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

Crumpets

Hi Spendinglike mad and Bachsoon :wave: Thanks for dropping by It certainly has been pretty hectic and frustrating this week especially with ds having chicken pox. Luckily dd1 still got to go on her HE day out the other day as another family very kindly took her for me :T However, I gave her £10 for her entrance fee (which she didn't need as the price was per family) and instead of bringing it home she spent £7 of it on Christmas presents for her siblings in the gift shop :mad: I'm slightly torn as it was very nice of her to think of the other two but the money wasn't for that! I was planning to take her to the shops to do some Christmas shopping one of the days. I've said she has to pay me back out of her pocket money :cool:

As I've been housebound this week I did a click and collect order with Mr T, I'm not sure it was much less hassle than going around the supermarket and doing it myself I got there slightly too early for my slot so ended up going into the supermarket anyway to get things I'd left off the order and then when it was my time, I still had to wait 15 minutes for it to be ready :mad: Grocery spends for the month so far are about £120, I will try and eek out the food we have for two weeks with just a top up shop for fresh things when needed. We have friends coming round for Sunday lunch tomorrow, we had a joint of beef in the freezer so we will have that with all the trimmings. I just need to get some fruit to make a crumble for pudding and we're sorted. Hopefully the friends will bring some drinks with them as that is an area we are sadly lacking at the moment

I say I've been housebound this week but dh and I did manage a night out on Thursday, thanks to my mum coming to babysit :T we went out for a meal and then to watch the new Bond film which was brilliant!! we have money in the date fund to cover that as we haven't been out together for months! It was lovely to be out in the real world enjoying each others company

Today is a very slow day, wet and rainy outside, horrible news from Paris that makes me want to weep Dh is just making stuffed baked potatoes for lunch the I think we will head out. We're all getting cabin fever and ds's spots have crusted over now so it's safe to go out :T dd1 has chosen to do a project on Japan so we're going to have a go at making sushi for dinner tonight. We're going to go to my favourite whole foods shop to get the ingredients needed for that. I expect the little ones wont really like it we'll have beans on toast on standby :rotfl:

Crumpets

Hello, I've had another poorly child this week, dd2 had an ear infection which lead to much sleep lost - Thankfully all cleared up now :T

I've made a few impulse purchases this week too, maybe it's the cabin fever in me, it's giving me the urge to spend :rotfl: I brought a lovely toy garage/car park for ds's birthday off a school mum for £10, he will love it and it's hardly been played with. Not a necessity but it will be very much enjoyed Yesterday I booked spur of the moment tickets for dd1 and I to go and see Hetty Feather at the theatre tonight. she loves the books, so that will be a treat for both us. We'll get sweeties from the petrol station on the way to save a few pennies when we're there

We have finally had some progress on the van too this week! we now have a front double swivel seat :T:D we did a deal with the man who fitted it for us, £30 plus the single seat we were replacing :T Negligible funds taken from the van fund plus it saves us the hassle of trying to sell the seat ourselves. Hopefully we can crack on with the next stage now.

I've just made a batch of sausage rolls for snacks and lunches and they are so yummy straight out of the oven we're having stuffed jackets for tea again tonight, definitely a cheap and cheerful favourite in this house.

I nearly put the heating on for the first time the other day as it's starting to get chilly in the evenings upstairs. I haven't though, I've put brushed cotton sheets on all of the beds now to make it a bit warmer plus I've got the small oil filled heater for dd1's room out as it is the coldest room in the house. It's also the smallest so I'm not sure why that is?

Another small frugal win this week has been me not going out especially to buy instant coffee. Instead I've been using the stash of filter coffee we have. I know filter coffee is much nicer but instant is so much easier

Crumpets

A quick update as i'm just on my way out. I've just made an OP of £53.75 after finding yet another cheque underneath the sofa I really need to move my sofas more often

I'll update properly later on

Crumpets

This week has been absolutely awful for spending money :eek: It started off last weekend with us going to comic con, which ended up costing us over £100 with entrance fees and buying tat whilst in there :mad:. it's for dd1 mainly so next year just one of us will take her rather than it being a family day out.

It's also been a busy week for going to garden centres and drinking tea and eating in the cafes. We've done it twice so far and dd1 and I are off again tomorrow Ice skating so that will include a hot chocolate in the cafe afterwards Ice skating is pre booked and paid for though so that's something at least. I managed to book it whilst it was half price so it has only cost £6 for both of us :T We might visit the Victorian Christmas market afterwards, but just for a browse rather than to buy anything. :xmastree:

Christmas shopping is going well. All the main presents are brought so it's just the stocking fillers and friends children to buy for now. Last night we managed to win a PS3 on ebay for dd1's main present. It was £67 plus postage which is brilliant as I'd budgeted £90, we can get her minecraft with the left over budget :T I've just brought my wrapping paper so I cant wait to get wrapping now

Pre school is going to cost us a lot this week too, as we've had the proofs from the photographs they had taken there and they are gorgeous! More like what you'd get at a professional photo shoot rather than a school picture. We'll definitely be ordering some, choosing which ones is the difficult job We've also had the Christmas party info, £10 for the party plus £7 for a separate visit to see Father Christmas :eek: It will be lovely though and I'm going to take the other two to the Santa visit so we're only paying to see him once

We also have to buy the Christmas present for FC to give dd2 when he comes to visit at school. The budget is £5 and I got her a my little pony Equestria girl for £4.99 in home bargains :T hopefully she'll love it! it looks great for the money.

I've been spending a lot of my time studying over the last few weeks. My course is getting quite intense with the time in between sessions getting shorter but with the same amount of work to get done :eek: it's tough going at the moment. Luckily Mr Crumpets has been stepping up and cooking the dinner which is helping me to get it done. :T

Tonight I need to pay £21 for dd2's gymnastics and £22.50 for circuit training for me - it's never ending :cool:

Crumpets

Hello! We're into a new month again and the mortgage has gone out :T my signature is updated and it all looks good. We should be sub 100k by April next year I think (very rough estimating so I could be totally wrong :cool:)

Spending is kind of getting better, it certainly feels more controlled anyway. I have ordered the pre school photos and it came to £57, this does include 3 prints as presents for the Grandparents so I don't think that's too bad. I've decided not to send ds to pre school on the day they visit Father Christmas as I don't want to pay twice for him to go with them and with us (the pre school manager said I couldn't take the other two at the same time they are going ). I've booked our Santa visit for the 21st December so nice and close to the big day. :xmastree:

I have just opened dh and myself a nationwide flex direct current account as it has a good interest rate. we have the van money just sitting in our other current account at the moment so it might as well be doing something. I went through topcashback so I should get £78 cash back too, that will make a nice OP when it comes :money:

I'm hoping for a lsd today, although I may book festival tickets for next year so it could be the complete opposite :rotfl: I'm going out for our school mums Christmas meal tonight and I've already paid for my meal so it will just be drinks. I'm not driving so i don't know how much to budget, I will try and be sensible though, I don't think I could cope with dd1's singing session tomorrow with a sore head :A

I've done quite well on ebay over the last week which is surprising as most of the things I have on there are relists that I've had trouble shifting! One item is collection only and the person failed to turn up to collect yesterday which is annoying. He's paid though so hopefully he's not a time waster.

It's a lovely breezy day today so I've got the washing on the line. I cant believe it's December and I'm still hanging my washing out...I don't remember that ever happening before!

Crumpets

The big day is nearly upon us! I can't believe it. I'm pretty much ready though, just a few more presents to wrap. I think present wise we haven't spent too much, but food wise we have definitely not been frugal we have gone for pretty much everything ready prepared from M&S. After last years disaster when dh was in hospital over Christmas we have decided to take the easy option. We are having no guests and hope to have a very chilled out day

So I've started to think about plans and goals for next year now

Personal

• Complete my course
• Set up my business once qualified (hopefully:cool:)
• Continue to home educate dd1
• Complete our camper van and do lots of travelling

House/financial

• Get mortgage under 100k !!
• OP mortgage by at least £2k
• Have new upstairs windows
• New patio and path laid in back garden
• Decorate our bedroom - I'm so fed up with having no storage and a dull and dreary room
• update diary much more often!

I'm feeling really positive and optimistic about 2016 :T

I hope everyone was has a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year :xmastree::santa2:

SmlSave

Because tomorrow will be busy.....

Merry Christmas Crumpets!

Crumpets

And to you smlsave. I hope you have a lovely day tomorrow xx

Crumpets

Well Christmas day was a success yesterday, it was a lovely relaxing day and the children appreciated each of their presents and I don't think we have brought anything that won't be played with or used :T we went way over board with food though but that means lots of yummy left overs so I'm not complaining

Today I've done a bit of sale shopping, I've got dd1 a scooter and an outfit for dd2's new doll for their birthdays in January. Dh and I have also treated ourselves to a new vacuum. We've gone for a cordless dyson from Argos. It's a bit extravagant but I'm hoping it will make my life easier :cool:

We took the children out to the park earlier which was nice. It was good to get some fresh air and exercise after yesterday's over indulgences. I'm hoping to have a proper tidy up tomorrow and start to find homes for all the new toys. It's Ds's birthday on Monday so there will be yet more stuff to put away :eek:

Merry Christmas :xmastree:

LisaLou1982

Merry Christmas Crumpets! Sounds like you had a lovely day

We too over indulged but are taking full advantage of some much needed downtime so so far havent moved off the sofa today!!