And now we go again...

redofromstart

Merry Christmas to you and Mr EH.

beanielou

Have a happy Christmas. 

EssexHebridean

Thank you all for the cheerful Christmas wishes - and here we are already on the other side!

A generally nice quiet time here, at Mum’s on Christmas Day itself of course, then on Boxing Day MrEH went to the rugby club for the traditional Boxing Day fun game from which his side )a scratch team made up of players past and present from various levels of the club) emerged victorious. I went out for a walk - not particularly long as the weather was really very grey and dreary - then headed home to spend most of the remainder of the afternoon listening to my way through my rather fabulous main present from MrEH - thr boxed set of the “Queen I” album remaster - complete with CD’s of the various sessions from the recordings and other special bits and bobs. Very lovely, and very unexpected, I’d asked for a two CD set which was basically just some of the material, but he knew how much I would love the whole thing so…! 🥰 Wallace & Gromit was watched on Boxing Day evening (we don’t do TV on Christmas Day so that’s pretty usual for us) and we unsurprisingly giggled our way through it! 

Today we’ve got some garden stuff sorted this morning - bulbs planted (Mum bought us daffodils, tulips and alliums) and the three cyclamen we bought when we went to the nursery to get her planter in too, plus a bit of general tidying. This afternoon was a walk somewhere we’ve not been particularly often - although it’s relatively close by the local RSPB reserve - and although grey and chilly it did make for a nice stroll, in part because the relentless heavy mist had backed off just a touch so at least it was horribly damp. 

MSE stuff:
- the turkey is stripped down and portioned - having fed three of us on Christmas Day, sufficient meat for another three meals for Mum was carved off on the day, and I have since carved off another 4 tubs of slices for meals for the two of us plus some for today for sandwiches at lunchtime (I had some in my Christmas dinner sandwich on Boxing Day too) plus a further 4 tubs of chunks for curry or whatever, and another 2 for risottos. The carcass is still in the fridge at the moment and I think will go in the SC overnight tomorrow for stock, although how precisely I’m going to freeze said stock I have no idea, right at the moment! 

- Some YS’d bargains have been found too - loaves of bread at a price cheaper than we could make ourselves, packs of crumpets for 11p, several very well priced pizzas and a few other odds and ends. We may pop back into Al’s at some stage as they had all their Christmas cheese reduced - we already bought a piece of aged Red Leicester (in wax, so will last) and might grab a couple more pieces I think if they still have stock.
- Electricity prices have not been massively kind to us, but then neither have they been through-the-roof extortionate, so could be worse. Generally speaking we have been trending slightly below SVR prices anyway, which is the main thing.
- £200 sent to PBs - bringing us up to £1500 in there
- end of month OP sent to the mortgage - and my signature has been updated for the end of the year on that too. I would have LOVED to have got to sub £102k but couldn’t quite make it - still though that’s a good chunk gone off it in 16 months! 
- I do still have a bit of credit card shuffling to do, but nothing unduly hefty or problematic.

As said, we have a lot of food in between the fridge, freezer and storecupboard, so I am planning to see how little can be spent on groceries for the next few months. Obviously the longer we need the second freezer switched on the more that impacts on electricity costs too, but it certainly does come in handy! We are still planning a discussion about grocery budget and what we want to do in terms of increasing it when we have our end of year financial summit. 

Bargain of the day today was a Christmas wreath in T’s reduced to 75p! Frankly the ring itself plus the little added decorations are worth a lot more than that, so it was always coming home with us! It’s on the door for now as we may as well get the value from it for a few days at least, then I will dismantle it all, save the components and be ready to use it again next year! 

lucielle

We were at rugby to on Boxing Day. Well done on the wreath, sounds like it’ll give you years of use. 

Have you got a date for your financial summit?
L

Blackcats

Fantastic progress on the mortgage.  It really is a great example of how focussing on all aspects of budgeting really does payoff.

beanielou

Glad you had a good time. 

foxgloves

Annual Money Summit hoving into view here at Foxgloves Manor too, @EssexHebridean.
F

PennysIntoPounds

That's a whopping achievement on the mortgage, well done 👏 
Glad you had a good one with plentiful food for you and your mum, and great ys bargains 

debtfreeoneday

Do love a good bargain when you get one 

jwil

Almost £10k paid off the mortgage in a year is amazing.

Great bargains too