Pay off mortgage and start having even more fun 😁

newgirly

Sounds familiar lady 😆 climbing up pictures on walls is one of her favourite things, she is really loving but then turns out of nowhere, like she will be asleep on mums lap wake up and sink her teeth in her arm drawing blood. I hope the dresses are a success, there’s so much on there at great prices 🙂

Surgery was a new aortic valve due to it being severely restricted due to a build up of calcium over time which occurred due to being born with a defect, all news to me until very recently, recovery means restricted movement of the chest for a while after, without too much grisly detail they have to go through bone and rewire the chest so it’s a bit weak for a few months. 

Dh has got paid 😬 no idea if it’s holiday pay or he’s been given the time off yet, not that we need lots of holiday this year anyway 😆 I shall update the finances today and I have a feeling we may be on a year countdown now, will need to work a few things out first but I think it could be. 

newgirly

💙💙💙💙💙💙MONTH 20 OF THE 33 MONTH CHALLENGE💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙

Balance at start Oct 2022: £61,452.11

Balance 2nd June: £24,339.82

Total since start: £37,112.29

Total for May: £1964.87 

Well it’s been an unusual month 😆 I’ve not tracked much and everything’s been all over the place, but we have ticked off another month. It also looks like we are ending May instead of June so we are now officially in the countdown of the last year of having a mortgage 😁

The grocery budget came in £1.52 under, I’ve sent extra money to dh for travel to hospital plus food and various other bits. I’ve got a surplus of £686, plus a pot of £145 of pound a day savings, plus my vinted sales pot £329.50  still as well as £200 for if we go to York on the 16th, my guess is I won’t be able to yet, but we will see. 

So the plan is to perhaps book a cheap two night break to Budapest for the Xmas market this year as we did it in 2019 and loved it, best friend and hubby may come too. The other huge expensive decision we have made is we are booking a cruise to Norway for our 30th anniversary in sept 2026 and taking hopefully all the kids and partners 😬 There’s currently 10% off until 4th June so it won’t be any cheaper, I just need to pay the deposit and find out if they are all going or not. It feels like the right thing to plan now, 30 years married, mortgage free and getting through surgery is lots of reasons to celebrate! 

skint_spice

The cruise sounds like a great way to celebrate 🎉 

daisy_1571

Cruise sounds a great idea but...... do you guys have to pay for everyone?   😆 🤣 

Daisy xxxxxx

Debsnewbudget

I found to my cost that booking for the family can end up with you losing money……
Instead of 3 weeks in Florida this July I will be welcoming a granddaughter who is due the day we were going to fly…..
£800 lost deposit ….. and instead I will have lots more washing but also some new baby cuddles to look forward to.

newgirly

Ah that’s so exciting, a shame the timing is so bad though 😩

Well it’s booked! A couple of the kids have already offered to pay for themselves, but we do want to pay for them all. We won’t be paying for Aunt and parents who are also coming, but will pay for drinks and extras when we go. Dd and dil had a group video call the other day and said it’s so far in advance what if someone has a baby 😆 They can travel over 6 months if that was to happen, so I have booked dh and I a bigger deluxe cabin right at the back as we know the views are best there, so IF someone needs extra space we can swap with them! I’ve also booked dd and SIL a cabin with a sofa bed incase step DGD is not at uni and wants to come. 

It took all day to cost and work out how goes where, then an hour and a half on the phone as you can’t book online for that many. Then more time to screen shot on a different website to get it all evidenced for a price match reduction. Total price for us and the kids with parking and £80 cabin credit each for them is £8650 direct and £8102 when price matched 😱 That’s for eight though. 

We have only ever had one big family holiday abroad with the kids and that was a week in Portugal when they were about 6/6/10 years old, so it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m seriously considering renewing our wedding vows while there, dh says it’s pointless as he meant it first time round 😂 I think it would be fairly low key and we have a captive audience 😬


No more exciting news, dh went to work very early in the morning 4am yesterday and then again in the evening but was here in the day, I still really want someone here if he goes out as I’m still getting the strange heart rhythms 😩 getting more mobile though and can get up from chairs and beds alone now and do more as long as I don’t lift anything. 

TallGirl

We went cruising as a family once it was amazing so glad we got to do it. There were only 7 of us to coordinate. Glad you are continuing to recover hopefully the heart settles soon so you do not have to worry all the time. Cannot help recovered. 

South_coast

newgirly said:

I’m seriously considering renewing our wedding vows while there, dh says it’s pointless as he meant it first time round 😂 

That is such a man response 🤣! Gotta love them!

Cruise sounds amazing, can I join your family please?

daisy_1571

Thats an amazing price?   Any cruise I've looked at has been about that price for just one room so you've done great.  I was looking at a cruise in the great lakes and for the best cabin it was £35grand PER PERSON.  Needless to say I didn't book haha.  For lesser cabins it was cheaper but nothing like your £1000ish per cabin.

We got 'taken' to florida several times by my in laws but it still cost us a fortune each time by the time we paid for the car as our contribution, we bought them tickets to a couple of things each time to say thank you, then our own tickets, spending money etc.  Lovely lovely holidays and fabulous memories of the 6 of us for 2 holidays then just them and us for another 3 or 4 holidays. 

However at that point in our lives we were struggling for money so I do regret a tiny bit that we said yes every time they suggested going, not because of them asking, but because we were unable to resist buying everything sight and doing loads of stuff while we were there, sooooo much money as we are just big kids at heart ❤ 😀.   However I don't regret gathering the memories, especially since they are both gone now.

newgirly

Hi TallGirl, thank you hopefully it will settle down 😊

Hi SC, you can join our family 😂  it may well be better than it sounds though they all like a moan - usually about each other 🤣

Hi Daisy, £35k per person 😱 I bet that’s good though! We are going with the main British cruise company that’s advertising on tv all the time 😉 it’s not high end but nice enough and we have done the fjords a few times now. I did spend about two days scouring various cabins and dates to ensure the cheapest combo of course 😄 we have three balcony cabins and one deluxe balcony cabin a bit bigger. 

What you said about the Florida trips rings true for us in the past, we were taken by my parents to Devon self catering when the kids were little, we had literally no spare money at all, everything was so expensive and we usually came back with credit card bill we couldn’t afford at the end even though we didn’t even eat out. So I’m aware I don’t want our treat to mean they have to pay, however we have two kids and partners pretty well off and one that’s broke and saving hard to move out. We will probably buy lots of drinks or put a bit of money on their cabin credit when we get onboard, not sure I want to pay for all my dd’s cocktails though 🤣 we did think about a weekend away but I think although perhaps not my ds1’s choice to cruise I think it works well in a large group and all meals are included. We ended up spending about £750 when my dad took us to amsterdam for a few days and he paid for some of the food and drinks too 😱 it was just so expensive! 

Surgical stockings are off today thank goodness as it’s warm and I’m being taken for breakfast in m and s by my parents while dh has popped to work. They will park outside so not too taxing, I’m desperate for a bit of normality, however we went in the shop opposite the hospital yesterday where dil works and I chose some solar garden lights which took 20 mins or so, then came home and fell asleep for two hours 😆