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

Suffolk_lass

Our regular DPD driver knocks and waits, too. And our son (A RM postman) knocks on certain doors if he has post for them, but that is because they are lonely and he is sometimes the only person they speak to. Georgi, our DPD chap, buys honey from me now - so much so (five at a time!) that I suggested he had a much cheaper tub that I can swap when he wants the next lot (so the plastic gets washed, not scrapped), and he refills his glass jar from the tub.

themadvix

How lovely of your son Suffolk Lass 🥰 I bet that’s really appreciated! And what a great example of a sensible local economy with you and your DPD driver too 😊 

We had a lovely evening last night with friends doing an immersive escape room type thing (again - we went back in March, but different theme and different experience this time). Not hugely expensive for a night out in London as things go, and Mr MV and I are definitely both keeping an eye on the purse strings (so much easier when you’re both on board). Just waiting for our friends and their children to arrive now - all BBQ prep is done. Looks like we’re feeding the 5000 but I’m intending for there to be leftovers to feed us at least tomorrow, if not Tuesday too.

 Have a lovely Sunday all - and enjoy not having the Sunday blues - another day off tomorrow!

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Leftovers did for Monday night and Tuesday night, so that was great. Tonight we're having fajitas - with wraps that were made previously (I make a batch of 10 and we only have four each usually, so have been stashing the remainder - I'm not sure how many there are actually...), red peppers from last week's veg box, black beans (currently soaking ready for the IP) and a beautifully ripe avo. MSE because I'm resisting getting sour cream especially for them... Have a loose plan for the rest of the week to use things up in a sensible order.

Stupidly forgot to put yeast in my bread dough this morning... have incorporated it, but it has taken all day to do first rise and is currently on a slow second one! Hopefully it'll be ready for the oven by bedtime?!

Things looking OK at the allotment - I've only popped down briefly this week - will spend a bit of time there tomorrow hopefully.

Still mad busy with work - am so looking forward to two weeks off! (That being said, Mr MV is currently seeing specialist about his knee - slightly concerned about what the outcome of that will be - both generally and for our holiday...)

Off to feed some cats now - for my friend - she'll be looking after ours for a week of our holiday in exchange.

Have a good evening all!

Jessy103

Fingers crossed for Mr MV and his knee 🤞

themadvix

Thanks Jessy. He's been booked in for an MRI on Monday and a follow-up on Wednesday, so I guess we'll know then. In good news, while he now has to pay a £100 excess, the work health cover is unlimited (which it wasn't last year) - so no stressing about hitting a limit (especially as surgery may well be the answer).

Fajitas were OK last night - the defrosted tortillas weren't great, but we ate them anyway. There's a bit of filling left over for lunch today with the very solid loaf I eventually baked yesterday. I don't think it's a winner - and if it's really bad, I'll have to bake again this afternoon as Niece won't tolerate a solid sandwich for lunch tomorrow.

Made tikka masala with some sunflower chunks - 4 portions, so two for Friday night's post-pub dinner and two for the freezer.

Have had notification that NW will be sending me my £100 Fairer Share payment 😁

Cats have been visited by bike this morning and fed; a hot wash has just finished in the machine, so hanging that out and getting the next lot in is my next job. I am also working on a Cambridge report today... but procrastinating with it a bit (it is getting done... just slowly). Will be popping out to the Library of Things to return the games from the weekend later. Also popping to a library to collect a reservation. May pick up a few bits in Lidl (Mr MV is out of tinned mackerel which he has on his salads, and from my sampling, we definitely need some yoghurt to cool down the tikka masala!).

If I get the chance, I'd like to get down to the allotment later - but we'll see how things go.

Updated my cc pots last night with latest spending - had put it off a bit as needed refunds to clear to be able to juggle. Bought a few bits on Vinted on Monday as needed for holiday - currently only have two t-shirts with shoulders as loads developed holes at the end of last summer so I got rid (they were worn thin, so repairing wouldn't have lasted) - parcels due today, so hopefully they'll all be OK. Clothes pot covered this, but had to wait for refund of some shorts I'd ordered to cover these costs (refund had gone back in OK, but hadn't spent enough on CC to transfer the clothes money back to savings pot from cc pot, iyswim).

LadyWithAPlan

Baileys_Babe said:

Neither yourself @themadvix nor @EssexHebridean come across as MSE frauds. I feel the contribution you both make enriches the forum and will help a lot of people wanting to be D/MFW. You and others show with honesty how to live a full life, making the most of yellow stickered, cash back, stacking offers, splitting tickets, planning, combining journeys, growing your own, annual membership as a gift, shopping from home, buying better quality, taking packed lunches.... These all demonstrate small and large changes and decisions we can make which allow us to be in control of how/where/why we are spending our money. Sometimes I read about something I already do, other times something I start doing, sometimes the information is not relevant but interesting and I can direct it to people who will find it useful, at times the information is interesting but not something I can do now but it lets me work out how that can work for us.

In short, please keep posting, your knowledge is helping people far and wide.

Yes I concur - I accept there are times when one must or chooses to be super frugal but also it’s about life goals - for some enjoying the life and health we have now - is super important rather than going 💯 lean 
I like reading the mix of when people have these short term all in goals (eg Caelers diary ) but also those who manage to live well whilst getting the money under control . 

I definitely live a fabulous frugal life - just back from an annual 10 day abroad work thing/event  (self employed) and I stay somewhere cheap - go to the local Lidl/ and don’t splash cash 
I only ate out once and that was a late night kebab moment with friends as all the canapés were not GF 

Cheery_Daff

Finfers crossed for Mr MV's knees here too xx and for your holidays!

EssexHebridean

More crossing of fingers for Mr MV's knee - hoping it doesn't impact on anything! 

themadvix

Thanks Cheery!

Good trip out - LoT, Lidl and normal library (in two separate towns, and not ours) all visited within an hour. And the different library had a lovely selection of different books by three of our favourite authors, so I stocked up ready for our holiday.

Small amount of cashback received from TCB - afraid it's topped up my very depleted personal spends pot (it was only £2) - hopefully making the difference between Niece having an ice cream and me having a drink at the taproom (after I've returned her to her mother) and not! (or not within budget anyway - I think I'll have earned my drink by then!)

Cambridge report was like walking through treacle (entirely a mindset thing), but then suddenly seemed to be mostly done. I've got some easier bits to do (less creative, just entering the right info) and I'm waiting on someone for something, but given I'm in Cambridge on Tuesday, I don't want to have nothing to do, so I'm saving them for then. Have switched to ongoing long project for main client. In an ideal world, this would be done before we went away, but I don't think he's expecting it back before then... Still, I need to get it done by end of June so that it's a handy addition to my invoice, given I'll be off (and not earning) for two weeks.

ETA: Actually my personal spends pot is healthier than it looks - because friend still owes me for the day trip ferry - it came up at the weekend but has been forgotten about again. I'll nudge soon because I want to get the 'complete your API' email out of my inbox).

themadvix

Afternoon all,

A quiet weekend - I volunteered at the allotment shop on Saturday and that was about it in terms of leaving the homestead (if the allotment is considered an extended part of the homestead). I did feed my friends' cats - but no cost or socialness required! Various prep for holiday was done (including an early assessment of whether we can fit all camping and kayaking stuff in the boot (and frunk) so that it is not on display when we're staying in hotels... erm, no, definitely not - especially as we'd forgotten various other bits that need to go in. So we're in the process of deciding if we can leave kayak in (anonymous) bag in back of car safely (and/or lugging it into hotels with us).

Operation use-it-up is in full swing, although I'm slightly worried we may have run out of anything to eat by Sunday evening (when we'll be back from a weekend in Oxfordshire). I think I'll probably make something for the freezer to cover that eventuality - or pick some broad beans from the allotment for a risotto.

Today is my only solid day of SE work this week - am trying my hardest to get the huge but not urgent project for main client done - am over halfway now. Tomorrow I'm in Cambridge all day, with meetings - but hoping to get the two reports I'm working on over the finish line (one completely so, the other off my desk for the time being). Wednesday I should be able to get a decent amount of my work done, around Cambridge meetings (also hoping that they can be skipped as I'll have seen people tomorrow). Thursday am meeting ex-Brownie friends to do some baking for an event on Friday to which I'm also invited (it's an all day open house, so I don't intend to be there for too long).

Just about to pop to allotment to do a couple of quick jobs and then I'll be back at my desk (I've reached a natural break in my work, so it's nice to get out!).

Did manage to sell a piece of furniture on FBMP at the weekend - £5 in (I paid £5 for it about 10 years ago on Ebay, so I'm pretty pleased with that!)

Have a good afternoon all!

ETA: Forgot to say that after radio silence from man about trailer for mini, I tracked him down on FB and the website form wasn't working - so after holiday we'll be getting the trailer kit and that will be underway.