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

Crumpets

More kondoing of paperwork yesterday, in fact we have cleared the whole filing cabinet of unnecessary paper baggage :T All that remains now are important documents that will fit into a couple of box files. Now I hope to get rid of the big lump of metal that it lived in. So we got to have another bonfire yesterday (in the snow ) and burned some more of the wood that has been living at the bottom of the garden for the past couple of years

Also sold two more items on the bay yesterday, I'm just waiting for one thing to be paid for and one thing to be collected. Everything else got posted this morning :T Still got 5 things listed but If they don't go this time they can either go to the car boot pile or to the charity shop.

Today it was big shop day :eek: I hate it I managed to get it for £90 but I did spend £7 on fruit and milk yesterday. Just about under budget for now :cool: We're going to MiL's for dinner tonight though so that's a free meal for us all

Last night DH and I went through our finances...we're still over spending on frivolities and education. DD1 is home educated so I'm always booking her nice activities to do. We have also signed her up for 2 GCSE's which are several hundred pounds each. I need to probably reign in some of the more expensive trips. I've just signed us both up for snowboarding lessons though :cool: £10 each for an hour lesson though, which I think is good value for money

So my aims this week are

• Spend less on frivolities
• More kondoing and possibly more selling
• No top up shops

It's DH's birthday tomorrow, he has requested a very reasonable sausage and mash birthday dinner...now that we can stretch to:rotfl:

Crumpets

Just paid a £50 OP :T This was from my ebay profits over the weekend, everyone has paid up so I'm really pleased. Still waiting for the large item to be collected but the buyer has paid and been in touch so I'm pretty sure he's not a time waster. Found another couple of things to sell today so they've gone on FB. Fingers crossed they go :money:

It is dh's birthday today and we decided to make the most of it and go out for lunch. I's a good job birthdays only happen once a year £35 on lunch for 3 (dd came along to chaperone us :rotfl:)

We have the wood burner lit today, it's so cold and I'm feeling pretty fed up with it now, it looks like it's set to be cold for a while longer too At least it has been dry, I put the washing on the line and it has dried, it's just warming in front of the fire now.

We've been having some problems with damp in our conservatory and as it is still under warranty we called them out to take a look. Hopefully they've fixed the problem and they're going to come and sort out the plaster inside which is great...it means I get to re decorate too I need to get pinteresting for inspiration. I want to make it more cosy like a sitting room, we use it all year round as it is open plan from the kitchen. Currently it stores toys and the dining table but I fancy a change around. having the repairs done is the perfect excuse.

themadvix

Hey Crumpets! It was very remiss of me not to ask if you had a diary the other day, I do apologise. Have found it now and will be sitting down for a cuppa and catch up (from the beginning - of course ) shortly.

Crumpets

Oh crumbs, good luck MV, I dread to think what waffle you will encounter

It's been one of those days where I've needed to spend a fair amount of money. The first thing, I booked our holiday for July - A weeks camping down south :T Secondly the children have several parties to attend over the weekend so I've had to buy three gifts. I also treated myself to a new wicker washing basking - that I guess would be classed as a frivolity

I've received a bid on one of my ebay items, still a couple of days to go but there are very few watchers on the other items. Fingers crossed a couple more things sell. I've just bumped my FB for sale items...I think they will go in the car boot box if they don't go this time. I don't want them hanging around, I might lose my momentum with Kondoing.

DH and I have received a voucher for an Indian cookery course for our birthdays/ wedding anniversary. I cannot wait to give it a try, we both love Indian food but are both hopeless at it. I really hope we learn how to make something nice, it could save us a fortune on take aways :T

Just a quick easy dinner of veg sausage pasta and hm garlic bread for dinner tonight. We're only just eating now as the kids all have activities today I'm pooped ( as always :rotfl:)

Another busy day tomorrow as dd and I are of to Bath to learn about the Romans - These are the kind of trips I like doing but they are spendy :cool: I'll see if I can cobble together a packed lunch and I'll take a flask of tea :money:

Crumpets

Hello,

It has been such a long and tiring week so far and it'snot over yet. I've decided that I'm having Monday as a weekend day this week

Bath was lovely yesterday, DD fell in love with the place and loved the architecture and history. Visiting the Roman Baths was really interesting too, we both learned something :T I had already paid our entry to the museum (group discount as we were part of a Home ed group) So spends for the day were £5.40 on parking, £2.35 on DD's lunch (I took a sandwich) and £6 on starbucks :cool: So all in all not an unreasonable price for a lovely day out.

We also had the little ones school production - £25 on tickets :eek: plus £2 on raffle tickets. I almost spent more as I wanted a glass of wine at the bar but they didn't take card so I saved myself £3.50 It was a lovely show though.

This morning I went for a run - free exercise :T and then had a lovely soak in the bath whilst dh has taken the little ones to their swimming lesson. I feel much better now I've had a bit of me time. Two items have sold on ebay- £17.50 before fees. I have 3 things that have been relisted so hopefully they will go next time. One has been paid for already so I'll package it up this afternoon. I also need to take a gift back to argos. I bought it for DS's friend but thinking about I think it's too old for him so I'll return it and get something else.

Jobs for this afternoon are :

• Package ebay parcel ready for posting
• return gift to argos
• Buy new gift and wrap
• Wrap God daughters gift for her party tomorrow and get the kids to make a card
• Buy some fruit and veg
• make pizza dough for tonights dinner
• Do some housework - I live in a pigsty :rotfl:

Crumpets

Quick update to say I have received a cheque for £3.14 after closing a bank account last week - every little helps as they say :rotfl:

Crumpets

What a gorgeous day! and so nice to have an extra hour to spend in the sun, we certainly made the most of it.

It's been a busy day, one I've been dreading all week as everyone had to be somewhere different at the same time. DD1 went to an audition for the local youth theatre group, dd2 had a party to attend and ds had his karate grading. It was hectic!:eek: The party and audition were both very low spend, just a few pounds on a cup of tea but the karate grading cost £35!

This afternoon we've spent a productive couple of hours in the garden, I got rid of a bin bag full of rubbish, where does it come from?! We also chopped down a huge branch that was hanging over our garden from next doors tree. Unfortunately it was very popular with pigeons who like to leave [STRIKE]enormous[/STRIKE] deposits on the swings and slide We've also hung some cds from the remaining branches to keep the little blighters away:D

I have a large list of jobs that need doing to get the garden in a fit state for the spring and summer. We neglected it a bit last year so there is lots to do this year. From being out there today I have noticed that we need to

• clean and stain decking
• stain wooden play equipment
• top up the bark and sand in play area
• weed and seed the grass
• weed veg patches and and get growing
• prune shrubs
• get some bedding plants
• buy new garden seating

That seems like a lot!:eek:

Dinner tonight is a veggie chicken and vegetable pie that I've made using up odds and ends from the freezer. It looks delicious, cant wait to eat it The freezer is pretty bare now so I've just ordered an Iceland delivery. I've never ordered from them before, I went through TCB and spent enough to get free delivery so hopefully that will fill the freezer.

Happy sunny Sunday folks

Crumpets

Morning,

I feel like I've burnt myself out a bit so I'm trying to take it a bit slower this week. I don't know why but I feel that the clocks changing at the weekend has really affected me Hopefully normal service will resume shortly

It was another lovely sunny day yesterday so I pottered in the garden, I managed to rake over half the lawn and scatter some weed and seed over it. It rained overnight so hopefully it's getting to work. I also swept up some leaves and had a general tidy so it's a step in the right direction.

I'm going to visit my parents today and they have brought me a mini wooden framed greenhouse for my birthday :T I cant wait to get it set up and start some seeds off.

DH and I have received a small lump sum of money today, so I'm hoping we can make a fairly large OP from it. Some will be saved for a holiday next year and some will be put towards the new garage. It's quite exciting

Other MFW things - We have a few watchers and 1 bid on the remaining ebay items and I've decided I'm going to sell my spare vacuum as I rarely use it and it takes up valuable space. I've just given it a clean so will list it on FB later.

The dd's want to go ice skating tonight so it will be a quick and easy tea, probably baked potatoes.

themadvix

Hey Crumpets, I'm still reading your diary from the beginning but thought I should keep up with the present too

Re Indian cookery - DH and I love Jamie Oliver's recipes from his Ministry of Food book. They're pretty simple if you use the Pataks jars he recommends, but nothing beats the flavour of the freshly ground spices if you feel so inclined

The green house sounds lovely - very pretty

Hope this week is a bit calmer for you.

Crumpets

Hi Madvix, well done for continuing reading the diary, sometimes I feel should read it back but I think it might be too embarrassing Maybe when I'm mortgage free I'll read it I'm really looking forward to putting my greenhouse together, sadly the rain has put paid to that today.

Well I have just made an £800 OP :j:j:j With the £200 I've already OP'd this month I've made the maximum OP I'm allowed. I already have £230 earmarked for next moths OP so I'm feeling rather chuffed:D new balance should be £90,519.26 so in April we will be in the £80 thousands (which is still scary but amazing at the same time :eek::D:p) We will also be increasing our regular OP from April too, not sure by how much yet.

I have a spare hour now so I'm going to have a quick whizz around the house with a duster and the vacuum and then I'm off to buy Easter eggs before they all sell out. :easter_ba:EasterBun