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

Luckyinlife

Great work you have come so far since 2011 wow 40k 100k isnt far away at all

what date are you shooting for ?

Crumpets

Hi luckyinlife, yes we have come along way, it's easy to forget that so thanks for the reminder we haven't really got a date that we're aiming for, I did have in mind for my 40th but that seems a little unrealistic now I think I'd be happy if we have paid it off by the time our youngest finishes first school. Then we can decided if we want to stay where we are or move on

Yesterday we went to a campervan show, we got the tickets on groupon a while ago and it was brilliant :T we decided to take £200 out of the camper van fund with us incase we saw any bargains and we came back with about £80. We brought essential items such as new hoodies for us all, hooters for the kids bikes, stickers for the van and the dog a neckerchief :rotfl: There were lots of kids activities, bouncy castles, fair ground rides and face painting that were all free!! I've never known that at any festival/show before :T We took a picnic (as usual ) and a flask of coffee so didn't spend anything on food or drink all day

Today should be a LSD, dh is going to put the final two windows in the van and needs to pop to B&Q to get a few things. I also want to finish painting the window frame I started last week so I can move onto the next one. Every job we do seems to take such a long time to complete

Speaking of jobs, here is my list of all the things that need finishing around the house

• Sand and paint other front window
• Paint skirting board in lounge and kitchen
• Dh to fit floor trim around the fire place
• Replace bodged door threshold
• Kitchen door!
• Stain new garden gate
• Fix trellis to gate to make it doggy proof

We actually have most of the things needed for these jobs so they won't cost us much apart from time. I'd like to get these jobs done ASAP especially as I'll be back studying in September :eek:

Crumpets

Crumpets wrote: »

• Sand and paint other front window
• Paint masonry work around windows
• Paint skirting board in lounge and kitchen
• Dh to fit floor trim around the fire place
• Replace bodged door threshold
• Kitchen door!
• [STRIKE]Stain new garden gate[/STRIKE] :T
• Fix trellis to gate to make it doggy proof

I've managed to get one job ticked off the list, the next one will be sanding and painting the other front window, if I ever get time! This week is looking very busy, yesterday I arranged to meet a friend, as it was raining we took the children bowling. £6.70 each for a game and meal plus £1.80 for a coffee for me. Quite a spendy start to the week but it was something different and they enjoyed it. Today it was our weekly NT day out, I spent £2 on a trail for the children to do which they weren't interested in at all, oh well we can do it next time we go when there's not so many of us there. Tomorrow I'm meeting another friend at a nearby country park, I'm hoping for another LSD/NSD :T

We're going camping on Friday and I'm really hoping to not go shopping until Thursday when I get all the supplies for the weekend. We've completely run out of some things and I'm trying to eek out what we have until then. I had a chick pea and veg curry out of the freezer for dinner tonight, left overs for dh and beans on toast for the kids. I need yet another picnic tomorrow, it could be a bit sparse I'm getting a bit fed up of picnics now tbh but there's not much choice really.

Dh and I are going to go through last months finances tonight :eek: and possibly order some more stuff for the van

Crumpets

I'm back from a few brilliant days camping :T we were really lucky with the weather and we had a fantastic time, i'm quite tired now and I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight money wise it was a pretty low spend weekend, we spent £20 on canoe hire and wood for the fire and a few pounds on marshmallows and ice and that was it. The canoeing was the only paid activity we did, and we shared the cost of that with my sil & bil. The rest of the time the children were doing free things like playing in the river or riding their bikes:T We went with family so we took all the food and drink between us which worked out very well indeed :T I did spend another £20 in a fantastic charity shop I found in a lovely Oxfordshire town I got a jump suit, a pair of shorts and two tops plus some books and games for the children :T I was most pleased with my haul

I have soo many jobs to do now I'm home though, we had to leave the house in a state on Friday as we'd been without water for 24 hours since Thursday lunch time :mad: There is laundry and washing up and cleaning all to do still. The children and I also have dentist appointments in the morning, fingers crossed all is ok.

I'm off to Pilates tonight which is £8, I don't really feel like it but I'm sure I'll be fine when Im there :A

Crumpets

Morning, I am getting that feeling of losing control, does anyone else get that? I think it's because I'm surrounded by mess and I'm not being as organised with things as I would like. There are so many things on the to do list that it's all getting a bit over whelming. I think I'm going to break it down in to smaller targets.

Today I will:

• Two loads of washing done and line dried
• Put the final camping things away in the garage
• Clear clutter in conservatory
• Vac and mop conservatory/kitchen floor

Yesterday I had to take the children to the dentist (all good:T) and when it was time to go I discovered that dh had gone to work with one of the car seats :mad: This has happened quite a few times before, and usually when we're rushing to get to appointments. So I have ordered two new ones from @sda that were £20 each, half price. I went through TCB with free collection from store :money: these ones can live in the camper when it's done so we haven't got to faff around with changing car seats over.:T so that was an unexpected spend but it will save me a lot of stress and angst

Today I am having my hair cut and coloured (I've gone back to hi lights in a frivolous moment of madness :cool:) so that will be around £80 but it is budgeted for. We also need to go shopping quite desperately as the cupboards are bare, not good with 3 constantly hungry children :eek:

It's getting to that stage in the school holidays where I feel like I'm running out of time to fit everything in that I wanted to do. Some things will have to wait until October half term. We have a few more big trips planned. Next week we are going to visit the Sealife centre and we are going to a music festival. We also have free entry to a nearby safari park, that we won on a school raffle. I'd like to use it up this summer as you get a free return visit ticket that we can use at half term:)

Time for some breakfast now and to get the washing on the line

Crumpets

We're having a much needed morning in the house today, I've caught up with my ironing and put all of the school uniform whites in to soak, I have to keep stirring them with a wooden spoon. I feel like an old washer woman :rotfl: Anything that doesn't come up very well will be replaced but I'm hopeful that everything will be ok (fingers crossed) dd2 has so much uniform it's ridiculous. She is the smallest in her year so I've been passed on loads of stuff from friends whose daughters have outgrown stuff. I'm very grateful indeed, the only thing she needs are shoes, pumps and tights. I'm going to pop to Sainsys this afternoon to get some of these in their 25% off sale :T I must remember that Ds doesn't need ANYTHING

I've just done my meal plan and shopping list so the kids and I are going to Ald! next. Then we're off to a friends for a play and she has very kindly offered to do the children's dinner so it will just be dh and I to sort out after I've been to circuits. I might do a veg curry as I have a squash that needs using up:)

Well I need to add a new rug on to the shopping list as Ds has just spilt a tin of primer on it that hadn't been put away :mad: it was our fault for not putting it away properly. We needed a new one anyway :cool:

Crumpets

Well I'm pleased to say that the school whites have come up really well after their soak and wash :T all I need to do now is iron them and put them away :T I got DD2 her school shoes today which were £34 so I feel like we're slowly getting organised now. I didn't make it to Sainsys yesterday so I still have some things still to get. I might just get it from Asd@ or Mr T instead though as they're closer.

Other than the shoes though it's been a NSD, I met a friend for a picnic at the park (provided by said friend :T) and then they came back to our house for a play. The children all played really nicely so it was very pleasant

We have also made our garden gate doggy proof by adding trellis to the bottom of it so thats another job ticked off the list :T I'm not sure what the weekend holds yet but I dare say work on the van and/or house will be done :cool:

• Sand and paint other front window
• Paint masonry work around windows
• Paint skirting board in lounge and kitchen
• Dh to fit floor trim around the fire place
• Replace bodged door threshold
• Kitchen door!
• [STRIKE]Stain new garden gate[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Fix trellis to gate to make it doggy proo[/STRIKE]

Dh and I have decided to treat ourselves to a takeaway tonight as we haven't been out for ages so we have a fair bit of money in our date night fund :T:D a bottle of wine and a movie will make for a lovely date night at home instead

Crumpets

What a mixed weekend it's been! Scorching yesterday and torrential rain today. We managed to make the most of the sun yesterday, we took the kids to a lovely play park and spent £2 on parking, £4 on sweets for the kids and dh, and £3.99 on a couple of little presents for dd2 for Christmas. She keeps asking to do sewing so I'm going to put together a little sewing basket for her for Christmas :T when we came home dh mowed the lawn and I cleaned out the guinea pigs resulting in two of them escaping and spending the next 24 hours living in the hedge :eek::mad: luckily they are all home safe and sound after their adventure.

Today has been a fairly productive day in the house, I've sorted some more toys out for the car boot and listed a lovely toy on ebay, I hope it sells reasonably well. It's one of those that looks nice but rarely gets played with I have also started sanding the other front window ready for painting. It's such a tedious job but it will be worth it when it's done. The next house project we will be saving up for are new upstairs windows, they are so old and grotty and must be letting so much heat out the thing is I want wooden ones at the front to keep in with the character of the house and UPVC at the back (where no one can see :rotfl:) I have no idea how much we'll need to save to get them done.

We also finally made it to Sainsys to take advantage of their 25% off clothing. I got dd2 her pumps and tights and a few stationary bits and pieces. Unfortunately they didn't have anything in DD1s size so I shall have to look else where for those :mad: I discovered that Ds's backpack had gone mouldy after being left out in the rain :eek: £6.99 later he has a nice new one dd2 was desperate to have a new bag too but she didn't need one so I held firm and said no! I felt mean at the time but she soon got over it :T I also got two lovely dressing up outfits as Christmas presents, spiderman for Ds and super girl for dd2, I was really chuffed to get these with the 25% off. I feel like I'm getting more organised now

Crumpets

Morning,

The weather yesterday was horrendous! We did manage to make it out to the library but that was it. I hope it improves as its a shame for the end of the summer holidays to be spent in the house it was almost a NSD yesterday but I had to throw a whole chicken out that had gone off :mad: I had to buy something else for dinner so I brought ingredients to make burgers at the childrens request that they then failed to eat :mad: I also brought some fabric off eBay for dd1s bedroom, she is having it decorated as she's almost 12 so needs a more grown up bedroom that suits her personality I started a patchwork quilt for her almost two years ago and I'm determined to finish it now! I did some work on it last night and hopefully once the new fabric arrives i can finish it off :T

Today is also going to be a rainy day so our NT day out has been cancelled I might take the children to forage for blackberries before the rain starts and then do some baking with them. I also want to make some of my 'superfood' bread and plan the menu and prep for tomorrow night when we have friends coming round for dinner.

I have a few things to put on eBay today, I'm not sure if they will sell. It's old cigarette cards that were my grandads. There are quite a few complete sets so I'll see what happens with them. We also have some watchers on the toy I listed the other day :T I think the house is starting to benefit from the decluttering I've been doing, I just need to try and make sure we don't replace it all at Christmas :cool:

Crumpets

Finally no rain! :T I've got all my washing on the line catching up for the past week of not being able to do any. I'm dreading the winter when I have to have the clothes horse up constantly

Yesterday we had one of our 'big' days out for the holidays. We went to Birmingham sealife centre with my mum. I took the children on the train to add to the excitement so spent £11 on train fares and car parking. We had vouchers for the children to get in free to the sealife centre but it still cost £42 for two adults (I paid for mum and she brought the lunch) :eek: it was good but I'm not sure it's that good! We only spent a couple of hours in there. The children would have had just as much fun seeing the city sights as we never take them any where like that;)

Tomorrow we are off to a festival :T so I'm spending the day getting prepared for that. I've been baking goodies to take but I will still need to go to the shop to get drinks and snacks to take. I also need to get dd1 some wellies as she has out grown hers and after the rain we've had this week I can imagine it will be rather muddy :eek: I'm really excited about the festival, I've been saving £20 a week spending money since we booked the tickets so we should be alright for spends. If there's any left I might make a sneaky OP :T that should help reign me in slightly :rotfl: