Pay off mortgage and start having even more fun 😁

newgirly

I think I need to balance out the rather negative mid January’s blues post I just wrote above 😆


Some more positive things to be grateful for: 


Managed to get a few surveys done, they seem to be regular now 

Lost 0.2lb this week, at least it’s not a gain

Meeting two friends for brunch tomorrow for best friends birthday 

Had a cinema trip with ds2 and wife to see poor things on Sunday which I enjoyed 

Have still not bought any new clothes since last November 

Checked my state pension forcast - for the first time ever 😱 and can’t boost it anymore at the moment, phew! 

Bought myself a brand new hardback book half price for the first time in ages- Uncanny- I enjoy the podcasts about ghosts 😬 

Ds1 sorted his Spotify account and I’m getting free music again 😊 

That’s all I can think of right now!

newgirly

Not much to report today, had a nice pub lunch yesterday, just a sandwich although its cleared me out of personal spends and I’ve only £5 left for the next few days 😩

However we did receive 2x £5 vouchers today from doing two sports surveys that came though the post from the council, I chose M&S 🙂 one online survey done today too, I’m now about a third of the way to a £50 voucher, very exciting! I need to stop procrastinating and sell some things to really help up the cash situation….

themadvix

You do! Things seem to be selling well on vinted at the moment - go for it!

South_coast

Cracking work on the surveys though, NG 👍!

newgirly

Thanks SC 😊 

Vix, I’m starting it tomorrow and that’s a promise! 

A little spending and taking back done today, took back a £7 lampshade bought from ike@ that didn’t fit, no refund as it was on dil’s gift card so I swapped for two white cotton cushion covers for my bed to match my summer bedclothes, plus a really cheap bath mat at £1.75 , so 75p spent. 

Also swapped a cardi i bought from M&S outlet that I bought before the clothes ban which is a bit too smart and a I probably wont wear it, had a valid return receipt as it was before Xmas - woohoo! So that was swapped for a pale blue zip up hoodie. 

It’s really starting to pain me not buying clothes 😩 I think I will be going down the route of buying a few second hand bits this year as a full on no buy is just too much, plus I do want to lose weight so will need smaller, it seems a reasonable compromise and gives me the joy of having what I want to take away on holiday 😁

Some food bought in M&S £28 odd and the £10 survey voucher put towards it , plus £16 ish in Lidl and a free bag of hippo sweets on the app, yum! 

newgirly

Got very side tracked today, dd had another day off and asked if I had scissors so she could hack away at her long fringe, her usual hairdresser (not london) is £85 for a cut 😱 so I got her and dil did it instead 😆 did them some lunch and sat around chattting for a bit then dropped her back. Along with making some leek and potato soup, spag Bol and doing loads of washing plus deep cleaning the main bathroom, doing two surveys, and a top up shop  I did not get all the clothes listed on vinted, but I have listed my first item which is a book, hooray! It’s overpriced but I hoped if I keep reducing it will stay near the top, don’t know if that’s how it works though 😬

newgirly

Popped to cost@ yesterday afternoon to use an almost out of date free coffee voucher, I had two so it saved £8.40, but  you have to go fancy large coffee when it’s free 😬 Then popped to tesc@ and spent £33, some of which was dh’s dinner which was a big pizza and a trifle, he never gets let loose in a supermarket so he to have bad things when he does 😂 so that was a lot dearer than planned. 

Listed another item on vinted, a second hand hat that I bought for the cruise that was too small, I will list more on the week as it all needs streaming to look its best. 

I have ordered three second hand skirts though, I had a yellow floral maxi skirt from next last year that fitted nicely (aka a bit of elastic at the back so more flexible sizing 😆)  doesn’t need ironing and looked good, they did other prints but it was a bit extravagant so I didn’t buy them. 

But I’ve found the exact skirt in red floral, black and white geo print and a blue print on vinted, all from £3-£4 each, so if I stick to just black or white T-shirts or vests that’s me sorted for the cruise 😬 the money will come from my personal spends which are arriving tomorrow. 

Anyway on more mortgage related matters I’ve emailed the mortgage company to try and find out how much I need to leave as a balance to not incur charges when it’s paid off, I’ve asked before and never got a straight answer, it’s a five year fix which will be paid just over two years early but it’s an offset offering “partial” repayments (Chelsea bs) I may well
leave a lump sum in the offset but would like to know what happens if you do want to almost clear it- like just leave the amount that has to stay offset in the account. 🤔

Off to see “The holdovers” this morning with dh and maybe ds2 and wife, using the pass and taking my own tea of course 😬

newgirly

I have had my first sale on vinted, a bobble hat I bought for the winter cruise last year for £3 from vinted and didn’t even wear as it was quite small, sold for £5! Exciting stuff 😆

I do have one skirt I’ve bought from there missing though, vinted emailed to say it’s at my local shop ready but I’ve not had an email from the delivery company and the shop don’t have it, I’ll give it another day or so incase I get a message I guess.

Lots more to list today, I’m setting myself a target for some extra earnings/savings of £300 by the time we go on the cruise which is mid April. We have been given the option to upgrade, which I think we will bid on and decide nearer the time, as it stands we paid £658 each (actually we had a £500 credit off that too) for two weeks in the med from Southampton in an inside unallocated cabin, the upgrade to a sea view which is almost double the size cabin on this ship is bids from £150 each, you get the option to accept a week before. 

Food budget is hanging in there, ds1 and newly moved in girlfriend are cooking their own so it’s not as costly as I thought things might get 😆 just made some leek and potato soup for lunch and 2 x pasta bakes for dinner, one veggie for three of us and one with chorizo in for dh, I had the time so thought I’d prep early today as we are going to see the end we start after pickup up ds2 from work.

newgirly

Skipped the cinema as Dil was visiting a friend so it’s tonight instead now. Nobody ate the soup I made yesterday and the slow cooker was left on warm all night 🤢 that all had to be thrown. 

Second item sold on vinted, a dress for £10 🥳 plus I received a white cardi I ordered- £2.50 and it’s perfect for holiday with maxi skirts, weirdly it’s very hard finding a white cardi, and also one that doesn’t look like it’s for middle aged women, I may be that but I don’t want to dress like one 😆

Bit of spending done today, coffee, some washable mini make up remover pads and a bag to wash them in (for travel, I usually take multiple big ones which is daft) they are brilliant, just use water with them. Plus a new cheap notebook and some cold and flu sachets and pills as ds1’s girlfriend is working from home poorly, oh and some chocolate for her. 

Crawling to pay day now, there’s £80 odd left until i can use the card on the 1st but I’d rather spend a bit less if possible and skim some off. Might have a go at some homemade pizzas Saturday as meeting friends in town for coffee tomorrow so can pop to Aldi for cheap mozzarella and passata. Tomorrow can be whatever is on offer and maybe pie/mash/veg for Sunday. 

newgirly

I’ve spent most of the day sorting, steaming and listing clothes, sold one pair of f@t face boots already for £22 and a tunic top I bought second hand that didn’t fit for £3 (what I paid). It’s feeling good I have to say, both financially and decluttering wise 😊

Tcb payable of £1.97, I am popping that in the cruise spending pot. Not sure about where to put the vinted sales money when it arrives yet, I’ve just booked tickets to a ghost show in York mid June, it’s on a Tuesday so we will stay in my parents flat, probably from the sat to weds so will need a bit of money for a few meals out. I really need to up the earning if I keep getting carried away with things 😆 still the show tickets were “free” as dad had a credit voucher he offered out to anyone to use, so I only needed to top up with £5 as he didn’t want the cash. 

Dh is off this weekend, not sure what we will do yet but I’m sure it won’t be expensive and will involve the cinema at some point 😬