Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Kittenkirst

themadvix wrote: »

Glad you're feeling better

I find it can get overwhelming trying to find the best value sometimes - especially when you can factor in changing dates for travel too... Well done for getting it all sorted Not long now!

Yes definitely agree! We have taken the approach of best value for money as opposed to the cheapest as it needs to fit in with all of the various travel bits and bobs as well as ticking off the things we want to see/do/experience.

We still have hotels and hire cars to book for various points but it feels as if it's all coming together now!

The sailing tour looks like absolute bliss I must admit and was far cheaper than I thought it would be- deffo value for money there (& great reviews on TripAdvisor!)

My annual bonus- monetary value- should be confirmed by the end of this week, I have the same rating as last year but understand our company performance wasn't great so it may not match last years. However, a bonus is a bonus so anything is great and going against the travel funds :T (as well as an OP of course!)

Ended up spending today as had a bit of a catalogue of errors at work so ended up there all day. Was hungry so my lunch ended up being a (free) banana, a bag of crisps and Coke Zero can from the vending machine- so healthy

Working from home tomorrow though so a definite no spend, with yoga and the gym planned for the evening to stress bust :j

Off out for dinner at friends tonight so taking a bottle of vino for them- soft drinks for me. I've decided to forgo alcohol for a bit and then test having a couple at home when I don't have plans the following day to see if it is in fact booze that is causing the nausea/vomiting etc I should prob see the docs but I think they would tell me to try excluding certain things from diet and re-introducing them so think I'll give it a go first before bothering the professionals!

themadvix

Good idea re the alcohol, although I imagine cutting it out completely wouldn't be ideal!

Kittenkirst

Dinner last night was lovely, but possibly a bit rich for me as I've had some tummy issues today. Luckily I was able to work from home and was back to normal by lunchtime. A NSD today- yay- and used up lots of groceries bought over the past fortnight: toasted sandwich for lunch and chicken pan fried with onions, peppers & spinach with sweet potato wedges and some steamed brocolli.

No gym or yoga today due to stomach but planning gym tomorrow evening. Will see how well I sleep and decide on 7am yoga in the morning...dependent if the kittens allow me any sleep

Bonus news was received today and being honest isn't worthwhile them bothering, but my workplace is struggling in the marketplace so can't expect too much. As I said before though, anything is better than nothing. The lack of pay rise (again- out of last 5 years I've had three freezes on pay) is frustrating though as I was hoping it would go towards the pension pot.

Requested to close last years sharesaves today- should see £1540 appear in the accounts soon to go on flights and a little to savings :A

Geekily dug our the Mortgage statement up to sept 17 and re-reconciled it as my spreadsheet had a different figure to my accounts app. Both are reconciled to last September and are only 8p different which I can live with until the next statement in September :money:

Yougov and prolific studies completed today so slowly chipping away at those too!

michelle09

Bad news on the pay, do you like the work or are you thinking of looking somewhere else?

Your Australia trip looks like it will be the holiday of a lifetime.

Kittenkirst

Hi Michelle, it's something I've been pondering for the past year or so, I like some aspects of the job but it's difficult at times and pretty stressful. I've seen a job advertised thats starting wage is £10k more than my current role but would mean the office is further away. Im debating on applying for it just to see and get some cv writing practice etc.

Had a lovely day today, 7am yoga class was tough followed by a morning walk around Bradgate Park- such a lovely place and a perfectly dry day. Then went with friends to a lovely lunch place nearby for a catch up which cost us £30 for us both so not too bad and a nice catch up with good friends.

Managed to successfully avoid the lure of takeout last night- we opted for home pizza and chips instead as knew we were eating out today so wanted to save the calories and pennies for that instead!

Paid £1.96 as a tilly tidy overpayment last night to round down the Mortgage. It's now sat at a staggering £160,420.00 :eek:

Interest should be applied on Tuesday so I'm looking forward to calling them to confirm the amount and hearing that it's now c.£250 instead of £410!! small things please me!

Just chilling with blankets kittens and tv this afternoon- gf catching up with Billions whilst I do holiday dreaming :A

try_harder

Boo to the bonus that was a disappointment but i guess what you never had you wont miss

Happy Easter to you both

Busy_Mee1

I love a bit of holiday dreaming, particularly the eye achingly beautiful white sands, and blue seas of the Whitsundays. Snorkelling the barrier reef off the Whitsundays was amazing...

Kittenkirst

try_harder wrote: »

Boo to the bonus that was a disappointment but i guess what you never had you wont miss

Happy Easter to you both

Happy Easter to you too TryHarder hope you get to relax over the weekend :EasterBun

Kittenkirst

Busy_Mee1 wrote: »

I love a bit of holiday dreaming, particularly the eye achingly beautiful white sands, and blue seas of the Whitsundays. Snorkelling the barrier reef off the Whitsundays was amazing...

That's ones of the parts I cannot wait for- booking the overnight boat trips for the Whitsundays was just lovely- full on dreaming of beautiful waters, golden sands and all the coral! Two weeks until gfs swimming lessons start so we can feel more boat ready

Kittenkirst

Yoga done this morning and a sainsburys shop all completed. Also went and bulk bought our BCAA powder from a local fitness store. £50 but should last us both a few months and we use it a lot, it's really good for keeping my post work-out headaches at bay. But £50!

Planning Kung pow chicken for dinner tonight which we both love, and I've got an Easter treat of kippers and a toasted brown roll for brekkie tomorrow :heartpuls the sainsburys posh ones were cheaper than the boil in the bag variety so thought we'd have a right treat!

Sainsburys have 25% off their clothes and I was tempted to get loads for holiday prep, but we have six months to go yet and my body shape will (hopefully) change a bit more before then with the gym plan and yoga, also before September will be all of the summer sales so I'm hanging tight and not getting excited yet.

I've updated my work benefit of shopping vouchers to Debenhams and John Lewis so I should have a nice chunk on the cards by the holiday to get some nice bits and bobs. Hopefully though my holiday wardrobe from our America trip will fit by then so I can just assess what I've got vs what I need and just fill the gaps

Everyone in the house is having an afternoon nap at the moment: Hugo, Oscar and the gf so I'm just reading forums and trying to Id more my dead leg from Hugo sleeping on it :rotfl:

Have a confession to make...we bought Brighton pride tickets for August so we are off to see Britney in Brighton in August. A friend lives in Hove so we have a free bed for the weekend (will get her something as a lovely gift) and potentially can use her parking space for £5 a day if the council haven't taken use of it for the weekend...:D
So £100 spent on tickets for us both but should be a lovely weekend away and whilst Britney isn't my usual cup of tea it will be ace to see her perform!

Lots to look forward to this summer- Download festival in June (Guns & Roses baby!), Italian wedding in July, Brighton Pride and seeing my favourite band The Used in August, then Singapore & Oz in September. :j

Last day of the month so will check if anything to tilly tidy from the joint acct and can then declare totals for the 2018 mfw thread and update my picture calendar thing I made!

Hope everyone is having a nice chilled weekend and that the Easter bunny is good to you: :EasterBun