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

themadvix

Wow, great OP! Not surprised you're :j:j:j

CathT

Great milestone, sounds like you won!!!8217;t be in the 80!!!8217;s for long.

Crumpets

Thanks Madvix and Cath, The new balance is showing on the mortgage, I can't wait for next week now to see it down into the 80's :T

I have that Friday feeling today as the children break up for two weeks off school today :j:j I love it when they're off! life is much simpler and the days are much longer as they don't finish at 3pm!

Not much to report today, I got the Easter eggs - probably spent more than I should though. Also bought the little ones a new book as an Easter gift Ds did write on the chalk board 'I :heart2: books' this morning so it's money well spent

I have the bed sheets on the line today but it's cold and grey so I doubt they will dry. I also went to the garden centre and bought some raspberry canes and some seeds for when I have my greenhouse up. Hopefully we'll get a nice day next week so I can spend it in the garden.

Got a local Easter fayre this afternoon so we will spend a few £ on cakes and the tombola I expect. I shall only take £5 and once it's gone it's gone.

Crumpets

The bank holiday weekend has not got off to a good start poor dh has come down with a lurgy and he has been in bed all day. So all plans for today have gone out of the window. I really hope he's feeling better for tomorrow as we have a baby sitter sorted and afternoon out planned!

I have however managed to put my new greenhouse together (with the help of the little ones :T ) and we have planted some pea, sweetcorn, cauliflower and sweet pea seeds as well as some garlic cloves :T so we have managed to get a little fresh air before the rain came.

I offered to take the dc to the cinema this afternoon to get out of the house but they didn't want to go so that's saved at least £25 :money: We did pop to lidl though to get some supplies and we're going to make some chocolate Easter nests this afternoon so hopefully they've still had a nice day.

I also bought myself some gin and tonic for tonight -it feels like that kind of day :cool:

Crumpets

My last post mentioned about dh being poorly and us having plans for the Saturday! it turns out the plans we had were actually for the Friday! so we missed out, not only because of dh being ill - but because we had it in the diary as being on the wrong day!:o - £50 wasted there sadly We still went out as it was for my birthday, it just wasn't what we had planned and paid for. Oh well, some lesson might be learned I guess.

Despite that, we had a great weekend for selling and clearing clutter last week. We made £155 between ebay and FB. I've just made a £350 OP with that money plus what was left over from last month :j Hopefully there will be more to come before the end of the month :money:

We've just returned form a lovely couple for days down south to visit our niece. 7 weeks old now and so adorable :smileyhea The weather was beautiful so we were able to make the most of being outside, so we didn't spend any money on activities, just meals out. Sadly we left the sun behind and it's back to being rainy here. Unfortunately we had to have a new tyre fitted to the van before we could drive home - £75 we hadn't planned on spending :mad:

Good news is that some of the seeds have sprouted whilst we've been away (pea and cauliflower). I've just re potted some spinach plants into a bigger pot and put them in my greenhouse and my mum has some cherry tomatoes, sprouts and lettuce seedlings for me too:T So garden plans are coming along nicely :T

Last weekend we ordered a pressure washer from W!ckes as they had an Easter discount, went through TCB too :T We have a really large decking area which needs a lot of tlc this year so I'm sure its a good investment. Can't wait to give it a good clean, it's actually pretty dangerous as it's so slippy at the moment. That is being delivered on Monday (free delivery if we chose a week day :money: )

Shopping day today, not much in the cupboards due to us being away. We've even ran out of milk :eek: I'm desperate for a coffee, so I'd better go :rotfl:

Crumpets

The new pressure washer has arrived :T, I cannot wait to get using it, if only this darn rain would go! The cars might get a wash too whilst we've got the enthusiasm :rotfl:

Yesterday was a productive day, We used the parts from an old bunk bed to make ds his own loft bed. We spent about £15 in the DIY shop on fittings for it but everything else we already had! Dh is so good at putting my hairbrained schemes into practice, he must have the patients of a saint!:rotfl: We also spent £20 on a second hand trofast unit for underneath the bed so operation move the toys upstairs is well underway :T

DD1 also had a good sort out of her room and came down with loads of stuff for the car boot box - the only trouble is stopping dd2 and ds from claiming her cast offs :rotfl:

I have an eb@y item ending today, no bids but plenty of watchers. I hope it goes as it's a large kitchen appliance that is taking up space. Dh and I watched a great minimalist documentary on Netfl!x the other day, we so want to be free of all the clutter that is dragging us down. We're both motivated and we've made a good start

This months OP is showing, the new mortgage total is £89,561.67 :T

Crumpets

Goodness me it's been a spendy day today! I'd booked in dd1 for an ice skating lesson and decided that as it was the holidays we would all go for a skate. £60 later...:eek::eek: In future dd will be sharing her lesson and the rest of us won't be skating so it won't be that much again. It does mean that we need to do free or very cheap activities for the rest of the week though.

Went to visit my parents afterwards so we got fed and watered for free at least

This afternoon I've done a few sewing jobs that I've been putting off. I also used dd's mini sewing machine that she had for Christmas, to run up some bunting for ds. This has spurred me on to sell my sewing machine. Bunting is as good as it gets for my sewing skills so we don't need two in the house! It is now listed on gum tree:T As is a labeling machine - I buy these things hoping they will turn me into an organised super mum, but all they do is sit in a drawer making me feel guilty that I'm not using them My parents also wanted me to sell something for them, so that is listed...maybe I'll get some commission if it sells

themadvix

Ouch for the skating! I've not been since I was a teenager as the boots really hurt my feet... am thinking that it's probably good for the finances not to go now though!

That's brilliant that DD's sewing machine is good enough for proper stuff.

Crumpets

I've been trying to sit down update for a few days now but life seems to keep getting in the way!

Last day of the school holidays today though:( At least it means a bit more structure to the day so I accomplish a bit more.

Well the last few days of the holiday managed to remain pretty frugal, just £12 spent on swimming and free activities including visiting the library and finally getting out to the park on Friday when it didn't rain :T

Yesterday was absolutely glorious, it made me feel so much better to sit out in the garden and fee some warmth on my skin. We did a few gardening jobs, mowing the lawn and pruning an enormous rosemary bush! still loads to do but it's a start. We also used our new pressure washer and cleaned the camper :T We ordered a bespoke accessory for it with our Christmas money and it finally arrived, so we had to give the van a clean before it could go on. It looks super cool now :cool:

Last night was rather spendy as we went to the big city to see a band. Drinks, food plus a taxi home for us both added up to quite a lot Also I had a shoe disaster! About an hour into the night the sole fell off one of my favourite shoes :eek: I'm a bit gutted but I'd had them a while and they were 2nd hand in the first place. I'm watching some replacements on the bay now :cool: Today has been rather unproductive and lazy due to the :beer: and the late night. I'm looking forward to an early night!

We've managed to sell another few bits this week, including the item I listed for my parents :T Lots of interest in the sewing machine but no firm buyer yet. I don't want to reduce the price (as a lot of people have been asking me on FB) it's a bargain anyway. I'm not in any rush so hopefully it will go eventually.

We've had yet another unexpected expense! I've had to order another head for my cordless Dys0n. We've had it just over 2 years so it was no longer under guarantee. Dys0n wanted £60 plus shipping but I found a seller on the bay wanting £50 with free shipping so I saved a small amount at least! :money: Money for this will come from the contingency fund - at least I don't have to buy a new vacuum!

I have had a MFW win today though, I found lots of summer clothes for dd2 up in the loft :T Sometimes I wonder if it's worth saving dd1's clothes for such a long time (6 years!) but it is lovely when dd2 get's to have a whole new wardrobe for free I will need to get ds and dd1 some new things but at least one child is sorted for this weeks sun! :T

themadvix

Sounds like you've been enjoying life over the past few days!

Did you definitely only have a 2-year guarantee on your Dyson? I thought they came as 5 year standard. Did you ring them? I only ask because I thought ours was a 2-year (the bit of paper that came with it said two-year), but when I rang them it was still covered under the 5-year guarantee which the man said was standard. And therefore the serviceable parts would be free.... Might be worth investigating if your ebay seller accepts returns.