The End May Actually Be in Sight...

RoaringTwenties

Thanks again to all who have dropped by on my thread, really nice to be remembered

Well today has been a day in the house due to the rain, plus the kids needed a rest before school/nursery again tomorrow. I made a big smoked fish pie which will split into four meals, we had it for tea & it was yum. We were affected by the floods & power cuts in Dec, our house was fine but we were without power for several days. When the it came back on I took all the homemade meals out & put them in the fridge & we ate them over a week as they slowly defrosted. It was if nothing else a good opportunity to defrost (which is a job I always defer!) & am now re-stocking with batch cooking.

I am trying to eat smaller portions at the mo though, I've maintained my weight loss of a year ago until recently, in fact I'd lost another few lbs over the year, but have put them back on in the lead up to Xmas. It's strange as I'm now back to the weight I aimed for just over a year ago but having been used to being a bit lighter I now feel big at this size. I'm going to try sensible portions with the odd treat & see if it works to drop the excess. If not I'll have to get serious

I've re-ordered my conditioner, got a good deal online, although it's Aveda & expensive it is the best around and a litre lasts me & DW a year. Or rather it always *has* lasted a year in the past, I checked my account & I last bought it 8 months ago - I fear DD's long ringlets are responsible! And when it comes to girls & skin/haircare, I suspect this is only the beginning :eek:

Got DD in nursery tomorrow so am planning a day of organising starting with contacting my solicitor to see if we are any further along with the holiday home purchase
:T

RoaringTwenties

Not a bad day here money-wise, just bought bread & a leek! Have spent the evening going through bank statements for the first time since last April :eek:. I know, I know, but Natwest changed their online banking & I could never get it to print properly, so I just waited for the statements to come through the post every three months...& then ignored them :rotfl:

I do keep a note of every transaction though & have just discovered that on my records one account was correct to the penny & the other one only out by £3.99. Not bad on the old arithmetic front there

Have managed to not stuff my face today too so that's progress

RoaringTwenties

It's been a good few days £ wise, got a few bargains in the sales, inc a CD player 30% off to replace the one DS got for Xmas that failed on Xmas day :mad: Also got some good bits for the present box from M&S all 70%+ off. I also got a tunic I'd had my eye on there half price I've found virtually no clothes I like this season which has been a money-saver :A

Unlike most people I really enjoy January! I like the feeling of frugality that naturally goes along with it I think, knowing that Xmas is done, I'm not constantly thinking about presents (or where to hide them or when to wrap them!) I like the fact that there are far fewer transactions going through my accounts!

Speaking of which I've been through our main bank account statements over the last three nights. My maths were out by around a fiver which is pretty good I think as there were 8 months of statements & over 500 transactions. There are far fewer than there used to be, I use cash far more now for little purchases in town. But hopefully now Natwest have fixed their glitch & the statements print in a much more accessible fashion I can keep up to that task more regularly.

I'm also spending quite a lot of time helping my MIL out in terms of financial organisation. My FIL sadly died last summer, & she has been left with a lot of money but a quite complicated estate. We have a really good probate manager involved & he's busily drawing up an Estate Plan with Trusts & a new Will etc, & has put us onto a good IFA, so later in the Spring I'll visit MIL in the south & we'll all have a meeting & help her get her finances sorted for the future. It's an interesting world, the world of high finance, I'm learning a lot!

Diet isn't going too bad, I'm missing sugar but I have to admit I do feel better. I'm not great at cutting down a bit & letting the weight drop off slowly, I haven't got the staying power, so I think I may get a bit radical in the next week & try & get it all off :cool:

RoaringTwenties

Spent £50 in Aldi yesterday, think that's a record But only a fiver in Asda. That's our first shop since Xmas & we were running low on a lot of stuff. Meals are planned as always. For a while now I've been making a large batch of a meal two or three times a week & freezing several family-sized portions of it, & then eating such meals frozen in previous weeks on the other nights. This week I'm making a big spag bol & shepherds pie. I've also made a batch of three bean Tuscan stew in the slow cooker for DW, I freeze that in littler portions & she has it for her lunch. She takes a hot lunch most days, a whole drawer in one of our freezers is allocated to meals for her! She is very dinky & struggles to maintain a decent weight despite eating whatever she likes [STRIKE]I actually hate her[/STRIKE]

Meanwhile my diet is going well so I allowed myself a treat - our M&S cafe are doing a hot choc with cream & marshmallows for £1 when you buy a breakfast item before 10.30am. My kids are ready to eat again by that time anyway so they had a Percy Pig lunch & I had a toasted teak with my hot choc. Then we walked across the way to Skipton & the kids paid in £1 each to their savings accounts, keeping them in the MSE habit :money:

I've just gone through loads of old receipts so my writing bureau now looks clear for the first time in months. We inherited it from the Grands & I love it as can remember them sat at it. They kept everything in there - cheque books, property deeds, Navy discharge papers from 1945 & so on. If ever they needed to find a document, bill etc they'd smile & & say "it'll be in the bureau" & now we do the same!

Staying in tomorrow so hopefully a NSD

Muser1

Yey welcome home :hello:

Congratulations on the ten year anniversary

Great news on the holiday home. That's a dream of mine. Your signature still looks good too!

Muser x

RoaringTwenties

Hi Muser, great to see you Thanks for the welcome back, Im trying to keep up my diary better this year! Hope all is well with you. The holiday home has been a dream of mine for a long time, I hope it become reality for you one day too :beer:

Thanks for dropping by

RoaringTwenties

I've been trying to get on here all week but it's been manic - remind me to never try & buy a house again :eek: We seem to have hit so many snags, mainly related to the particular type of property this is. The fact that it's a designated holiday home it seems to affect everything from FENSA certs for the double glazing, which it turns out to have exemption from, to the foul & surface water being connected in rather a strange fashion. I've spent two whole days when DD was in nursery [STRIKE]plus every other moment when I can distract her with Frozen[/STRIKE] trying to wade through local searches, Tree Preservation Orders, indemnities & covenants left right & centre. It's the smallest property purchase I've ever made & has been by far the most stressful & labour intensive

We gained probate for my FIL's estate yesterday so I'm working with MIL via phone to get everything ready for the assets manager & IFA meeting in due course.

Tax returns have been completed & are in, tax bill paid online. The accountant is looking into ways to try & avoid the upcoming BTL tax increases. To that end I met the bank manager today to look at changing the ownership of our property.

Our tenant gave notice just before Xmas & he finally moved out leaving the place utterly filthy :eek: He's told the agent he's quite happy to forfeit the deposit, he earns a fortune & is quite used to spending money & having people clear up after him :cool: Hoping we find a new tenant ASAP, it's never been empty for more than a couple of weeks before...

So it's been a crazily busy time! The good news is I've got a few bargains by re-ordering items in the M&S sale, they'll go back with the original receipts :DAnd now we've remortgaged to HSBC I've signed up for online banking & can see my mortgage balance instantly! I'm going to OP £1 later just to see it happen Faster Payments used to take 3-5 days to clear with our old provider

I got down to where I wanted to be weight-wise but since getting some gorgeous fudge for Christmas I seem to have a bit of a problem with it, everywhere I go shopping I am on a fudge lookout so I don't know just how long the new svelte me will last for

RoaringTwenties

Have just set my new mortgage up as a payee on my internet banking & OPd £1 to test the connection & it's gone through instantly <reduces MSE signature by one whole pound sterling>

:rotfl:

RoaringTwenties

Well it all seemed to come together on Friday regarding the holiday home, lots of boxes ticked so with a bit of luck we might even complete this week. Yesterday I told DS that we were hoping to buy the house this week, he looked aghast & said "But Mummy, I can't buy it this week, I'll be far too busy at school" I've assured him I'll sort it all out on his behalf as I know he just hasn't got the time in his diary :rotfl:

Fingers crossed we have a new tenant, a young female architect apparently. Might have to pick her brains for ideas for what to do with my own house

Had a blissful day with the kids yesterday, we lunched out at a cafe which is run through the churches by two of the most fabulous local women plus a team of volunteers all who have with various learning disabilities, the food is wonderful, all home made, well priced & there's a really positive & welcoming atmosphere, always a giggle to be had & a piece of what they call Yay Cake which is whatever their cake of the day is As they're not open Sunday they run the risk of a bit of food waste, so in a spirit of pure altruism I very generously helped them out by purchasing their last piece of cake & two portions of soup for my freezer :A:p Then we bought DS some loom bands as he's just discovered them & had had a great week at school so deserved a reward. Got a whole kit 90% off in The Entertainer, for just £1 :money: Picked up a couple of other bits in town then home to make the bands in front of the fire with hot choc watching the snow fall More of the same today I think, along with some boring housework

Tomorrow I start the hunt for buildings insurance for a very particular & rare kind of property, I fear I could be gone for some time

Muser1

Sounds a perfect day! We had similar. Nothing finer.

I'm intrigued by the rare property!