Pay off mortgage and start having even more fun 😁

greent

Bit late to the party (as always!) but whoop!!! It's done!! Yay!! 🥳🥳🥳

newgirly

Thanks greent, hope you are all good 😊

Well, I’ve just checked the bank accounts first thing as your do and spotted that money I thought hadn’t gone in yet actually had 😩 that will teach me for doing stuff when I’m tired and it’s late! It’s a refund for some sandals from am@zon. So less money that I thought on the cc, actually I’ve gone over. So I’ve re jigged and decided to transfer over £100 to a separate pot for groceries to last until we go away, I will pay it back from mays payday where there’s just enough after clearing the IOU’s 😆 I’m not sure when ds2 will complete on the flat yet but it could be quite soon, so I’m thinking I’ll let him off the rent at the end of the month and get them to buy their own food while we are away instead, not sure. I’ll wait and see if he has an exchange date by then, I’m happy to let him off a few weeks but not over a month as that’s what I did when the others moved out and I do try to make things as fair as possible.

It’s a lovely day today with no actual plans and everyone is out! I Might go for a walk and visit my parents and perhaps come home and cook early for dinner, I’ve a spatchcock chicken in the fridge, first time I’ve bought one in ages, so i might cook that and make a cold rice salad to go with it, ds2 and dil are out for the day for ds1’s girlfriend’s birthday in Brighton so not sure they will want dinner if they get in late. 

I know I should start cleaning up the garden for summer soon too, the last few years dil has taken the lead on that but she’s off soon so I better do it 😊

newgirly

I’ve had an unexpectedly nice day today, both dil and dh were are work, so ds2 and I went to the bootsale and met one of the guys from work who goes every week for exercise (it’s a massive bootsale) didn’t do the whole lot and also didn’t buy anything but it’s a nice walk in the sun. Then we went to a local garden centre for toast but they has stopped breakfast so we each had an egg sarnie and tea £26.95- it turned out he’s charged for three sarnies and gave me a receipt showing a reduction, this was not however what I paid when I tapped my watch, he said it will automatically come off (without a second tap for a refund) seems a bit suss to me! time will tell….Then we decided to go to where his new flat is and go in the local shop for a nose about , it was not packed with things but had enough to get by. Then off to the cinema as it was close by and we had time, stopping at a big charity shop on the way where he bought two massive pine wardrobes and a chest of drawers which are now being delivered tomorrow and will live in the dining room if they can get them through the front door 😳 can’t wait to see a quadruple door wardrobe be taken up to a second floor flat when they move in 🤣 
So all in all a busy day, I’m now worn out and in bed, dh is downstairs munching on a beef casserole I made in the sc from a big pack of the new year 50% off Aldi beef I froze, hopefully he won’t eat the whole lot as it’s probably enough for about four meals at least.

I’ve just listed the trainers dh bought for my birthday that don’t fit and I can’t return, seems they are £70 everywhere, we got them bogof in the factory outlet so we’re only £25, I have high hopes we can break even on them 😁

skint_spice

I was out in Glasgow last month and bought a couple of coffees and cakes then the coffee machine broke down and as my friend and I both had water with us I asked for the coffees to be cancelled, I was dubious about a refund with no card tap but it worked! Fingers crossed your money will be returned too.

newgirly

That’s good skint spice, I checked and mine went through too, modern wonders eh! 

It been a bit stressful this week, dh had a meeting at work that wasn’t his “meeting” as they were info gathering and will come back to him 😒 he got a fair bit off his chest though rather firmly 😆 I’m knee deep in packing and wondering how when I have been away for five days to York with a tiny backpack that I’m needing a large case to myself for two weeks away 😂 I usually travel very light and this time seem to feel the need to take a lot more clothes, I think it’s just I’m feeling a bit fed up not losing any weight and want to have more options. Oh well the flights were free and luggage so I don’t suppose it matters really.

Still hanging in there with the food budget and running down the freezer a bit as I’d like to defrost and clean once ds2 and dil move out, it’s pretty grubby but we only have one freezer nowadays so not so easy to run it down with more of us living here. Will get a lot more organised with the food shop once it’s just the two of us, we rarely eat the same thing and dh usually eats later, so more batch cooking for him in the freezer, at the moment when I batch cook for him he insists on eating it everyday until it’s gone.

It’s ds1’s girlfriends 30th today, they are off to Leeds tonight then on to Windermere with her family in the morning for the weekend, dh bound her a beautiful copy of Pride and Prejudice for her birthday which she opened when he dropped it off and she loved,  plus we gave her some money and booze, it’s so hard to know what to get sometimes! Next birthday it step DGD next week who is 18 😱 they are all making me feel very old lately 😂 

daisy_1571

Wow 18 ?  She was just a wee girl when she first started coming about the house!  Time flies

Dxx

newgirly

Oh dear just lost a massive post 😩

Hi Daisy, I know it’s been ten years now! She’s such a lovely girl so I’ll be spoiling her a lot for her birthday, she is not one to expect anything mind and even send me a thank you text for sending her a Xmas card in early December 🤣 so I don’t feel bad going a bit OTT for her 18th 😬 unfortunately her party date was changed to while we are away so we won’t be making that 🥲

Dh is working possibly over the whole of Easter 😒 when I said I don’t mind you doing whatever hours you want before the factory move he really took me at my word 😱 hopefully he will come home for roast dinner round mums tomorrow as DGD will be there too, he will really need this holiday we are on next week, I’ve pretty much forgotten what he looks like. 

Talking of which I’m suffering for packing anxiety again, this time as we are taking two large cases for the first time ever! Im a really good light packer usually and this time it’s just not happening 😆 we have black tie nights, smart ish evenings , possibly pretty hot weather but maybe not, plus a lot of medical bits I want to take to avoid paying to see the onboard medic unless I have to, blood pressure monitor, warfarin INR check type thingy, although if levels are not right I will then have to pay to be seen and checked and dose adjusted, plus lots of medication, first aid kit etc. basically everything but the kitchen sink, I wouldn’t mind if it was all shoes and bags but it’s not! I’ve taken a few extra clothes as it’s two weeks and I don’t want to wash too many big things as I feel like everything will shrink as we would need to use dryers and we don’t have one at home, the combination of eating in a cruise and shrinking your clothes while on it is not good 🤣 so a little hand washing in cabin only I think. 

Anyway off to meet friends for coffee soon, we have not met up since my roller skating birthday trip, we have just booked for June for the last of us who turns 50’s birthday treat and it’s a daytime club for over 30’s near Tottenham Court Road, I think it finishes about 8/9pm so I should be able to stay up! What does one wear to a club though at 50?! 

newgirly

Well that’s Easter over and done with, I received one egg and one bag of small bunnies, I’ve decluttered both of those already and given two of the three chocolate bars in the egg to ds2 to get rid of the temptation 😆

Still a few jobs to do before we go away, I need to return the silver bangle dh bought for my 50th, the first was too small, second too large and I don’t want to go down the bespoke route size wise as I worry it won’t feel right and then I can’t return it.They have offered a refund which is great service, I will need to find something else to replace it with though as he wants me to have something special as it was my 50th. 

Not much to report financially except we don’t have a lot and are still left hanging about dhs job (and possibly the rent). Currently anything but normal expenses is going onto the new 0% cc - balances for trips this year , spending money etc. it feels a little uncomfortable to do that but we decided not to cancel and will clear asap as the money does come in. 

The next three months money will all be going to overdraft to clear it, as we used it just to push forward the mortgage end date to the same month as my 50th, and to clear a non 0% cc that I booked this cruise on plus a few other bits like DGD birthday extras as it was her 18th. The real mf celebrations will start once all this lot of gone and then after that the 0% cc’s, still feels like a bit of a slog at the moment! 

Today I’m off to hospital first thing, followed by a trip to ald! then the gym. I need to trim my hair and dye my hair/eyelashes/ eyebrows before the trip and do my nails, I decided against fake nails in the end due to the cost being £39 and the fact I’m too tight to pay to get them removed afterwards and it took me all afternoon 🤣 so actually although I’m not the most frugal person I don’t spend anything on any beauty stuff I do it all myself, this will change when if I stop growing my hair though, it’s only because it’s longer now. 

Other boring jobs include bringing in washing that’s been out for two days (therefore now needing a good spider check downstairs before it can come upstairs 😆) changing the bed, doing more washing, printing off cruise boarding passes round my parents and checking I’ve checked in fully. Cleaning the fridge out as well as cleaning up a bit again. 

LadyWithAPlan

Glad you had a lovely weekend and maybe you could go looking for a vintage bangle? Not sure where you live but places like the Bham jewellery quarter have amazing selections of new and old jewellry- I am sure you can find local places too.

Or maybe buy a bracelet on a stop along the cruise?

I spend about £200 pm on groceries for just me which excludes alcohol for the home (only £10pw max) junk food and household stuff like toiletires. I am gf, df though. I have started buying 2 FR chickens a week which ups the budget but as I can get a few meals and a stock out of it...

newgirly

Hi lady, I might do that  😊 We arrived in Valletta yesterday and years ago there were lots of old fashioned silver jewellery stores everywhere,I remember buying a few bits that were all kind of filigree style and really cheap, yesterday it was all r@lex stores and designer stuff 😳 we have a day back there next Thursday so will look again! 

£200 seems pretty good if you are eating well and fr chickens are not cheap 🙂

Weather is good here and although these ships can be reminiscent of floating old folks homes sometimes I do enjoy it 😆 I actually laid out in the rather breezy deck earlier this morning and listened to music in a bikini and actually got a bit emotional about what a change a year makes and how lucky I am to be able to be here! Must be going soft in my old age 🤣