Plodding determinedly up a 300k mountain!

beanielou

So lovely that you spent time with your Grandma & sometimes MSE just goes out of the window.
Sorry about work though.

Karmacat

What beanie said! I'm not into flowers for me personally, but I do buy them for other people (and sometimes baskets of flowering bulbs, that can be planted out into the person's garden afterwards. Thats very popular, when I do it).

Good bargaining with the kitchen company!

michelle09

Thanks beanie and KC! I'm not into flowers either, plants (particularly edible plants) but my grandmother is, and she has talked about them all week.

Kitchen
Generally I was unimpressed that they wanted £325 extra to paint a small kitchen and that couldn't be calculated in the initial quote. Maybe the room changed in size while they were doing it?

In better news, the fitters (who I have no issues with, just the sales people!) think they might be done next week. Which would be wonderful - OH's birthday is a week Monday. I've ordered a cake (which cost a small flipping fortune) as OH likes to have a bit of a fuss made over birthdays. It would be great if we had it all done by then.

The kitchen is looking great. We have an extractor fan now (didn't before, probably partially why it was covered in grease) and the knock through to the living room is really good.

Work
I had a second meeting/interview based on the position I went for a few weeks ago. Maybe I'll be back working in west Africa by the end of the year. Trying not to get my hopes up too much.

Free time
Off this weekend, although OH isn't, so my parents came down to London for a visit and treated us to takeaway pizza instead of cooking which was lovely.

MS Successes
- Mum bought our fluffball some Aldi cat food, which is cheaper than the Asda stuff. She has happily gobbled up the wet (14.5p a pouch) and the dry (89p per box). Proud of my MSE cat, and will just stock up on cat food when we go back to my parents.
- Sold the dining table and chairs for £50 last week. Ordered the new ones too, which is very exciting. I've started planning for how we will decorate when the repairs are completed and it's so exciting.
- Tutoring agency have finally sorted out their money troubles and I have got £200 without having to chase it. So put it on the mortgage.

Current Balance: £246,500.00

Goldiegirl

I'm currently in selling furniture mode too. I've got 4 pieces of furniture on eBay at the moment. We are hoping to have the larger pieces of furniture out of the way before we go on holiday in March, and then have the fun of buying stuff when we come back. As you say, it's all very exciting

beanielou

Great news on the pennies coming in.
My fur ball only ate the aldi stuff for a wee while and then went off it :eek:
Hope your cat continues to be MSE

michelle09

January 2018 Figures
Parent Loan (0% interest): -£1500.00
Mortgage Balance (1.24% interest): -£246,500.00
Student Loan (1.5%): -£17894.12
Remaining Repair Estimate: -£12,000.00
Current Savings: £9903.02
Total: -£267,991.10


2018 Targets:
1. Pay back £1500 parent loan Set for Feb/March
2. Complete all house repairs Kitchen will be done next week, electrician coming for wiring quote tomorrow. We're getting there.
3. Reduce overall figure to £240k Over 3k closer to that figure in January.
4. Build up £10k emergency fund We have £5k right now, will work on it after repairs are done.
5. Find a new job Working on it! Couple of applications out.
6. Lose excess 3 stone Hahahahahaha... nope. Stupid foot. Seeing a specialist in March.

beanielou

All looking good though

Karmacat

That *does* look good - except for your foot and March is still a fair time away

try_harder

Great targets for 2018 ,you will do really well if you meet all those .

michelle09

Thanks. The foot is a pain KC, and being a little ambitious on stairs with my crutch seems to have pulled a muscle in my chest. Can't flipping win, and I am trying not to let it get me down!

This weekend we have been celebrating OH's birthday. We ordered pizza and I put together a few things like a new GoT oven glove, and a couple of tshirts. His sister felt that she'd not done enough recently and has just got a huge payrise so sent a PS4 and a flight to visit her in the US. Was a little overshadowed but OH is super happy with everything so it's been a good day.

My other SiL, BiL and nieces came round yesterday. I did a quick shop in Asda Friday night to pick up picnic type food (kitchen will be done tomorrow) and picked up a couple of baguettes for 15p each, pork pies at 10p for a pack of four, 8 gluten free sausages for 60p and a selection of Pukka pies for 25p each. Gotta love the reduced counter.

Current Balance: £245,800.00