Climbing the Mortgage Mountain step by step

savingholmes

I couldn't get the app to work for me but the laptop version does... Perhaps give that a go 

Nice your friends are all happy for you

Me_v_The_Mortgage_Mountain

@savingholmes, thanks for the advice re British Gas, I'll see if I can get that to work when I get home.

We've had a lovely weekend, quite chilled.  DH (I like that....Dear Hubby!) and I went to Big Town to get a few bits of DIY stuff that we couldn't buy locally, did very well and didn't end up buying other things as well, even thought I did persuade him to have a look around Homesense which is usually lethal for our budget!  Yesterday we went to a local beer and music festival and tried a Noodle bar that I had heard good things about, the food was amazing, we will definitely be going back!

We did our grocery shopping at Lidl, only had a little list and was given a £5 voucher also managed to pick up a £1.50 veg box so was all going well but then we saw some great deals on wine and lager so stocked up for when we have family and friends visit over the next few weeks, I guess it's saved money in the long run.

I'm just about to update my signature, I know my savings have gone down a bit due to the wedding and daughter's upcoming 18th, need to finalise the train bookings for that and have organised a cake to be made through work so that will save me £50+ on getting one made by a professional cake maker.

Must go, busy day ahead, I'll check in when I can.

MvTMM

savingholmes

Festival sounds nice 

Me_v_The_Mortgage_Mountain

Hi All

Well yesterday turned out to be quite a positive one in terms of money saving;

All washing done and dried on the line. 

Dinner for DH and I was made from existing stocks plus a naked burrito mix a friend picked up from Morrisons, huge 1.5kg tub for 75p and she wouldn't let me pay, I mixed a third of it with some cooked salmon flakes we had in the freezer (which had been picked up for 90p and frozen) and served it with some tortilla wraps that were out of date but still perfectly edible, shredded lettuce and grated cheese, it was really lovely, we ate it in the garden and I have brought the leftovers with me for my lunch today.  I have frozen another third of the mix as we have some more of the salmon in the freezer.  The remaining third I will use for dinner tonight, just not sure how, I'm thinking possibly a chilli con carne type concoction, I have either frozen mince or corned beef to use, courgettes, onion and peppers and could serve it with rice.

The other big success yesterday was planting 6 good sized pepper plants which we had bought on our trip to Big Town on Saturday for £3.50, I found a very large round pot in our stash and filled it with our homemade compost, which is a first for me!  DH built a composter out of pallets (double width) about 2.5 years ago, I previously had a plastic one that really wasn't up to the job size wise as our garden is pretty big.  I recently noticed that at the bottom there appeared to be pretty decent looking compost but how we were going to access it??  We've devised lift up, hinged doors at the based of each pallet and they've worked brilliantly, we now have access to a free supply of 'black gold'!

The rest of the garden is looking productive, herbs, potatoes, courgettes, blackberries, raspberries (red and gold) and strawberries all growing well.  The plum tree is heavily laden with fruit, there's so much it looks like bunches of grapes.  The two dwarf cherry trees we bought in the spring are shooting up, we won't get any fruit this year but fingers crossed for next year.

Today's jobs include changing the name on my passport and chasing the other copy of our marriage certificate which we have paid for but not yet received.

Have a great day all

MvTMM

savingholmes

Garden and free compost sounds lovely.

Never heard of burrito mix?

Me_v_The_Mortgage_Mountain

Hi All

@savingholmes I think they use the burrito mix in their salad bar, its basically a mix of grains and beans in a chipotle dressing, really tasty, I used some of it in a veggie chilli last night, fed three of us and two more portions in the freezer.  Last night we did our weekly shop and had frozen pizzas for dinner. 

Tonight DS and his partner are taking us out for dinner, a little wedding celebration   Tomorrow I am meeting an old friend for a catch up and a cream tea and then DH and I are going to take a picnic to a local park as on of our favourite local bands are playing there.  Sunday we have noting planned, it's due to be a scorcher so we'll probably just chill in the garden.

I've done my Passport change of name online, will send off the supporting paperwork on Saturday.  Have renewed my driving licence online, it expires 28/07, will then send it off to change my name, that seems the easiest way to do it.  The third copy of our marriage certificate has arrived so I feel happier sending two of them off.  Tomorrow I will also try and change the name on my mortgage at our local branch, not sure when I will be able to do my bank accounts as our local branch doesn't open on Saturdays, in fact it doesn't seem to open much at all since Covid! I'll then work my may through Insurance companies, pensions etc and get my will updated.

We have received the professional wedding photos, I'm so please with them, we've shared a few with the local businesses that we used, tailors, florist, jewellers and they have uploaded them to their social media, I'm also emailing them off to the registrars and the venue as they wanted to use them on their websites

Have a great day all, try and keep cool

MvTMM

savingholmes

Glad you are pleased with the photos. Kind to share them with trades as it will help them too.

Me_v_The_Mortgage_Mountain

Hi All

I can't believe it's been a couple of weeks since I posted and what a fun filled time we've had!

The celebration dinner that DS and DDIL were taking us out for turned out to be a surprise Wedding party with family and friends that DDIL and one of my closest friends had organised, sneaky things, they had even trolled our facebook pages to contact friends from the past.

DD turned 18 last week, so DH and I both booked the week off of work.  I took DD to a nearby city by train and took her to the spa and then a cocktail bar.  Whilst we were out DH collected DDs favourite cake from a local hotel and decorated the house with balloons and banners etc so when we got home grandparents and son and his family were all waiting.  Another day we had a lovely lunch out with my parents as I helped them do the Emissions claim and they got £1700, they also gave me some money to 'treat myself' which was lovely and very unexpected, I have put it to one side for when there is something I want.  The rest of the time we have been pootling around the garden and making some improvements whilst enjoying the weather, we also took a picnic to see a band in the park.

Since our wedding when I swam in the lake I have got a real taste for open water swimming and have been in the sea on a couple of occasions which I have loved, I'm going again tonight but am reliant on the tides falling right for work.  I have managed to get a dry robe from The R@nge for £30 (the branded ones are about £150), swim shoes from L!dl for £4.99 and a rashsuit from Primark, last one in the shop happened to be in my size and went through the till at £6 - absolute bargain.  Cold water swimming is meant to be really good for mental and physical health and I have to say I have been absolutely buzzing after each session, especially yesterday when the waves were so big they were breaking over our heads.

Will update some more tomorrow but just wanted to have a quick check in today.

MvTMM

savingholmes

Sounds like you've had a lovely time. Enjoy your swimming sessions too.

Aimingforthegoodlife

I honestly teared up when I read about the surprise wedding party! How beautiful! The wedding sounds perfect as well, I love that you got to do exactly what you wanted and that is was just as amazing as you imagined, congratulations!

I was wondering if they figured out what was wrong with DIL? Sounded scary. A few people seem to be getting into wild swimming lately, I think im to much of a wimp, haha.