And so it begins: The Pig Vs The Mortgage

pinkypig

Much better today Wish - wall to wall sunshine:). Hope you were able to get out and enjoy it, being confined to barracks with a little one can be a challenge!

My balanced approach to my days was a bit out of kilter today but I did get the kitchen and the hall way spring cleaned and painted. They were so grubby . Nice and fresh now though.
I did get out in the sunshine early on as I had an expenses cheque to pay into the bank and I needed laundry liquid from £land and some bits from HB. Green lentils are back :j. I'm so easily pleased:rotfl:
In total I had a £9.08 grocery spend but I've got at least a month's worth of pulses and laundry liquid and a £1 hair dye that will touch my roots up twice:money:

I popped into my favourite charity warehouse to have a look for travel books on Thailand for dd and to see if there were any potential eBay items. There wasn't either but I did get a lovely pair of Clarke's shoes for work for the summer. They are immaculate and a serious bargain at £3. I also found a 6kg kettle bell that I be been hankering after for a while so another £3 spent but its a right fancy one that can be altered to weigh 2, 4 or 6kg:).

Other mfw successes were;

Cheap healthy eats (overnight oats, lo for lunch and ys sea bass and hm savoury rice for dinner)

Gave my self a quick trim - its less terrifying now and it looks quite nice. I always found the hairdresser cut too much off the length. I just tidy up the ends

Got a load of laundry line dried

Had a long chat on the phone with my sister


Tomorrow I'm having lunch with a friend, we usually go out but in the spirit of shifting this b****y mortgage we are meeting here. I've shoved a load of 19p S6 veg in the sc with some tinned toms and a load of spices so we can have curry and have left it on low overnight. There's lo pilau rice, Bombay potatoes and hm naan in the freezer lo from Easter Sunday so it'll be nice and easy as well as thrifty . I'm really enjoying more entertaining at home and it saves a fortune. Win/win:)

The kids are seeing their dad this weekend and so I'm going to have the holiday part of my holiday:):)

Happy Thursday, hope its been a good one

PP xx

wishingthemortgaheaway

Sounds like a fabulous couple of days. Pickle and I did get out in the sunshine yesterday, but you've already read what happened. I'm a complete numpty.
Today is looking similar on the sunshine stakes though.

Karmacat

That sounds like you packed in a load of stuff yesterday, PP, great stuff. I confess though, I never shop at HB (you mean Holland & Barrett, yes?) if I can avoid it - their pricing policies throw me into a tantrum every time I see their Point Of Sale literature :o:o I buy basic dried peas and beans from Sainsbo or Asda, then top up every so often from an online site I was recommended to.

Love the sound of everything else - and you've reminded me that the washing machine finished 20 minutes ago, and I still haven't hung out the washing. Off to do that right now!

pinkypig

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

Sounds like a fabulous couple of days. Pickle and I did get out in the sunshine yesterday, but you've already read what happened. I'm a complete numpty.
Today is looking similar on the sunshine stakes though.

Hope your foot is better Wish xx

Karmacat wrote: »

That sounds like you packed in a load of stuff yesterday, PP, great stuff. I confess though, I never shop at HB (you mean Holland & Barrett, yes?) if I can avoid it - their pricing policies throw me into a tantrum every time I see their Point Of Sale literature :o:o I buy basic dried peas and beans from Sainsbo or Asda, then top up every so often from an online site I was recommended to.

Love the sound of everything else - and you've reminded me that the washing machine finished 20 minutes ago, and I still haven't hung out the washing. Off to do that right now!

Hiya Karma:wave:

It's Home Bargains, do you have one near you? Theryre brilliant for toiletries, cleaning products and store cupboard stuff .
Hope you're enjoying the better weather. Isn't it great to be line drying again? I love the smell of line dried laundry:)

Karmacat

Oh thank heavens! I hear great things of Home Bargains, absolutely - but no, they aren't in my town. I just went to the store locator on their website, and the nearest is over 20 miles from me, in a very rich town, with no direct train route

And yes, like you, loving the line drying - it was just windy enough here that things were 95% dry when I brought them in

Have a lovely "proper holiday" weekend

pinkypig

Morning :wave:

I've begun my staycation:). I spent yesterday doing a few jobs so that I can enjoy a guilt free few days of r&r. I also had an at home lunch with a lovely friend and it was so nice as we didn't feel the need to rush. We had two courses and coffee for effectively nothing as it all came from stores :money: At home entertaining has been a real switch for me and I'm a convert:D

The holiday part of the holidays has got off to a fine start with hm curry and a couple of glasses of my favourite wine. I'm going to have to be disciplined given how much I've got available:rotfl:

Today started with coffee in bed and a couple of chapters of my book followed by a run along the river and through the woods with my very favourite running buddy followed by a day of pottering. I baked some picnic goodies for when we are out and about this week while the good bike fairy fixed my bike ready for our epic (for me:o) bike ride tomorrow!
Lunch was hm soup using S6 leeks and ys artisan bread and as the rain arrived the afternoon has been spent reading in between turning the sloes from the sloe gin into jam and making some flat bread dough to go with tonight's tagine.

We started watching The Fall last night and it was really good so another couple of episodes and a maximum two glasses of wine tonight as I don't want to be hungover for our long bike ride tomorrow!

In money news I claimed £5.31 account rewards so I'll os that when it arrives in my account. I also spent £7.95 inc postage on a pair of long, leather boots for work off ebay which is less than I paid to get my old ones heeled and soled! They are really good quality and would retail at about £150 :eek: really chuffed with them . I'm going to be well over on personal spends this month but I'll have a refreshed work and summer wardrobe and I should still be on budget YTD as I was under budget in January and March. Just need two more things and I'll be done:)

Happy Saturday to you

PP xx

michelle09

Aww...HomeBargains. One of things I really miss about living in the NW!

Your staycation sounds wonderfully relaxing.

pinkypig

michelle09 wrote: »

Aww...HomeBargains. One of things I really miss about living in the NW!

Your staycation sounds wonderfully relaxing.

HB is fab:)

Today was initially relaxing but turned into bootcamp Michelle:rotfl:

Enjoyed it though! Hope you've had a lovely weekend:D

pinkypig

Evening :wave:

A love!y, relaxing start to the day reading and drinking coffee in bed followed by 26 mile hilly, occasionally muddy but very beautiful and hugely enjoyable bike ride. First one I've done in decades! All that spinning has given me match fit legs but but less skills in the safe in charge of a moving bike, especially around corners department :rotfl:
No spends apart from the carpark as we took all our own food and drinks.
Off for a bubble bath followed by a heat up batch cooked dinner, a glass of wine and an episode of The Fall if I can stay awake!

Feeling a good sort of tired and very content with my mfw life

Happy Sunday to you

PP xx

pinkypig

Hello :wave:

I'm thoroughly enjoying my staycation:). Today's adventure was a hill walk which included two decent peaks and one minor one. It was so clear and sunny, you could see for miles including the distant tops that were covered in snow.
Parking was free (in a lay by) and lunch was a hm picnic using the stuff I made on Saturday. As we were late back dinner was batch cooked veggie dhansak, poppadoms and Bombay potatoes from the freezer so all in all a lovely, full day for nowt:D

In money news I've had a nsd but I've had to give an eBay refund for an undelivered item:( I've got proof of postage so I'm hoping I'll be able to claim it back from RM. I've also got a lot of live listings now and bids on two items :j. I've ordered 50 self seal postage bags for £2.86 to make packing a bit quicker and easier.
Other than keeping on top of the laundry and home cooking I've done nothing but enjoy myself:). Two more days to go and then its knocking off the last few jobs before I go back to work.

Off to watch an episode of the fall before an early night - I'm pooped!

Happy Monday to you

PP xx