The march to financial freedom

Ali-OK

It's been a mad Friday!

Heating/plumbing chap was here on time early this morning - he serviced the boiler and the gas fire (fixing the ignition wire that had broken) - £90 bill - £30 more than budgeted but good that the fire is working again.

He looked at the plumbing repairs, but seems they all need replacements, so a quote to come with a cost for those.

Got on with work stuff and a small billable bit came in that was urgent, so I did that which all helps with the weeks turnover. :T Did the business banking and then headed down to DS's sports day for the last hour.

Poured with rain all morning here, but stopped this afternoon. Hedge and grass currently too wet to cut. :rotfl: They'll never get cut at this rate!

Financials then:
- bank account checked
- freepostcodelottery (both) - checked
- Nectar adpoints - a 13 pointer was only 8, but up to 76 points
- Nectar Search - 27/100
- Nectar Canvass - becoming disillusioned, got up to 65% completed for it then to throw me out :mad:
- Nectar card - still at £70.50
- Inbox Pounds - up a tad at £6.47
- Qmee - nothing extra today
- P!necone - another new survey in which I've done. Another £3 will soon be in the pot :T

Think thats all for today. A weekend at home which I'm looking forward to - 2 lay ins will be heaven . Need to sort the 3 August birthday cards and get a new home card too, but determined to keep it a low spend weekend.

Have a long list of To Do's that I want to work through, but some will have to wait until Monday - like the dentist for the broken tooth!

Am chilling out infront of the tv tonight I think. Washing is on third load with 2 drying on the line, so I am ahead in the housework stakes

Here's hoping for a good weekend

Ali-OK

Morning folks

A beautiful sunny morning here, so up, out and hedge cutting done early..well I say done - this cordless one has been pretty poor since it's first use and battery runs out by time I've finished one side now, even though it was fully charged when I started it :mad: I've put it on charge yet again and hope I can get the other side done soon! Really needs a heavy duty one I think.

Mucho excitement as the mortgage interest letter arrived, only to be replaced by :mad: when I read the £806 has been put against the little loan, even though they confirmed at the time my request to put it against the big one :mad: Phoned them, but to change it will mean I won't know the interest amount on time for the payment, so have left it this month. I'm having to change my spreadsheet instead, but it moves the big loan back a month to getting it under £100k and upsets my round numbers I so carefully planned! :rotfl: Playing with the budget to see about adding to August's capital payment on the 1st to correct it again

Aside from that I'm in a happy and buoyant mood this morning believe it or not :rotfl: I've got a freebie exercise bike being dropped off by my friend soon - let's see how long that novelty lasts :rotfl:

Some financials done:
- bank account checked - and mortgage interest payment is down by £2.61 to £394.68 so have set that up :j
- Nectar adpoints - nothing extra, still on 76 pts
- Nectar Search - up at 30/100
- Nectar card - the same at £70.50
- Inbox Pounds - up at £6.81 (just done a survey )
- Qmee - another 5p, up at £1.75 in the pot

Grass will be cut soon too - we are due some showers later today so am determined to get it done since it's 4 weeks I think since the last cut :eek:

House insurance renewal letter has landed with a quote £20 higher than last year at £193, so to shop around is on the To Do list now.

Stupid me went to put a bin bag in one of the small bins and realised I'd bought the wrong ones - so those are on my shopping list now.

Time for a cuppa on the patio in the sun and show good intentions by getting the lawnmower out :rotfl:

Hope everyone has a good day

Ali-OK

Reporting in with the day's activities and a NSD to start with :T

Hedge cutting is nearly complete, but the charge is taking 3-4 hrs and then only cuts for about 20 seconds before dying out. So I'm taking it back tomorrow with receipt to see if it can be 'repaired' as it's only 4 months old and it's third use. :eek: Neighbour thinks the battery is burning itself out. So one small bit left to cut still.

Grass is all cut and edged too and rain hasn't arrived as forecast. More shrubs trimmed, weeds pulled and garden is looking tidy again.

Exercise bike in situ I've cycled either 5.5 miles or km (not sure which) and feel zonked after that and all the garden stuff :rotfl:

- Booked dog trainer for Tuesday night again
- Booked a hair trim and eyebrow thread for next Saturday
- Elec and gas readings done and spreadsheet updated - we're using roughly £35 a month in electric and DD is at £41 so all good

Left to do:
- House insurance renewal quotes
- College essay for interview on 22nd
- Dental appointment for broken tooth
- Get on with YNAB (lots to do still there)
- Little bit of ironing from this week's washing
- Town tomorrow for August birthdays, new home card and bin bags

Dinner was batch chilli from the freezer - going to get a joint of meat out shortly for tomorrow - that should last us 3 days. First Sunday in a while we've been home.

Hope everyone has had a good day.

millionaire_in_training

Laughed at you being zonked with the unknown length of cycling journey. I swear I am done in with the walking over the last couple of days. My calves and feet are agony. Was worth it though. Enjoy your long lie tomorrow. That is my intention as well

Ali-OK

:rotfl: It turns out the minimum I should have cycled for is 15 mins - I did 10 and was worn out...I suspect it was 5.5km based on that! However, it's a really good bike for a beginner and a freebie, all it needs is a laptop or iPad stand so I can work and cycle at the same time Perhaps I should work on my balance next :rotfl:

Ouch to your calves and feet, it is definitely hard when not used to walking so much. I thought I was pretty fit with all the dog walking, but the bike has proved otherwise

Done some more gardening tonight and packed up the trimmer in it's box with bits and pieces to return to the shop in the morning when in town. Let's hope they're amenable to repair or replacing it - I'd even go back to corded, at least I can get the hedge done in one go then!

AlexLK

Ali: Petrol hedge trimmer sounds like what you need.

Ali-OK

AlexLK wrote: »

Ali: Petrol hedge trimmer sounds like what you need.

I don't need the price tag attached to one though Alex :rotfl: Back to corded if they'll entertain an exchange. Will find out in an hour.

Another 5km on the bike before bed last night - translates to just over 6 miles cycled in total yesterday and the legs are feeling it this morning! Dog walk was hard work.

Starting with a dry day here after rain overnight and a few tasks done on Inbox Pounds, so that's up to £6.92 now. Small YS beef joint has defrosted overnight - doubt that'll last 3 days, but should get 2 out of it.

Have done some more calcs on the mortgage spreadsheet - my initial target this year was to reduce it by £8,400, but hoping for that to come in at £9,389. Standard repayments would be a reduction of £7,420 and I've already paid £5,175 off. Looking good.

Better sort DS out with some breakfast then hot foot off to town to get the cards and bin bags. £5 should cover it, including parking at £1.

Bike might get sat on later - whether it'll get pedalled very far today I've no idea :rotfl:

Ali-OK

A shopping update - look away now if you're easily tempted :rotfl:

Arg0s usually open at 10am on the Retail Park and 11am in town on Sundays. Not any more, as I found out by going to the Retail Park and finding it shut, so took the trimmer to the town one (which now opens at 10am!) and a lovely CS lady offered a straight exchange. Bingo! Swapped back to the corded version and as that was £10 cheaper, I came out £10 up.

Cards bought - £2.17.

Wilk0's normally open at 11am, so the usual problem of loitering in town occurs so I pop into Pr!marni and spent £8 of my £10 birthday money I kept back in March for some sandals. £3 on some slip on pumps, £5 on some ballet style shoes.

Then up to Wilk0's - they're now opening at 10am too! I overspent in here but picked up £10 worth of bird food for Mum for her birthday from DS (I've already bought her annual magazine subscription), so that's that birthday sorted.

There's quite alot of beauty items on sale in there too, think it's down to the change in packaging they were just putting on display, so I picked up 4 x Sensitive Shaving gel at 50p each, 2 x Sensitive deoderants at 50p each, 2 x Body Sprays at 50p each and 2 x face wipe packs at 50p each.

Got the bin bags too and stocked up on dog treats, oh and a replacement trowel at £2 (handle broke off one a few years ago, the other one I think the dog has buried somewhere :rotfl:). So a bill of £20.80 in total in there. :eek:

£1 on parking. A spendy day, but helped by the £10 refund on the hedge trimmer.

Torrential rain on way back home - just a shower though, so hopefully will now finish the hedge - at the fourth attempt :rotfl:

millionaire_in_training

I daren't go into Wilk0s as I end up spending a fortune on all the essential items they have. Same in home bargains

supersaver1000

Sounds like some great bargains. But I'm like MIT and don't have a stop button. I went overboard in Lidl and Tescos yesterday