Pay off mortgage and start having even more fun 😁

julicorn

lulabelle1 said:

I hope you’re managing to make the most of the cruise and enjoy yourselves. I think I figured out which ship you’re on…. My best friend and I did the same cruise last year in the spring time, we had a nice time but were very disappointed. It was exactly as you describe… a bit like Butlins at sea? (M8C Virtuo8@)
thank goodness you weren’t hit by the crazy driver.

I couldn't help google search that ship, and it sounds like someone went overboard yesterday?  

newgirly

Yes lullabelle it is! Exactly like butlins and I say that as someone who used to take the kids when tiny, if anything it’s worse 😆

newgirly

Julicorn, yes you are right 😱 just had a look online, oh my goodness how awful, although I don’t see how it’s possible to fall accidentally on theses huge ships, it has very high glass everywhere. That must be why we’re were delayed getting on Saturday ☹️

julicorn

newgirly said:

Julicorn, yes you are right 😱 just had a look online, oh my goodness how awful, although I don’t see how it’s possible to fall accidentally on theses huge ships, it has very high glass everywhere. That must be why we’re were delayed getting on Saturday ☹️

Sorry I probably shouldn't even have mentioned it here, I was not really thinking at all! Just got caught up in that news story after coming across it. 

South_coast

I heard about it on the news last night, think I'd assumed people on board would have been made aware and given an extra safety briefing? Sorry it's a bit chaotic NG, at least it's confirming what you do and don't like

newgirly

No worries julicorn, dh has heard people onboard talking about it onboard anyway. Sc i don’t think there can be extra safety stuff really as the evacuation procedures are very thorough and it’s really not possible to accidentally fall of a ship as the sides and balconies are so high, I know these things do happen though, as is in the news today again ☹️

We got back yesterday, the budget came in at about £92/100 that I’d budgeted, £47 on lunch for us all in a cork pub, an ice cream and a little extra on top up costs on drinks as dh fancied something not on the package. However I’m quite glad to be home to be honest, it sounds very ungrateful but we are all agreed we won’t try that cruise line again 😆

Financially its incredibly tight now, I’ve £11 odd in my personal spends pot and it’s my turn to buy breakfast today as I’m out with best friend 😆 that will be topped up in a couple of days though. Food spends is at £252.46/£333.33 this month spent so far 😩 I did buy a few bits at the local tesc@ when we got home but it was the little expensive type so I just got some salad and a small bag of sweet and normal potatoes. I need to work out a meal plan really, I have piled on a stone and a half in the five months since the heart op 😱 I’m scared to try and lose weight in a way incase I can’t and it’s the fault of all the tablets I’m on now, but I have to do something about it either way! So I will start eating better and trying to cook proper meals instead of eating sandwiches all the time 😆 might need to bring forward a warfarin check appointment though as diet changes affects the levels, or maybe I’m fussing to much, I don’t know. 

Todays plans : 

breakfast toast and tea (out with friend) 

lunch tinned soup (no time to make fresh) and an apple 

dinner veggie sausages and mixed veg then fat free yoghurt 

snacks will be fruit/veg/nuts from now on 🙂

hooefully by writing it down I’ll stick to it 😂

newgirly

It’s been a busy week since we got back Wednesday, we have been very busy indeed …….buying a car 😱 basically dh saw one he liked up the road (and I didn’t 😆) which was a 15 plate diesel estate for £8k, he has that in the business account  just about but it doesn’t leave much. Things were kind of pushed a bit quicker as apparently they are getting rid of the work car which he uses to commute. Anyway, long story short after much debating he’s putting down 8k and borrowing (ahhhhh 😩 !!!!) £4,500 to get a three year old full electric em gee instead 😳

I think although dearer it’s a better bet longer term, the range is a pain as it’s about 165 miles, but it will be mostly for fairly local and going to York and we know all the services and which are good for charging, we will just have to stop and have a coffee and take a bit longer to arrive. I think it will help to encourage us to go more often when mortgage free if it’s lower travelling costs, plus of course it’s greener and we already have a charger on the drive. 

Dh will be paying the finance through the company over three years but is going to try and clear it quicker as his boss (long story) owes him £3k anyway. 

So that’s my big news for the week 😆 in smaller news I’ve cooked and eaten well this week since getting back and am trying to hang in there with the food budget which is down to £14.60 until 1st November, oops! Need to get very creative with dried beans and lentils 😆 I made dh a vat of spag Bol with hidden carrot and celery last night - like I used to with the kids 😬 he ate half last night and tonight’s was going to be half frozen and half made into a chilli for one for jacket potatoes, but I popped upstairs for a bath and he had eaten the whole lot with pasta, so one extra meal I’d planned gone this week. 

Time for a Sunday night bank account check, not that I don’t check it anyway but still 😆 and a vinted account check too. I’m trying to relax this evening as todays car purchase was insanely stressful, it seems women are still pretty much invisible when with a man buying a car. Best not get started on all that now and do some deep breathing instead 😊

themadvix

Oooh, yay to the em gee! I think you'll be surprised at how little the charging breaks are an issue on a longer drive - I know it's a smaller range than our car, but we really were impressed at how charging was a non-issue when we went to France. We nearly went for one of those, so will be interested to hear what you think. Lower travelling costs and lack of guilt about pollution have meant we've already put 7k miles on the clock since May! Enjoy!

Lentils and beans are always good - and I did some maths the other day and they do still make bargainous meals.

newgirly

Thanks Vix 😊 it was a bit spur of the moment to be honest as we were looking for a larger car and so electric was out of budget really. However this brand for some reason is only marginally more for electric than petrol at the age we ended up looking at 3-4 years old. Most of our long journeys are to York so I’m quite confident that charging will be ok, dads on his second tesl@ and rarely has any problems. Dhs’s only problem with the old electric work van was was trying to do multiple journeys around central London in the snow in a day and we couldn’t find enough chargers online beforehand, a lot of them are park up on the street ones and are always taken but that’s not something we normally do anyway as we were moving ds1’s girlfriend out of her house. 

We are not anywhere near as green as we could be ( cruise holidays for example 🙄, although sometimes it’s on the new lpg ships) but I do try and do what we can. Dh changed the work van to electric when they first came out, he found companies that would provide separate bins for the paper waste they create to recycle it etc. I must admit I do feel quite happy we have gone electric 😬

After turning down the warranty sunday I rang back yesterday as dh thinks we should have one - very enlightening! The horrid little man than was trying to sell us it said the three month complementary warranty would be useless to us as it covers engines/gearbox etc. so we need the extra one. Yesterday I got a quote £1100 not incl interest for the first year 😱 and wait for it , I asked specifically if it covers batteries in electric cars and it doesn’t! So no warranty for us then, but I have added home start rac to the insurance policy (bit cheaper than going direct). We could have very easily added that on Sunday as it was all very rush rush while we were there, we were surrounded by tables of others buying cars, never been anywhere like it and clearly why the prices were a little cheaper due to the high turnover. 

Last night I’ve whacked my ankle on the corner of the dishwasher, I screamed out so loudly both the cats ran downstairs looking scared to see what it was 😂 it was so painful I slept with a cushion under it as I couldn’t have it touch the mattress last night, this morning I’m back at the gym 😩 don’t wasn’t to miss another one so I’ll do sitting down stuff if I can. 

Jellytotts

We had an all electric 21 plate MG  and couldn’t wait to get rid of it.  No end of problems so take all the warranty you can find/get.  We didn’t chance doing more than 100 miles before a charge as it would just conk out, we had all manner of issues with the 12v battery not charging (a common issue it seems after reading some forums).  Ended up having to carry a jump starter battery with us to just get the electrics going to start the car. 

By comparison we now have an all electric Skoda and it hasn’t missed a beat.