No longer in use

Drawingaline

So sorry to hear about the op. Hope it gets rescheduled quickly 

MeandO

Thanks all. We’re still self-isolating, I’m still testing negative at the moment and DS’s positive tests are getting lighter by the day, so hopefully that’s the back of COVID in our house. He has been largely fine which I’m very relieved about, just cold like symptoms for a few days. It seems to be rife in his school now with numerous children off with it at the moment, more off than in presently. 

The GP has asked for a non urgent phone consultation at the end of the week regarding DS’s blood tests, so I am over-anxious about that and have been all week. I’m praying it’s nothing to worry about. I have still not heard from the consultant about rescheduling DS’s op either, so may give them a call tomorrow. 

More work has been done on the outside of the house this week which has cost me £900 so far. It was actually work that I paid to be done a week or two after moving in, but later found out that it hadn’t been done properly. It has cost me £900 to put right with a builder I trust, so that particular job has cost me £2600 when it should only have been £900. 😡 I’m trying not to dwell on it, it’s done properly now and hopefully won’t cause any more issues. There is still small bits of work to be done inside the house which we obviously haven’t been able to have done this week and a new gutter installed on the back, then that’s the house done. The garden will be started next month. 

My 4 year old phone finally gave up on me this week after being unreliable for months now. Not having a working mobile scares me due to the family illness we are unfortunately dealing with and with DS not always being so well, so I’ve had to give in and buy a new one. I cashed in lots of unused data and got a £60 discount on it and shopped around too. It’s nothing fancy, but perfectly functional for what I need.

It’s DS’s birthday soon and he loves a tradition I started young of me making him a different themed cake every year. He sometimes asks for a particular theme but didn’t know what to go for this year so I am surprising him. I’ve spent some money this week on ordering some icing and supplies to make it, I have the tins and most of the ingredients needed in the cupboard. It is also a big birthday of OH’s soon so I have ordered a £5 cake topper from eBay and will make a cake for him as well. Lots of baking coming up!

Today DS and I sorted his bedroom out and went through all the books he no longer wants to keep. There is a big pile of books that are either too babyish for him or that he has read and won’t read again, so some I have put out for charity, the rest I will probably offer to his school for reading books. I looked at ziffit but the prices they offer are so low that it seems better to just give them away to an appreciate new home instead. 

He has also sorted out some toys that he no longer wants which have gone in the charity bag too. Tomorrow we are going to do the same in the playroom, I’m anticipating a lot more things to be cleared out of there as there are a lot more toys in there that I think he has outgrown. He still wants to keep the 1001 soft toys though! 

MeandO

I’ve taken 4 bin bag fulls and a box full to the charity shop this morning. It was good to get it out of the way as we don’t have much space to store stuff in this house. I still have a big pile of books to get rid of which I’ll probably donate to DS’s school and a couple of bits to sell. 

I really need to sort the spare room out which is just a box room, but has a couple of big bits of building equipment in at the moment that I can’t shift for a while so it’s proving difficult to move in there.

I’ve been shopping this morning and spent just under £60 on groceries as we needed quite a bit. This should stock us up for a good while though. I also picked up some clothes for DS that were in the sale - 2 pairs of jogging bottoms (which were full price), a onesie in a bigger size, a long sleeved t-shirt and a hoodie for £32. Not bad considering he’s now in size 13/14 clothing.

DS’s bloods came back showing he was almost anaemic which is probably due to the medication he’s on for his condition. I’m hoping he will be able to stop this medication once he has had the investigative surgery, but there’s no sign of that being rescheduled yet. I had really disappointing news last week that it will now be a while before DS gets another appointment as anaesthetists are reluctant to perform a GA on children for 6 weeks after they’ve had COVID and now the specialist is retiring which will cause delays in surgery. For now, DS has been prescribed iron liquid, but I’ve been warned he may suffer side effects from taking it. 

In money news, I’ve paid out another £200 on renovations, it should see the front and side of the house finished though. 

I’ve also sent an overpayment of £100 to the mortgage today, budgeted in from the monthly budget. Fingers crossed I can continue to do this monthly, at least I’ll feel like I’m achieving something then. 

Drawingaline

Iron can be harsh on the digestive system. I had it after my first two births. Blocked me up, but it can have the opposite affect in others. 

My son has had two hospital appointments cancelled due to the consultant having covid in their family, it's a non urgent appointment, but frustrating as I have cancelled work and am self employed. I hope you hear something soon.

MeandO

It’s so frustrating isn’t it Drawingaline, I hope your son gets his appointments rescheduled soon too.

MeandO

The mortgage payment has come out of the account today, slightly larger than normal as it’s the first payment since remortgaging. I’ve sent a small OP of £5.33 to the mortgage just to round the numbers down too. It’s now at £79,150 so that’s £850 I’ve paid off in just under 3 weeks. I’m going to try and find £150 to round it down further if I can but need to make sure I don’t shoot myself in the foot as I still have a lot to pay for. 

I’ve been on a bit of an early spring cleaning mission this morning and have cleaned the inside of all of the windows and glazed doors in the house today and opened all the windows up to let the fresh air in. I’m freezing now! 🤣 I’ve also hoovered through downstairs and mopped the hard floors. Tomorrow I plan to clean the bathroom and hoover through upstairs. 

Two loads of washing have been done and dried in the tumble dryer. I can’t wait until the weather gets better to peg out on the line again. 

Yesterday I paid off the balance of a mini staycation I’ve booked as OH’s birthday gift, but not before I switched the accommodation saving myself £80.  Am glad to have paid it all up front and not put things on the credit card as I would have done a few years ago. 

DS’s birthday gifts are all paid for, just his birthday party to pay for now which his father has agreed to go halves on. 

The last council tax payment for a couple of months has come out of the account today too. I’m hoping to pay as much as possible of it off the mortgage as an overpayment but I’ll see how the budget is going nearer the time. I have a tradesmen coming out to quote on levelling and tiling a floor for me tomorrow. I thought I was going to be able to lay the flooring myself, but looking at it it’s a bigger job than I thought. I’m hoping he comes back with a good price.

MeandO

I’ve saved myself £65 by managing to fix something I thought I’d need to replace and I’ve had a refund of £25 ish for two items that were faulty when they arrived. I’m returning £40 worth of items to a shop this week which arrived today and were of poor quality, so I’ve added around £20 and rounded all of that up to send a £151 overpayment to the mortgage - £151 precisely so it takes it down to under £79K - £78,999. 😁 That’s £1000 paid off in under a month, if only every month could be like that. The reality is I’ll only be able to pay around £100 off extra a month but I will try my best to reduce it as quickly as I can. 

Mrs_Money_Penny

You are doing so well overpaying the mortgage. I know it probably doesn’t feel like it but you are. Your house will soon be finished and you can enjoy it. Take care xx

Honeysucklelou2

You are an inspiration in the way you chip away at the balance of the mortgage.

MeandO

Thank you Mrs_Money_Penny and HSL2. 

It’s so frustrating having to raise the mortgage again, but I’m trying hard to make the best of things and to concentrate on the positives even though they’ve been extremely hard to find lately. 

Overpaying the mortgage, even by a few £’s here and there, really keeps me motivated and feels like I’m actually achieving something. 

Tonight I’ve jumped ship to the MFW board and started a new diary to concentrate on paying the mortgage down. This diary has unfortunately been filled with a lot of negative posts due to things constantly going against us over the past few years, so I think a fresh start is needed. The link to the new diary is below. It would be lovely if anyone wants to join me on my ramblings any time. Xx 
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6331579/money-shuffling-towards-mortgage-freedom/p1?new=1