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

jodles16

Hello! Have meandered through your diary and wanted to say you have done amazingly! Fantastic job! I will pop back and check in soon!

Jodles

sandspider2000

Crumpets wrote: »

I had £80 budgeted for a stove top fan for our woodburner and I managed to find one with brilliant reviews on amazon for half the price!

Hi there

I was just wondering, would you mind sharing which stove top fan you bought in the end? Is it the Galleon stoves model? And how does it actually perform in the flesh?

I was looking at the expensive but good Caframo Ecofans, but keep stumbling across knock offs on eBay for less than half the price. But can they be any good?!

Thank you.

Crumpets

sandspider2000 wrote: »

Hi there

I was just wondering, would you mind sharing which stove top fan you bought in the end? Is it the Galleon stoves model? And how does it actually perform in the flesh?

I was looking at the expensive but good Caframo Ecofans, but keep stumbling across knock offs on eBay for less than half the price. But can they be any good?!

Thank you.

Hi sandspider,

this is the one we went for

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CI5ACEY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

I'm really pleased with it, I definitely feel that it is doing the job and we haven't had any need to put the heating on yet :T

Hope that helps

Crumpets

Hi Pearla, greent and Jodles, I've really neglected my diary lately so thanks for reading

Things are plodding along here, we're still getting into our new routine of having dd1 at home. We haven't felt the need to spend much on any HE resources yet. I paid £10 for a 6 month subscription to kids National Geographic magazine and we've brought a few craft supplies and that's it. We've also been to a couple of workshops which at the moment are extremely cheap! £1 for a music class and £1.50 for a craft workshop! I'm extremely impressed with what's out there. I'm thinking of selling all of dd1's old uniform as I can see me HE'ing the other two in the future so I'm not sure its worth keeping it

So even though I haven't been posting I still have my frugal head on. We are up to date with our finances and things are going in the right direction. We're still not fully back on track so the regular OP's are still on hold but hopefully by the new year we can start OP'ing again. The emergency fund is now full after the vets bill so we can start paying into the other funds that are very much in the red :eek:

This month I'm trying really hard to get the grocery bill down! I'm going to keep a very close eye on what I spend, I may even do online shoppping to help keep me on track. I love ald! but sometimes I spend just as much there as I would in Mr T!:cool:

Tonight dd1 & 2 are having a free trial at a gymnastics club, dd1 has stopped ballet so the price will be about the same. I'm not sure dd1 will enjoy it but I might be pleasantly surprised No fireworks displays for us, dd2 hates them so there is no point in going, it's a rainy miserable day for it anyway. We're hoping to go to a no-firework bonfire at a local NT pub on Saturday though.

Tomorrow I'm taking dd1 swimming and then to the big smoke where she is visiting family for the weekend. I think we'll go on the train as it's less stressful, even though it's slightly more expensive. some things are worth paying for

ETA: signature for November updated and we are now below £103K :T

sandspider2000

Crumpets wrote: »

Hi sandspider,

this is the one we went for

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CI5ACEY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

I'm really pleased with it, I definitely feel that it is doing the job and we haven't had any need to put the heating on yet :T

Hope that helps

Thank you, that's useful. Not actually the one I was looking at, but similar.

Cheers. :beer:

Crumpets

We've managed a lovely weekend and been fairly frugal too despite the weather. Yesterday I was at college all day so I didnt spend anything, dh took the kids to McD's for lunch though last night we went to a lovely bonfire at a nearby pub, it's owned by the NT so it was more of a traditional affair. No fireworks but vintage lanterns instead. It was really lovely, and very relaxed as the kids werent panicking about the loud bangs. We spent £12 on drinks and my MiL brought the food, so not a bad deal

Today we went for a very muddy walk in the woods, we were all filthy when we came back but it was lovely to be out. I love the autumn :j This afternoon dd2 had a birthday party to attend, spent £6.99 on a present and dh and Ds went to Mr T for a top up shop. When i got home, I opened the cupboard and found a box of mince pies :eek: I absolutely love mince pies but I've cut right down on sugar for the last 6 months so I really want to avoid them this year, I must be strong :cool:

Crumpets

It's a really blustery day out today, I've got my bed sheets on the line, I hope they don't blow away :eek::rotfl: I've been contemplating getting a tumble dryer (not that we have much room for one) but I know that I would get lazy and not bother putting things on the line on days like this, so maybe I shouldn't have one. I've never had one so I don't know what I'm missing. If the sheets get 80% dry today I'll be happy, they can finish drying in front of the fire later.

A fairly spendy day today due to the fact I needed to pay for Pilates, £49 which will take me up to Christmas. I had to miss it last week due to hurting my back and it still felt sore today so I couldn't put 100% effort in the rest of the day should be no spend though. I've been doing housework and catching up on some homework. The house is lovely and quiet today as for once I have no children at home with me :T It's gone really chilly though so I've just lit the stove, I wouldn't normally for just me in the house but everyone will be home soon so it should be nice and cosy for them.

A friend is running a book sale for Children in Need so I've had a good sort out of the children's book shelf and made some much needed room on there. I love books but we have so many! Now we have lots of room for the new books they'll get at Christmas :T I also have a few things to try and sell before christmas. Our rocking horse needs a scrub and hopefully he can find a new home. I've no idea what to clean him with though!?

Crumpets

Another dry blowy day so more washing on the line :T I know it's a bit sad but it really is one of my simple pleasures in life. I love seeing the washing billowing on the line It was pretty much dry, its just finishing on the clothes horse. It also saves me money as I don't need to put the heated airer on

It's been a bit of frustrating day today. I booked free cinema tickets for the children today through the intofilm festival. I was convinced the film started at 11am but it was actually 10am, so by the time we got there it was too late to go in :mad: so instead we spent the morning mooching about the shops but managed to not spend much. i treated myself to a packet of pencil crayons that were £3.99 and I brought some glitter for Christmas crafts :T I've given dd1 a budget of £15 to get a Dr Who outfit for comic con so we trawled the charity shops looking for a suitable bow tie or tweed jacket but we couldn't find anything:( still a couple of weeks to go though.

I also had to send in a cheque for £5 for dd2s Christmas cards that she designed at school - I really feel like I cant not buy them :cool: I will have to buy ds's when he's next in pre school as well, I don't even like the design this year! :mad:

Well it appears ds has come down with chicken pox today so that will curtail any further spending this week :rotfl: I hope he's not too poorly with it, at least the other two have had it though. I feel sorry for dd1 though as we had a HE day out planned for tomorrow that we can no longer go on I will have to come up with an alternative plan instead.

Meatballls for dinner tonight using mince out of the freezer, I also used up some sad looking asparagus to make soup for lunch so I'm feeling quite pleased with how the grocery spending is going so far this month.

spendinglikemad

what a shame on the cinema tickets and hope ds is not too poorly with the chickenpox - I remember it well

Nice restful week with calamine lotion and piriton on hand

I wish I could get organised and get sheets out on the line - its a lovely fresh smelling pleasure - am jealous!!!

Meatballs also sound good - got some aldi salmon fillets to roast with leftover veggies and prepped some short rib overnight in slow cooker for tomorrow - just got to debone it now and make it look a bit more appetising!!!
Your O/Ps are looking fab- almost in the 90's
SLM

BachSoon

Hi Crumpets

I just wanted to say hi as I've been reading your MFW diary for a while now! I must say your life sounds pretty hectic and very creative with your MSE ways. Your diary has been rather inspirational especially as I only logged on recently and saw your signature with your total - the rest of the time I've been reading on my phone on the chiltern wifi :money: on route to work.

Keep up the brill work :T