The ups, downs, and occasional sideways bits of trying to be mortgage free

armchairexpert

Dinner out yesterday was lovely. Expensive fancy pizza, but two shared between the three of us and we just had one drink each, so not too ridiculous in the end and it felt very treaty.

Dentist tomorrow morning, which I am not looking forward to either physically or financially. And then the girls are over at my Mum's so we can have an evening out, and I'm still not sure what we'll do.

armchairexpert

I've just spent an un-fun half an hour trying to make YNAB balance after a horror weekend.

The dentist was $305, which was better than the worst case scenario (last year the same procedure was $600: this time the health insurance picked some up) but I had nothing in reserve for it. Mr E and I went out for an anniversary dinner just the two of us, which was extravagant but it's been a bit of an ongoing tension that we so rarely go out together so it was worth it. And Mr E is on a bit of a spending rampage generally, having decided that we need to replace lots and lots of our kitchen ware. So far he's bought a new crockery set ($300ish), new tea spoons, a set of fruit spoons (?) and he wants a table cloth, wine glasses and new mugs. It does all 'need' buying in that ours is old, chipped, etc., but what's set him off is that we're hosting Christmas so it all suddenly has to be bought now and not in the Jan sales.

And I think I already said that he needs a new phone.

So the savings pots have been raided, again, and I guess I'll just hope that some day we won't have an unexpected $1000 worth of expenses.

Christmas is worrying me, too. I do have quite a lot of money set aside for it, but it's increasingly clear that we're a bit at odds here. Mr E is happy for me to budget generally, but he's not going to compromise Christmas, so instead of keeping costs down to X, it'll cost what it costs and I'll find the money somehow.

We're not going into debt, or anything, but we're never going to go on holiday at this rate.

armchairexpert

Monday morning, nothing much is happening, hopefully a NSD. Took Doggie to the off leash park this morning where she played chasey with a couple of similarly-speedy dogs so now she's utterly exhausted. Just polished off a fried egg and ham sandwich and strong coffee, because apparently I'm a trucker now, and settling down to work. This time of year I appreciate my study being built into the lower slope of my garden: it's a good five degrees cooler than everywhere else, so I don't even need a fan although it's 30-odd degrees outside.

armchairexpert

The new crockery set is discontinued, or at least the plates are, so Mr E is stressing out and emailing me links because he wants to make a new decision today. I bet we end up spending more. I can feel it in me waters. Part of the problem is that every other dinnerware set includes mugs, and he went and bought 12 mugs yesterday. I am irrationally irritated by the whole thing.

Nothing else to report! Turned leftover roast beef into an excellent stir fry yesterday, and am trying to decide whether to make the planned vegetable curry tonight or swap it out for a salad given that it's hot. Such an exciting life.

wishingthemortgaheaway

Can you return the 12 mugs?

VelvetFreak

Chuckling to myself re. the mugs. I am a very calm person, but that's the sort of thing that would make me lose my mind.

I vote tap the brakes on the crockery, there will always be something similar or better turn up.

armchairexpert

We've opened and used the bloody mugs, unfortunately. He had to have them! They were on sale!

The whole thing is because hosting his family sends him into a anxiety spiral that he won't admit. Last time they did, he power-cleaned the outside walls of the house because on some level he was convinced his Dad would criticise their cleanliness. So he doesn't feel that we can wait.

We have compromised by buying 10 large and 10 small plates from a different set to mix-and-match with the bowls from the original set which were still in stock, hopefully for the same price but from two separate suppliers. Ridiculous.

VelvetFreak

Oh no. I am sorry that MrEs family makes him feel that way Better luck with future crockery pursuits.

armchairexpert

There will be no future crockery pursuits if I have a say in it! Hopefully this'll do us for the next fifteen years.

I've gone into 'stuff it all' mode to be honest. This morning is very hot, so I ditched the meal plan and went and bought a bunch of fresh salady things and expensive feta and new season peaches and I don't even care that I am going to blow the groceries budget. The next instalment of the overtime will sort it all out, it just won't go to what I was hoping it would go to any more, i.e., a holiday. We'll live.

So no NSD today! Big Girl has a friend coming over this afternoon, which tbh I am dreading a little bit, because the friend is nice enough but she's staying fairly late because her Mum has an appointment, and there will inevitably be some tension on the subject of Whether Little Girl Is Allowed To Join In/Now She's Trying To Boss Us About, Mum/It's Not Fair I Never Get To Play With My Friends. So I've done the only responsible thing and laid in cake.

VelvetFreak

Oh dear Ace, you poor thing.

I am the oldest of two girls and am still scarred from having friends over and my younger sister annoying the bejesus out of us :rotfl: