Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Kittenkirst

Busy_Mee1 wrote: »

:eek: to £1600 for Marina Bay....never mind you can still go up to the viewing platform, if you get time. I hope you do get time to do a few other things in Singapore - there is so much to see and do. The orchid gardens on the bay are lovely, Raffles is worth a visit- but just have a Singapore Sling as the food is expensive and not worth it. Definitely take the boats along the river too. The food courts are great and very cheap, you just need to be quite brave as it is difficult to know what everything is. I am excited for you :j

Definitely will try- we're there from Friday until Monday night (11pm) so hoping to be able to trek around a bit in the mornings and on the Monday. We've now booked into a Hilton which is 35 min walk from marina bay but metro looks easy enough and we're not shy of walking. It was very competitively priced, we did look at the pod style places they have there but can't say I was keen at all. Really looking forward to all the street food :heartpuls:

Roast dinner was lovely- friend is a wonderful cook and it wa great to be around her kiddies- so adorable and they say the funniest things!

Working in the office tomorrow so have made some more of those banana and strawberry bodycoach muffins and cooked some chicken for in mini wraps for lunch. Will prep some fruit in the morning- strawberries from the market and satsumas and possibly another snack- pretzels maybe. Trying to avoid spending tomorrow and aiming for a NSD- will go to gym and yoga tomorrow night to get Monday off to the best start too!

Kittenkirst

Morning all,
Just one more day until payday- hurrah!

I've been working away the past few days ooop north so have had return drives followed by the gym & yoga (a bit dull I know but I'm enjoying it!) however went out for a friends birthday last night to Las Iguanas and it was a bit of a disaster. We had a voucher for 25% off the new menu but ended up with a round and a half of free drinks too due to the abysmal service- over 1 hr wait for two people to get their first drinks, then the waitress just said nonchalantly we're busy (it wasn't even half full and plenty of waiting staff!).

Such a shame as we really like it there usually but it ended up being £25 for our two shares of the bill to the discount and awful service!

Managed to avoid the siren lure of the frothy coffees in all the services up and down the motorway this week so I'm pleased with that. Gf and I have a freebie on our Starbucks card so going to use it tomorrow night after the gym and share a huge frothy almond milk latte I think :heartpuls

We've had two (dead) mice this week!!! :eek: one from each cat and they always leave it on the only carpet in the house (stairs & landing) or the living room rug. Terrors!!

April money shuffle tomorrow and will be my bonus month yay! Then next week the regular saver matures too so will pay off my portion of flights from the 0% points credit card and a chunk for my teeth work.

Last trip to dentists today for my whitening treatment and also to rebond a bit of my retainer as it's come lose (she struggled getting it to fix in that spot as the tooth kept bleeding- I have small teeth so it was a battle to hoover up the blood and get it bonded last time). Fingers crossed it's fairly straightforward today although I'm not looking forward to it at all!

themadvix

Hope dentist trip goes well!

From friends I've heard that it's worse if the mouse isn't quite dead... then they creep under something to die and you're none the wiser until the smell starts!! :eek:

CathT

Hope dentist went ok.

A_Frayed_Knot

Sounds as if trip is coming together, what a terrific time you are both going to have.

As for bathroom decor, ever thought about wall stickers, you can get scenes or sayings from ebay - beach view through windows or bathroom/life sayings.

Thought this would make you smile -


https://www.rosegal.com/wall-sticker/cat-animal-3d-removable-bathroom-1207456.html

PurpleFairy26

Sounds like you are having a great time planning your time away. We love Bradgate park too can you recommend a yoga place. I've been to one in sileby but they don't do classes at weekends. Thanks.

Kittenkirst

PurpleFairy26 wrote: »

Sounds like you are having a great time planning your time away. We love Bradgate park too can you recommend a yoga place. I've been to one in sileby but they don't do classes at weekends. Thanks.

Ooooh PurpleFairy- I've been going to Hotpod yoga in Leicester city entire since it opened in October and can not recommend it highly enough.

It's based in an inflatable purple pod with low lighting, aromatherapy oils and humidifiers in there. It's wonderfully heated to 37 degrees so you build up a good sweat and it eases your muscles into positions.

If you fancy giving it a try send me a privately message and I can refer you- you get a free lesson and I get a £5 credit to my account.

I've heard good things about B-yoga also in town but believe that's a bit stricter (not allowed to drink water in class and longer sessions) but haven't tried it just yet

Kittenkirst

A_Frayed_Knot wrote: »

Sounds as if trip is coming together, what a terrific time you are both going to have.

As for bathroom decor, ever thought about wall stickers, you can get scenes or sayings from ebay - beach view through windows or bathroom/life sayings.

Thought this would make you smile -


https://www.rosegal.com/wall-sticker/cat-animal-3d-removable-bathroom-1207456.html

That is AMAZING! made me chuckle!!

Kittenkirst

Dentists went okay, thanks for asking all, but I forgot my trays so they didn't get to do the whitening treatment but they did fix the retainer that had come loose on the back so that is much better. Going back on Tuesday after work to get the final treatment and pay the last installment and then it's all done! Hurrah!

Pay day was yesterday and received my bonus so the pay day money shuffle has taken place

I put a portion of my bonus (£200) to the Mortgage and alongside our monthly OP of £312.45 (which makes the monthly payment £1k) so its been our biggest OP this year so far.

It makes our 2018 payments a nice chunky £1,416.26 which is 47% of the target this year.

The plan is to continue a few months at OP of £312.45 but to taper it off towards our Oz trip and for the month we get back.

We went for our second climbing lesson yesterday and I still found it nerve wracking! Will continue with the course and then see how confident I feel after it but very glad we are trying it and trying out something new

Went to the market this morning for our fruit & veg before 10am yoga class, then we went to Costco to look at chicken costs- is actually the same as buying at tesco so will take a look at local butchers next. We ended up spending only £8.70 which is amazing for us in there (dried cranberries for nut/fruit packs in lunches, a mahoosive bag of spinach and a 6 pack of kippers (2 packs now in the freezer) and one out to make kedgeree next week for a supper

I broke my plan of one bought coffee a week as gf asked me to get her a karak chai (Indian style) from a fab place in town after my 7am yoga class yesterday (as I had the day off so wasn't in a rush) so I picked us both up some and also got her parents a cup each Andy dropped it in for them on the way home (they loved it and were suprised you could get proper Indian spiced tea freshly made) so I've bought two coffees this week for me, totalling £2.60 for a flat white earlier in the week and £6.50 for the four teas yesterday.

Will try again for next week!

Kittenkirst

This morning I've woken up with muscle soreness (DOMS) in my shoulders/arms and bum from yesterday's workouts.

We've signed up with an online fitness coach (who lives in the town next to us so we can go and see him ) to formulate us individual workout plans and provide nutritional advice. We know what we are doing mostly but feel that we've got to a good point but need better direction now to achieve our goals before Australia.

So I've completed four gym workouts this week- three from the plan, one before I received my plan as well, plus three yoga sessions & a climbing session this week. I was supposed to go to yoga this morning but have a fair bit of DOMs in the shoulders/triceps so the gf and I are heading out for a nice morning walk instead to get moving but not stress the body too much.

The shock has been the meal plan- he's given us an example for one day as told us to then emulate this with other foods but equalling the macros- on his day there is a lot of asparagus, COD,salmon, asparagus etc :eek: so will have a play with that and substitute for more budget friendly but healthy foods :rotfl:

Also the calorie count is a good 565 per day over what I usually aim for not sure how I feel about it but will give it a go and see for the four weeks! May as well try something new and see how it goes!

There is also limited cardio- 8minutes twice a week. I've been itching to go for a run now we've had the good weather and have been watching the runners on the treadmill at the gym with some envy I must admit (who'd have thought it!!!!)

Managed to have a good YS haul at our local Tesco's yesterday- an avocado for 40p, a rotisserie chicken for £1.60, lettuce for 30p and then a cucumber at full price for 50p. So we had a lovely dinner of chicken, Nando's sauce (from a chrimbo gift set), sweet potato Cajun wedges, and a chopped salad. Chickens leftover for a nice salad for lunch and we're off to a friends for dinner this evening