Mountainlioness' diary: the MFi3 journey

mountainlioness

Hey Esthomizzy! I guess you just get a glut of fruit about at certain times of the year and public-spirited souls on Freecycle would rather see it be used than go to waste... so far I've had blackberries, apples and plums. In fact, I still have some of all of them in the freezer! Brilliant for pies and crumbles, and for mixing with yogurt for packed lunches (squeeze of honey usually needed) As I mentioned before I also freeze blackberries into ice-cubes to go in sparkling wine and soft drinks. Pandora's right though, there is a lot out there - is it Freegans that always try to eat for free (that may involve 'dumpster diving' rather than fruit picking though... not sure) The only thing that holds me back from wider foraging is (embarrassingly) not knowing what things are, such as sloes and elderberries. Note to self to do some Woodcraft Folk-style fruit identification research) next year!

SMF - it is an age thing in some ways for me but it really was quite a sudden shift in my case. Probably months rather than years! Am actually quite proud now to confound the stereotypes about women shopping While I of course like nice things I don't feel that bothered about just acquiring them... even when I need things I'll have a look round first and ask myself some searching questions... it's not cutting back in the sense that I don't feel I'm missing out. A real shift for me has been feeling genuinely communal about our money - really prioritising our future in my decisions. Not that I didn't before, it's just gone way up the agenda.

BTW did 1st 'thrifty ways' thing this morning - had a whiffy bin so whipped out the book for a quick tip, got the bicarb out of the cupboard where it had been just waiting for the right time to save the day and Bob's your uncle!

mountainlioness

Hi All

Am really excited as have just transferred the money for the deposit on our trip of the lifetime to Africa! Am so looking forward to all the hiking and seeing the game (especially the lions of course!) Paying the deposit leaves a target of £1621 to raise, plus flights :eek: but this is the big one (we'll be TTC on the holiday itself so that will be it for far-flung places for a loooong time!) Have calculated we'll need to save £250/month all in (the flights, about £700 total, will come out of the fund direct though we'll stick them on DH's 4% cashback card first of course!) Then for the 2 months between paying the balance and actually going, we'll keep the saving going for spending money and tips for the guides. I've decided to put some of my bonus into the pot so that'll help too. Can't wait! :j

Some of you might recall the Club La Costa incident a little while back - well, DH called them today to say we wouldn't be coming to the presentation (and therefore wouldn't be taking the holiday 'award') and apparently they were fine and didn't harangue him at all... it might be because he said going back to the same place year after year was our idea of hell Don't think she thought there was any point trying to talk him round!! Am almost disappointed there wasn't more of a to-do!

mountainlioness

Hi All

Well, ahem, not sure I can lay claim to being an MFW at the moment... all my plans for being a mortgage saint and stashing the majority of my bonus away for overpaying have been well and truly scuppered in a few days of madness!

I had planned to treat myself to one thing (new pair of boots for work) and take DH out for a lovely meal then stash the rest... well, ended up with 3 pairs of boots and a handbag which was bad enough, then ended up buying a whole new bedroom set It all started with seeing an oak bed in the sale for £299... We've been after a new bedroom set for a while but had shelved the idea while we saved for the safari, after all, it wasn't a priority. But this was a barg. So we got it. Then we thought we could build in some Ikea wardrobe and drawers combo to complete the room, but when we costed it it came to £500 - for which you can go an get some solid wood furniture.... from 'oh I'll just have a little look on the internet' to see what we could get to 'gis your capital one card' was about 10 mins :eek: You know the way sometimes you look back on something and think 'how the hell did that just happen?' - well it was one of those!:rolleyes:

Have put the old set up for sale so hopefully we'll recoup some of this but, basically, the bonus is almost gone before I've got it! I will be good and overpay/save the rest but am hoping this confession will get me back on track! (All the above were bought on DH's 4% cashback card so we will see a return, which is something I suppose!)

Anyway, anyone else got any falling-off-wagon stories? What happened and how did you get back on?!

mountainlioness

Hi all - just a quickie... well,got my pay packet with the bonus and a hefty chunk had gone in tax, far more than I reckoned with (about £700 more!!) Can just cover the new bedroom set and me new boots but nothing extra for the mortgage, meal out or safari... Am a bit gutted TBH but hey ho that's life. DH is hoping for a good income this month so hopefully can get back in shape...

Our short-term room let has worked out well - looks like we'll get 4 weeks this time, meaning £195 straight in our 'e-pig' savings to pay off the mortgage and the costs of setting up the room covered. We were lucky in getting someone in first time who has been great - really easy-going, friendly and considerate. Hope we're as lucky next time though we'll probably wait until the new year.

setmefree2

The tax man always seems to get the lions share hey:rolleyes: Like the sound of the boots though - did ya get a bargain?:money:

mountainlioness

Hey SMF! good to see you - was beginning to think was on me own over here!:p

Well *cough* it actually ended up being 3 pairs of boots, one brown, one black, one knee-length black... none of which were in the sale... so Martin would have been shocked Ah well, they are all for work though so reckon am investing in my professional future Have had lots of compliments too - can't put a price on a bit of ego-boosting heh heh!

Yeah, is pretty gutting on the tax front... My boss' daughter has just got a job in the Cayman Islands, 0% tax and even with the high sales tax she reckons she'll be 30% better off. Still, having been brought up in a Radio 4-listening, Guardian-reading, lentil-chomping household I have always believed in supporting public services so I can't really stop now I've got a better job! The question is more how effectively that money is spent of course! But that's not one for a Friday afternoon :rolleyes: Am off out tonight with a girlfriend, first time in ages as I tend to prefer a quiet Friday in with a bottle of wine and the hubster - actually quite excited, sadly enough. Will be a dry one as my friend is driving but a girls' night out nevertheless. Might even pilot the knee-high boots (multi-tasking must be MSE-friendly?!)

setmefree2

3 pairs off boots - you wild women:eek:

Trying_to_be_good

I can empathise with the boot buying! I managed to not buy ANY last year as I'd splurged for the two previous years - I'm not finding it cold enough to break them out this year, yet, but Jones the Bootmaker could be in for more of my hard-earned cash this year! Two years ago I was window shopping with a friend, Jones were giving away a big bar of chocolate if you bought boots, and she fell for it - and shared the chocolate!

My ebaying clutter is going well, though, but I keep finding things to buy, too...

mountainlioness

LOL! Jones is a real minefield! They always seem to have an annoyingly tempting range of goodies. I'm hoping I'm done for a loooong time now... although have agreed to go on a social shopping trip with a couple of colleagues with serious form for major spending. Will need a huge dose of willpower before going! The safari and the mortgage are pretty good motivators though... Hoping to exceed our £300 target for this first time this month thanks to the room letting.

I do find the massive total a bit demotivating though... we have such a massive mortgage debt that even overpaying every month seems to make little impression.

We're off to Italy for our first anniversary this weekend :j Hotel, trip to vatican and flights are all paid for so just wine, lovely food and treats to pay for. Our only other trip before the safari will be a ski trip in January, which we'll do MSE-stylee with booking everything ourselves as cheap as poss. Can't wait - we really need a hol...

setmefree2

Hi Ml,

We started off with a mortgage of £250k and 5 years later it's 167k. Without overpaying it we would still owe £207k. It's abit like paying just the minimum payment on a credit card, isn't it? By not over paying it - it lasts forever and it sounds like your still having loads of fun too;)