Living the Good Life - mortgage free and living in line with our values

themadvix

Evening all,

Glad to hear you're off to Scotland SL It's always a temptation for us, but we also want to see new places... decisions, decisions!

The pizza won last night, but at £18 for two delicious, wood-fired pizzas and a side of broccoli (🤷‍♀️, as you do), it was still cheaper than if I'd gone out with my friends (estimated £25 spend). Mr MV bought the drinks (two small AF beers - I do feel silly ordering a half of non-alcoholic beer, but that's all the liquid I need in the evening!).

Today has mostly been about work for main client. In excellent news, I'm not going to have to work all evening on it (Mr MV is away), as I've only got a max of half an hour's worth of work left to do to get to where I wanted to be by EOD. Mum popped up earlier for a cuppa and brought me the non-financial part of my birthday present - a painting by her, which she has had framed. It's a watercolour of a bowl of cherries and it's going to look great on the wall in the kitchen. I have managed to do some flying too - and got totally carried away (not before time!) and cleaned the skirting boards and woodwork in the hall (muddy cat paws opening doors being the main culprits for dirt).

MS things:
* Clicks and HW - and a nice (small) win on the HW
* PA survey - have c. £25 to cashout there this month, which is nice
* Heating has stayed at 17 all day, despite me being freezing at one point - tea, fingerless gloves and thick woolly socks resolving that issue. I may put it  up to 17.5 this evening, but I'm OK at the moment.
* Mr MV took his lunch again
* Dinner will be parsnip dal and rice, probably with a flatbread, courtesy of the freezer

Gratitudes:
* Was nice to have a visit from Mum
* Work has gone more smoothly than expected
* I can enjoy Call the Midwife this evening

Have a good evening all!

rtandon27

Enjoy your me-time!

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Thanks RT - I did have a pleasant evening and am pleased to say I avoided doing any other work (I did take my laptop down, thinking I might do some Cambridge stuff, but I really couldn't be bothered).

Still plodding on with work for main client, but I'm on the downhill now, so that's good. And he's provided me (unasked) with the info I need for invoicing, so I think he's sussed why I'm trying to get it done this week.

Mr MV currently still a good two hours away and hasn't left yet (down in your part of the world RT), which given the M25 is only going to get worse, isn't great news. Dinner tonight will be fajitas as there's a couple of peppers in the fridge to use and I've just made a batch of tortillas. I did a small shop this morning - milk, eggs, sour cream and guac (for the fajitas). It would have been an avocado, but apparently the Coop see fit to sell these in plastic (totally unnecessary) and I happened upon some reduced guac, so got that instead. £4.66 spent in there - had a £1 off and 40p voucher to use, so i think that was good vfm (organic milk).

Planning to go to refill shop tomorrow, but I think I'll probably transfer the remainder of Jan's grocery money (£65 after today's shop) elsewhere and tomorrow's spend can come from Feb's. We still have various beans in the cupboard, so won't be spending much on them, but the rice and lentil situation is untenable at this point, so I do need to go! Will also be buying the bits I need for Saturday's entertaining (from Sains and will use my voucher).

MS things:
* RM survey item sent (and received but stupid app isn't working, so can't register that)
* Remembered to check for vouchers on Coop app
* Renewed library book to avoid fine (will return it anyway tomorrow)

Gratitudes:
* Sunshine (I ate half my lunch in the garden, enjoying the sun)
* A walk first thing as the sun came up - I didn't get outside at all yesterday and I could tell
* Peace and quiet - tired B&W cat out with some fun and he's been snoozing this afternoon. He frequently cries for me to open the back door... he doesn't necessarily want to go out, he just wants the door open (and a cat flap and general access outside isn't an option) - it's tiring though. He's just woken and up and is currently on my lap purring - so he makes up for his annoying habits 😻

Have a good afternoon/evening all!

beanielou

RM app not working for me either. Such a blooming pain 

themadvix

It worked first thing when I posted Beanie, but has been awful since I was trying to submit a delivered item. It did work eventually, but only after several attempts (and restarting my phone - which didn't seem to make much difference). It annoys me because they're very quick to accuse us of slacking etc., when half the time it's their tech that doesn't work!

beanielou

themadvix said:

It worked first thing when I posted Beanie, but has been awful since I was trying to submit a delivered item. It did work eventually, but only after several attempts (and restarting my phone - which didn't seem to make much difference). It annoys me because they're very quick to accuse us of slacking etc., when half the time it's their tech that doesn't work!

Yes. It’s so frustrating. As you say they are quick to point out our perceived failures. 

Greying_Pilgrim

Sweetie, apropos of absolutely nowt, I was looking online to try to find a link to a recipe for a veggie soup (Snert - Dutch Pea Soup), online as I'd made it just now for lunch.  A website popped up for a 'soup & salad' kind of  cafe (from what I could see), called Soup En Zo based in Amsterdam (at 3 different locations).  

I realise you may well have your own plans for eateries to explore, when you're in that neck of t'woods, but looking at their menu, they do seem to do quite an interesting selection of soups suitable for meat-eaters, veggies and vegans (I think), plus their preference is for organics.  Seems to score pretty well on Tr1padv1s0r.  Might be a lunch option - if you're in the right neighbourhood.  I've never been to Amsterdam, have no shares in the company (although it's organisational ethics appear in the co-operative vibe), and certainly don't speak Dutch.  But just thought I'd put the links for you - just in case it's of use.  Although I could well imagine that Amsterdam has a whole host of interesting, ethical, organic and veggie/vegan eateries within chopstick flinging distance of each other😁👍

Greying X

themadvix

Ah GP, thank you for thinking of us! I will certainly check it out in my research (I was in fact reading the library-borrowed Amsterdam guide book when I picked my phone and saw your post) - as you say, it might depend on its whereabouts as to whether we get there, but all ideas welcome and it certainly sounds like it would tick our boxes 😁 

Greying_Pilgrim

I've just had a proper look, and the menu differs  between the 3 different locations; Spiegel, Van Baerle and Haarlemmer.  There is also a 4th location mentioned - Jodenbree.

I now want to go to Amsterdam.  Just for the soup and to see Stephen & Penelope's yarn store 🥰

Greying X

themadvix

Morning all,

GP - I'd seen there were several (central) locations, but hadn't realised they had different menus. I want to know about Stephen and Penelope's yarn shop now too!

A fairly gentle weekend here (not as gentle as it could/should have been given the lack of sleep!). Friday we went to the pub and ended up having a meal at the Turkish restaurant. SIL was meant to be going there for her work leaving do (she has a new, *much* better job and I'm thrilled for her), but her work colleagues bailed on her at 6pm for a reservation at 7pm - so she didn't really think she could cancel the booking at that point. So we went with her and had a lovely meal (with a few choice word said about former colleagues!). Mr MV paid for dinner, in exchange for me paying for a second round at the pub, so that was nice (and I did have pretty much the cheapest thing on the menu and just tap water with it).

Saturday I picked up the new lenses for my glasses (much better!) and a few bits needed for the evening (despite my Sains expenditure on Friday). Our murder mystery evening was a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed the food. We had the leftover rice and peas with the daal that I'd defrosted for Friday's dinner last night (and the rice that was cooking on Friday, since frozen, will go into tonight's stir fry - are you keeping up?); leftover salad leaves will go into today's lunch and leftover ginger cake/cream will both be enjoyed too.

Yesterday I worked for a bit - wanted to get this big project finished, which I'm pleased to say has now been returned to main client. I also popped to the allotment and harvested some sprouts and PSB, which will contribute to the stir fry tonight. I also paid myself and did money shuffles. I have set up a savings pot for leftover personal spends (about £43), which I'll allow to build up/contribute to our 'fun fund'. The underspend on groceries (about £70) went into a savings pot for some new radiators; I will keep a portion of future underspends aside for more expensive grocery months (i.e. summer bbqs etc.), but hope to be able to keep it under £300 generally. Pots for CCs have been paid off the cards and it all worked nicely, so I've repeated the process for this month albeit - and this is why I've never bothered in the past (I just 'know' and adjust spending to fit income) - I don't actually have enough to fill the grocery/personal spends pots from my SE income this month - they will be topped off from Cambridge pay mid-month, which will also fund most of my other savings goals (a small amount was shuffled to savings as I wanted to put exactly half of the two budgets into their pots so that I can remember what I need to add!). In the evening it was pub quiz - as if we'd not seen enough of BIL and SIL 😂 Met our Italian friends there too, which was nice. We did not win - second from last this week, which was shocking!

I'd like to say I feel a bit caught up now the big project has been returned, but main client has already sent next (much smaller, more straightforward) thing, I've got the next instalment from UK client and I need to finish a couple of Cambridge bits. Cambridge first, then UK client, then main client, I think. Bathroom has had a quick clean as per Flylady and I'm working on my and Mr MV's offices (the second part of today's flying list). It is definitely helping!

MS things:
* Underspent on both groceries and personal spends (although nominal as I've never had a fixed amount before)

* 1P surveys

* Failed to qualify for YLive survey and YG mysteriously quiet now I'm so close to payout!
* PA earnings of £23.49 + $6 (have left the $6 in my PP account as I couldn't be bothered to do the currency transfer for that amount - I'll have some payments in from US clients this month, so I'll do it then)
* Earned lots of Boots points when I bought something for Mr MV
* Food from the allotment

Gratitudes:
* A lot of laughter on Saturday night with the in-laws
* Lovely to see friends yesterday
* Online friends who see something and think of you 🥰

Have a good day all!

ETA: I take it back - another survey from YG arrived while I was typing!