Pay Off Before Lay Off!

Habibiboo

:wave:

New year's upon us, so today's been all about preparation (and making the most of these last few days before a return to work)!

Today's MF efforts: Popped to B & Q sale to get bits to do small bedroom. Got a good bargain on wallpaper (almost half price per roll). It's paste-the-wall paper which sounds like fun (I've not used that before) so in a way I'm quite looking forward to doing it (yup, sad but true)! Bought paste too, so total of £31.99 out of budget of £50 so far.

Today's grey cloud: Buying 3 fence panels again, to repair last lot of wind damage! Grrr!

Today's silver lining: OH is cooking my tea for me (he's gone off the menu plan of course, but is at least using up some of the interesting left overs from the fridge)! It's all good!

Today's happy moment: We're being given a greenhouse by some friends who want rid of theirs, so 2014 should see a cut in the grocery bill as we've nominated it as the year of the raised beds and now greenhouse too! Bought OH a pack of beetroot seeds to celebrate!

Hope everyone has happy celebrations tonight and all the very best for paying off and being happy in 2014! :T

debtfreeoneday

Lucky OH with the beetroot seeds.. way to go with growing your own. x

nattypants

Happy NY Habibiboo. I am planning to install (erect?) a greenhouse in 2014 also - already have vegetable raised bed, however garden plans do heavily feature in my home improvement plans (on a well tight budget of course;))

Looking forward to reading up on your successful produce growing ventures.

NP

want_to_save

happy new year to you

Habibiboo

:wave:
Hi WTS, NattyPants and DebtFree... thanks for stopping by and happy 2014 to you! It's true that OH was delighted with his beetroot seeds- he chose them himself!
We're looking forward to the homegrown challenge of 2014 - we did really well in 2012 but I was so ill last year it all fell by the wayside, so hoping this year will be much more productive!

Today's MF efforts: A good declutter around the house has led to a whole stash of stuff for Ebay listing. This should help with the 5.00 a day challenge for this month, as I'd like to make a cheeky extra 150.00 to add to this month's mortgage OP. All I have to do now is list it all ...!

Today's black cloud: No sooner did we get back door sorted so that back of house is in warm and secure working order, than the front door is now playing up. This constant rain has made it swell so much (wooden door) that it's very hard to close or open. The last two days someone has had to be in if others go out, to help them get back in. Looks like we may have to fund a new door sooner than we thought!

Today's silver lining: Lovely family dinner out round my mums. One of my stepdaughters came, which was lovely as they've usually got too many other plans, so it was really pleasant!

Today's happy moment: A little reorganisation of curtains and curtain hanging accessories means I now have curtain up in bathroom and at back door for no additional cost - just using and reassigning what was already knocking about! May need to lengthen bathroom curtain at some point,but it'll certainly do for now and very MSE!

Hope everyone else is doing OK

Habibiboo

:wave:

Back to work today, which tends to concentrate the mind on the main MF mission for this year!

Today's MF action: listed some of the clutter on Eb*y to help try to clear the decks and boost the coffers for this month's mortgage OP.

Today's silver lining: finally completed my tax return before the end-of-month deadline, but ...

Today's grey cloud: message at the end of my hard work on the tax return declared that I owe £150 and needed to pay it then and there. So, I had to do so but can't really work out how they managed to come to that conclusion. Apparently it's just an estimate and they'll confirm in the next 72 hours the actual amount ... fingers crossed it's not more than that! I had the money put by in a pot just in case and don't mind paying my way, you know, I wasn't trying to do an Amazon or Jimmy Carr or owt like that ... I just thought I'd paid enough already as I was taxed through work or on ESA with serious illness for the tax year 2012 - 2013 - I didn't become self employed until last August when the consultant told me not to return to teaching! Still, I guess it'll all come out in the wash!

Today's happy moment: gained a new client today, with a trial project which could mean some regular work for the year, so here's hoping it comes together nicely and tops up the OP pot!

Hope everyone's OK and recovered from their celebrations!

Habibiboo

:wave:
Another busy work day, but all to the good (at least as far as getting paid is concerned)!

Today's MF action: Banking and small tilly tidy - not going too mad with this for a mo due to yesterday's unexpected tax payment (still waiting to hear whether this was an over or under-estimate)! Spend free day no 2 of month so far!

Today's grey cloud: Light switch in small toilet has broken. This is a cosy under the stairs toilet so pitch black in there unless you leave the door open, an act which is a little anti-social to say the least! Temporary MSE fix of scented candle, to light the way and off-set the fact that extractor fan (which works alongside light switch) is now not working. OH looked and declared it all to be "not working"! I guess we'll just take it from there then!

Today's silver lining: New fence panels arrived although it's too wet & windy to put them up at the moment. Hopefully will get them up tomorrow, in time for the next lot of storms!

Today's happy thought: My eldest son is coming down from London on Weds as he can't make my birthday next weekend as he's working. So we're both taking Weds off instead and having a cosy lunch together, which will break up the week nicely!

Hope everyone's OK and surviving the worst of the weather. Big hugs to those who need them :wave:

elantan

Ohhhhh growing veggies how exciting

My seeds arrived today ... I was like a kid in a sweet shop and wanted to go planting there and then

What do you plan on growing all together ?

Hope the tax man made a mistake and you don't owe the £150

Well done on the new project

Habibiboo

:wave:

Hope everyone's well!

Elantan, thanks for your comments and kind words - we're divvying up the raised beds as we speak! I'd like to grow squashes, courgettes, sweet potatoes and salads, OH is planning toms & peppers in the donated greenhouse (should be with us in the next few weeks), plus we're thinking of trying to grow a few things which are expensive to buy, like asparagus! We'll also be growing some beet roots as we tend to live on these as we don't seem to go wrong with them & I have lots of the growing bags!

Hope all's well with you too, what are you planning to grow?

Other news:

Today's MF actions: sorted out cupboards & 97 items now successfully listed on Ebay. Plus I've now stripped most of the old paper in little bedroom, but will need another afternoon on it to get the walls prepared.

Today's grey cloud: none at all, only rainy weather!

Today's silver lining: OH & I managed to fix broken pull switch in little loo between us - me standing on loo holding torch whilst he fitted new fitting. Total cost £4.50, which just happened to be a 10th of call-out charge the electrician quoted! :T

. Today's happy moment: met up with friends that I didn't see over Christmas because of lurgy. Lovely catch up, but it did take place in coffee shop although I made a £2 bucket of coffee last 2 hours, so hopefully NSK will allow me the little aberration (especially as we had no expensive outings over Christmas due to said lurgy).

:wave:

elantan

This year I am hoping to grow

Loads of salad ( those bags are £1.50 a time I can grow a years supply for £3)
Tomatoes
Kale ( delicious super food)
Sweet peas
Chilies
Courgettes
Swede
Carrots
Brussels sprouts


Then there are my perennial's like strawbs, blue berries, raspberries, currants and hopefully ( although it's not looking good so far) my rhubarb

It's very exciting and relaxing growing your own food