So close, we can smell mortgage freedom!

themadvix

Morning all, (oh, sorry, afternoon all!),

Cats visited (one for the last time), washing hung out on line, Cambridge work done (for now - I'll pop back in a bit and do some more - a) because I've not done my allocated time and there's plenty for me to do and b) because I'm waiting on some replies). Back to the tricky work for my main client. It's been a very bitty morning and I don't really feel I've achieved much, but progress has been made. I think I'm going to instigate a one-cat-job-at-a-time rule though as, especially if they need more than one visit per day, it becomes very disruptive to my productivity. And with Cambridge work pretty much guraranteed for the next 18 months, I'm not in quite such desperate need either (let's face it, it's not the most lucrative work!). When it's just a once-a-day visit, it's so much easier - I can go midday or early afternoon if necessary when I need a break from my screen, rather than first thing when I'm always feeling guilty about not going early enough and when I often get most of the housework done/have really focused work time. Anyway, enough waffle on that.

Dinner was stir fry last night and used up some ailing veg and the hoisin sauce. Strawbs and cream afterwards, with the last of one bottle of Bailey's on it (we've been trying to get rid of the last of this bottle for ages as there's another one in the cupboard, but it's not exactly a sunshine drink!). Lunch today will be the second lot of pasta salad and last of the strawbs. We're out for dinner tonight at some friends' and my Sis has invited us for dinner tomorrow - I've said we may have to take some stuff that needs using up to hers though! Carrot tops from veg box are currently soaking ready to turn into pesto later. 

I paid myself and did money shuffles yesterday - cc bill paid off except for vet bill. The claim was submitted on Weds by the vets (and we've now had confirmation from the insurance co), so should get the money in time for cc bill. If not, it'll come out of EF, but I don't really want to do that! Diarised when I need to make the payment though as it's never normally left so late. Apart from that, my cc bills were covered and there was some spare - they looked worse than they were as there was quite a lot to come from savings pots. 

Today our mortgage fix ends and the last fix payment has been taken. The app seems rather confused though (i.e. rate is still 1.59% but ERC is now 0 but no OP allowance left), so we'll leave it until tomorrow, when it should have sorted itself out, to make our huge overpayment. Then we'll need to see where we stand - not sure how much will be left to pay off once we've rounded every last penny up! Mr MV says the MT minimum is about £64/month, so we'll be able to make some good interest on the savings to pay that off in March. Once the mortgage is gone, we also need to switch our Santa current a/c as we will end up paying more in fees than we get in cashback - the RBS switch is looking promising (for the non-reward account as we'll likely just close it).

No PB win for me this month

MS things:
* Clicks and HW - won a couple of £ on HW, which is the first for a while
* Comps up to date, will do dailies later
* Y Live £2 survey done
* PC survey invite in inbox - maybe one for the journey to friends' later? (They live 50 mins away)

Gratitudes:
* Sunshine is out here
* It's Friday  - it feels like it's been a very tiring week - I'm blaming the cold I had and the bitty work.
* Put an uncollected baguette out for the birds and had a veritable menagerie descend to eat, which was lovely - we're in the process of making part of our front garden into a wildlife garden (more than a weed-strewn lawn anyway) and so this was a great start (they also have proper bird seed!)

Have a good day all!

Karmacat

Mortgage free really *is* close now!  I can understand the bittiness of the cat work isn't conducive to focussing on your main work - I love the cat stories 😺 but after all, it has to fit in 😁  Enjoy your meals out with friends and family  

themadvix

Thanks KC! Yes, mortgage free is actually closer than the bank can handle - it's not letting us pay off as much as we have ready to! It's also not quite sorted itself out yet, so we'll still be doing that tomorrow.

Productive afternoon had here - made good progress with work for main client, sorted Cambridge and submitted my time sheet, returned a cat sitting key, watered allotment and made carrot top pesto. Just need to jump in the shower and feed the cats and we'll be off.

The sun is properly out at last, which feels lovely for the weekend!

Suffolk_lass

Very exciting times for you!

Olive magazine did a feature on Baileys dessert recipes (including a non-churn ice cream) that I thought you might be interested in, so here is a link

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Thanks SL - also meant to say thanks for the dog basket link - interesting and I'd love to give it a try with the cats, but I think it could be disastrous! 😂

An eventful weekend! We were about to leave for our friends' for dinner on Friday when the car popped up with a red warning light (as opposed to amber), which basically said 'stop the car'. We hadn't left the drive, so after a couple of restarts to see if it would disappear (it didn't), we had to shift my my (as-yet unsold) car, which of course needed petrol before we could go anywhere. We made it to our friends' eventually (20 mins late) and had a wonderful time at last - although our bodies definitely disagreed the following morning (we're clearly getting too old for 1am finishes and lots of alcohol!). As a result, Saturday was not a productive day, although I did go and feed the feisty ginger cat before collapsing on the sofa. Sis had invited us for dinner so we stirred ourselves to go round to hers and it was lovely to spend time with her, Niece and Mum.

All that being said, Saturday was a milestone day - we paid off £15,800 of mortgage debt (some of which was borrowed at 0% admittedly), leaving just £2050 left (we have more, but the system wouldn't let us pay off any more!). Given Mr MV's car situation (it has today been recovered to the Audi garage courtesy of our Flexplus cover), we'll be waiting until we know the outcome before committing to trying to finish it off at the end of the month.

Yesterday, as a result was a catch-up day, with a lot of gardening, a visit to the allotment, and housework to get done.

In money-spending news...

An offer came up for a Virgin Voyages cruise that would only use points (of which we had more than enough). So we're going on a 7-night cruise in the Med at the end of July - cost would have been £5120, actual cost to us = £0. Unfortunately the flights to get there aren't cheap, which is rather a pain, but we'll take that for having a £5000 cruise for free effectively. Virgin Voyages are all-inclusive of tips, non-alcoholic drinks, meals at any of the restaurants, entertainment etc., so we'll just have to pay for alcohol and any excursions or stuff off the boat. We were meant to be having a cheap holiday year, but this seemed like an offer that we'd regret not taking if we'd left it on the chance it might have come up next year (the aimed for conversion for points from headforpoints is 1.4p/point. This works out at about 3.6p/point - so an amazing deal. 

In any case, it seems like a good way to celebrate the end of the mortgage proper, and in relatively money-saving style - certainly getting the most for our money! We have a free night's stay clocked up on Hotels.com, so we'll put that to use too and enjoy a bit of sight-seeing in Athens at the end of the cruise. (Update, sensible flights that will actually get us there without giving us conniption fits about missing the boat are £800! Ouch!)

In all the excitement of the holiday, I forgot to say that I had my first win after restarting comping properly - a year's RHS membership! Will look forward to receiving that in the post - it comes with a £5 voucher for use in the shop and two packs of seeds as well. Hoping we might get to pop into the garden near Harrogate on our camping holiday.

MS things:
* Clicks, comps and HW
* YG survey
* MM surveys
* PA surveys
* I have a meal plan for the week as it could become hectic with Mr MV's car out of action - tonight it's hm pizza - I need to pop out for some cheese though as we finished it at lunchtime! Items to be used from Olio, allotment (rhubarb) and veg box - we are getting through the veg at the moment, but it's definitely helping me to feel healthier

Gratitudes:
* Lovely stay at friends' house on Friday
* Niece time on Saturday
* My win!

Have a good day all!

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, lots of lovely money news in that post!! Congratulations on the mortgage, brilliant news! And the cruise - wow!! And your win! Yay! I keep thinking I should investigate comping but never quite got my head round it. Maybe this will inspire me!

Jessy103

Super exciting vix! Congratulations! x

rtandon27

ooo Vix - what lovely news - so happy for you on all fronts! - mortgage, holiday & comping win - just fabulous!

Baileys_Babe

Great news on the mortgage, the competition and the holiday - I hoping for regular updates to let those of us how are not as fortunate as your self be able to enjoy a holiday treat 😄

A big boo to the car I hope it is safely back on the road soon.

Suffolk_lass

What a fab post! Sooo close to the line on the mortgage - I hope the car thing isn't too painful.

BTW, your RHS card gets you (not a second person unless they send you a guest pass) into partner gardens for free too. Here's a link - there are several around Harrogate