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And now we go again...
Comments
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Yes, we had a beautiful sunset yesterday too - although it was very strikingly pink here.
Saving Session tonight? That's news to us... our battery hasn't charged either (which happens before a session so it can discharge during). How strange!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 Hemingway5 -
Good going on the shopping costs.
The picture is lovely. I like skys like that.
Annoyingly my electricity smart meter is not connected to Octo (gas one is but only did so about 3 months ago) so I got notification that there was a saving session tonight but couldn't join in. Still, I got 6p from my recent spins.Mortgage at 12/07/2022 = £175,000
Mortgage at 31/03/2026 = £154,976.87
300 256 payments to go.House buyout fund £26517.34/£36,000
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Four seasons I was told it was quite breezy - apparently flying in it was “bumpy” according to the member of the Reds team I heard from earlier! Vix I hope you managed to get opted in to the saving session - it was certainly quite late in the day that my WhatApp notification arrived - I’d been opted in for some time by that stage. GAP it may be worth you pushing 🐙 to get the meter issue sorted - they do have a very good reputation for sorting out smart metering issues. Annoying that they send you the notification but you can’t join in!Our saving session felt like it might have been a reasonably decent one but we’re not as standard the heaviest users at that time of day - looks like the recorded use over the hour is about 0.16kWh which feels fairly decent but I’ve not had a detailed look back to see how it compares.
It feels like a very productive day anyway -
- made daal using the pressure cooker - and have noted in the recipe book that if I do so again the amount of water needs reducing as it was still too liquid after the split peas were cooked through and disintegrating. Switched back to sauté mode and cooked it down and it was very tasty - a double portion has been eaten this evening, three more to the freezer and a single portion for me tomorrow.
- Big pot of ragu made - 4 double portions now in tubs and will go in the freezer shortly.
- adapted the sweet potato and keema curry I’ve made before to be sweet potato and turkey - made it slightly creamier by adding a big spoonful of yogurt in at the end of the cooking - very tasty! Separated a portion for my lunch tomorrow out before I added the turkey, but also saved some of the turkey chunks ready to throw in when I heat it tomorrow as well.- having finished all the cooking I nipped out to Al’s as I wanted some coriander and Greek yogurt for the curry plus tomatoes. Also nabbed some sugar snap peas from the S6, some grapes, and a punnet of baby button chestnut mushrooms for 75% off. Might just cook those off tomorrow and freeze them.- forgot to mention that when I was in B&M this morning I spotted that they had decent sized bags of kiln dried logs for £16 - they look about the same size as the ones we bought from H0mef1re the other week, and those were £22 I think, so I think we’ll swing round there while we’re out tomorrow and grab a couple of bags to see what they’re like.Yoga done - on day 10 now and my first solid reminder today of the benefit of the cumulative effects - as I did a transition between poses without even thinking that I’ve not had the strength to do until today. Depending how I feel tomorrow I have a vague idea that I might drive to one of our local nature reserves which is partly alongside the canal and leads onto a nice running route along to a nice little market town - it’s just an out-and-back although on opposite banks so adds a bit more interest and comes to very nearly 5k all told IIRC so might suit nicely. If I don’t run it then I might take binoculars and walk it anyway.🎉 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 at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00 at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
Balance as at 31/08/26 = £ 84,500.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her10 -
The logs seem a bargain 👍January spends - £587.584
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We bought 2 bags this morning Milann and have set some aside to burn tonight - assuming they burn well we’ll almost certainly get some more I think. We can make room for them in the shed easily enough until the log store is sorted.Well today so far we have ACHIEVED! 😆
- car loaded first thing with everything we could think of that needed to go on the tip run, and that was done as planned.
- came back via BeeAndEmm for the logs
- while MrEH waited to pay I walked up to Lil’s for bananas and to claim my free cooking from yesterdays spin to win.
- got another spin to win prize on that shop for a free apple turnover so that will be claimed next week!
- Popped out in my car when we got back to fuel up so that’s sorted.
- washing up done and a quick swish round the kitchen.
- once MrEH had headed off to rugby I decided to walk into town - got the socks I needed from sports direct - that will come from my clothing budget.
- claimed my free hot drink from Greggs - thank you 🐙! (Decaf mocha - yum!)
- tucked the wooden stirry stick carefully away in my bag - that will be useful as a small plant stake I’m sure, thank you Foxgloves for the inspiration!- effectively free lunch - leftover curry and daal from last night, pitta bread from the freezer in place of rice, and my free cookie for after!
Decided against the run this morning as I’m really sore and achey at the moment so decided a walk would be better and I needed to head into town anyway so two birds, one stone etc.
We had half an hour between loading the car and needing to head to the tip booking so got a few bits done in the garden - and finally MrEH managed to break out a conifer stump we’ve been trying to shift from one of the beds - I’ve been gradually digging out around it and getting some of the smaller roots out, and this morning there was enough movement in it that a big effort from him pushed it right over and out - it looks so much better! I’ve also cleared out some more of the bed edging from one of those.
now to decide what to do with my afternoon…I think some log stacking in the shed might be the first thing, and then maybe a bit more garden pottering. In fact - in the spirit of lovely Cheery Daff (although not half as ambitious!) I’m going to do a plan…
3 - 4.00pm Shed sorting and garden stuff
4 - 4.30pm - house stuff- Jaws, a quick swish round the bathroom, change towels, lay the fire
4.30- 5pm - yoga
5pm - > bath, maybe hair wash, shave legs, change into pjs, light fire and r-e-l-a-x….😁
Right, off to don wellies and my garden coat! 😁🎉 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 at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00 at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
Balance as at 31/08/26 = £ 84,500.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her9 -
Ha, my lists may be over ambitious, but they are often not all achieved! Hope you are faring better!
How are you getting free corlffee from the Octopods?? 🤔6 -
Yes, @EssexHebridean, I do collect a few of those wooden stirring sticks when I get the chance, primarily as they are very good at getting the last bit of otherwise unreachable foundation out of annoyingly narrow glass bottles, but also to use for staking up small chilli & pepper plants at the time they are transplanted. When they go into their final positions/pots, they are upgraded to a rocket stick! Unfortunately not so many children on our street these days so my dash around the garden on November 6th to gather up my annual supply of free wooden plant stakes has become rather sparse!
Agree with @Four_Seasons that it has been windy up our way, & a chilly wind too. Some beautiful sunsets though & enough bulbs coming through in the garden to show that Spring is not too far away. Still reading a lot of guff about 800-mile-long snow bombs. Mr F says if there is, he'll buy me a bun, so I am kind of invested in it happening now, lol.
F
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!6 -
Thanks EH for the Garmin info. I too have small wrists but like chunky watches so it might well suitMortgage Free November 2018
Early Retired June 20206 -
I hadn't heard about the free coffee either but a quick Google came up with thisCheery_Daff said:Ha, my lists may be over ambitious, but they are often not all achieved! Hope you are faring better!
How are you getting free corlffee from the Octopods?? 🤔
https://octopus.energy/press/Octoplus-rewards-scheme/#:~:text=Over a million Octopus customers,for free hot drinks, cinema
Fashion on a ration 2025 0/66 coupons spent
79.5 coupons rolled over 4/75.5 coupons spent - using for secondhand purchases
One income, home educating family5 -
Ooh, thank you, yes that was very lazy of me not to actually look 😂 I was dashing out of the door, hence my inability to notice how many extra letters I'd added to the word 'coffee' 😂😂
Sadly our local Gr3ggs isn't participating 🙄 Most vexing, as we are near it most weeks. Nearest is near work - but nowhere actually near enough to work to bother with. Hey ho. Worth remembering for days out!
Got briefly excited about the cinema pass, but sadly it's not valid for the one near work 🙄😂 The nearest other one is an hour away in a town we never go to - maybe we need to stage a little adventure!6
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