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

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Yes, isn't the sunshine wonderful LaPlan, even if it's proper 🥶 While I know it's nothing compared to up north, it was -5 here this morning when Mr MV left for work. I enjoyed a frosty walk around the woods this morning - no need to worry about mud as it was all frozen. Saw a greater spotted woodpecker (and heard him pecking too), so that was lovely.

Thanks RT - yes, I'm certainly enjoying the YNAB intro emails that I've been getting! And keeping a close eye on it is second-nature, so I think I'm winning at that one! I did some updating this morning in fact - transferring from pots to my new cc pending pots. Groceries still looking good to be very low this month, despite my stocking up in Winchester.

Apart from my walk this morning, I've been enjoying the new project I'm working on - it's quite different to my normal work and I'm finding it very interesting. I've also been gently cleaning and tidying (while making tea) so that should we have any party visitors who call round, the house is visitor-acceptable! The swede curry was lovely (especially for containing swede as far as I'm concerned, so thanks @Greying_Pilgrim for that recipe. It will become part of our post-Christmas curry fest I think, along with the turkey curry and the parsnip dal. It also made 6 portions, so 4 have gone into the freezer this morning. We are still well-stocked currently! I need to make a meal plan for next week I think - a job for Sunday.

MS things:
* PA surveys - as these will bump this month's income, I'm trying to get some done
* Swede turned into curry
* Clicks and HW
* Lots of sunshine again here today - topping up the battery
* Re-covered my broccoli plants when  I was out on my walk - the netting had fallen off and the birds have totally destroyed the leaves, so not sure how well they'll do. Annoying as there's definitely more broccoli on there now! Hard to tell whether they'll recover as the frost was making them look worse than they probably are.

Gratitudes:
* Sunshine
* Woodpecker
* Frosty mud!

Have a good day all!

Jessy103

Belated birthday wishes, Vix! 🎁🎉🎂

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Thanks Jessy!

We finished the birthday celebrations with a joint party on Saturday night, which was amazing. About 60 people came and it was so lovely to see everyone and so many people have said they've really enjoyed it, which is lovely. Mr MV and I both had moments where we were looking around and drinking in everybody enjoying themselves. It was money very well spent but also what I consider to be good value:
£300 room hire (with our own entrance, bar, sound system (we took our own playlist) and toilets)
£300 buffet
£240 arrival drinks
£30 tip for the bar men (they were excellent, especially Jack who bought me a drink and just knew when to top my OJ (the non-alcoholic welcome drink that no one was drinking, so I did) with vodka )
£50 on small tab - spent on the aforementioned vodka (tbh, I didn't need to  pay - people kept offering me drinks) and a small food top up
£XX on a cake - my cousin made it and doesn't know how much to charge me 🙄 Any thoughts? It was lovely, large and we still have quite a bit left!
We walked to and from the venue (although we might have ubered back had it not been too risky to put Mr MV and his brother in a cab!); I wore the dress Mr MV bought me for my birthday (£20 in the Weird Fish sale, not sure if I mentioned that?).
Unsurprisingly we didn't do much yesterday! But I did manage a YG survey and we had pesto pasta for dinner, using up some open pesto from Boxing Day.
Back to work today and I've been productive, alongside baking bread and granola. I've placed a small supermarket delivery order for Thursday, cancelled Weds and Fri's milk (have added milk to supermarket order - in place of the plastic bottle we'd get from R'ford - no R'ford order needed this week), and have had a small refund for milk from R'ford as it was opened on Friday and off by Sunday. For dinner tonight we will brave the expired tofu (I have plenty of back-up options if it smells iffy).

We were given some lovely (entirely unexpected and unnecessary) gifts - vouchers for our two favourite local independent restaurants, YHA membership, some cash, restaurant vouchers, a gardening voucher, as well as three, well-considered bottles of booze (one from Chapel Down near our guests, one bought from source in France and a large bottle of Tanqueray, which Mr MV will enjoy). We feel very spoilt, especially as we just wanted to see everyone! So I'm hoping at some point this week, we'll have a chance to start planning the year ahead - we just haven't had time or brain space to sit down yet, but I think it will do Mr MV the world of good to have a holiday booked in to look forward to (work continues to be endless and it's just wearing him down), as well as some of the lovely experiences we've been given.
I think my MS things and gratitudes have been covered above! Have a lovely evening all!

beanielou

Sounds like you had a fantastic time. So pleased. 

rtandon27

Sounds like you had a fantastic time Vix!

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Thanks ladies - we did have a fantastic time. And I think it will be talked about for a long time to come. I know it wasn't exactly MSE, but it was all saved for in advance, mostly by me, and was entirely an opportunity brought about by us having paid the mortgage off - we wouldn't have done it otherwise.

Sun is out this morning, although not when I popped down the road to the PO! It feels much warmer today too, which is nice (it was still pretty chilly here yesterday). Mr MV is working at a site today and took the car in to get a couple of bits fixed - all under warranty, so the only cost to him was an Uber to/from the garage to his work-site (a two-hour walk, so not a lot of options! We'll certainly bear this in mind for future garage visits though). He's taken lunch and I'm about to have some too. I'm out this evening at an in-person evening class, which will be lovely, so dinner will be in that brief overlap between him getting in and me going out - fish pie (using one of the cheapy cheap packs I got from T's a couple of weeks back). If the R'ford off milk isn't too off, I'll use it for the sauce. (And also make some garlic flatbreads from it.) May get a visit later from Dad and Step-mum and/or Mum - both have been offered birthday cake, so it depends if they make it up here to take advantage of the offer.

MS things:
* CC pots updated with recent spends - all on target
* Ebay sale! 😮 Haven't had anything on Ebay for ages, but popped this one item on before Christmas and someone has bought it, which is a novelty. Only a small amount of money in, but it all helps!
* 'Expired' tofu was absolutely fine and the other half of the pack has been chopped and frozen for another time. Had to improvise a bit as the coating for it should have included soy sauce which is coming in Thursday's order - it still tasted good though
* Clicks and HW

Gratitudes:
* Mr MV didn't let the cat in (to our bedroom) when he got up at 4am this morning - I slept terribly, awake from 2.30 until 5, but did at least snooze between 5 and 6.30.
* Sunshine
* Friendly and helpful PO staff

Have a lovely day all!

beckstar1975

Just delurking to say that R*ford milk on the turn makes excellent paneer - ours frequently only lasts 4 days despite getting 4 pints of it so finding this was v useful!

EssexHebridean

Oh Vix how brilliant that the party went off so well. You'd planned it so well, and worked hard to make it a success, so I'm not surprised to hear people had an amazing time, but the most important thing is the memories that you and MrMV had from it. as for the MSE aspects - it was well planned and thought through, and most importantly you had the funds to pay for it anyway. As it sounds like you most certainly got value for money from it, I'm going to say that to my mind that DOES make it a very MSE event! 

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Thanks @beckstar1975 for delurking to say that! (Please do feel free to join in.) I've done quite well - reckon there's less than two pints left now, but I might just make some paneer - it can christen the tofu press I got for Christmas! I did make garlic flat breads yesterday afternoon and used some more for the fish pie sauce. It'll be the world's smallest batch of paneer I reckon, but we'll definitely make use of it. I hadn't thought about cheese-making, even though I do do it sometimes. R'ford are very good at giving me a refund, but it has happened quite a few times before - and I've raised it with them too. It really should last longer than it does.

Thanks EH! I think you're giving me waaay more credit for planning and hard work than I deserve - I was extremely relaxed about the whole thing, given I have an event-planning background. It was nice to let the venue take the strain though and it was 'just' a birthday party, so I was determined not to stress too much. Compliments received about the food today from Step-mum, which was good (neither Mr MV nor I managed to actually eat much, as is always the case).

Have just posted the thank you cards for those who gave us presents - no spend required there: RM survey stamps and used up some notelets and postcards, including some that were 20+ years old and had been saved from my A-level Textile sketchbooks! I have finally decided that £70 for the cake is suitable (with assistance from another cousin - we concurred on price), so there'll be a bit leftover in my party pot. This will be split between clothing fund (as I bought another Weird Fish dress in the sale as the other one was so lovely - £20 inc delivery) and the allotment pot as I'll need some more in there should I get a second plot (rent bill for my current plot has arrived) - for rent, compost (by the tonne) and things to grow.

Have had a busy morning with Cambridge meetings and a couple of small bits of work. Now onto another fairly small bit of work for main client, although I doubt I'll get it all done today. A quiet evening tonight I think - the second half of the fish pie for dinner (will vary the veg) and maybe some year planning. Mr MV has had a pretty rubbish day at work, so I doubt he'll want to do too much that involves brain power. That counts for me too as I've been sleeping very poorly the past couple of nights (I may have a short nap when I've posted this).

MS things:
* Used free stamps and shopped thank you cards from home (doubly satisfying as it counts as decluttering too)
* Heating off currently. It's set to go off when we're both out and *should* come back on when I return, but it only works for Mr MV. Usually I forget and end up freezing, but today I've remembered and it's not cold yet.
* Clicks and HW, TV survey
* Discovered we have longer with our free trial of Apple TV than expected - until March sometime (this was a free trial for new and returning users that was on the bottom of a receipt for an item we needed from Currys.... it is worth more than the item we bought, so a very nice freebie)
* Have decided against a trip to Mum's town tomorrow. I do need to go (need to visit opticians to order new lenses for my virtually new frames), but it can wait until the weekend when we'll be passing (and I'll have the car, rather than having to go by train). Will go into town here instead for the few bits I need (mainly library and a bank to pay in to).

Gratitudes:
* Lovely, in-person evening class last night - we had a good laugh and catch up alongside some learning
* A brief visit from Dad and Stepmum this afternoon to collect some cake - they stopped to enjoy some cake and a cuppa too
* A decent wander in the gloom (it's very gloomy here today) - will need to go out again with Mr MV as I'm a long way off my steps.

Have a good afternoon/evening all!

EssexHebridean

I shall simply say that the thought and care you put into the party planning was very evident on here (well, on your old diary really!), even if not to you! I think sometimes the MSE habits of ensuring  we get value are so ingrained we overlook how much we just do them unconsciously!