Sundaysgirl's MFW journey - better late than never!

Sundaysgirl

Thank you! We do a mix - "fly and flops", group tours, private tours and independent travel - all great but can't beat the fun of pulling together the itinerary and logistics for an independent trip IMO, I highly recommend it if you can set aside the time and have a sense of adventure! It's also less daunting (and more accessible) if it's in Europe I find.

Hawaii... nice! Also on my list Very pricey I imagine - not sure if you realise, but long-haul scheduled flights can usually be ticketed a year in advance, so worth planning ahead to reduce the cost if you can.

hiddenshadow

Sundaysgirl wrote: »

Hawaii... nice! Also on my list Very pricey I imagine - not sure if you realise, but long-haul scheduled flights can usually be ticketed a year in advance, so worth planning ahead to reduce the cost if you can.

It should be nice. I'm not really a fan overall - not a beach/warm weather fan , but the countryside is beautiful (I went for a week on a school trip when I was 10). At least in March the weather should be pretty decent as well.

Thanks for the reminder - I need to setup price alerts for the various flight options so that we can get a sense of when the prices are lowest.

Sundaysgirl

hiddenshadow wrote: »

It should be nice. I'm not really a fan overall - not a beach/warm weather fan

:eek:

hiddenshadow wrote: »

(I went for a week on a school trip when I was 10)

Turning green here... :rotfl:

hiddenshadow

:rotfl: I sunburn super easily and don't like to sweat (except when exercising), hence the aversion to beaches/hot weather.

Sundaysgirl wrote: »

:eek:

Turning green here... :rotfl:

I went to primary school in California, and the two Grade 5 teachers were both native Hawaiians, so they made a year-long project out of Hawaii - we learned about the food/culture/history, and performed a dance for the school, and then went on a trip at the end of the year. It was fun, though sadly I can't remember much of what we learned (do remember having an awful parent chaperone, though, who smoked/swore the entire week :eek:).

Sundaysgirl

Another £1.24 spent on groceries last night to take advantage of some YS bargains and a COS freebie so quick update below...

3. Grocery budget £100 - £44.63/£100
4. Cashback payouts of £10 - £4.64/£10 & another £2~on its way
5. Switch current account - application submitted

Finally got around to doing the application to switch to the 1stD account, that should go through mid month and then I should receive the £150 in March sometime. Will probably also switch my CC to get the extra £25 but will see if there are any better £co offers first - this is less urgent as my fee anniversary is May for the 123 CC, but I do need a replacement as lots of places still don't accept Amex. I also plan to take advantage of the 6% regular saver once set up and will maybe pay in the max £300 pm rather than OP it since the interest even after HRT is higher than my mortgage.

Sundaysgirl

Not much to report, I had to have an unplanned op last week. It has completely thrown me, was a fairly minor procedure but has made me realise just why I am so keen to be MF.

It was my bday this weekend but kept pretty low-key as I wasn't up to much. DH treated me to dinner and drinks, we had a (free) cinema date and went to the theatre using vouchers gifted to us last Christmas as we'd already booked that months back. Lovely nevertheless, and DH spoiled me as usual!

So apart from some minor unplanned travel and meds costs I've spent very little over the past week. DH did a small grocery shop but I suspect my recovery will force us to bring our batch cooking into good use as we are both busy with work, I am struggling around the house and also can't carry shopping - so spends for the rest of the month should be limited. I'll update the grocery spend when I see the receipt!

We did use the enforced rest time yesterday to get hotels booked for our summer holiday - managed to get ~£80 cashback so hopefully that will all pay out.

£2.07 £co received and OP'd!

1. Mortgage to sub-£32k - OP £2,262.60 - £91.58/£2,262.60
2. eBay sales of £10 - £0/£10
3. Grocery budget £100 - £44.63/£100
4. Cashback payouts of £10 - £6.71/£10 & another £1~on its way
5. Switch current account - done


My task for this week is to get some listings ready for eBay since I can't go to the gym so have time on my hands in the evenings - may as well make the best of it.

hiddenshadow

Happy birthday! Hope your op recovery goes well.

Sundaysgirl

Thanks hiddenshadow! I am not a good/patient patient!!

Sundaysgirl

Productive morning so far:
- cashed in my train delay vouchers - £7.60
- uploaded a COS receipt, once approved I should hit the £20 payout threshold
- collected my bday treat from Paperchase - used part of it to save myself £2.50 on a card I wanted to buy anyway (and the rest frivolously on a pretty pen )
- picked up some currency for holidays and managed to sweet talk a better rate (as they see me so often) - only a few extra euros for ~90p less but I only changed a small amount anyway.

So I've OP'd £11, and will do the COS balance once received.

1. Mortgage to sub-£32k - OP £2,262.60 - £102.58/£2,262.60
3. Grocery budget £100 - £61.36/£100

Sundaysgirl

Busy week, plenty to report:

- £20.03 COS paid out
- £4.07 £co paid out
- 123 cc DD was £15 less than anticipated (presumably due to cashback)
- £2.72 cashback on 123 a/c paid out - last month of this as my FD switch should complete this week - just as well s the 123 a/c wouldn't even have broken even this month due to no council tax DD and me running only minimal bank balance. Luckily it seems that they're not charging me the account fee this month.

And in big news - FINALLY received a refund for the hideously expensive return flights from Lux which we had to book when our budget ones were cancelled at v short notice. I've been fighting to have our costs (all pre-agreed at the time) reimbursed since October, so this is a big relief. My OP at the time was curtailed as a result.

Soooo.... just OP'd £861.92! Mortgage now stands at £33,259.60 and daily interest down to £2.27 :j