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And now we go again...
Comments
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I take bird seed/fat balls from our garden pot too.
I get knocked down but I get up again (Chumbawamba, Tubthumping) -.literally have been run over by a bike, mobility scooter and a car - still here 💪1 -
I too would usually take the fat ball cost from the garden fund - but that's running a wee bit squeaky at the moment. Household pot is a possibility, although I should probably have a quick look at what sort of level the home insurance is likely to come in at before I commit to that as that will be due in August and I want to be sure the money will be there for it.
Cheery I spotted you'd missed out on the Fairer Share money - how annoying! I don't really even have to think of it as we use them for a lot of our everyday banking so unless they really moved the goalposts we are pretty sure to qualify.
🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00. Balance as at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her5 -
Oops - that's been a week then! Feels like a slightly spendy one too - although mostly planned or at least necessary spendiness which always helps doesn't it!
- A trip to what used to be a really good outlet centre on Sunday revealed that the site owners are determined to turn it fully into a "designer village" which makes it far less useful for us. I did take the opportunity to purchase two pairs of my favourite walking trousers at a decent price from the closing down (because not "designer" enough for the site now) Cr@gh0pper5 store.
- A pair of my favourite summer trousers from the Strange Poisson outlet - ticketed as £31.50, rang up at £22.50 so I'm calling bargain on that!
- Succumbed to a pair of nice shorts in the warehouse of mountains - £15 and I desperately needed more shorts so that was another win, even if they were an impulse buy! My chosen shoes and sandals were out of stock there though… Suspect that store will also be gone next time we visit.
- Took a deep breath once home and ordered walking shoes (not quite the desired ones as they were out of stock online also) and sandals - those turned up yesterday and the sandals are on my feet as I type, and - fingers crossed - comfortable.
- The garden troughs arrived with one broken - the supplier have sensibly simply sent me a single one through as a replacement.
- The damaged trough has been repaired with some duct tape and put into use - I suspect it won't last well, but we may as well get as long as we can from it!
- Food shopping has been "bitty" this week - we've seemingly ended up with lots of little shop visits for odds and ends - partly because there were things I couldn't get on Friday and partly just because…
- More rhubarb was harvested at the weekend - that was stewed down and has been enjoyed through the week with ice cream.
Future plans:
The Lundy trip for me is now properly sketched out - I'll need to get my head around down and back travel but that's probably a weekend task
We are also planning a weekend in the Isle of Wight in the autumn - we watched a YouTube vlog from someone we follow and were suddenly saying "well if they saw that much in just a day trip, why don't we do a weekend!" - so plans afoot there! Costs for that will come from our personal spends/joint fun account.
Cheery - the sn@g shorts turned up and I'm pretty impressed - not worn them out and about yet, but they certainly fit nicely!
🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00. Balance as at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her8 -
ooo - finally looked up those shorts - they look like magisculpt without the sculpt iyswim! I hate waistbands so always get high-rise biker shorts or the shorts built into tights for work.
4 YEARS 10 MONTHS DEBT FREE!!! (24 OCT 2016)(With heartfelt thanks to those who have gone before us & their indubitable generosity.)...and now I have a mortgage! (23 AUG 2021)Original End Date - Sept 2041 *** New projection - Aug 2038 (reduced by 3 years & 1 month)3 -
Chub rub shirts are fab!! Sounds like lots of well thought out purchases.
LTotal Debt Dec 07 £59875.83 Overdrafts £2900,New Debt Figure ZERO !!!!!!:j 08/06/2013
Lucielle's Daring Debt Free Journey
DFD Before we Die!!!! Long Haul Supporter #1244 -
Absolutely like shapewear without the judgement RT - I can't be doing with the patriarchy telling me what "shape" is acceptable! Having now worn a couple of pairs I can confirm that I am indeed deeply impressed L - SO lovely to be able to wear dresses more comfortably, and although they aren't in any way thick fabric, there is that extra reassurance that when wearing something shorter in breezy weather I'm not about to flash my knickers!
I'm still slightly reeling from what ended up being a VERY spendy weekend - no specific plans for it to be, but
- had a £5 off £35 spend in Lils so decided to use that
- MrEH wanted lemonade - and the cheapest way for him to buy it is from FF00ds on their multibuy offer - the £28 cost is from his personal spends, but we then decided we may as well stock up on the other things we buy from there routinely to make the spend up to the £60 threshold to get £5 off
- Farmer's market - always bumps the week's food spending up a bit, but we do get a reasonable amount for our money!
- Amazon order - a few garden bits (cane toppers, copper tape, a watering can) but the garden account is mostly dry so that needed a money shuffle. A couple of bits for MrEH's birthday (from my presents pot) and what was meant to be a salad spinner but when delivered what was in the box was a really rather good squirrel proof fat-ball feeder so for £8.50 we opted to keep it - I will reorder the salad spinner at some stage!
- One mor clothing spend in the shape of a gorgeous soft fine cotton top from T's last night - priced at £14 but actually had 25% off, and will come from my personal spends. I may go back and get one in another colour.
Money shuffling is mostly completed but it was all just a bit ouchy - and I have told MrEH we are not going NEAR FF00ds again for many months! (And he has told me that we will need granulated sugar before we make jam next, so that won't last long!)
The new water butt is earning its keep - not least as it fills up really fast - a single heavy rain shower leaves it brimming which is excellent, MrEH is talking about decanting water from it to the old one (which fills far more slowly) when we know rain is forecast. The heavy deluge we had overnight means the new one was full this morning, although I suspect it will be empty again by the end of the week!
In other MSE efforts and having looked at the Agile electric prices for this evening I opted to switch meals about this week and do any cooking required for this evening last night. Also made up two bowls of couscous off one boil of the kettle - we'll be eating couscous two nights on the trot but in quite different ways, and neither of us are bothered by that. I wonder if we will see a saving session this evening - if so we may actually make something from this one!
🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00. Balance as at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her7 -
Minor spendiness - because I use Al's car park near to work I have to buy "something" in store - today it has been another jar of their fabulous pickled pink onions, a clear SPF spray and some more of their mini packs of babywipes which I fear they are going to stop selling and are INCREDIBLY useful for any environment where sun cream and either food or camera kit are going to be involved!
🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00. Balance as at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her8 -
Your weekend might have been spendy but it sounds like you've got some useful stuff. I hate it when shops stop selling stuff that you find useful. Both Lid! and Ald! appear to have stopped selling the lip balms that Mr SA liked.
I get knocked down but I get up again (Chumbawamba, Tubthumping) -.literally have been run over by a bike, mobility scooter and a car - still here 💪4 -
Yes I can't get the L*d! lip balm anymore. DH decided his had run out the other day and went to S*perDr*g….£2 each for their own brand!
Making the debt go down and savings go up
LBM 2015 - debt £57K / Now £26,104....its going down
Mortgage Free December 9th 2024! 18mths ahead of schedule.Challenges
EF £290/3000
Studies/surveys July £70.99
Decluttering items 1400/2025. 345/2026
Books read 23 in 2025. 2026- 15 (target is 52)
Jigsaws done 20 in 2025. 3 this year.
My debt free diary...https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6396218/we-will-get-this-debt-d£own-the-savings-up4 -
You can get 2 for £2 in Sooperdrug they are in packs of 2 below the single ones. Your DH didn’t look hard enough 🤣 I’ve also discovered B0yes do a pack of 3 for 99p and Mr SA seems happy with them so far.
I get knocked down but I get up again (Chumbawamba, Tubthumping) -.literally have been run over by a bike, mobility scooter and a car - still here 💪6
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