So close, we can smell mortgage freedom!

themadvix

Morning all,

Didn't sleep well last night so feeling very tired this morning. Dropped Mr MV at the station first thing, and will pick him up later (lunchtime-ish I think). 

Dinner last night was pork steak (for Mr MV, as we'd frozen them two together it needed using up having been defrosted for Sunday and frozen on its use by), quorn fillet for me, with sweet potato wedges and wilted chard. For a meal focused on making use of what we'd got, it was remarkably tasty (if I say so myself). Tonight we're having quorn casserole with dumplings. Have removed a bag of 'soup mix' from the freezer (another Olio rescue), so will make some soup for lunch. Am collecting later (by bike, of course, even though I have the car today ) a sliced loaf (for freezer), a baton (to go with lunch), some tinned spaghetti, a parsley plant (handy for fish pie planned for Friday) and some corn on the cob. Will take a rucksack, as think I might struggle to get it all in my rack bag. Today's lack of energy will be the first test for my enthusiasm! (Especially as I could just take the car.)

Did pop down to allotment yesterday - asparagus hasn't been dug up yet; no sign of broad beans, but I learnt last year that they take longer to germinate than I expect; and I planted some radish seeds under a mini polytunnel thing. The radish seed packet says they are fine to go in at this time of year, so hoping the polytunnel will just speed things up. They are in the bed I'm planning on putting potatoes in, so may have to work around them (that said, I'm not planning on planting loads of potatoes this year - but given the cost of food, decided something starchy would help with self-sufficiency).

Workwise, my main client is keeping me busy. If I have spare time, I still have my to-do list for the weekend - I did make progress on this yesterday though.

MS things:
* Stashed Olio food coming into its own
* More Olio food to be collected
* HW and clicks done (nothing today)
* RM survey to post
* PA survey done (I've not even made it to £5 this month though, so will leave it in there for now).

Gratitudes:
* Some lovely Olio bits to collect
* Whatsapp chat with old neighbour
* Quick chat with Sis last night and provisional lunch plans made

Have a good day all!

themadvix

Olio stuff collected - loved my cycle - nearly all off-road and one bit along a dirt path where I saw thrushes and squirrels. Was lovely!

My soup for lunch was minging - there's more of it, but I think it might go down the toilet. Sorry.

I am actually caught up on work now! Mr MV is home from London and took the opportunity to walk back from the station, saving me from collecting him. I have been reading up on local cycling strategy, although it all seems to date from 2018, so I have asked my council for an update! Also learnt about the BikeRegister for bike security and a couple of other bits related to that.

EssexHebridean

Oh how disappointing about the soup - what went wrong do you think? Definitely bin the rest of it's that bad though, life's too short! 

So pleased you're getting on so well with the bike - hills are definitely the worst thing about cycling on a regular bike, I'd heartily agree! (well, going up them anyway - going down them is OK!) 

themadvix

Thanks EH, I will bin the rest of the soup - only cost to me is a tiny bit of stock and passata (and the energy, but probably covered that with the limited sunshine!). I’m not sure it would have tasted nice ever really - but frozen and defrosted prepared veg was unlikely to work out well, despite my additions. And the veg is pretty soft so I don’t think it can be rescued.

 The scary thing about downhill is knowing how fast I’m going, now I have an onboard computer showing me!! The combination of working gears and the electric assist (mostly just on the lowest level except for those hills) makes the cycling easy and a pleasure.

themadvix

Surprisingly, I've bitten the bullet and sorted the home insurance. In the end I renewed as it was only £10 more than last year (which seems pretty reasonable given inflation) and I had to ring them to ask about the battery for the solar.... All fine in the end, just not actually mentioned in the policy document (or in the policy documents of competitively priced other options). Pleased to discover that my bike is covered already by the £16.87 annual supplement we already pay for Mr MV's bike cover, so that was a winner. It came with two months free cover too, so I'll have a think about whether I want some more comprehensive during the next couple of months - for public liability (Mr MV would say I *am* a liability!) and injury cover.

Pot for insurance was for more than cost of it, so £75 moved to savings

And now, having achieved that, and having done my evening class homework already 😇 I'm going to do some yoga and read my book for a bit!

themadvix

Afternoon all (definitely started this post when it was still morning!),

Have just done invoicing and money shuffles and my it is tight this month... Far too much money spent! Not helped by the new phone (for which there is a £50 business savings shortfall) and the expenses for cat sitting. Will be waiting for money to come through from BS (business savings) and the expenses to pay off second cc. Normally I am much more on top of this and always manage to make it work. But this month there will be no more to add to savings (I have added about £450 (all Cambridge pay went straight there plus other bits, so only £150 short of my target) and no cash in my current account for cash-things! (Unless I have a couple of payouts on the HW or some ebay sales - i.e. my old phone, that would help.) I knew it had been an expensive month, but not this bad (and bike bits are all on next month's CC - but I do have some money in savings allocated for these).

Invoicing for the month has been good, but probably quite not as much as I thought. I miss my weekly Cambridge income, but that should restart (hopefully) from the third week of March.

Had been planning to meet Sis for lunch today or tomorrow but Niece is unwell, so a helpful saving there.

Need to get car sold really so I can reallocate all the car expenses money (the capital will be Mr MV's as he obviously didn't charge me when he gave me the car!). I will be contributing to the running of his car as it will be 'ours', but there will still be a saving. We may put the insurance for the mini in my name to keep hold of my no-claims bonus too.

The work for my main client is likely to get a bit quieter now as we've done the bulk of the project. There will be more to come, but less than this month. Otherwise, who knows? My work is very reactive and as a freelancer I don't have much insight into what is coming up (especially with my American clients). If things are quiet, I will work on getting more of the platform jobs - again, I don't know what's coming there, but it is something I can pick up easily. At the moment I only have one day of cat sitting booked in (but frankly, that's quite nice!), but it may be that there'll be more as the month goes on.

Olio tonight, which is good. I need to inventory the freezer again as there's stuff in there that needs using (lots of fruit!). Am currently eating dried banana slices on my porridge (bananas from Olio in the summer, dried on dehydrator) - will maybe switch to some fruit compote next week. Lunch will be beans on toast for me - leftover beans from Mr MV's lunch yesterday and toast from the bread collected yesterday. Dinner is courgette pasta using the courgettes from the veg box, and I need to make pizza sauce for pizza tomorrow night.

In any case, a frugal March coming up! We're away this weekend (but we have a budget for this and tbh, it should be pretty cheap) and going to C2C next weekend (country musical festival), but apart from that the calendar is looking pretty bare, so hopefully it can be a cheap month. I'm sure things will pop up, but the football has finished for now (and there was definitely associated spending there) and the days are getting longer and warmer, so garden/allotment and cheap outdoor activities can begin to be enjoyed. I will need to buy birthday cards as March is a busy month (and I'm not making them this year - although maybe I could do a couple). I guess I'll be making the most of Olio (and the random stuff in the freezer - a lot of it from Olio!). I also have the £20 Lidl voucher from Mr MV's car insurance renewal still to use, so will spend that wisely to make the most of it.

(Mr MV has just called me on his lunch break and was very much in agreement that it needed to be a cheap month!)

MS things:
* PA surveys done (inspired by Merlin's Beard who has just earned £110 from surveys this month!)
* Clicks and HW done
* Olio tonight
* Cat sitting/Olio friend is looking after the boys at the weekend and doesn't want any money (there'll be reciprocation at some point, and I'm sure I'll get her something while we're away)
* Keeping fingers crossed for that big PB win!
* Collecting some burger buns from an Olioer this afternoon (it's just started raining, of course) - undecided as to whether to cycle or walk....

Gratitudes:
* I have savings - while it's been a spendy month, we are not on the breadline (and our house is warm too)
* The PA survey did a AV test at the beginning with a cat miaowing - brought B&W cat running into the room to see where the cat was! 🤣
* Good evening class last night

Have a good afternoon all!

themadvix

Morning all,

Pizza dough is proving, ready for tonight and I've got some piri-piri chicken breast pieces, some vegan ham and some sliced peppers out of the freezer (all Olio) to top them.

Was a reasonable Olio collection last night that handily provided the cat litter Mr MV had asked me to get recently (for oil in the garage, rather than for the cats!). Also lunches for both of us and two heart-shaped potato croquettes (what will they think of next for Valentine's?!). Also into the freezer went a sandwich for Mr MV and a side dish of green veggies as no one claimed these.

Am currently doing some work for main client, but plan to cycle to town this afternoon to get birthday cards sorted for March, April and May. Handily discovered that my MBNA card has a 10% cashback offer for Card Factory, so decided to make the most of that! Have already checked what I have in and two cards can be shopped from home. Will also post RM survey items while there and return a couple of books to the library (and get niece a birthday present - mustn't forget this!).

Sadly no PB win this month!

MS things:
* Olio food - and use of it
* Did a freezer inventory, so have the tools to plan for meals for some time to come. Am compiling a list of things to get from Lidl (mainly lots of eggs!)
* PA surveys (including one that said 25 mins, was actually more like 5 for £4!)
* 1P surveys - trying to get back into the habit of these
* MM surveys
* Clicks done
* Sun is out so charging the hoover battery and the bike... will need to think of other things that need charging soon!

Gratitudes:
* Olio was straightforward - I was really tired last night, not sure why
* Lovely lunches for both of us provided, and the cat litter too
* Sunshine!

Have a good day all!

themadvix

PA progress to report - yesterday was at less than £5, now nearly £20 cleared and more pending. I think I might pull it if I can get to £25 in the next couple of days and add this to the additional transfer from my business a/c (when savings and expenses come through) - then I can use it as my cash balance in my account. And hopefully there's enough of the month left that I'll be able to get it back to at least that.

(Annoying) work done for client now, so time to have my lunch and get down to town. Another £36 spent already this morning on the bike, but it's a security thing, so needs must. Budgeted for in any case. Discovered a bottle of olive oil, so have crossed that off my list for Lidl, freeing up quite a bit of that voucher's value! I might pop there tonight (or go tomorrow) - while I'm really focused.

EssexHebridean

You're flying with Prolific - it's been quiet as anything for me over the last few days annoyingly! Mind you surveys generally seem to be a bit quiet right now - the start of the week was great on Ipsos but that seems to have gone to the odd 3 or 6 points for screenouts only, and even OnePoll is down on usual. They go like this though don't they - roundabouts and swings. 

themadvix

I am apparently! Not quite sure how, but I’ve definitely had a couple of good payers that took less time than advertised. I’ve never got into Ipsos - always seemed like a lot of effort for very little reward, but I know you and others don’t mind them.

 Have also managed a quick 1P survey (about Frogmore House shenanigans, of all things!)