Pay off mortgage and start having even more fun 😁

newgirly

Thanks everyone 🙂 sorry to hear about the accident Mrs moneypenny that’s scary! 

 Kp I’m glad you are enjoying it, where will you go next? 😁

Ladygnome, I guess you worry whatever age they are! 

Bad memory, you did make me laugh, I don’t think we think that far ahead or we wouldn’t have them 😂

Al, I will let you know if I do decide to sell her, but we are quite a distance! She has an 04 plate and is a 2.0L auto convertible that’s done around 60k miles ish I think now, not checked. Her boot doesn’t open,  and her back windows click loudly when you switch her on 😂 she’s solid pale blue with a back roof but a good looking girl. 

Well she passed the MOT yesterday! She may need brake pads in the near future but all is well and only £35 cost. 

Dh is working all weekend and doesn’t need my help so I’m at a loose end, popping to the crematorium first thing as it’s anniversary of little sisters passing, then maybe a quick dog walk. Ds2’s fiancée has borrowed our usual doggie visitor for the night so she can “bond” with the kitten, it’s not going well I have six plasters up my arm so far as the cat tried to shoot out the front door when they arrived and I caught him bad organisation on our part 😩 

themadvix

Think cat/dog intros need to be *very*, *very* slow NG - through a door where they can sniff, then through something less solid that they can sniff and then very slowly, very supervised with space for cat to get out of the way. Poor little kitten sounds terrified! 

killerpeaty

Poor kitkit. It's very scary meeting new people and new creatures. Are your arms ok? I found that with my cats, it took a while for them to be ok to be around my uncle (he's a smoker so I think the smell scared them). It takes patience, toys to get them distracted and a couple treats to associate joy with him. Maybe you can use this in conjunction with the barriers?

newgirly

It was accidental as he’s usually shut in the living room with me and I opened the door just as they came in the front door as I didn’t realise, I couldn’t have made it worse! I grabbed him as he tried to bolt out the front door hence the scratches. Cat did calm down and sat watching dog while having treats but I think it will be a slow process, not sure if it will work or not but we can’t have dog upsetting cat and it needs to be worked out before he gets any garden access, or dog can’t come over any more. Will try trough the door next time though 🙂

killerpeaty

They'll get used to reach other, accidents happen though so don't beat yourself up about it.

Ramouth

You did well not to let him get out of the door!  It’s amazing have fast they can move and how wriggly they can be!

newgirly

Oops, didn’t realise it’s been a few days! not much to report really, a couple of trips to the crematorium taking flowers as it’s that time of year again. Meeting best friend for a coffee and probably a top up shop at ald@ this morning. 

Got some lovely tulips from dh yesterday but spent the evening watching death in paradise, not too crazy a Valentine’s Day 😆 ds2 and fiancée came home with a rather less orthodox present though, a long haired black hamster 😩 I have told them they should ask the landlords permission (me) first, he is quite cute though 😆

The living budget has £101.31 left for February, there’s plenty of cupboard stuff as usual and a fair bit in the freezer, will need to use stuff up though as that won’t last and I’m on WW at the moment so eating lots of fruit and veg 🙄

newgirly

It’s been a busy few days again, Saturday I went with ds2’s fiancée to the wedding venue to sort through the final details as ds2 was working,surprisingly they allowed us to bring a sweet cart and doughnut wall which my best friend has to have so they can cut out very expensive add on option of “dessert canapés” hooray! 

Not too much else to report really, will tackle the finances today at some point but I’m pretty sure the food budget has already gone slightly over 😱 I’ve also spent a little on some cheap thin thermal layers, partly to wear the tops under clothes at home sometimes 😂 but also as we will need some for our northern lights trip in 2023, it’s a long way away but I thought I’d try and at least half of he bits we need this winter.

Ramouth

Thermal layers are definitely MSE as they reduce your heating needs.  I’m also a fan of a woolly hat indoors!

Love the sound of your northern lights cruise - so lovely to have lots of things to look forward to and plan for.

newgirly

Hi Ramouth, since Covid I’ve started dressing differently if I’m not doing much often involving fleeces and tracksuit bottoms as they are comfy and warm, not worn a woolly hat yet though 😬

Poor ds1 has Covid, he’s been isolating in his room and getting room service, we are all triple jabbed so hoping we will stay clear of it, it’s ds2’s stag do soon too ☹️

Some good news is I’ve found a dress for dd’s wedding at last, the two I had my eye on have been out of stock for ages (small uk company that can’t keep up with demand I guess!) and F@cebook suggested another British made vintage style dress company and lo and behold it’s amazingly well made, fits perfectly and exactly what I wanted and best of all only £72 which is way less than normal mother of the bride outfits. It’s a navy brocade swing dress, so I’m going for probably cream accessories, hat, lace gloves, bag etc. so still a few bits to get. 

This month’s spending has been all over the place  🙄 All the wedding stuff is budgeted for, but I did also buy two big very warm coats we can use in Norway next year, I’ve got carried away I think 😆 I did do a lot of research and got unbranded heavy duty ones from decathl@n and we can use them if we go for days out this year in winter. 

This has been the second month of not using a cc for day to day expenses and using the main account to pay for everything, I’ve decided it’s a lot more work to keep track of so am going back to the cc. This means there is a surplus though as obviously the cc runs in arrears so to avoid any temptation today I overpaid the full Feb allowance of £550 off the mortgage, I didn’t even put it in the offset but off the actual balance incase I chance my mind 😁