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And now we go again...
Comments
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Well then, here we are at the boring middle of the month. Council tax has gone out, broadband goes tomorrow I think, and then it is just a case of seeing what else is needed in the way of diesel for cars (mine will need some before we go away obviously, MrEH's will be fine) and MrEH's Oyster - although he will only have a single day's travel next week and if the Oyster doesn't need a feed today he will put that straight on the CC rather than loading the Oyster again.
More minor spendiness: I have bought an additional pair of Sk3ch3r5 trainers ahead of holiday as I'm not willing to trust the walking shoes I bought since they gave me an almighty blister inside a couple of miles last weekend. Now it may be that I already had a slight blister in the relevant spot and that was just made worse, but I'm not convinced. Anyway, I'll be taking two pairs of boots and two pairs of trainer-type shoes with me - with the ones I am wearing currently being for general slobbing about and the new ones hopefully working for longer road-based walking. Under £25 spent which - assuming they fit OK - is extremely good value. Clothing pot will cover.
MSE Stuff:
- CC is zeroed off, although with a couple of pending payments
- S&S ISA checked - it's been bouncing around at much the same level for a couple of months but is still showing 9% growth so not too shabby.
- Holiday fund checked - we'll be subbing it with nearly £300 surplus from the grocery pot which is excellent, and on that basis we with luck won't need to touch the September payment into the holiday fund at all.
- Thursday night beers will come from Personal spends tonight as always.
- Food last night ended up being a sort of buddha bowl - falafels, black beans, some previously cooked squash chunks, fresh tomatoes and some pickled pink onion (99p a jar from Al's - and absolutely incredible!) over a bed of mixed rice, quinoa and seeds (a sachet also from Al's)
- Tonight's nosh is an easy one - a portion of chilli has been extracted from the freezer and I'll cook some rice to go with. A bit of cheese over the top and maybe a blob of yogurt and that will do nicely.
Tomorrow's main plan is to get the garden a bit more organised - MrEH wants to get the extension to the irrigation system organised tomorrow evening once he finishes work, and we're going to do another quick evaluation of tomato plants to see what can now be sacrificed. Shopping will probably be from Lil's as I have a voucher for a free Belgian Bun, although I have the whole weekend to claim that so I may just walk to Al's tomorrow for basics instead. The only intention there is to spend as little as possible! Food over the weekend will be about eating as much from the freezer as we can in order to get more home grown stuff in there!
Edit: Ooh - good news, the Builders have been in touch and are hoping to fit the handrail on the new steps tomorrow as long as it arrives today and is OK.
🎉 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/her9 -
Great photo - my Dad would have enjoyed seeing that as he really enjoyed an air display……mind you, living in & being stationed in Cambridgeshire, he also did plenty of moaning about all the traffic for Duxford Air Show!
2026's challenges: 1) To rebuild our Emergency Fund to at least £5k.
2) To read 50 books (12/50) 3) The Re-Shrinking of Foxgloves 8.1kg/30kg
Remember....if you have to put it on a credit card, extend your overdraft or take out a loan to buy whatever it is, you probably can't afford it, as that's not your money, it's somebody else's!4 -
Fabulous photo EH!
That's rubbish about the train - it does seem unfair that they can just cancel it and say tough luck - especially if it's then going to cost you more to make alternative train-based arrangements. You'd think they might be able to ensure that the cost of such a change because of them could be covered by them!
Very envious of all your lovely trips coming up (not sure what our travel ability looks like now B&W Cat is on daily wrapping for meds) - and you always sound so organised in terms of booking/budgeting!
Mortgage free 16/06/2023! £132,500 cleared in 11 years, 3 months and 7 days
'Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.' Ernest Hemingway6 -
I think sometimes Vix by the time I get to writing things down here it sounds organised - I seem to have spent a lot of time floundering about trying to work things out recently though! It's always lovely to have stuff going on (and I really sympathise with you finding your wings clipped currently) but at the moment a lot is needing booked all at once and it's leading to some cashflow issues! Our usual Hebrides holiday is easier because we book the cottage, save for a while then pay the deposit, save for a while longer and pay for the ferries, then a bit longer before paying the cottage balance, and finally needing the spending money. the trip we're doing next year though needs a lot of the accommodation paid upfront at just the time we are also paying for this year's stuff! Throw in the Lundy trip as well, and it's all got a bit fraught and tricky!
You have also said precisely what MrEH did about the train thing when it is their change that has meant my ticket isn't valid!
🎉 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 -
The front steps are finished - they came back to fit the handrail on Friday, and we honestly couldn't be more delighted with how they look. I would love to be able to pop a photo here, but alas it's just not possible to take a picture without it being very identifiable, so you will have to take my word for both how good they look and the level of improvement over the old ones! Mum popped over yesterday afternoon and gave her seal of approval which was a relief as she was a good chunk of the reason for us wanting them done. I've got the invoice for the balance this morning so need to deal with some money shuffling and can then get that paid.
MSE stuff:
- shopping for the week stayed within the level I was hoping meaning we will have a good chunk of surplus in the food account to divert to holiday spending.
- I claimed the free hour of electricity from the Octopods yesterday and managed to get lots of cooking plus a load of washing through - MrEH also made a batch of rolls.
- My refund for that cancelled train trip is approved so I need to keep an eye for the money coming back
- The trainers I bought from the big river site rubbed the back of one heel on first wearing so they are being returned. I've managed to find a replacement pair for the same money which arrived yesterday and are on my tootsies as we speak and comfortable.
- more garden pickings - toms, another cucumber, another courgette, and 4 aubergines, plus lots of basil, and more of the tromboncino squash - Mum took a chunk of one of those as well.
- Stashed another 2 tubs of roast toms with garlic & basil in the freezer, and multiple tubs of roast squash.
- More toms and the aubergines were also turned into pasta sauce - two tubs of that frozen, one eaten yesterday and one ready for either tonight or tomorrow.
- Another batch of pesto made and frozen - I will get another batch done tonight I think, with luck. I've sown a spare large pot which already had compost in it with more seed too.
- Invoice for the building work has landed and I have done the money shuffling - I'll get the invoice paid later.
- The odd pounds and pence transferred to the mortgage as the end of month OP - the end of August figure will be £84,500 which my signature tells me means more than £10k has been cleared inside the last 12 months which I'm very pleased with!
All in all, trotting along "OK" - I'm still not enjoying the way money has been flowing out, but I've made peace with it now I've seen how much of a difference the steps make. At the moment at least the repair to MrEH's car is holding up too so that may yet prove to be money well spent, although I almost hesitate to say anything in case it dies on us again! A few months now with no unplanned spending would be just delightful though!
🎉 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/her11 -
Lovely to hear you're so happy with the steps - it's always a risk getting trades in, so it's good to hear that it's worked out well on this occasion!
Don't stress about the money flowing out - definitely a case of look after the pennies, to enable the pounds to flow when they need to, which we're all good at on here.
Mortgage free 16/06/2023! £132,500 cleared in 11 years, 3 months and 7 days
'Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.' Ernest Hemingway7 -
That's the voice of common sense and reason there Vix - and thank you for it! We were saying we actually think the steps are cost neutral anyway in real terms - they are making the place look so much smarter that there must have increased the kerb appeal, and so the value, by at least as much as we paid to have them done.
I have a plan for replacing money which has been borrowed from various pots etc over the last little while anyway - some from maturing regular savers, and some from general underspends - I just need to remind myself that it IS in hand!
🎉 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/her9 -
Great news on the steps.
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Lou~ Debt free Wanabe No 55 DF 03/14.**Credit card debt free 30/06/10~** MFW. Finally mortgage free O2/ 2021****
"A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of" Jane Austen in Mansfield Park.
***Fall down seven times,stand up eight*** in ~~Japanese proverb. ***Keep plodding*** Out of debt, out of danger.
One debt remaining. Home improvement loan. 13 months left.4 -
The steps sound like a great investment.
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 -
Brilliant that you're so pleased with the steps, and money spent to make your mum and yourselves safer is worth every penny
10k off the mortgage in 12 months is fab, well done
How do you claim the octopods free energy hours etc? I've downloaded the app but it didn't make things any clearer!
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6466032/an-in-between-phase/p1
'aggressive safety shot' Ken Doherty4
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