Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

misscousinitt

Hope you feel better soon KK.

MCI

Kittenkirst

Thanks for the well wishes Misscousinitt; Migraine hasn't shifted- ended up cancelling afternoons meetings/calls and taking the time off. Still feeling pretty rough now though.

Had my end of year review earlier in the week, should hear if I get any annual bonus middle of February- fingers crossed. I'm putting half of any bonus I do get aside and for a holiday (gf's 40th this year!) and the rest on the house/OPs

atypicalblonde

Hi Kittenkirst, I hope you start to feel much better very quickly, migraines really are the pits aren't they.

Keeping everything crossed for you that the review outcome is positive and you get that bonus x

Watty1

Ditto what ATB said x

Kittenkirst

Thanks both, still feeling a bit rotten today but the migraine has gone, just have an odd sickly feeling.

Not sure how the bonus will go as I've moved to an annual bonus scheme at work instead of the old quarterly one. From rough calculations when I took this job last Jan I anticipated the bonus would be around £1800 less than what I used to earn (due to the weightings of business performance) so anything I do get in April will be a bonus!

Off to Costco tonight to get stuff for the housewarming tomorrow- we're anticipating 20 people over so will make a huge pot of vegetarian chilli with quorn mince and a lot of veggies, with rice, wraps, guacamole, salsa etc

Started a shopping list: quorn mince, tortilla wraps, large cake, coffee and will see what things are cheaper at Costco and then nip to Aldi after for anything cheaper there

After food we are planning some games, then going into town for a night out, we have people staying over so have airbeds ready to blow up, and taking everyone out for brunch on Sunday. Should be a very busy weekend but I'm very much looking forward to it.

Payday today so I'm going to do my money shuffling & buy the download festival tickets I've been umming & arghing about, however I won't be buying the ugg boots that I feel in love with and then found them for half price online.....I don't need new boots and an experience like a festival with friends will be the money much better spent life is about living, not about material things. I must keep reminding myself of this, as well as working on decluttering!

pawlala

great reading your diary, enjoy the weekend!

Kittenkirst

Hi Pawlala thanks for stopping by & reading!

Put our grocery budget into my accounts app and set it at a rather high £160 for normal shopping- I'm hoping it will be an awful lot lower than that however I'm conscious we have two dinners with friends planned this month at our house!

CathT

I have the FD regular saver and somehow manage to find the £300 a month to fill it. I had no plans for the money (some of it is the childrens' as rates offered were dreadful) which is a bonus. Potentially a big overpayment or money towards a new car. Would be lovely if we could just re-invest it though.

Re: your migraine. Are you eating enough? Noticed you had it on a day where you seemed to eat very little. I only ask as I get them very occasionally and they seem to be linked to me skipping meals and my blood sugar dropping.

themadvix

Hope you have a fab weekend KK!

Kittenkirst

Thanks TMV for the well wishes

CathT I think my migraine was more exercise followed by a glass of wine related; I hadn't eaten much that day by lunch but had a massive meal (spaghetti & meatballs at Prezzos- totally delicious) the night before.
I usually take rehydration salts as part of my exercise regime as I get terrible heads when running if I don't take them, but only had half my usual quantity when I ran the 8km so not sure if that's related or not!?

Weekend went pretty well: Fridays Costco trip went okay- got things like coffee, a lot of cheese, etc but they had put away all the food tasting stations when we got there, we managed to talk ourselves out of buying takeout & had pizza from the freezer instead.

Yesterday morning was all abit stressful with people changing plans, some people deciding on the day they would come & being vegans had to get special food in etc, however in the end it all went well I think! We ended up paying the bar bill as we had been debating it for a fortnight, and there's a part of us thinking we aren't going to get married so this is the only big family celebration we'll have, so we covered the bar bill for the 23 people.....very lavish for us but, we can afford it if we'll just cut back in other areas.

Went for brunch this morning with everyone who stayed which was fab (& we weren't allowed to pay for our brunch) and then some additional family came back here to see our new home. Luckily we got up early before our guests and de-extended the dining tables, washed all the dishes, put all the rubbish & recycling out, swept & mopped the floors

We spent all morning yesterday cooking up all the foods: made quorn chilli with kidney beans, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, peppers etc.
the veggie chilli, rice, wraps & nachos went down a storm and we sent some people home with pack ups, and we have some for dinner tonight and for the freezer. Lots of guacamole,sour cream & salsa left for dinners this week so will plan lots around the leftovers and see if we can put off this weeks food shop (& save the £40 budgeted!)

5p overpayment sent to mortgage today following paying for some food stuffs yesterday. Now watching Dark Angel (the one with the lady from Downton Abbey) and chilling on the sofa. Girlfriend is fast asleep snoring gently, we're both cream crackered now!

Chilli wraps for dinner tonight to use up some leftovers ;D