So close, we can smell mortgage freedom!

themadvix

Haha, my B&W cat is a nosey one too, although not so much in the house - he likes to peer through the fence at what's going on in the road! These three are all house cats, so likely to be shy. But then once they know you're the feeder, most cats learn to love you (the except being spicy ginger girl who always goes for me!).

rtandon27

Haha - I've only ever known one Maine-Coone (across the pond) - and he was a precocious beasty.  His owners let him roam the neighbourhood and he'd give the actual Racoons a good telling on a regular basis! Once in a while he'd even pick a fight with our neighbour's black lab before making up and having a nap together on the front stoop!

themadvix

Afternoon all,

I'm failing abysmally at keeping up here lately. Work is still ridiculously busy (which is great!). A quick round-up below:
- Maine Coons were *lovely* - made friends with two out of the three (I ended up chatting for an hour with the owner!) and the third one was coming around to the idea of me by the time I left. Am looking forward to looking after them.

- As mentioned, work still incredibly busy. Have almost dispatched this urgent report though, so that's good. Main client tells me we'll be busy this week, but then keeps sending unexpected additional work through, so that's good!

- Allotment: planted courgettes and oca on Friday - they've not been eaten yet. Bean canes are up, but need more. Lots of weeding happening. Have netted fruit, strimmed grass and tidied shed. Toms all potted up in garden; more calabrese, basil and chard sown - all second sowings after failed first attempts; leeks sown (late, but I'm aiming for little ones anyway); various bits are coming up.

- Weekend: away in Manchester. Had main meal at home at lunchtime on Friday, took packed tea and thoroughly enjoyed it, sat outside on a picnic bench at the services (feeling rather smug) - saved money there and on the toll (we don't usually take it, but would have done if traffic had been bad). Hotel acceptable and a Spoons in walking distance, so two very reasonably priced breakfasts enjoyed there (and we sat and marvelled at the £1.79 for a pint of GK Pale Ale on the menu - and it's even cheaper on a Monday!!). RHS garden was nice, although look forward to returning in a few years when it's more established. Bees had decided to swarm from their hive and were hanging on an adjacent tree. Had cuppa and cake there. Football was dire (final score 6-0 to Chelsea 🙄), but lovely to see friends. Just had a drink and crisps at football as went for dinner afterwards. Lunch and shopping in city centre on Sunday - used Amex Harvey Nick's credit and bought some birthday cards and a makeup brush (not in HN). Still need to settle up with Mr MV, but overall, I don't think too expensive a weekend.

MS things:
* Clicks and HW done
* S&S done and bonus survey
* Had a sign up to my PC referral - still have some available if anyone wants one
* Cashback on cat flea tablets was paid the day after receiving them - a miracle. Transferred to savings.

Gratitudes:
* Lovely to see friends and hear about their plans - they involve a puppy very soon and a baby later in the year
* Nothing ate my courgettes/oca while I was away!
* Lots of work (and the report is done!)

Have a good afternoon all!

themadvix

Morning all,

So, I've been thinking, and some focus is required. I may be earning more, but I'd also like to be saving more - we have plans for the rest of this year that are going to require some money: two holidays - south of France and Germany - more funds required than we'll naturally save in holiday pot; a birthday party for both of us (likely in Jan 2025); plus special celebrations/presents for each of our birthdays; plus a few other things on our 40/40 list that will cost a bit (e.g. skiing/snowboard taster lesson). The problem with a variable income is that when things are going well, I tend to get more extravagant with spending too (the packed tea last week being the exception rather than the rule and probably why I felt so smug about it!). So without being a tightwad, this needs to change a bit. 

Food wise, we have a R'ford delivery coming on Thursday - I don't really want to reduce this too much at the moment as we are eating really healthily as a result (I've been ordering fruit and it's a much better snack than a biscuit). It will naturally drop right off soon as our own fruit and veg start to arrive, so that's good (had the first lettuce leaves on Monday). We need a few bits from the refill shop - I've a list going and will get there when I can. It's not a huge list though and I plan to keep it that way. We had a supermarket delivery (with a £10 voucher because they were 2 hours late with no phone call to apologise) last week, so we're stocked up for now on flour, oil, passata etc. The freezer has quite a bit of food in it at the moment and the fridge is full of cheese, also from the supermarket delivery (with more to come - in-laws went to France last week and our cheese requests are likely to arrive today!). So really, apart from milk, fruit/veg and eggs (which we're OK for at the moment), I don't think we need anything apart from the small refill shop shop for at least three, if not four weeks (we have a BBQ planned for 29th June, so will definitely need to stock up before then - although I intend to make it mostly vegetarian).

Garden/allotment wise: We will need more wood for the decking and no doubt other bits, but we do have £70 of BnQ vouchers to hand. I need some more bean poles (I've tried using what I've got but they aren't tall enough) - intend to get these this evening from the evil The range (I know they have what I want and I need them in a hurry.... but other than these I buy nothing there due to their poor ethics of everything, not least staff treatment). Hopefully that's all we'll need now - most things are planted (and I'm hoping my cosmos grow and don't get eaten, so we have some summer colour). The front garden is yet to be started but that won't happen in the next month, and likely we'll barely start this year - the decking is probably enough of a garden project for this year.

Maintenance: the Mini is booked for an MOT on Friday, my bike needs a service (Saturday, maybe) and I need my eyes tested. All of these are saved for in pots anyway.

Upcoming events: the weekend brings a birthday trip to the tapas bar for SIL and a beer festival too. Other than that (and the beer festival can be kept low-spend - less control over the dinner), I don't think we have any plans (apart from trips to Wickes/BnQ!). I've requested an appointment at the beauty salon to have my eyelashes tinted - so much better than mascara in hayfever season - but that will be less than £20 (if they get back to me). There will be a couple of trips to RHS places in the next couple of weeks - will suggest taking a picnic to the first with friend. The second is in Harrogate with Mr MV - train and accommodation already paid for; we'll take a picnic on the train up, but might try to win a cheap first-class upgrade for the way back, thereby covering dinner. Food out while there will have to be bought though. Also have a night out in June booked - tickets bought but a new top is needed (this fits with what I was saying in March about actually needing some clothes) - I've found one I like (£25) and will buy via TCB (very rare for me to buy 'new' new clothes). 

June is pretty busy, but I've also got a couple of cat-sitting gigs on. There's a possibility my SE work will be quieter (I keep saying that, but it hasn't yet happened), but there's plenty of Cambridge work I can do still. I also have a dress I need to stick on Vinted and there's a pile of books that I'll scan and see if we can get a few pence for.

This feels like a long list of justifying spending, which to some extent it is, but at least it's considered spending. Oh, and there's the purchase of a car! We thought someone was coming to look at ours last night but they ended up cancelling.... so we'll have to wait a bit longer for that.

So...
* Apart from small refill shop, diminishing R'ford deliveries and milk/eggs, no food shopping - use what's in freezer
* Apart from decking wood/bean poles, no garden spending
* Take picnics where possible
* Strict limits on unplanned expenditures
* Sell the bits that are hanging around

I also have a £25 JL/Waitrose voucher and can claim £10 from TV survey and £10 from MS Rewards should I want to supplement the above.

themadvix

Afternoon all,

The report has finally been sent! Am pleased with it and glad it has gone. Other Cambridge meeting happened too, so have fitted this around my SE work.

Today's MS things:
* Mr MV took a sandwich for lunch; I got last night's leftovers, which were yummy.
* Have emailed a clothing provider about some stitching coming undone on a new pair of socks - would like an exchange
* Amex card paid (in full, of course), and money shuffled from pots as needed
* In a brief break in the rain I popped to the allotment and in the nick of time removed a slug from a courgette
* Remainder of Cambridge earnings divvied up between long-term savings, party savings, holiday fund and garden furniture
* Top ordered from J Browns along with a load of bits for mum - we'll split the delivery and I'll also get TCB on the order. Resisted the temptation to order anything other than the item I really would like.
* Waited until there was enough charge in the battery to put dishwasher on - light levels have been absolutely dire here today
* Clicks and HW done
* 1P surveys done - I've really not missed these recently, they are dire....
* Dinner tonight will be a stir fry to use up some bits ahead of our delivery tomorrow.

Today's gratitudes:
* To those of you who have mentioned the Merlin app - I've downloaded it and went for a walk in the woods yesterday  - it's already improving my awareness of who sings what!
* To my evening class teacher - with the person meant to be looking at the car last night, I completely forgot about my evening class and was just starting to cook dinner as the Zoom meeting notification came through. I sent my apologies and said I'd be later. Another was away, the third has Covid and the last was not replying, but teacher decided we'd cancel (and got hold of missing classmate) and we could have the credit towards next term. She is so lovely!
* Really helpful colleagues at Cambridge - several useful pieces of information have been shared with me this morning which will definitely help going forward.

Have a good afternoon/evening all - I hope it stops raining with you soon!

redofromstart

I love the Merlin app, I've still not seen the goldcrests but I had my dunnocks confirmed which made me happy  

themadvix

Morning all,

It's great, isn't it Redo? I have only ever reliably managed to identify blackbirds, sparrows, parakeets and sometimes a robin, so I think it's really going to improve my knowledge.

I have come down with a cold overnight, so feeling sorry for myself this morning. Especially so as I've had to cancel plans for this afternoon and tomorrow (due to presence of older ladies, who I definitely don't want to infect). It works well for work purposes, as the project main client has been promising has finally arrived, but I was rather looking forward to my plans! Have dosed myself up with paracetamol (as ever, no cold and flu in the house when you need it) and will get on with work.... may retreat to WFB at some point though. Hoping I'll feel significantly better by tomorrow evening as we're meant to be going for tapas.

Fruit and veg delivery arriving today. Mr MV hasn't taken lunch today as he's gambling on some being provided.

MS things:
* Clicks and HW done
* 50pt MM survey done
* YG surveys done - figure I should pay attention now we're in an election period - lots of points up for grabs
* 1P surveys done (as many as I could cope with - definitely not all!)
* Dinner was stir fry as planned; tonight will be poached eggs and asparagus on toast I think - simple and tasty and uses up the asparagus. 

Gratitudes:
* Sis and Niece are having a lovely time on their Mediterranean cruise - sunshine and ice cream (I'm not envious at all! 😂)
* I finished the report before I came down with a cold
* Strawberries and blueberries arriving with R'ford - they are well ahead of my soft fruits

Have a good day all!

Cheery_Daff

oh no, so sorry you've got a rotten cold too. Mine's been going on for a fortnight and just when I think it's over, I start sneezing again! Hope yours passes quickly xx

redofromstart

Hope you feel better soon. The soft fruit sound excellent, when we had R Ford it was the apples and grapes that just hit a different class for me. Well worth the premium at that point.

themadvix

Oh Cheery, I hope your cold departs before your holiday.

Redo, totally with you on the grapes and apples (and the strawberries - couldn’t resist trying one earlier). The varieties they grow have so much more flavour than supermarket stuff.

 Still feeling rubbish, but did get a large chunk of urgent work done for main client, so he’s happy. And he’s sent me more for tomorrow.

 Have just been to see a woman about a cat 😊