Twinklie returns to the property ladder

twinklie

Proud MSE mama. The boys have meal planned their breakfasts for the week so I don’t need to worry about it. They were so pleased with themselves and worked as a team to agree it. It was totally off their own backs because I didn’t ask them too. 

My MSE ways must be paying off. 

All beds changed, house hoovered, shopping sorted, meal plans done, laundry away...organised ready for a new week.

twinklie

Well this has been a long week. A LONG week. Finances have been going well, some NSD's in there. Although I have forked out for some books for DS1 to keep his interest in reading ticking along. 
I'm so impatient. My mortgage payment as gone out today but obviously my balance hasn't been updated yet so I don't know what OP to make to make it read 00.00 at the end. 

earthgirl2

I'm the same with books for DS2 not sure if I should buy or not, we have been using the free oxford owl ones so far...00.00 would be lovely!!

twinklie

earthgirl2 said:

I'm the same with books for DS2 not sure if I should buy or not, we have been using the free oxford owl ones so far...00.00 would be lovely!!

I'm using the free Oxford Owl ones with DS2, but he's only just starting out on books with words. Whereas DS1 finds them really dull and they don't particularly motivate him. So we've been reading Oi Caveboy! And I've ordered the other 3 in the series. He's got some The Boy that Grew Dragons books to read as well, so I suspect they'll keep us busy for a while. 

Well thought I'd have one last check on my mortgage figure and my monthly payment has credited, so I finally got to make my first OP of 2021 - £62.06 So that's made me a happy bunny. I finally feel like I'm off the mark for the year. So the mortgage finishes £00.00 again which makes me happy.

becky170

My DS likes the Oxford owl books as he knows which button to press to get it read to him  

Congratulations on your first overpayment of the year  have a nice weekend! 

twinklie

becky170 said:

My DS likes the Oxford owl books as he knows which button to press to get it read to him  

Congratulations on your first overpayment of the year  have a nice weekend! 

Clever sausage. That's the benefit of DS1, he's totally rule bound so would never do that. DS2 on the other hand. Although we found an interesting way to motivate him last night into doing school work. For everything he does he can stay up later...good job he can't tell the time and it goes dark early.

Think it's going to be a chore day here. Lots of washing, getting on top of the kitchen etc. Might start on doing some more sifting and sorting around the house as well to get rid of stuff we don't need. The recycling wasn't collected for a month over the Christmas period so we were overrun with paper and cardboard thanks to Christmas and that we are still sorting through boxes we've been lugging around after several house moves. 

If we've got anything worth selling/giving away I'll try and list that today too. Not really expecting to find anything in the boxes we've got to sort to be honest. Oh and I've a homemade curry to make. Nom nom. 

twinklie

Went for a 5 mile socially distanced catch up with my mum this morning. It was just what the doctor ordered and I feel so much better for it. 

A NSD, or rather weekend. Tomorrow is shopping day though so will have to spend then sadly. But we are doing ok all things considered. 

I’ve finally got round to setting up all the parental controls for the tablets, so that’s one less thing to worry about for the boys. And should give them a bit more of a sense of independence whilst I can still monitor what they are doing. Did have to put a password on DS1s though because DS2 didn’t understand the using their own login setting and used up some of DS1s screen time which he was distraught over, even though he hasn’t really been using it today. 

Back to the work/homeschool grind tomorrow and I’m not looking forward to it one bit. 🙄

twinklie

So I made a mistake with the mortgage OP, must not have taken account of the interest or something but my mortgage now ends 99.93 which pains me. I mean the bonus is that I owe 7p less than I thought I did, but I REALLY wanted it to end 00.00. I can't afford to pay the extra £99.93 to make it end 00.00 because I need to keep a bit in reserve for anything unforeseen I've not accounted for...

Like...the breakdown cover I cancelled but forgot to cancel the DD for and they took the automatic renewal cost from my account. All £188 of it. I contacted them straight away and they said they are going to refund me but obviously these things aren't as instant as we would like. 

Took the boys on a "bear hunt" on Monday and managed to tire them out doing 4.5 miles through forest, mud, fields, climbing and all sorts. They were very subdued the next day it was amazing. Work has been a bit nuts so it was great that they were so quiet. The weather then went nuts and so todays the first day we've left the house since and managed to survey the devastation left by the storms. Loads of fallen trees which added a bit more adventure to todays walk because the boys think that dragons are responsible. Anyway, the result is they (and I) am too tired to deal with the homeschool situation this evening, so we'll get back to it tomorrow when I'm off work. Hopefully they'll be tired enough that I don't need to try too hard to burn off their energy too. 

twinklie

Bonus. Just made £50 by selling an fire we bought to install at our old house (the one we actually owned) before being in rented for what felt like forever. However, we moved and never installed it. It's just moved in the box with us from house to house, never opened and never out of the packet. 

We've made a loss on it because we got it for more than we sold it for. However, it's given us more space and a little money...I REALLY want to pay it off the mortgage. But in reality, it might just going into the savings pot as we still don't have an adequate emergency fund. Sigh. 

I'm only half moaning...I do appreciate I'm in a much better position than a lot of people. But it's ok to be impatient right?

twinklie

Yesterday was another win. Got a £96 refund from one of the events we were due to attend in December but was cancelled due to COVID. 

Although I did have to buy toy money, counting cubes and a little plastic clock. DS1 is a kinaesthetic learner. I was trying to use alternatives, but it was confusing him, so I’ve just bought the same items school use. At least I can also use them with DS2 as well. 

Oh and the confirmation from the mortgage came through this morning to say that the DD will now be taken on the 10th of the month, which I’m really pleased with. 😁