two frugal years to freedom: a fritterer's tale

lobbyludd

is it possible to be constitutionally incapable of having an NSD?

I didn't have an NSD on wednesday - I ended up getting the veg from Lidl as I passed it rather than on friday, then I still felt dreadful on thursday so was late in and all the free parking places near work were gone (£8.40, I feel sick just thinking about it) and then yesterday I left my lunch at home ended up buying it (a tin of soup so only 1.27, but I have soup at home which cost pennies to make).

GP is sending me to the neurologist - presumably to check I've got a brain as on the evidence above, I don't! Have had 2 episodes of visual disturbances this week, one with a head ache, one without, so probably just migraines but they are checking to make sure my blood flow to make sure they are not mini strokes because of my "advanced age" (43)! and also to the brain dr because of some other things that came out in conversation.

any hoo, I'll report back if and when they find a brain (will be at least 6 months for an appointment so not an urgent issue) and in the meantime I'm blaming all dfw lapses on that!

feel back to normal today - in time for the weekend! and it's a beautiful day

lobbyludd

not a nsd today either, a well known retailer has sent me a £10 off no minimum spend free delivery voucher, so I've bought the trousers for ds's christmas outfit for 40p (via Topcashback lol), even using the 3 x rule this is a bargain so not at all regretting it.

lobbyludd

2 nsds in the past 7 days - it may be a record for me! they were completely by accident but count none the less

in not great mse news grumpy cat needs teeth extracting on wed took him into vets on friday and came out £50 lighter, with at c 280-300 for the op on wed. it's no wonder he's grumpy, back teeth were very irritated due to tartar and receding gums so that has wiped out the debt-busting gains for this month. Vet thinks he might also have arthritis and is pushing treatment for that (there's no evidence of arthritis - she's basing that entirely on his age) so I'm resisting until his teeth are extracted and healed and we see how he is then.

thank fully I won't be adding to my debt to deal with this for him (just not decreasing it this month).

in good news the ECG found that I have a heart, and one that beats no less. to my incredibly trained eye it seemed to have generated a fine set of wiggly lines with appropriate bumps and dips in the right places, I'll find out if I'm right tomorrow, and what my fasting blood results are.

although, it wasn't quite fasting as I realised yesterday that I did have a splash of milk in my coffee the morning of the test - thursday, how do I know? - the cup was discovered under my bed yesterday evening with half a cup of coffee-with-milk in it (not much, I do only have about 5ml of milk in a cup of coffee) - probably rendered the whole thing useless, but was too late to cancel the testing when it was discovered.

5 days left at work until I have 10 days off and pay day on friday

Bobarella

Scary having to go for an ECG Lobby sorry to hear it. Glad you came out of it ok though.

lobbyludd

thanks bob
all bloods back fine

<sigh>
£350 plus on grumpy cat's teeth. In addition to human optician and dentist costs and ds has shot up needing entire new suit of clothes for school plus shoes.

so have gone backwards this month.
and need new back tyres on the car.

still - no option but to keep on trudging forwards and be thankful I have a job and health, plus a home to keep us warm, lovely friends and family. Can't face the scores on the doors today, I'll note it another day.

and grumpy cat is a lot better, has put on weight, started washing again and was even heard to purr, so worth it to see the furry over-lord back to normal levels of grump-dom.

Bobarella

Gosh animals are expensive aren't they. Sorry you've had to shell out for that.

lobbyludd

thanks bob, I took him on though so my responsibility

plodding, plodding along - most exiting mse news: applied to switch my mortgage today, my latest 2 year fix is up soon and I've been checking daily for the online option to choose a new deal with my current provider. I know there are better deals out there, but not sure I'd get them with the new comb-through-everything rules. I've applied for a 5 year fix at just sub 3% which is a fab-tastic rate if you take a historic view. It's cheaper than I'm currently on and I'm happy with the surety of knowing the payments for the next 5 years, particularly with rumblings about increasing interest rates getting stronger.

If at all possible, I don't want to move from here for at least 5 years as it's the cheapest road to get into the fantastic secondary that ds is currently at, because of that it tends to hold up better than a lot of areas in a downturn.

5 days until I can switch gas and electric providers - that won't save money, but will prevent a price hike, so - plodding away!

heavy week at work coming up, but at least that means it won't drag - hoping to make at least 4 days walking in and 4 days lunches taken from home. 5 would be my stretch target

Bobarella

Good luck with it all. Good to plan. Gives at least an outside chance of success!

lobbyludd

thank you for popping in bob I do appreciate it and also munchin for reading

lobbyludd

mortgage switch paperwork through so just got to sign and that's sorted for the next 5 years which is a weight off my mind. I've been overpaying by 67 a month (rounding up to the nearest 100), I am considering keeping the same payment so overpaying by 96 a month - not loads but means my mortgage is clear before I'm 60.

I know it probably goes against conventional wisdom when I still have credit card debts, and am not currently making great strides with those. but they are on 0% and this £67 just got lost in general frittering before it went out on the mortgage, plus it helps secure our home, which feels more stable to me.