Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Kittenkirst

It appears my lovely long post this morning didn’t post- balls!

Today involved an early morning yoga session (which was fab and sweaty) followed by baking the Christmas cake that I mixed up yesterday (added the eggs today though!)- thought as I was home it would make sense to have the oven on today so I could wrap up warm and then have some heat from the oven.

I called Sky over the astronomical bill- it’s because we are now out of contract....checking our paperwork they are right but so cheeky to not tell us (I know that’s how they make their money!) so I got different prices today and will call up tomorrow to see if I can haggle. We don’t need the sports channels anymore (fine whilst free but not if we have to pay!) so that saves a bit already.

Dinner tonight was some three chilli sausages gfs mum gave us yesterday roasted off in the oven with some wedges butternut squash and onions- served it with the purple sprouting broccoli we had leftover which was divine :heartpuls

Trying to sort out Christmas is proving difficult- brother and gf are coming however I extended the invite out to my mum (very long story but we don’t have much contact and I barely see her but she spoke to me on Facebook and she was going to be alone for Christmas so I’ve invited her over- no one should be alone). However, I thought my bro and her got on well but it seems his gf has been falling out with our mum and so bro has too....I’ve had a few chats with them re olive branches etc but think he’s already upset mum by saying he doesn’t want her there (!)

So.... we’re going to play that bit by ear but I’ll start planning the menus over the next few days so we can start getting bits ready- the turkey is already at gfs parents in the freezer

Kittenkirst

Oh yes and it’s stonesour gig on Thursday night- friends have bought an extra ticket so there’s three of us going, and as it’s my birthday next month they are treating me to dinner in leeds- we all have the afternoon off to head there, scoff some tasty dinner and then rock n roll! These are my friends who I’ve been to download festival with a few times and get on really well with- I’m super excited and other than a bit of petrol money to my friend it’s a free night out- wahooo!

michelle09

I used to live near Bicester - would never touch it at lunchtime. Glad you had a good day, did you not find the perfect pair of £300 jeans?

Have fun at Stone Sour, jealous of your free tickets!

Hope Christmas sorts itself out soon.

kirtsypoos

KK I'm just delurking regarding sky, I held out until the day the contract ended and then went on live chat and managed to get 75% off and some account credit (basic TV package for £5.63 a month which the account credit then covered for the year). I'm doing the same at the moment. I cancelled last week and so far I've been offered 25% off the day I cancelled and then 40% yesterday so I'm sure there are much better deals to be found shortly

Kittenkirst

It certainly works Kirtsypoos- they called me yesterday and after some discussion and me refusing to pay £121 a month or accept a £7 discount as a good deal (!!!) we now have the same package as before but without sports (we’re both not too fussed about that!) for £5 less than what we were paying on the intro offer- hurrah! So broadband, full tv package including HD and multiscreen all covered now for a decent price

NSD yesterday but have made up for it today as have ordered some of he gifts my brother and his gf were after- used 10% off codes or Quidco where appropriate so all ordered. Also ordered 6 months of contact lenses online, also using a new customer 10% off code so should all be sorted for some time.

Due to Christmas present spending I have moved some funds out of savings to cover the upcoming spends and ones already put through.
I’ve also done some money transfers to gf for recent spends out as we are still putting as much as we can on her credit card so we can get the points for Oz!

Experimental dinner yesterday- bought some frozen chicken mince from Iceland a few weeks back (£2.50 for 500g and 3% day!) and made a chicken mince chilli- added in some bendy veg (ninja blitzed some carrot ends left from grating in salads, rescued a very dodgy looking half pepper) and added onions, half tin black beans, chopped up butternut squash and some fresh chillis. I made it in the afternoon so we could just reheat once Home. Gf had it with a toasted wrap cut up like tortillas & spinach whilst I was at silver class, I had it on a jacket spud with leftover purple sprouting brocolli when I got in late. Yum and an additional portion in the freezer for another day.

Not sure what to make for tonigt- I have yoga at 5.30pm which looking forward to. Just curled up on sofa with a wheat bag, a blanket and the two kittens having a cuppa. Will crack on with some silversmithing today- have an order for two pairs of earrings so will knock them up today to earn some pennies for the hallmarking fund.

Pinecone survey just completed and off to check YouGov and Onepoll

Kittenkirst

Completed the silver earrings order- lady ordered 3 pairs after seeing the sets of beads in the colours she liked. So all sawn, hammered, filed and posted off yesterday. After postage the £19 has gone to savings earmarked for the hallmarking fund (£76 so far- need to get £220)

Last day of the month and a £1 TT just put through- total OP this month was £157.33 so for the year so far it’s £2,295.87 which is goodhoing, just need to keep persevering in December.

Just been looking at prices of a perfume that I really like- I thought it was a cheaper one but a quick google tells me I got it very wrong! However I did find that people sell perfume testers for £3.75-£4 a time!!! :O we’ve been using up all our testers that we got at that Sheffield shopping centre open night. If only we had known!

About to make some apple, blackberry and cinnamon porridge (grating it seems to cause less issues with the braces) and the apple gf brought home from work as she didn’t eat it

Off to the Stonesour gig later today, going to get myself washed and dressed after breakfast (counsellor has told me I need to keep a routine) then going to give the house a Hoover and tidy up. Friends are picking me up at 3pm so we can get to Leeds & get some dinner before the concert. Very excited

Kittenkirst

A last minute credit of £3 received from PineCone last night meant a pre midnight OP, taking the November total to a final £160.33

Gig last night was fantastic, so impressed with it as a freebie from First Direct- we had access to a lounge bar but didn’t use it as friends Hubble was unable to join us so we got our drinks and joined him in the general area. We didn’t have to queue in the cold rain to get into the venue and they gave us vouchers for free French fries, mini tub of icecre and bottled water (value £12.50). As we received two we shared them amongst the three of us!

Stonesour themselves were just fantastic- full on rock show with fireworks and streamers! Corey Taylor really got the crowd going and we were singing and dancing along in our seats. Totally what the doctor ordered.
Arrived home at 2.30am so a bit tired today but it was worth it!

Have listed my broken Fitbit charger and a set of Nightmare Before Christmas baubles on EBay, gumtree & fb selling so far this morning and made a bracelet for a commission (£14 to the Hallmarking fund once they pay next week!)

Had a call with my boss this morning which whilst upsetting for me (I got a bit overwhelmed) it was a positive discussion so things are heading in the right direction. Have set some time aside this afternoon to work through some of the mindfulness exercises and will go to yoga this evening and have a nice night in with the gf and kittens tonight which should help

We’re off to sunny Oxfordshire tomorrow for the Raymond Blanc cookery day course- a winters dinner party menu is the title of the course and we’re very much looking forward to it. What a wonderful gift from her brother!

Off to find more things to list on ebay/Gumtree/Facebook!

Kittenkirst

Another ten items listed on the Bay of E- finally listed the Fortnims wicker mini hamper and some of gfs hoodies. Fingers crossed for some sales in the run up to chrimbo.

Pinecone survey completed and Yougov is now at £49.50- sooooooo close! That £50 would be amazing this year....come on

CathT

Hope that 50p survey has popped up for you!

Glad you've had some time off to recharge and collect your thoughts.

Kittenkirst

Thanks CathT, I think the time out is definitely helping me- it’s giving me some space to work through the anxiety and practice the CBT. The NHS counselling team have now been in touch to start that so I will call them tomorrow and see what help they can offer. It makes sense to try different things and give it all a go, it can’t hurt.

I’ve been using the Headspace app and that’s going positively too, anxiety is still there but the washing machine stomach and panicking/crying is reducing a fair bit. Will keep working on it

£6 tilly tidy (down to a round £100 in our joint bills account) and the £1.26 interest in the same account has started the December OPs off

Had a fantastic day yesterday- it was the gfs birthday present for her brother of a full day cookery course at the Raymond Blanc cookery school. It was an early start leaving the house at 6am but well worth it- Le Manoir is a beautiful place and we got to meet Raymond Blanc who was very warm, charismatic and flirty! He chatted for about an hour with our group (which apparently is unusual). Gf asked him about his favourite dessert which he described to us and then insisted the tutor show us how to make it so we cheekily got an additional dish added to our day!

We cooked some amazing food- Jerusalem artichoke soup, winter spiced duck breasts with celeriac pur!e, cranberry compote and a duck sauce, chocolate fondants, scallops with cauliflower, and Raymond’s favourite apple tarte mama blanc. We ate loads of the food and learned a lot as well as having a fantastic day.

To balance out all that richness we went to yoga first thing this morning and then didn’t eat until dinner of homemade Kung Pao chicken and greens :heartpuls:

Now just catching up with master chef and the Kittens- who are loving their catnip advent calendars....they keep rolling on the floor after :heartpuls: