Climbing the Mortgage Mountain step by step

savingholmes

Enjoy your hollibobs and Happy New Year

Aimingforthegoodlife

Hope you are having the best holiday! Loved the round ups of the year, fantastic way to see how much you have achieved and then to plan for this year! I also have Pink tickets for this year, and am so so excited!!!

Me_v_The_Mortgage_Mountain

Hi All

Well, I'm  back after a fabulous, relaxing week away, lovely weather, great food, the best company, neither of us wanted to come back!  We were looking in estate agents' windows and definitely want to retire out there, it feels like home.  Whilst away we booked again for this Dec/Jan with exactly the same flights/hotel etc.  The twilight check in was great and we had fast track security so totally stress free for the early morning flight.

DH and I both had yesterday off, which was nice, we had a lie in after all the travelling and then cracked on with unpacking and doing the laundry, DH put the suit cases back in the loft and we finished sorting out the Christmas decs, DS, DGD and DD had taken down the tree etc but hadn't packed them all away.  DH treated us to an Indian last night as it was the last day of our holidays   

Diets Healthy eating starts today.  Our old scales broke a while back and with that, Christmas and our Holiday we have both noticed the weight going on so DH ordered some new scales that measure body fat etc and have an app on your phone to monitor progress.  We will just be mindful of what we are eating and drinking, not snack in the evenings etc whilst trying to increase exercise levels.

Aimingforthegoodlife said:

I also have Pink tickets for this year, and am so so excited!!!

I saw her in the Summer after always promising myself that if she toured the UK again I would go, she was amazing and I can't wait to see her again this summer.

Have a great day everyone.

MvTMM

savingholmes

Where are you seeing her this summer? I wish I'd known -  I'd love to go see her but imagine she's sold out.

Glad you had a great holiday.

Me_v_The_Mortgage_Mountain

Hi All

savingholmes said:

Where are you seeing her this summer? I wish I'd known -  I'd love to go see her but imagine she's sold out.

I saw her in Birmingham last summer and going to Cardiff this year, there are still tickets available for a few venues but they are not cheap!!

I actually cooked dinner last night!  Jacket potatoes with a spicy lime and chilli chicken filling, topped with cheese, yummy.  Homemade cottage pie from the freezer tonight and then DH and I are going to see One Life in the cinema.  we then have DGD all weekend.

Weighed myself this morning 1.6lbs down from start weight so that's good, will weigh in the mornings so I have a base line before eating or drinking anything.

No exciting MSE news, I'm still waiting for YorksBS to launch their Christmas saver for 2024.

Right need to crack on with some work.

have a good day

MvTMM

Me_v_The_Mortgage_Mountain

Hi All

Another chilly day here.  DH and I really enjoyed the film last night, very moving, what an amazing man Nicholas Winton was and yes I do remember the 'That's Life' moment.

We had the cottage pie with baked beans before the cinema and didn't even buy a drink there so just £4 each for the tickets, almost cheaper than staying home and heating the house!  I think I'll do something easy and child friendly tonight as we have DGD, maybe fish fingers, potato balls (noisettes) and veg.  We need to go shopping tonight, haven't brought any groceries since returning from holiday, we've been in the house by ourselves and have just 'made do', didn't even get DH any bread for his lunches, he has been making pasta to take with him.

I weighed myself again this morning, nearly 4lbs down from my start weight, although I am well aware that the first week of any dietary change is when most of the weight drops off, it will slow down considerably after that.  I'm back to doing my fasting alongside reducing my alcohol consumption and trying not to snack in the evenings, a habit we had fallen into but didn't do at all on holiday despite taking some of the holiday chocolate etc with us.

I paid for the accommodation for my girly holiday last night, my share was £295 including transfers which I had saved, I have already paid for the flight.  I have 95 euros left from last week and will use that and the £400 that would be Council Tax payments for February and March, as we pay it over 10 months each year, as spending money.

Need to sort out our car insurance at the weekend (for both cars), will pay them in full and go through T0pcashback, I already have over £50 earned through them towards next Christmas.  Oh and another expense I forgot to mention, whilst we were away the storm caused a fence panel to blow out, I texted the chap who installed them for us a couple of years ago and he went straight out to do a temporary fix and we are awaiting the new panel, shouldn't cost too much and that's what the emergency fund is for!!  We also had a leak in the conservatory which has damaged some of the plasterboard, annoying as we only recently redecorated in there, waiting to see if it was a one off due to the amount of rain and wind direction but regardless some sort of repair will be needed.  The kids had to deal with both of these issues whilst we were away, haven't had the nerve to tell them we have booked again for next year!!

Have a great day

MvTMM

Me_v_The_Mortgage_Mountain

Hi All

Just a quick visit today, busy Friday ahead!

I had my penultimate counselling session last night, hit a nerve just as we were about to wrap up so over ran a bit.  DH and I then did the shopping, L!dl was empty, we thought they were shut and I think other people did too, the lights at the entry were out and being fixed, the upside to that was there are lots of yummy bargains to be had, many of which have ended up in my freezer!  Spent £104 but the trolley was overflowing and this was our first weekly shop since before Christmas, I do think some of the prices are starting to come back down again.  We went home and had basa fillets with paprika and garlic topping and mixed beans with quinoa, it was lovely, DGD had pasta and DS sorted himself out.

Weighed again this morning, another small drop of 0.6lb

Not sure what to make for dinner tonight, DS is on some 'Cave man' diet and we have DGD so could be few different things getting cooked again but I am going to do a big roast at the weekend, I am craving one, I might do that tomorrow and we can then chill on Sunday once DGD goes to her mums and DH and I can have bubble n squeak.

Have a great weekend everyone, keep warm

MvTMM

Me_v_The_Mortgage_Mountain

Hi All

Hope you've had a good weekend?  I have to admit, this morning was a struggle to get up!  Had a good restful weekend, pottered, packed away the laundered holiday clothes.  Framed a couple of small caricatures of us that a lady drew when we were having dinner on my birthday, they are now up on our bedroom wall, a lovely memento of our holiday.  I made a huge roast on Saturday, due to timings etc that was easier than Sunday, which everyone enjoyed and then we had a game of Monopoly, 5yo DGD has really got the hang of it, business woman in the making I think!  We visited my parents and now DS has been roped in to try and update Dad's ipad, proving to be a bit of a nightmare, he may well have to bite the bullet and get a new one.

Not much planned this week, we may go to the cinema on Wednesday to see The Boys in the Boat.  No counselling this week and we have a weekend just to ourselves, no DGD and DS and his GF are away for the weekend.  I am Duty next week so will be working from home most of the week, going to try and tackle my wardrobe again.

Have a good day all

MvTMM

savingholmes

Nice to have personalised mementos like that. Glad you are framing them.

Me_v_The_Mortgage_Mountain

Hi All

Last night was a nice easy dinner, we had the last of the bubble and squeak (leftovers from the roast), we'd had it with Toulouse sausages, cheeses and pickles on Sunday and yesterday with some YS pulled chicken rescued from the freezer, I stirred the remaining roast chicken into it too.

Tonight we have DGD and it's her dance class, I'm hoping her dad will be home in time to take her.  Dinner will be child friendly but I'm not sure what yet, may get some chicken thighs on the way home for DS and his caveman plan!

Must do our car insurances tonight, keep forgetting.

My bank have introduced an new feature on the App, I can look at my loan and make additional repayments and request a total repayment figure, it ends in December anyway but I am very tempted to repay earlier in the year if I have sufficient in my savings.  I'm still waiting for the YBS Christmas saver to launch, based on last year I think it may be tomorrow.

Have a good day, keep warm.

MvTMM