Cherry takes the reins

WannabeFree

Hope you have a lovely day & Happy new year

All the best for 2019

x

Cherryfudge

Thank you, lovely ladies.

I'm not sure I'll be online later today - work then family get-together - so I'm sending 'happy New Year' greetings here and now. :beer:

And the financial good news is, having started December last year with a mortgage of £12,350-odd, I now have it down to just under £6,000. I'm not likely to get it paid off completely this year but should certainly be much less than the bank's projected end date of five years hence. Off to update my signature.

Sun_Addict

Oh wow fab mortgage news - well done!

Happy New Year :beer:

WannabeFree

Brilliant over payments Cherry you've done amazing!

x

Cherryfudge

Thank you Sun Addict and Wannabe

Yesterday I had the milk bill to pay - £6.57 from housekeeping, plus groceries which were £7.47. Total housekeeping = £14.04.

A lovely end to 2018: a quiet shift at work, and I came home liberally spotted with cocoa powder, which I haven't done for a while - I bake when I can there, but mostly it's been about doing my actual job and that includes cooking meals. I was rather disappointed to find the spices there are generally depleted but that can be put right. It was all in the cause of not wasting some eggs, of course, nothing to do with me enjoying myself.

After work we had a family get-together so those who had been away over Christmas could exchange gifts, so I now have some more spending power for e-books or some such. I have my eye on a nice tablet cover but I am tempted to fund it myself so I can still get my downloads 'for free'. Is that cheating?

Anyway, a good end to the day and the year, though I suspect I was the only one with all the words to 'Auld Lang Syne' .

Day off today and I've started as I mean to go on by going for a run with DH then doing ALL my physio, so my main muscles are wobbly and I can't type straight. I am therefore off for a Costalot with DH.

I hope you are all enjoying the sunshine and that the year is getting off to a good start.

redofromstart

That's enviable progress on the mortgage by you, one day we will get there too.

Happy new year!

Honeysucklelou2

Wow, that's fantastic about the mortgage figures, well done.

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2019.

Cherryfudge

Thank you Redo and Honeysucklelou, I must admit I am happy about it!

DH and I went for our coffee (£6.70, with a biscuit) then mooched round the book shop, which was about the only other place open. Town was peaceful - I like it that way! I spotted a French language calendar (a phrase a day) which appealed to me as I'd resolved to improve my patchy French. It turns out the shop doesn't accept an ordinary book token but offered to buy it off me in exchange for one of their own - perfect for both parties as that's the only 'real' bookshop I ever get to. The calendar was half price, too, so I still have most of the token and a calendar that was 'free to me'.
We paid a quick visit to DFiL, watched a gorgeous sunset from his flat and came home, since when I've been endeavouring to get the year off to a good start by filling in the main calendar (not the French one). I'm getting wound up! I have filled in known training dates, appointments, anniversaries and birthdays: it's the unknown birthdays that are causing tension. Too much of a perfectionist. I think I have them all sorted out now, so the next step will be to start work on my resolutions/bullet journal.

I meant to add I've also invested in the paid version of my running app as it works out cheaper than that tempting gym that I never get to. I think I've mentioned before that I used to go and really enjoyed it but it's very costly in our area and I would burn roughly the same calories walking or jogging there as I did on the machines! I'm not into swimming and the only class I tried was enormous, so the only thing I learnedwas that other people are a lot more advanced than I am. In the end I cancelled my membership. Running is free (well, almost - if you can ignore all the costly add-ons that money-makers have added to it, says she who just paid £30 for a running app). I decided I'd allow myself a one-off gym session when the weather is miserable, but I've decided this before and I never get there.

DH has been very productive, by the way. We are still trying to find the colour for the chimney breast - I can visualise it exactly so he has downloaded an app that lets you try colours out on photos. The nearest so far is called 'peas on earth' which made us laugh. DH has also bought me another kitchen cupboard - we are very money-saving here as our kitchen is so tiny. I had insisted that our next big expense after the 'big holiday' was to do the kitchen up. As it turns out, we put in the log burner first, but I've put my foot down about the kitchen. I'm not after anything fancy, but cupboards and tiles are necessary as far as I'm concerned, and cupboards we can put up ourselves. I know some people can do tiles but I doubt we could get them even. Oh dear, I'm waffling on. No more putting that calendar off any more!
Spending:
Hobbies £29.99 (app) (+5.99 off gift card)
Entertainment £6.70

HairyHandofDartmoor

Your new year's eve sounds good. It's always nice to spend it with family. Well done for getting your mortgage so low. You're in a great position to pay it off really quickly now.

Your mooch that included coffee and books shops sounds idyllic . A running ap will be much cheaper than gym membership. I think exercise in the fresh air is more beneficial anyway.

Cherryfudge

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

A running ap will be much cheaper than gym membership. I think exercise in the fresh air is more beneficial anyway.

I like the fact that it throws random challenges at me. Each route throws up different challenges. Also we are blessed to live in the town but close to the edge of it so I can choose my terrain. Out on country roads is my favourite but if the weather is a bit rough or I haven't much time, I just go through nearby estates.

I've finished the calendar. Phew. Well, when I say 'finished', I mean I thought it was finished then remembered an appointment and all my shifts were still in the diary. Then I spotted a clash so I've just made a note to myself to see if someone will swap shifts. What was nice was realising I have quite a lot of leave booked between now and the middle of February, though some of my time off will be spent sorting at Mum's old house.