30 small steps

cookie9

Thanks MG off to the park today!

Thankfully did not autorenew my car insurance as they want £700. After a few quotes managed to get it for £370. So much for customer loyalty. On the downside work has been so busy I missed out on the first time shopper deals but I am sure more will come along. I did trade in my T@sco points so we enjoyed lunch out yesterday and I still have £40 to treat us later on.

I have a few days off coming up so will sort out ISPs then. I am also going to see about moving a couple of direct debits into my second account and then start account switching with a view to boosting holiday funds.

cookie9

The nice thing about a diary is that it helps to ensure you do the things you have written down in it. I am therefore pleased to say I finally got around to ordering from W@itrose and using my £20 off first order voucher. This is a very simple process as you can transfer your favourites automatically so doing your usual shop is a fast process. Hopefully changing direct debits will be an easy process too!

A few days off work so time to batch cook and try Lid! to see if we can save some money on the food bill. Hopefully the weather will improve so not tempted to buy cakes!

After swimming home to chocolate and banana pancakes to use up the old bananas and now have a batch of lentil soup simmering away. I really don't want to go out again so doing a store cupboard and fridge use it up challenge today.

mortgage_girl

Snap - I've had pancakes today to use up some leftover batter mix, they were delcious. Can't believe the difference between car insurance quotes, it's crazy!

Have a lovely weekend.

MGx

cookie9

I have to say I am impressed with my new supermarket shop. No delivery charge for 12 months and cheaper than my old one. Free chocolates in two more shops and I also have a voucher for £25 of free cleaning materials.

To encourage good MSE habits I have opened a children's account with Metr@ Bank. It is not the highest paying at 1.49% but they have the Magic Money Machine which if you use for 5 months you get a £5 bonus which is good if you are only saving small amounts. We have coppers jars for the wee cookie so he should benefit from this.

DH was off sick and now wee cookie is sick too so thinking of meals before shopping arrives later. Have pasta and will make soup and bread for later. Love soup in cold weather!

Decluttering going slowly but a few things cleared. I am aiming for 7 per week. So far I have
1 box of Duplo ( sold for £10 and banked for wee man)
A tube of moisturiser used up
One bag of old papers thrown away.

mortgage_girl

Ooh well done on your savvy supermarket endeavours - enjoy the chocs! Nom, nom, nom. What soup did you make? My favourite at the moment is tomato with a bit of celery and carrot thrown in.

Good luck with your decluttering!

MGx

cookie9

Can't believe it has been so long since I added to my diary. The decision to increase emergency funds was a good one as after just paying for our holiday I had car troubles which are going to cost £2,000 to get fixed. Quite painful but at least we have funds to cover it. Had I known how expensive this year was going to be I would have gotten the BA Amex card so at least we could have had a couple of free flights. At least I get some cashback on the spending to reduce the pain. As I have now spent ore than 5000 I get 1% cashback.

The last few days I have been trying to declutter starting with the wee cookie's room. Have passed on some things to charity, sold a few and binned a few so not too bad a start. I find it quite overwhelming to concentrate on one drawer/area at a time. Hopefully this will mean I can keep the momentum up. Once the decluutering is finsished I hope it will free up space and also help me focus onn other things. I have free time next week so really want to put some of my money generating ideas into action.

Small steps but slowly getting to be MF.

A quick update. One of my friend's father just died and like many of that generation all the finances were done by him. Her mother now has no credit card as she was an additional card holder and has problems opening accounts as all the bills were in his name and she doesn't even have a passport. This has got me thinking about my own parents and how they have their finances set up and my finances with my husband. As all bills, mortgage and insurance are in my name. Bereavement is difficult enough without these types of problems.

cookie9

Winter is most certainly here. The heating is on and in a bid to be healthy I am starting the day with porridge with chia seeds, cinnamon, almonds and honey. It does seem to give me a bit more energy in the mornings which I need especially today as wee cookie sick so I am stuck at home. He is likely to have a nap so I can get some work done then.

Mortgage is slowly coming down and now we are into the 130ks which is good news. I am pretty good at getting the best deals for energy but need to keep an eye on our food bill which does tend to creep up. I am getting better at batch cooking so have Bolognese, cottage pie and savoury Mexican mince in the freezer in case of emergencies. Hoping to do at least one batch cooking day every fortnight so always something in the freezer to avoid the lure of the takeaway.

cookie9

Not posted for ages. My health has been an issue but I am feeling better and the mortgage has been coming down each month so hoping being MF will happen in 10 years. I am going to increase my life insurance to help if something were to happen to me while little cookie under 18. Need to review my small steps to see how I can make more money and spend less.
Next month I will think about the vegetable garden and what new herbs I want to try. It will be nice to spend some time in the garden.

cookie9

Recovering from my op and learning how to take things slowly! Of course yesterday when I didn't feel well enough to sit in the garden it was glorious sunshine and today when I think I could manage it of course it is raining.

Sad to see the end of my Tesco 3% current account and am taking steps to move the money in June to make the most of the interest rates. Once again small steps. I need to look at my savings and transfer some funds into stocks and shares to hold long term.

After recent bout of poor health I think Mr Cookie and I both need to increase our life assurance. Reducing term until wee cookie is 21 would help incase anything should happen to one of us. We are also going to take care of our health more.

Once I am fit to drive a trip to the garden centre is in order as I need to grow some lettuce and tomatoes. Will also get some seeds for the wee cookie to try to grow for fun.

cookie9

Well yesterday we ate our home grown carrots. Wee cookie thought they were much better than our supermarket carrots. The tomato plant is flowering so fingers crossed for some tomatoes in the future. I do love having fresh vegetables from the garden.

We are still making small steps in paying off the mortgage. As many have said before me it is a marathon not a sprint. Slowly but surely we are getting there.

It has been a pretty tough year so far with ill health and stress at work. Thankfully I have recovered well and the holidays will start soon. We love our little place and it suits us well for now although DH and I do dream about retiring to the seaside. It is however looking a bit tired so we want to get some decorating done over the summer. This will give me a good push to declutter. Wee cookie is getting big so we are thinking of giving him a bigger bedroom and making his current room a play room/ study room.

I need to do two other things as well once I have more time. The first is sorting out our ISP as we are paying way too much at present. Second is contacting my old pension companies as I need to know how much I am likely to have to retire on. Wish me luck.