Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Kittenkirst

The shed only needed the three coats and it looks ace now. Amazing what a bit of paint does. 

We are now going to jet wash the patio down to get rid of any splashes of the paint and then re-seed the lawn edges. It’s looking lovely now and makes shielding in the garden quite nice really.

Oscars GPS tracker arrived yesterday so we swiftly put it on him and tested it out. Then he went out in the evening. This morning we noticed the gps hadn’t moved since 3am so went to where it last pinged to find the collar & tracker on the fence. Little monkeys not been home since and he has his annual boosters tonight....he needs to be home for 4.30 before we have to cancel the appointment. I think he’s sulking somewhere in the woods

In mortgage news I had two small bits of Quidco cashback cleated so sent the £3.24 sent to the mortgage to kick off this months overpayments! 

We also had to amend our holiday booking for next year to Cyprus as I made an error with the dates. The good news is it’s two days shorter trip now so saving of £250, however the amendment fee is £100 so only a £150 saving overall. But at least it means my download festival is not in jeopardy (as was originally booked to be in Cyprus on the same dates) doh!

themadvix

Good news about the shed - it's amazing what a tidy garden can do for the joy it brings!

Naughty little Oscar, what a cheeky thing! I hope he pitches up in time for his appointment (unless he's been reading the calendar, in which case, there's no hope!)

Hazelnutty

@Kittenkirst Did you ever see that TV programme that put GPS/videocollars on all the cats on a street? It was so interesting seeing all their habits and how the owners had no idea - one was the neighbourhood bully, another was sneaking in and begging food all over the place etc etc.  I'm quite tempted to get collars for our two so keep us posted on Oscar's movements (if he keeps the collar on!)

Kittenkirst

Hazelnutty said:

@Kittenkirst Did you ever see that TV programme that put GPS/videocollars on all the cats on a street? It was so interesting seeing all their habits and how the owners had no idea - one was the neighbourhood bully, another was sneaking in and begging food all over the place etc etc.  I'm quite tempted to get collars for our two so keep us posted on Oscar's movements (if he keeps the collar on!)

No I didn’t see that tv show but sounds super interesting!
So the naughty little scamp came home at 4am this morning rather loudly! So his vaccination is now on Thursday next week and I’ve managed to put the tracker on his other collar and it’s stayed on whilst he’s been home all day so fingers crossed.

Its a great thing from what we’ve seen of it, with a remote light too so when we followed him on Tuesday evening we couldn’t see him in the bushes until I turned the little blue light on! He just needs to keep it on now so fingers crossed.

Nice little surprise from Quidco today as cashback from Debenhams Christmas sale finally cleared £9.34 and I originally spent a Christmas gift card making it even better  It’s been overpaid to the mortgage today- slowly slowly drop feed that mortgage.

Its a week until my payday so just trying to minimise spending as anything I carry over to next month will be sent to savings for new job/Cyprus trip/download festival  

Hazelnutty

Just found it 'The Secret Life of the Cat' on BBC2

Kittenkirst

Hazelnutty said:

Just found it 'The Secret Life of the Cat' on BBC2

Will find it on iplayer and give it a watch 😊

Kittenkirst

D day at work has been and gone.
We had all the announcement calls for the big restructure today and follow up calls and essentially they are massively reducing headcount s but it’s unclear exactly how impacted I am. So have to wait for official consultation to start on the 24th and then they share more details
Which should make it clear how I’m personally impacted . So for now we continue to wait it out and see what happens.

its so hot here at the moment so we’re inside with the blinds down and the fan on

Oscar has been a right tinker- we tracked him over a km away at a ‘farm’ and he stayed there a good 36 hours. We went round there last night and found it’s a mahoosive mansion, surrounded by a big old car junkyard and shipping containers. A few workmen told us that there are wild dogs there and they hadn’t seen Oscar but the tracker showed he was there. When we left the cheeky monkey came out and went into a barn. He ended up trotting home at 3am right before the storms and has been inside all day sleeping - tuckered out from his gallivanting! 

Some quidco cashback cleared for £9.34 so that’s been sent to the mortgage and now just waiting for payday on Friday for the monthly payday shuffles.

I have to pay for my download festival (2021) ticket this month as well as the campervan ticket and remaining instalment for the campervan hire so that’s a chunky £380 to pay this month. Thankfully my spends are still super low due to covid restricting our movements so much! 

Hazelnutty

I'm sorry you still have to live with uncertainty over your job @Kittenkirst

Oscar sounds like what my late grandma would have called 'a bit of a one'

PurpleFairy26

Sorry the uncertainty over your job continues, but you continue to be very sensible with your spending and planning. I hope you get positive news soon. 

Oscar sounds like a proper galavanter! 

Kittenkirst

He is indeed a right one, isn’t he. He’s been home inside the house a bit more after his latest jaunt, so we think he tired himself out somewhat. He decided to venture over the canal last night and all the way to an industrial estate. No wonder he’s sleepy all day!
We’ve ordered a second battery for the collar and this is working well- we simply unclip the tracker when we get an alert that the battery is low, swap it over and reclip it back on and Oscar has no grumbles.

It’s now been five weeks since little Hugo passed away, and I have to admit I am still struggling with it daily. I still instinctively look for him in his normal spots, and when I wake up I look to the bottom of the bed for him, as he always used to then meow and come up for a cuddle in the duvet. We both miss him so much.

Yesterday was payday so the money shuffles commences. £850 to bills, £380 to the credit card and friends for the download ticket and campervan spends, £400 to the savings pot and £137.50 sent to the holiday savings pot.

I can’t remember if I have updated about next years travel. Some good friends are getting married in Cyprus in May. The bridal family are all booking TUI packages, however we were going to book our own flights and maybe an apartment etc as it worked out around £600 cheaper for the week. However, with all the Covid issues this year there isnt much available to book independently online and the TUI flights for the right dates were filling up fast. So we’ve taken the plunge and booked a package trip with TUI (also confident that it is covered by ATOL etc as is a package). It is much more expensive however it does mean we are definitely going and the bride & groom are happy we have confirmed. Weighing it up it felt the right thing to do (even if I hate the extra expense!). We are staying at the sister hotel to the happy couple (which is awfully cheaper as it’s across a road, not direct on the beach!) and have done b&b board only- we tend to only then eat one meal when out and about anyways due to heat etc. Something to look forward to for next year, now to sort out the fitness  regime!

The groom is the same age range as us (he’s 41) and mad into fitness, his bride to be is now 28 and one of those ladies who eats what she wants and is a perfect size 8 (as are her gal pals!). So, a good fitness plan is in order to help me feel confident in myself for the big day and for any days with them in swimming outfits

Me being me though I have been looking at YouTube vlogs and normal vlogs and have started a bit of an itinerary for us to explore the island- hopefully get a cheap rental car for a day and see some of the sights. We’re not the type to just lay on the beach in the sun so hopefully we’ll be able to get a bit of adventure in whilst we are there and also enjoy the wedding festivities!

Small overpayment of £12.45 made to the mortgage, which will round up
our standard payment on the 20th (£687.55) to £700. Only a small
amount but little amounts will
inch us there. We have  a few big bills this month- service charge for the grassy areas of our estate (leasehold house nightmare there), boiler service once shielding ends & house insurance so we will see what’s left in the bills account once that’s all paid and squared away. 

Overpayments are now at £759.03 for the year which is just under £95 a month which isn’t too bad given what we had planned for this year and what’s actually happened