Pay off mortgage and start having even more fun 😁

LadyWithAPlan

Happy new year! hope the rent arrives ok

newgirly

Hi lulabelle, that’s very interesting thank you I shall tell him, although he’s out tonight so I’m not sure if he’s already booked it. It’s through his driving instructor though?! It’s an older guy who’s had his own driving school for many years as I’ve seen him around. My initial reaction was it sounds dodgy though I have to say 😆 

Yes South coast 😂 I just wish I could fit in some of her rather nice funky clothes 😩 

Hi lady with a plan, thanks happy new year to you too 😊 the rent did get paid today 🥳 good news as I sent ds2 the £200 this morning…

Unexpected trip to ikea today and £1.50 spent on a chocolate twist for dil and 2x free coffees, plus another £12.80 in total on a new ceiling shade for the spare room, and an indoor and an outdoor doormat for the front in the sale. 

£24.42 spent in Aldi on food today. 

lulabelle1

Hi Newgirly, I should clarify, when I say dodgy, what I mean is that it’s very bad practise and frowned upon for instructors to game the system and charge their students over inflated prices, in turn increasing the waiting time for everyone else. It’s been going on for a while, govuk are allegedly working on a fix to prevent. If he’s happy to pay the fee, he’ll get his test, so I don’t mean it’s dodgy in the sense that the test isn’t real….😊 Instructors should be looking after their students not lining their pockets by marking up the test fee by £125. Rant over 😂

newgirly

Hi lulabelle, I didn’t even know it was possible for this to be an option to jump the queue, I presumed his instructor knew of a company that booked earlier appointments 🙄 also a bit questionable, a bit like touts booking up gig tickets! I’m sure if he hasn’t already he will still book a quicker one though as at £50 per 90 min lesson that’s a lot of extra lessons to get through a possible six month wait. 

killerpeaty

Brilliant news that the rent came through!

I had no idea about this practice with the driving tests. How long has this been going on?

newgirly

No idea KP, he’s the first to learn properly, dd had a few lessons and stopped as she was so busy at work. Very good news getting the rent through, hopefully a good sign for the future fingers crossed. 

Well after seeing greent’s Tesco top favs for the year I got mine through too, 1). Value beans - surprised by this as we usually go mid range! 2). Value macaroni cheese- yum 😬 3). Microvance value pilau rice. Not surprised by these really and we don’t shop there very often. Three value products , I guess that sums me up 😆

Did a big £80 shop at Lidl yesterday, only got enough food for a couple of dinners though as we needed all the other bits and bobs like washing liquid etc. and I’m getting through a lot of salad at the moment. We are meeting dd and probably my parents at the local cheap pub today for a drink, dd’s idea as my parents missed Xmas with dads Covid. I’ve invited them back for either a cheese sandwich (mum won’t eat a hot lunch) or veggie chilli and rice/garlic bread. 

Ds1 has moved all his clothes in the shiny new lemon painted spare room, I thought his partners clothes were going in there but he has loads too so it’s his stuff, two and an half racks of vintage West Ham shirts and very worn out gig T-shirts and probably one pair of jeans 😆 I’ve hung my York photos and two York drawings ds2 and dil bought me when they were there at Xmas, so it’s a York room ❤️  

I’ve also had to store some of ds2 and wife’s lesser worn clothes in my loft space as they were using the whole wardrobe in there, so I’ve sorted though my own stuff again too, and reduced my rail that was overstuffed down to about 50 odd items until the weather warms up, I’ve got together a bag of stuff to list on vinted but am keeping most excess clothing for now as if I’m not buying anything new at all, I can swap things over as seasons change. 

£2.63 payable today from tcb, that will go into my personal spending pot which is getting slowly drained paying out £1 a day savings 😆 

newgirly

Yesterday was a nice family day , minus ds1 who was at football, we went to the local pub which has new owners so it was empty, sat in a corner and played darts for awhile then some came back for veggie chilli and a game of who wants to be a millionaire, much of the leftover Xmas treats are gone now thank goodness 😆  I bought a round of drinks that was £20.10, but on the grocery card as I don’t have any fun money as I gave it ds2 and my personal pot is very sparse 😩 

I weighed myself this morning and it’s 2.4lb off this week, some days I’ve been a big naughty still- like yesterday as dd brought me some winter brack from Whitby ❤️ 😋 

Dh however did not have such a good day, receiving a message Sunday from his immediate “boss” who knows very little about the business asking him to move one premises to another this week, and move all his own large equipment which sometimes gets used for jobs for them! Plus he has a massive job in this week that nobody else can do worth thousands that won’t get done. The upshot is he was fuming and walking out today, I think he’s calmed down a little now, I suggested just taking a day or two first to make sure it’s what he wants, he’s been there since he was 15 and is 51 now, so it’s a huge change, luckily he can get a job elsewhere straightaway if it come to it, less money but IF they pay the rent still it would be covered by the rent rise anyway. My guess is he won’t go when it comes to it, but I think a change would really do him good. 

Cc spending so far this month : £180.83/£500 😱

personal spending pot : £45.73 

£1 a day savings : £39 

cruise 2024 spending : £266.13 

fun money : £0 

newgirly

Oh dear, indulged in some wonderful fresh baklava that dil’s Iranian stepdad sends over sometimes yesterday and now have a slightly dodgy tummy 😆 

Still scouring the freezer, I made a quorn lasagne with OOD lasagne sheets only from 2022 though and pasta is fine, dh had a chicken pie he didn’t eat Monday as he had soup. Not sure there’s much left I can conjure up dinner from so will need to go out probably later. 

Spending on the cc aka the grocery and everything budget is rising, I put a birthday gift of a  PlayStation voucher on there too (trying to reduce the birthday spending pot as giving surplus to the boys) plus a tiny top up shop so now the balance is £250.06/£500 😱 

I foresee a lot of pasta dishes this month! 

newgirly

Top up shop done in li@l today, plus from the app a free bottle of sauce (I chose salad cream) and a fancy bakery loaf 😁 £40.61 spent. 

Also a very handy £59 payable on topcashback from the car and home insurance last year 🥳 so happy as they had tracked at zero for ages! I have paid that along with a refund I’m due for something I bought for best friend that’s not suitable of £13.49 to the cruise spending pot which now stands at £338.62, I think a good target might be £490 which gives us £35 per day, we have a fizzy drink package already and a trip paid for. Would like to pay for some beers for dh and book maybe a meal or two at the speciality restaurants, probably the cheaper one which is usually £7 extra a head for a three course meal 😁

Made some leek and potato soup today to use stuff up and some homemade croutons which ds1 and dil had for lunch, I couldn’t have it as I’ve run out of veg stock so used chicken ☹️ dh has spag Bol from reduced mince, I feel like I’m doing well with not wasting food and cooking more but it’s stating to feel like a lot of extra hours in the kitchen! 

newgirly

Oops, it’s been five days, I’ve been trying to post every day, but it’s been stressful here 🙄

Well we moved ds1’s girlfriend in this weekend, still some stuff to find a home for in the hallway, and still some tense wardrobe issues going on between ds1 & 2 who keep removing each others clothes like a pair of five year olds from the spare room 😡 hopefully settled by a rather scary dil who has moved ds1’s stuff out and messaged him about it. I have to say as a tiny size 6 she is unnaturally strong and both ds2 and I know she could take out almost 6ft ds1 if it came to a fight 😂

Dh has also not been in a great mood, moving the factory this week, so I’m staying out of everyone’s way upstairs 😊

Financially January should be a good low spend month, but already it’s getting a bit sticky 😩 had a nice unexpected request to spend the day with dd on Friday so we went to Bluewater (her request) where I bought coffee and croissants for breakfast with the meerkat 25% off and thought I’d use my free vouchers at costa for lunch but they didn’t work as the system was down (after I’d ordered 2 x large ones). She always tries to,pay and sometimes I do let her, but not this time. 

Plus I have bought food willy nilly without a plan, nothing fancy just fresh chicken breasts , salad etc. and I’ve spent a bit more on best friends birthday planned. So the personal spending pot is under £10 😱 and the grocery/petrol etc. budget is at £121.68 left /£500 this month. There’s no way I can manage on that, but there’s £80 credit next month I could use as there’s no water bill.

Hopefully I can hang on until the end of the month and have a better month in Feb!