£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

PurpleFairy26

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

Bad night here too TOPM.

However... mincemeat cake??? Please could you share a recipe, sounds interesting and I love both cake and mince pies, so this sounds right up my street.

I use this one, can use apples instead of pears.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/166620/pear-and-mincemeat-crumble-cake

wishingthemortgaheaway

PurpleFairy26 wrote: »

I use this one, can use apples instead of pears.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/166620/pear-and-mincemeat-crumble-cake

Ooo, thank you.

Honeysucklelou2

Mincemeat and marzipan loaf is always a well loved cake at this time of year in our house!

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 49: Day 4

Blah, I am not loving this week. Too busy! Just getting ready to go off for two days' work (only one of them paid - the other is training). Staying with a friend so at least no huge expenses involved, although will need to buy a bottle of wine or something.

Not a lot to report on the debt busting front. I'm waiting on a couple of bookings to come through, which will hopefully boost the finances, but nothing definite yet.

Oh, mincemeat cake. I use this recipe https://lovinghomemade.com/2014/05/11/mincemeat-cake-use-up-leftover-mincemeat-from-christmas/, without flaked almonds as I'm not a fan.

I don't really have a to do list for today, as it consists of 'get everything ready. Leave'. Of course me leaving means getting the DCs ready for two days as well, so it's not as simple as just getting myself out the door (which is all DH has to worry about when he goes away with work :mad: ).

To do this week
1. Sort and tidy our room. Have made a tiny start on this.
2. Plan a workshop I have to deliver in Feb. Have also made a start on this.
3. Plan any handmade gifts for birthdays/Christmas 2018 so I can ensure they are done well in advance.
4. Organise food so the menu plan is stuck to while I’m away on Weds night. Done, just need to give MIL the list of food etc.

To do in January
1. Review 2017 spending and try to improve 2018 plans by being more prepared - plan big spends like holidays and Christmas now and be realistic about the cost. Done with DH before doing SOA.
2. Redo SOA once the remortgage is through. Done.
3. Make a 2018 business plan that is less frenetic than originally (I think I had too high expectations of myself, leading to much stress in Nov/Dec). Done.[/QUOTE]

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 49: Day 5

Another day without a real to do list, as I'm away from home until this evening. Overspent a little yesterday buying food/drink to bring to friends' house where I stayed last night, but it was still cheaper than a hotel/driving back home and out again, so I shan't get myself in too much of a twist.

Have overspent on house things this month. Things that have been on my list - more bread proving baskets as they have been so useful and I only had two, a new thermos for DCs' lunches, new shower curtain as ours was mouldy and disgusting (and clients use the bathroom so it's very visible to be judged), fountain pen ink, new soap dish as I can't find a liquid soap that doesn't make my skin peel in winter, things like that. All very useful and while not essential, making life significantly easier, but have added up to a fair bit this month - around £100. Our budget is only £15 per month for things like that, so it's come out of the extension savings pot.

Have had so many booking enquiries recently that haven't turned into anything, always a bit worrying as I panic it's all drying up! Am hoping one of the bigger ones comes off as it would make such a difference to getting further ahead in my monthly pots - I really wanted to have March's salary covered before I got to the end of January so I was officially another month ahead of myself, but that won't happen if one of these big bookings doesn't happen.

To do this week
1. Sort and tidy our room. Have made a tiny start on this.
2. Plan a workshop I have to deliver in Feb. Have also made a start on this.
3. Plan any handmade gifts for birthdays/Christmas 2018 so I can ensure they are done well in advance.
4. Organise food so the menu plan is stuck to while I’m away on Weds night. Done.

To do in January
1. Review 2017 spending and try to improve 2018 plans by being more prepared - plan big spends like holidays and Christmas now and be realistic about the cost. Done with DH before doing SOA.
2. Redo SOA once the remortgage is through. Done.
3. Make a 2018 business plan that is less frenetic than originally (I think I had too high expectations of myself, leading to much stress in Nov/Dec). Done.

Cherryfudge

Staying with friends seems to be the way to go.

I'm also noticing I have quite a few small expenses for the house that add up. When you're as busy as you are, it's worth oiling the wheels of life with a few things that just make it easier. After all, thinking your way around impediments is going to use time, energy and focus. Even a little of these takes away from how much you can put into more important things.

Drive safely on your way home tonight. There's six inches of snow a few miles from here and thick slush in town so if you have similar it will add to travel times.

And here's hoping for one or two big bookings to come through soon!

cocalls

ok im sorry to bring this up but the bit below worries me(its funny how much you can care about people you've never met)

but have added up to a fair bit this month - around £100. Our budget is only £15 per month for things like that, so it's come out of the extension savings pot.

If you really really want that extension then you cant keep dipping into the pot and hoping to top it up later. I reckon only the shower curtain was an absolute essential everything else could have waited until you had the money.

earthgirl

We used to put the shower curtain in a hot wash (fabric type one) and it stayed really clean.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 49: Day 6

Ahhhh, back home. Busy couple of days away, and barely slept on Wednesday night - my sleep seems to be very easily disrupted at the moment! Loud wind during the storms kept me up.

Agree that the house things were (a) optional and avoidable and (b) lubricate the wheels of life. That's the trouble. We are busy and some things make life significantly easier - the proving baskets for instance were £12, which is pricey, but I make 8-12 small laoaves of bread a week (I 'pay' my mother in sourdough for childcare, as well as our own bread consumption, as she loves it, and it seems a small price to pay!), and make them four at a time, and the two proving baskets I have are SO much easier to use than tea towels in bowls, which inevitably the dough sticks to and are a faff to clean afterwards. Yes, I can totally manage it (and have been), but when it's something you're doing 2-3 times every week, you really notice the extra effort involved. I have bleached and washed the shower curtain plenty of times, which has helped it last 2.5 years, but it just wasn't coming clean any more. Soap dish obviously optional, but again it's a constant hassle having peely hands and needing to keep adding hand cream, and a soap without a dish would go slimy and manky and irritate me immensely. And the thermos flasks are so useful for lunches as it's easier to find soup/macaroni cheese leftovers than to create an interesting cold packed lunch some days. So I completely agree they are all non-essential, but have all improved life noticeably. Yes, we need to save for the extension, but a delay of a month to make life more comfortable doesn't alarm me too much. Obviously if it keeps happening every month we may need to reconsider our priorities though!

Still no confirmed bookings, although I think I will actually get one quite good one confirmed for next week - you kind of get a feeling for enquiries that are going to turn into customers and which are just going to peter out.

Looking forward to a quiet day with DC3 today, and catching up with house stuff. Am in the midst of trying to have a major major declutter of kids toys, as I don't think the quantity they have is doing them any favours.

To do today
1. Check the laundry situation and do some as necessary (I suspect that precisely none has been done while I was away, although I notice my MIL has kindly done my ironing :T ).
2. Do a menu plan and shopping list for DH to do on the weekend.
3. Clear emails and any other work admin that's hanging around.
4. Pay the mortgage broker.
5. Dp some decluttering/tidying.
6. Plan weekend work.

To do this week
1. Sort and tidy our room. Have made a tiny start on this.
2. Plan a workshop I have to deliver in Feb. Have also made a start on this.
3. Plan any handmade gifts for birthdays/Christmas 2018 so I can ensure they are done well in advance.
4. Organise food so the menu plan is stuck to while I’m away on Weds night. Done.

To do in January
1. Review 2017 spending and try to improve 2018 plans by being more prepared - plan big spends like holidays and Christmas now and be realistic about the cost. Done with DH before doing SOA.
2. Redo SOA once the remortgage is through. Done.
3. Make a 2018 business plan that is less frenetic than originally (I think I had too high expectations of myself, leading to much stress in Nov/Dec). Done.

Treadingonplaymobil

Sigh. Guess who forgot to check how much the mortgage broker fee would be and budget accordingly. Almost exactly the amount I had put put by from the remortgage to boost all the annual savings pots. So between the loan being more than expected and the remortgage fee, that's the whole extra amount written off! At least it didn't have to go onto a CC, but so depressing to think we were further ahead then discover that we are in fact still totally broke.