Trying to beat this thing called debt..

Kittychick

Yes, these two are very bouncy.. Currently crashed out on their bed together.. I said to H yday that they're all legs and tail!

Reb2016

The kittens sound lovely, and well done on the savings great progress :-)

Kittychick

It's going to be an expensive few weeks though, not even adding Xmas into that equation. The kittens need their vaccinations at the end of the month. We are looking at doing the thing where u pay £99 and it covers their vacs for life but to do that you have to also pay £49 each for the first vaccination. So that's nearly £300 in one go. Then at 5 months they both need neutering. Not something we would not do but we might spread that over 2 months, get girly Cat done first so we have no risk of babies then the next month get little boy chopped. I mentioned before we are saving £30 a month so that will go towards it and rest will come from savings we jointly have. The £30 a month will carry on being saved into an emergency account that's separate to normal savings just for household.
Older cat who it's easier if I call Tabby for now isn't happy but I'm hoping it will ease off. She was never best mates with our old chap but she tolerated him. We are hoping she'll come to see that they aren't a threat to her and she'll just ignore them-they don't take much notice of her so hopefully it will get boring soon.
Doing an extra short session at voluntary job#1 today, so I might pick up a couple of bits while I'm down there-we are out of baked beans which we use once or twice a week either for tea or lunches. Also getting at least a couple of batches of chunky broth made today-I made a fantastic broccoli, cauliflower and blue cheese soup at weekend from some very sad broccoli and some cauli scraps.
Looking to get a tub of bns and lentil daal made this week too but want to check what's in the freezer first. Spare freezer is emptying well, I think all the ready-meals(batch cooking) are out of there and into day to day freezer, need to see what else I can move over, might be able to defrost spare freezer be weekend and get that ticked off October list.
Back later...

Kittychick

Right. I made two pots of broth in the soup maker, had a bowl for lunch, H will have one tomorrow and so will I. That will leave about three or four portions to freeze. Really love my soupmaker(s). This time of year I usually make at least two lots each week and they're so handy to just switch on and leave.
Small shop this afternoon, couple of bits from b+m and also got some yellow stickers from Morrisons for tea. Couple of meals to add to this week's meal plan then we'll be sorted-I found a couple of big tubs of butternut squash and lentil daal in the spare freezer so that's a meal this week and next. There's also at least 4 portions of chilli and 6-8 cowboy pies without the mash so again each of those will be a meal this week and one next, I'll just get extras to go with them-might make some cheesey mash for one night with the cb pie. Spare freezer probably less than half full now, mainly bread products and falafels in there (H went mad when they were on offer in Costco and it's only him who likes them!)
Right, my bedtime
Back tomorrow :A

Kittychick

Well, all that sorting out of the freezers isn't always such a good thing..
We have lots of frozen fruit and generally use it each breakfast. Yesterday I spotted a small bag of strawberries in the spare freezer and put them with the other breakfast fruit, I remembered to use them this morning. I had mine with weetabix, raspberry yogurt and lots of other berries. A couple of mouthfuls tastes abit odd and I wondered had I somehow transferred some garlic/onion type flavouring into my bowl or on my spoon from making Hs lunch. H has a similar breakfast but with plain milk, he started eating his and I was recounting a story I'd just heard on the radio to him and his face was a picture... He started saying 'is there something cumin-y, or curry flavoured in this?' I said I'd noticed a slight taste but that he was having it anyway but id get him some honey to cover it a little. I assumed that somehow either the fruit had got tainted or the new packet of weetabix was. Later this morning I thought I'd get a couple of strawberries out to defrost and see if it was them as we'd used all the other fruits earlier in the week. I got one out, thought it looked a bit odd... Maybe a touch of freezer burn on what had been a slightly mushed strawberry. But no, it wasn't a strawberry, it was a beetroot falafel! We had just had weetabix, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and beetroot falafels in warm milk or yogurt.... Really should label those bags! :T

Happierdays

:rotfl:oh no kittychick! Sounds like the sort of thing I could easily do as I never label anything stashed in the fridge or freezer... a lesson to us all... now where are those labels...

wishingthemortgaheaway

That is a brilliant story. It's made me laugh.

Remind me not to visit at breakfast though.

Reb2016

Love the story:rotfl: I have a craving for beetroot falafel now though

Reb

Kittychick

Lol, thanks all... It was just plain weird at the time and I think that was because I didn't get the full force of them as they were slathered in quite strongly tasting raspberry yogurt.... H however only had milk to cover it... And his had been heated up in the microwave too! He's threatening to just go back on toast but that's not going to happen lol
Yesterday was NSD 6 so I'm getting there, only 5 more to go...need to stay strong, I'm very tempted to go into the big city today just so I get out of the house but that would mean leaving the kitts all day... And also it would be spendy... Hmm, have to make a decision.
Ive got to get cracking with my Xmas making too which I can do at home or while I'm out so that doesn't really narrow it down. I'll pop back in later to update on any breakfast related incidents

Kittychick

Well, it's Saturday again, and probably time for a bit of a catch up.
H had his big meeting at work, it went well or as well as is reasonable to hope for. His job and those like him is safe they are saying but there's no guarantee that in two years that won't change. Without going into detail, his really successful dept is being merged with a much less successful department but his department will be swallowed up..makes no sense to lose an over subscribed department to a very under subscribed department but hey, who am I to point out the glaringly bloody obvious... So his job is safe, others who are on temporary contracts not so. They will stay temporary with no security at all.. Even ones who've been there 2+ years. Absolutely !!!!. Did I mention the only reason the staff in the dept found out stuff was changing was cos their dept disappeared off the website....??!!!!
Anyway, moving on.. So we know where we stand in the medium term, we will continue to overpay the mortgage-slightly each month and next year is the end of our fixed term, we are looking to get the new mortgage for the same amount but over less years, keeping the payments the same as we are comfortable at that level. We have a chunk of savings in the bank and I hopefully with be getting another double figure chunk this year so if need be we can use that to drop the mortgage amount and then build the savings again. Not really sure where to go on that one.
We have water coming in through what we think is chimney leading, waiting for a recommended guy to get back to us about next week. Can't get renovations on the bathroom started til that's done and dried out, as we would be taking alot of the plaster off anyway this isn't too gutting to be honest.
We have been looking at options for the kitchen as well.. Since we moved in 3+ years ago really. A wall in this room is affected by the leak but other areas not so. Our kitchen/dining room is a weird shape with it split in the middle by a supporting wall, we are looking at taking that down and making it into one big space. It will mean paying for a surveyor to come in and sort out what levels of supports are needed and then a builder to do it for us. It is a huge job and we/I had decided it was too much but now I'm thinking if we see it as a project and take our time it's doable. With the wall down, we will loose the built in oven, and pull out larder cupboard-larder cupboard can be moved but we wouldn't have a cooker. So that would be an immediate expense. The rest of it, new worktops, cupboard doors, kickboards etc, could be done as and when. I think we/I are pretty much decided on this.
Well, that was a longer post than expected nothing else to say other than Company shop done last night under £10 and a Costco visit for £7+ of baked beans.
Will be a very small rounding down tomorrow I think!
Have a happy weekend all!