Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Kittenkirst

Morning, struggling to sleep so up and ready for the day.
£12.14 cashback from CheckoutSmart finally cleared Paypal so it’s been swiftly overpaid bringing December up to £33.36.

In other news I was at one of our northern offices yesterday and fortunately it was my extended teams canteen Christmas meal which I got to join in on so I got a free Christmas lunch (turkey & trimmings with cheesecake for pud!) which was fab!

I was in my local office yesterday and they were giving out mince pies so I had my first one of the year too :heartpuls. Quite nice gestures from my workplace to enjoy the festive season and increase engagement.

MichaelDH

Hey KK

I'm fully up to date on your diary once again! My diary has been neglected as not making OP's and currently just saving towards our extension and new kitchen and bathroom. Start date is now January, but not holding our breath as was supposed to start in October!

Your OP's are still very impressive! It's great that you and your partner still managed to enjoy life with trips away and festivals etc.as well as making OP's and adding to your various pots of savings. Just show's that it is possible to do this without making too many sacrifices.

Did you ever get any where with matched betting? I'm still debating whether to give it a try but there's so much to get my head around before taking the plunge!

I noticed there's an offer on here for peer to peer lending via RateSetter, so going to read up on that over the weekend. Invest £1k for 12 months and get £150 cash back at the end of the term plus returns of 3% I think... Also thinking about registering for a dummy account on one of the stock market sites to see how I get on. Thinking if there is a bit of a dip come March 2019 then the only way is up!

Keep up the good work! :beer:

Kittenkirst

Hi MichaelDH, great to hear from you
I gave the matched betting a little flutter and tried a few intro offers which seemed to work largely all but one bet where I got it muddled. I stopped it though as I don’t have a laptop at home and its difficult to do it on the phone/iPad as many sites aren’t compatible. Tempted to have another go but would need access to a laptop to give it a go again.

Fingers crossed for January for the extension- sounds expensive!

A very, very spendy day was had in our household today. We went off for early morning yoga together and then set about Christmas party dress shopping, 50th birthday party dress shopping & Christmas present shopping.

I’ve been saving up my pure card balance (like gift vouchers but on a MasterCard that a lot of places accept) and ended up buying the following:

4 dresses- purecard- £149- at least two will be returned once tried at home with relevant shoes etc (as well as triple checking wardrobe to see if there’s anything I can re-wear instead!)

Brothers Christmas presents- majority now bought (3 cds, a box set dvd, gameboy travel mug, novelty socks a, smal choc) - cash & purecard (already bought a star wars Christmas jumper half off at Sainsbury’s and a lynx box set in sale)

Brothers gf present- £35 next vouchers, novelty choc, colour pencils and pencil case., Travel mug and glove set- Pure card and cash used.
We have already got her some adult colouring books brand new from oxfam (£4 instead of rrp of £22 and in perfect condition!) & a nice superdry smellies set bought at 70% off on sale

Secret Santa for gfs brother -Nando’s chilli sauce set- pure card used

Secret Santa gifts from gfs m&d (cheeky but makes their life easier!)
Secret Santa gift from gf

Bracelet online for gf- cash purchase
Photo calendar for gf- cash purchase
Already bought her the expensive perfume she’s been eying up all year (using purecard too!)

Face cream for me - to help with the rosecea - purecard

Goth girl shoes I’ve been eyeing up on killstar for months- ordered with £10 off to see If they fit/suit me for the Christmas party. Paid cash.

Then called in at Iceland and got our turkey crown for Christmas Day and some freezer bits for general food shop.

The purecard is pretty much spent now but will get top up on Friday (payday) so can use for any more Christmas bits we need to get hopefully. Also when I return some of the dresses it will have a good balance again (a credit balance as it’s a voucher card)

As we are away next weekend at a relatives party (is my birthday weekend too), we had a treat lunch in town at an old fashioned veggie restaurant that I love. Yum and such a treat!

We were cream crackered after yoga and the shopathon but we have number crunchers and still have a fair bit in the Christmas budget left for the next sets of presents needed which I’m pretty pleased with. I think we’ll spend a fair bit less this Christmas than we planned through some good planning, strategic buying in the year and also saving the gift vouchers from work.

Gf is snoozing so I’ve finally watched the last American Horror Story: Apocalypse episode and loved it. I like how they’ve weaved all of the previous series into it so cleverly. Coven, Murder House and Hotel have been my favourites and they wove in very well.

Off to read some diaries and get some zzzz’s

Kittenkirst

Ohhh forgot to mention that I saw about the Debenhams Beauty club on an insta post about a month ago so I signed up when I bought gfs expensive perfume for Christmas. I received an email about my birthday next week offering a free 15 min facial from Elizabeth Arden and a free brow wax from Benefit. So I went and asked at both counters yesterday and am booked in for Thursday after my team Christmas lunch in town.

It will be great timing as my work Christmas party is on the Friday night and the 50th birthday party is on Saturday!

I also noticed a sign at the till in Debenhams yesterdaybfor two hours free parking so they paid £3.50 towards our parking for shopping yesterday (which was £7 before the discount). It all adds up doesn’t it

Betterthanever

Great work on the freebies. I've gotten out of the habit of looking around the boards for ideas and inspiration so I really ought to revisit these things in the new year! Got to love a freebie.

Kittenkirst

Yeah I often forget to have a look on those boards etc as I find I get tempted to spend, I spotted it on a debt free community poster on Instagram so thought as I wa spending a lot I should at least sign up. Pretty pleased with it, and the half price parking was a bonus as we were planning big spends in Debenhams (they accept that voucher card and do a good range of different bits for presents as well as the Christmas do dresses!)

newgirly

We are all massive American Horror story fans here too

Kittenkirst

Am home and tucked up in bed with little Hugo wanting attentipn. Gf has stayed in the hospital tonight but looks to be a whole lot better than when we went in which is a massive relief.

She’s snoozing away when I left so I got a chip cob on the way home (it was either that or the dreaded Golden Arches). She had dinner at the hospital and I took in some snacks when I nipped home for her overnight bag so she should be comfortable (well as much as she can be).

A_Frayed_Knot

What a day you have had. At least gf looking/feeling better, hopefully food will stay down.Let gf know the MFW team (meaning me) are asking after her.


Good friend of mine, has hubby in since last Monday, very unwell with pneumonia. Must be on the mend though, as he is starting to say - he's fed up !!!

themadvix

Hope GF is better soon - it doesn't sound at all nice!

Target for next year sounds good. It's something we need to think about here too!