Diary of a spendy cow

Ali-OK

Good plan to fix mortgage for 4 years and if you can do it, overpay the difference. The rumblings of BoE rate rises seem ever closer.

I think you've doing really well on your SFDs. :T

rising_from_the_ashes

mooomin wrote: »

My challenge is going reasonably well at the moment, although Spend Free Days are proving elusive.

They are very elusive here too - started the week well but that was cheating a bit as I was coming home at lunchtimes (so using fuel instead ) but has gone downhill since!

mooomin wrote: »

I've fixed the rate for four years with no fees to pay.

Great news & fab if you can continue to use the saved £20 to make OP (I really need to try to do this more:o as mine is around £280 and sure I could manage to make it up to £300 each month)

Bit worried about where mine is heading - I have a fantastic lifetime deal BUT my mortgage provider has been taken over by my bank (never keen on having them with the same company) and we've been told we'll be moved to "comparable products"

Have a lovely day - nice & sunny here so hope it's the same there!

Lurker1972

mooomin wrote: »

The terramundi is earmarked for the Edinburgh Fringe this year I'm going to ALL OF THE SHOWS and will be drinking ALL OF THE COCKTAILS

And using all the paratcetamol ??:p

mooomin

Lurker1972 wrote: »

And using all the paratcetamol ??:p

Indeed :beer:

lilmissmup

mooomin wrote: »

Meal plan time!

Tomorrow: Chicken and chorizo gratin

How do you make this????

kissjenn

Congrats on the mortgage. I've just done exactly the same on 8 of the BTLs. Saved less than £60 a month across the 8 BUT i know the rate is fixed for 4 years.

Gratin sounds good yummmm

PositiveBalance

mooomin wrote: »

The terramundi is earmarked for the Edinburgh Fringe this year I'm going to ALL OF THE SHOWS and will be drinking ALL OF THE COCKTAILS

And I am ALL OF THE JEALOUS! (*Goes green with envy and wishes she could be in Edinburgh for the Festival, and in Glasgow this month for Celtic Connections while she is at it*)

mooomin wrote: »

My mortgage appointment yesterday went well - I've fixed the rate for four years with no fees to pay. It's actually going to reduce my monthly payment by £20 as I was on the SVR. I could have reduced it by another tenner by choosing the two year fix, but I want the longer-term certainty. Once I've been paid and know how tight money is likely to be on my new reduced income I'm going to set up a standing order to overpay monthly. I can overpay 10% of the balance annually, which would be £3700 at my current balance but that's pretty unlikely unless a suitcase of money falls from the sky If I can overpay by at least the £20 I'm saving then it's a good habit to get in to and I can overpay by more as and when I can, even if it's just by whatever is left in the direct debit account at the end of each month.

Oooh, well done you! I don't blame you going to the certainty at all. I would definitely set us a standing order for the extra £20 as you are used to not having that money every month and you would not miss it, but it would make a serious difference over the longer term. £20 x 12 = £240/year. Times that by the 4 year term and that's £960 to start on those overpayments.
(So you only have to find £288 per month to make the £3700 overpayment for the first year. No biggie! :rotfl:

BTW your trainers not arrived yet? I thought I could hear some squeaking when I came into the thread. :rotfl:

mooomin

mooomin wrote: »

• [STRIKE]Mortgage appointment[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Drop off stuff with Friend Aand Friend B (they're taking old books/kitchen things to help with my decluttering)[/STRIKE]
• Post parcels
• Finish UCAS application for uni
• [STRIKE]Write shopping list[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Do the food shopping for next week and stick to the list [/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Put petrol in the car[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Go to a friend's on Saturday for board games and wine [/STRIKE]
• Take stuff to the tip
• Take old clothes to cash for clothes place
• Post pics of clothes for sale on Facebook and if they don't sell prep a listing for Ebay

lilmissmup wrote: »

How do you make this????

400g diced chicken breast (I used less, and you could easily use leftovers from a roast
100g chorizo diced
Breadcrumbs made from 2 slices bread (I use low-cal bread, any bread would be fine)
1 Courgette
1 yellow or orange pepper
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1 onion diced
1 clove garlic crushed (I used garlic powder)
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Basil (I didn't have the individual herbs so used Italian mixed herbs)
1 tsp paprika
Salt & pepper
20g grated cheddar cheese (This is a WW recipe, which is why the portion of cheese is so small! You could add more if you wanted. I used strong cheese, so the small amount was plenty)
1 tbs tomato puree
1 tsp olive oil

1. Fry the chicken & chorizo in the olive oil until browned

2. Remove from the pan, using a slotted spoon, and put an oven proof dish

3. Fry the onion & garlic in the chorizo oil until soft, add the courgette, pepper, tomato puree and herbs.

4. Then add the tinned tomatoes, bring to boil and simmer for a few minutes until reduced.

5. Remove from heat and stir over the chicken and chorizo

6. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs & cheese over mixture and bake in the oven at 180 for about 25 mins

It's a scoosh to make and SO TASTY!! Serves four and if anyone's following WW it works out about 5PP per portion. You could serve with veg or salad.

PositiveBalance wrote: »

I would definitely set up a standing order for the extra £20 as you are used to not having that money every month and you would not miss it, but it would make a serious difference over the longer term.

BTW your trainers not arrived yet? I thought I could hear some squeaking when I came into the thread. :rotfl:

The standing order has been set up, and I've set up an ad-hoc payment on my current account so I can overpay whenever I fancy too. I might use that as motivation to keep the food bill low - I could overpay whatever is left from my food shopping each month.

The trainers are here, but there's a fault so I have to return them I was going to do it tomorrow but might do it today instead as there's free parking in town on a Sunday.

slowlyfading

Just popping in to say that that dish sounds really good :drool: :drool: :drool:

beanielou

Fab news on new mortgage fix :j