Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Kittenkirst

Evening all you night-owl MFW-era

Struggling to sleep this evening, so watching some late night Law & Order SUV whilst Hugo snoozes on my feet. He has a happy little
life.

Yoga and gym sessions yesterday split by a lovely Sunday lunch at gfs parents. Today has been a working from him followed by stand up Paddleboard (SUP) yoga. Yoga was great fun, although the instructor managed to knock into my board toppling me into the cold river water :rotfl:luckily I had packed a change of clothes and my cheapie water shoe things worked perfectly. Clothes all now washed and hanging on the aired to dry overnight.

Ordered two more pots of fence paint this morning- on Amazon reduced to £12.99, everywhere else is selling only 1litre pots which doesn't go far at all. Should arrive for the weekend so we can masking tape up all the bolts etc on the gate and get it sorted. The fence looks fab in the spring rosemary colour we've chosen, all ready for when we sort the garden out next year.

Today was an auspicious day in the Hindu calendar so we've eaten purely vegetarian today, supper was a simple cheese toastie with some ketchup as was starving after SUP yoga but not feeling like cooking a big old meal.

Struggling with a summer cold at the moment so have been focussing on keeping the fluids up and taking my multivits- get the cold outta the way now as in 10 days we fly!

Seeing friend from down south tomorrow, she's been my best friend for years but barely seen/spoken over the last 8 or so years. We re off to see Incubus together and she's stopping over at the house. Spare bed is all made up ready- just need to keep the cats off the bedspread

Laser eye payment of £116 went out today, 2 our of 36 paid so far- will be counting this down quite a while I think.

In car news gf and I are debating selling our two/ part exchanging them and having just the one car. When we travel for work (other than to our home office) we have to use company hire cars so sometimes there are four cars on the drive which is ridiculous and our two home cars don't get much mileage on them and we often travel together....we're mulling it over as both are very used to our freedom. However, gf is a total petrolhead so will have her heart set on an expensive car I'm sure......plenty to think about for next year!

Kittenkirst

Credit interest received today of £1.43 which had been OP'd, alongside a £3.13 Tilly today starting September off nicely.

£4.56 so far for September but we are now on full countdown to holiday. I have been copying itinerary details into a new little book to take with us so we do not lose track of the plans and bookings :heartpuls bought for £1.50 this evening alongside three vegetarian options from Sainsbury's (will claim back from Shopmium).

Went to see Incubus in Nottingham last night- best friend from sixth form travelled up to Leicester and stayed over so I was taxi to the gig. The band were just great and we had a fab time, nice to sit and just catch up as it's been over four years but she's the kind of friend it feels like we last spoke a week ago and we just slot into our friendship. We've arranged to catch up again in January and have booked the date- think we'll go to visit her in Winchester and make the weekend of it. Something to look forward to in grey January.

We have family over tomorrow and have promised the guys wings from a great place in town- just spotted they are doing but one get one free Thursdays now- it's like it was meant to be! Ha

Time to catch up on Vanity Fair and then get off to sleep!

themadvix

Friendships like that are the best Glad you had a good time!

Kittenkirst

Cash back of £5 from Shopmium received and gf received hers so all the nice new veggie stuffs was free (veggie burgers, veggie mince & broccoli/cheese bakes all times two.

We have been trying to clear out the freezer (oooops!) which had been going well until the Shopmium haul! :rotfl: tonight we had oven chips, I had a cod fillet (Shopmium offer a while ago) and gf had a reduced haddock fishcake from Lidl which we froze a while ago too!

Got three lots of chicken out for tomorrow as have friend over for dinner- we're doing oven pizzas (will use the last pizza in fridge), buffalo chicken (body coach recipe) homemade low fat coleslaw & garlic bread. Quite looking forward to it really.

Started trying to sort some of our stuff for holiday- we have lots of bits ready but I am trying to work out what I want to pack and then trying to reduce it by half....no easy feat!!

A_Frayed_Knot

Just popping in to say - Have an absolutely Fantastic Holiday !!! :j

Not popping in as much, so may miss your departure date, so thought I ought to get in now

Look forward to reading all about your adventures:cool: Enjoy your trip of a lifetime !!!

jodles16

Hi KK!



You are so good at balanceing OP's, pensions and life! So impressive! Glad the kittens are growing well and keeping you on your toes! Also super jealous you got to see Stone Sour! Love!


Your upcoming travels sound amazing, love all the activities that you are doing, I am looking forward to trying more things but need to lose a lot more weight before I can (sadly over the weight limit for the paddle boards and cannot lift my own weight for climbing!). There is a page I follow which offers beginners rock climbing courses in the Lake District, this is one of my goals!


I will be checking in again soon!


Jodles

Kittenkirst

Morning all! It's 5.15am here in Townsville and I'm wide awake. Gf has come down with the flu so I was woken early today to help her.

Holiday has been fantastic so far- Singapore, Sydney, Brisbane, Mooloolaba, Fraser Island, Whitsunday Islands and now we are headed north today to Mission Beach. Think it looks be a slow drove today with lots of stops for the gf.

Holiday budget is going well and we still have a lot of cash between us which is great news. The Whitsundays catamaran tour was just amazing- beautiful islands, stand up paddleboarding , kayaking, snorkelling with schools of fish & sea turtles :heartpuls true bucket list moments.

We've been missing everyone back home a fair bit, but are getting regular updates on our boys from the cat sitters, as well as camera snaps of the boys tinkering round the house!

Overpayment for September was a mini £4.56, so I just transferred an additional £5.44 to make it at least £10. This brings 2018 to £3010.58

Kittenkirst

I've been struggling to sleep since 2.15am today, I think by the time we fly home my body clock may have finally adjusted to Australian time

So, I've tossed and turned loads and have completed a little banking and reconciliations.

Had a surprise eBay sale of an apron we got from an experience day (another one still up for sale!) so I've messaged the buyer that postage will be on Monday next week. I've offered a refund if they need it sooner so will see what they say. If they are happy though it's a nice £9.50 to start the OPs for October.

I then checked Quidco and withdrew £2.40 to OP once it clears. Unfortunately prolific is only at £2.2 so a little more is needed to get that up to cashout status- deffo something to focus on when back
Home.

I drove us up to Mission Beach yesterday which was a gorgeous 3 hour drive. This place is a lot mire village like than some of the places we have stayed and is stunning, but food is a bit pricey! (£50 for some sweet potato fries, one beer, one coke, 3 sliders and some not so good mini ribs last night!)

We didn't stop at the planned waterfall as gf was still feeling awful with the flu, however a nice snooze in the car and easy day yesterday meant she was much brighter and feeling alright for a nice dinner together. Will amend today's plan to drive out to the Atherton Tablelands and visit six waterfalls. Will investigate and we'll stop at 2 on our way to Port Douglas (mainly to break up the long drive and see some bits off the beaten track).

We're then in Port Douglas until we come home (from Cairns) so hopefully gfs flu will subside and she can relax in PD :beer:

themadvix

Sounds like you're having an amazing time! Hope GF is feeling better soon though!

Kittenkirst

We're home!

Holiday was just wonderful, but I can't express how happy we are to be home!

I came down with the Aussie flu not long after my last post but luckily our plans in Port Douglas were a bit more relaxed than the first part of the holiday. We managed to visit three of the waterfalls- I even got brave and swam in the Millaa Millaa falls (where the Peter Andre Mysterious Girl video and the herbal essences hair flick advert were shot!) - it was blinking cold though, but a pretty fab moment!

We still managed to visit a local wildlife sanctuary to feed some 'roo's on one of the days where we didn't feel good (it was less than 2km from our apartment) and we waited until we were over the worst of the flu and still got to drive to Cape Tribulation and get off the beaten track for a bit- it was indescribable and I'm so glad we went!

Getting home was 31 hours of travel and yesterday was mainly sleeping, with gfs parents bringing some home cooked food for dinner (they are wonderful- potato shak with roti's! )

Cats haven't left our sides since we got back- I woke at 3.30am to release the little vole brought in alive by Hugo and haven't been able to sleep since- felt so hungry! I've now decamped downstairs with Harry Potter on, a cuppa and a slice of toast to try and help with my body thinking it's lunch

Plan today is to go do the grocery shop- a big Lidl has just opened next to our Tesco so we're going to go have a nose. I've also checked cash back apps and there's a few bits from Shopmium at tescos worth us getting (4 breaded cod fillets for £1 etc) so have added those to the list.

Right, will crack on with the order of the Phoenix (my favourite HP!) my cuppa and Hugo strokes (he's curled up on my tummy!) :heartpuls