really:)

Not a lot planned for tomorrow yet, the dd's have a Christmas party in the afternoon, it cost £5 a ticket so hopefully won't need tuck shop money on top of that.

Time for mulled wine and Christmas wrapping now :santa2::rudolf::xmassmile:xmastree:

Crumpets x

littlegreenpeas

Hello Crumpets, How about trying ebay for your national gardening vouchers, just an idea but in the past people have sold them on there a bit cheaper than normal.


I don't know if you have an iphone but have a go at an app called red laser. Its a good shopping app where you just scan the barcode and it gives you the cheapest price where you can buy the item.


LGP x

Crumpets

Thanks again for the tips lgp! I had a look on eBay but not much about at the moment for garden centre vouchers, I'll definitely bear that in mind for any other vouchers I buy in the future.

It's been a very busy weekend once again, yesterday I did a couple of hours volunteering followed by taking the girls to the village Christmas party where much fun was had, I think dd1 might be getting a bit old for it all now though. I also brought some Christmas goodies to send abroad, although I think I've missed the postage deadline, it will get there eventually though!

Today dd2 went to a birthday party and dd1 had her TKD grading, dh said she did really well so fingers crossed she has passed. Then this afternoon we took the children to visit Father Christmas at the local NT property, it was a bit of a miserable day but the kids loved being out in the fresh air. FC was £3 per child which is reasonable and they were fairly happy with the gifts they received. We then had to go to the cafe for a cuppa and a scone so it wasn't a LSD but not spent a fortune either.

Hoping for a very low spend week this week as there's not much planned, I have the teacher gifts ready to go:T and I'm looking forward to Friday when school finishes

Crumpets x

Crumpets

Hello, I didn't manage a NSD today as I had to buy a programme at dd1s nativity, it cost me a whole 50p:D apart from nipping out to watch the nativity I've stayed home and got quite a lot done on dd1s quilt as mil had the little ones for a few hours:T it won't be done for Christmas but I really hope to get it done for her birthday in Jan.

I forgot to mention yesterday that we've ordered our Christmas turkey, we get it from a local farm shop and it's always delicious, this year we're going for a stuffed crown. We won't know the price until we pick it up on Christmas eve but I hope it won't be too much! I've got sprouts growing in the garden so we're alright on that front, much to dh's disgust:rotfl:

I have a money off voucher for tesco that expires on wednesday so I need to do a strategic shop to try and get the most for my money. I might do an online shop to see what I can get before I go.

The only thing dd2 has asked for for Christmas is a pink unicorn so tomorrow I'm off on a hunt to find a very small one for her stocking! I'm going to a local garden centre that seems to sell everything tomorrow so I'm hoping to get one there. I can't not get her the one thing she's asked for:o I'm also meeting a friend for coffee so it won't be a NSD either and I will not be tempted by any of the lovely Christmas displays

Just waiting for dh to get home so we can have dinner- lasagne tonight, I'm trying to work through the cupboards to use up all the odd bits and pieces before we have to empty everything out of the kitchen, we could have some interesting meals over the next few weeks:eek:

Crumpets x

Crumpets

I managed to avoid temptation in the garden centre yesterday and only brought coffe and a mince pie, they also didn't sell any unicorns! I've just ordered a small playmobil unicorn set from amazon so I just hope it gets delivered in time. It's added a further £15 to the Christmas spends though:eek: I'm sure she wouldn't have been disappointed if we hadn't got her one but I felt bad:cool:

I also did my strategic shop in tesco and got £33 of shopping for £17, including a big gammon joint for Christmas:T I was really pleased with what I got for my money. I'm hoping not to have to spend much more on groceries this week.

This morning the little ones have had their pre school Christmas party at the wacky warehouse so they're all tired out now, they also got fed and got a little present from Father Christmas. Dd1 also has FC coming to school today as well as having their Christmas lunch, it was so nice not to make packed lunches this morning:) I'm doing well on the spends so far this week, I have nothing planned for the rest of the week so I'm hoping to have some left for the op pot at the end of the week.:T

Tonight I'm going out for a 'pot luck' supper so I need to pop to m&s and get something to take and a bottle of wine too, it should be a good night, can't drink too much as still have to get up as normal tomorrow:cool:

I've had a message from an eBay buyer today saying they haven't received their item:mad: it was posted out on 10/12 and I have my proof of postage so not sure what to do. Hopefully it will turn up over the next couple of days, I've never had a missing item before:(

Crumpets x

Pearla*Merle

Crumpets, did you send it first or second class? First class has been taking at least a few days more than normal round here, second waaay more, so it might just be Christmas slowness? Hope it turns up, tell them to give it a bit more time and if it's not turned up after the weekend then refund them? (& claim the loss via Royal Mail). What a pain

Loving the diary, by the way. Well done on your Tesco shop, that's some good going!

Crumpets

Hi pearla*merle, thanks for the advice, it was sent by first class. I haven't heard anything else from the buyer so I'm hoping it's turned up. Fingers crossed!

Today's been a bit spendy, I brought the last of my Christmas presents and it's all wrapped and under the tree:T I also sent a parcel to the states which cost £20.70:eek: apparently it's a lot cheaper to post from here than over there though. I'm definitely avoiding the shops as much as possible now, I'll just need to pop to Aldi to get a few groceries next week, but other than that we're all good to go:D

I can't believe it's Christmas in less than a week, it's come round so quickly, thank goodness I've been organised with buying presents this year otherwise I'd be panicking now!

Last day of school tomorrow thank goodness, no more packed lunches for two and a bit weeks:D I will need to start planning and getting organised for our trip to York as that's only a few weeks away, not sure what there is to do there in the day, but will be using cc vouchers for our evening meals. I'm really looking forward to the break away, I just hope the weather is kind to us.

Only a couple of weeks left of this year so I've set our op target for 2014. I want to op £6000 next year including our regular overpayments, this is a bit less than this year but we're having quite a bit done on the house next year so funds need to be diverted to that, any extra we get though will go to the mortgage. I'm quite looking forward to the start of a new challenge:j.

Crumpets x

Crumpets

Just a quick update today as my iPad is about to zonk out.

It's been a NSD today:T, dd1 finished school at lunch time and we made Christmas biscuits this afternoon which resulted in lots of arguments from the dds:eek: dh has also finished for Christmas now unless anything important comes up:T it will be nice to have some adult company at home for a while.

Tomorrow we're off to my parents for lunch and I'm taking an apple crumble for pudding out of the freezer, I'm slowly working through the contents of the freezer and cupboards, I really don't want to have boxes of random stuff getting in the way when we're having the kitchen done.

Friday night film for the night is Home Alone, very Christmassy and funny:rotfl:

Crumpets x