Busy Mee's Last Leg

beanielou

All sounding good

Suffolk_lass

Really good to see you back posting after a little break. We did miss you. Our lives are spookily similar, like my my Sis from another Mother.

Speaking of Sisters, mine has just got a puppy. I am SO JEALOUS!!!

Busy_Mee1

Thanks Beanie and Suffolk Lass.
I am also jealous of a puppy...DD's pup is now 14 months old and we want another

Mr Mee has said NO

try_harder

Lovely surprise this morning to see you back , so pleased ..I am holding off until the first of January when i can have a count up and see exactly where i am , i have definitely gone backwards moneywise sadly .

themadvix

Lovely to have you back Busy Mee!

I completely understand where you're coming from about the volunteering. While you might be of more value in a corporate-type role, consider that you're likely to get fed up and leave sooner than if you're doing something that's low stress and you can just turn up and feel you're doing your bit/making a difference. You're allowed to be a bit selfish about what you do as a volunteer. Besides, once you've retired and had a bit of time away from the corporate stuff you might be itching to get back to something similar in a volunteering role!

Glad everything is going well with you

Busy_Mee1

And even later October Update:

Repayment Mortgage. £62,998.54
IO Mortgage. £169,000.00
Total Mortgage. £231,998.54
Savings in month. 1,500.00
Total Savings. £66,000.00
Savings offset mortgage to. £165,998.54
Savings:Mortgage. 28.4%

November
Repayment mortgage. £62,086.35
IO Mortgage. £169,000.00
Total Mortgage. £231,086.35
Savings in month. £1,500.00
Total Savings. £67,500.00
Savings offset mortgage to. £163,586.35
Savings:Mortgage. 29.20%

Hopefully by the end of December, we will have 30% of the mortgage in savings and by the end of January we will be back over the 70k mark and start increasing the savings again rather than just replacing what we withdrew for my car.

Busy_Mee1

Last day at work tomorrow...thankfully. It has been the typical pre Christmas frenzy of people trying to finish work ahead of the break and basically shifting work from their desk to mine. I am really looking forward to finishing tomorrow night.

It will be nice to have a few days off. I have offered to work Thursday/Friday in between Christmas and New Year so that the rest of my team don't have to and it saves my leave until later in the year. It is usually quiet .....I just hope I haven't jinxed that now:eek:

I feel reasonably organised for Christmas, I have had a daily planner throughout December to make sure all the cards and presents were dispatched on time. I just have a bit more wrapping to do and a parcel to collect. Oh and the house to clean, the beds to change and the food shopping to do........not that organised then:o

I have tried to save money by buying gifts throughout the year in sales and on our travels, and also exploiting all the retailers offers....20% off M&S, Black Friday and half price days in Debenhams. I doubt I have paid full price for anything. Gift wrap, cards and wrap were all bought last January in Sainsbury's for pence.

Our Christmas food will also be a reasonably frugal affair,. My lot are very traditional when it comes to Christmas Dinner, they just want turkey and all the trimmings. They don't hold any truck with fancy pants stuffing.....they just want the sage and onion packet mix, lots of pigs in blankets, roasties, veg and Yorkshire puddings (obvs). Did I mention lots of pigs in blankets? In fact you could forget the turkey and just give them pigs in blankets and veg.

I don't buy a fancy turkey, just a small frozen turkey crown, but I cook it using the Phil Vickery recipe (sat on a tray of root veg,wine and stock) and steamed in a foil parcel. The veg,wine and stock are then mashed to make the gravy. It is always delicious.

I will be stocking up on the 19p veg in Aldi. I will buy enough for Christmas but also to make soup in the New Year when we are back on our healthy eating regime.:rotfl:

If I get time I might make the malteaser chocolate Christmas pudding. I made it a couple of years ago and it went down a storm. That will probably be the extent of any Christmas faffing this year....I am just running out of time..........I feel really jealous of those people who post gorgeous pictures of home made wreaths and the like on instagram. That will be be me one day

Thanks to Try Harder and Mad Vix for popping in. I will look forward to you posting again in January Try Harder.

I am off for a bath and an early night so I can brace myself for tomorrow.....

themadvix

You sound organised and sensible Busy Mee, compared to all the over consumptive chaos that ensues at this time of year. My MIL is only catering for five of us this year, but I imagine there'll be as much food on the table as if there were 8/9 of us - it drives me mad!

The malteaser Christmas pud sounds delicious!

(PS Those people on Instagram aren't real!!)

Busy_Mee1

I woke up with an abscess on my tooth....managed to get an appointment at the dentist....emergency root canal treatment....two lots of antibiotics and a crown next year. £17.00 for the prescriptions and a £256 bill when the crown is done. I have taken myself to bed dosed up on paracetamol and ibuprofen for the raging toothache.

I am however grateful that I got an appointment to see the dentist today, that I am an NHS patient ( otherwise it would have cost a lot more I think) and I didn't get a car parking ticket (didn't realise how long I would be). I am hoping that it will settle down over the weekend.

I did however manage to get a couple of my jobs done today. I did Part 1 of the grocery shopping in Lidl before the dentist and managed to claim my expenses from work while I was still numbed up. I have just a few more bits to get from the shops on Sunday and a parcel to collect from T@pshop ( extra couple of bits for DD in their sale ). And that is it ! No more spending.

I totally agree with you MadVix on food waste....I can't stand it and hardly throw anything away. I like to never be knowingly under catered :rotfl: but will always use up everything. My kids love leftovers :T

the_cross_rabbit

Pigs in blankets and veg could also just be served in our household too. Sorry having a pigs in space from the muppets moment:rotfl:.
CRx