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Living the Good Life - mortgage free and living in line with our values
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Morning all,
Had a nice time with friends on Monday and yesterday I enjoyed an evening catching up with Call the Midwife and a jacket potato while Mr MV was at the football. I also finalised the home insurance and transferred the excess £76 in the pot to the heat pump savings.
I also spoke to the lovely people at Nest yesterday - I transferred my pension out in 2023 but have decided I'd like to reopen it. The system knows who I am though and doesn't like it, so I can't get back in under my old account or set up a new one currently. A ticket has been raised and someone should get back to me this week. This has been on my to-do list for nearly a year, so to make some progress is good (not helped by previously speaking on live chat to a complete idiot who wasn't reading what I was writing!). I've also finally made some progress with LinkedIn - I had to send a message via Mr MV's account to get them to speak to me (they sent me a link to another form, which also came up with a submission error, but seems to have gone through). And I've had to send them a copy of my marriage certificate which I am absolutely fuming about and have made it clear it should be deleted asap and that I am not impressed.
I am expecting work any time from main client, but I was yesterday too and nothing was forthcoming (hold-ups behind the scenes), and so I need to get on with Cambridge stuff. I have my regular 11.30 meeting, but other than that I should be able to make good progress with reports (unless main client pipes up).
Dinner tonight will be mac and cheese, using the last two tomatoes in the fridge. Tomorrow is fajitas to use half a packet of bought wraps from the freezer. And Friday will be curry/dal and a flatbread. I baked a loaf yesterday and have soaked chickpeas, so lunch will probably be chickpea and carrot sandwiches. I will need to buy some milk today, but that's expected. I'm quietly thinking, we might even spend less than £150 this month on groceries - we've still got several things in the freezer to use and a butternut squash on the side, plus mozzarella for a pizza - there's plenty of options still! And we're out a couple of times later in the month too.
In other news, Stepmum is taking us all (us, Sis, boyfriend and Niece, plus her two adult children and their other halves/families) away for Dad's 70th in April - a weekend in a (quite large!) self-catering cottage in Norfolk, which will be lovely. Work permitting, we'll make the most of it and spend the Friday and Monday up there too. Not sure of cost yet - she's covering the accommodation, but I don't know what the plans are for food, but hopefully we'll put money in a kitty/bring a meal each to cover all but one meal out.
MS things:
* PB winnings transferred to long-term savings pot
* Clicks and HW
* Home insurance savings - oh, I should also get a £20 voucher from Confused and free Gregg's cuppa every month 😊 (that needs to be verified still)
* Food is all on trackGratitudes:
* Lovely afternoon playing games with ex-Brownie friends
* A walk in the woods - saw some bunnies, snowdrops and plenty of birds
* A nice celebration for Dad to look forward toHave a good day all!
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 -
Gadwalls are lovely- the Mr's in full breeding plumage have an almost "barcode" type pattern going on - really intricate - and they've got such pretty faces! Up there with Wigeon for me on the small-duck front, although wigeon win on the "making a really silly noise" front with their funny whistles!
Glad to hear that work is busy although also simultaneously SORRY to hear that work is "that" busy! I mean obviously it all helps down the line, but a little less feast & famine would be helpful, I imagine?!
🎉 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/her6 -
Sadly feast and famine is always the way EH! And I'd rather it was feast - I can always think of things to do with the extra money 😆
Gadwalls were a real surprise to me - very pretty in a subtle way. And yes, the wigeon noise is hilarious! 😂
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 -
If you think Wigeons are funny, you want to hear Eider…! 😂 (Think Frankie Howerd in Up Pompeii!)
🎉 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/her5 -
Oh, I think I might have been confusing the two! On eider-related matters, have you read A Place of Tides by James Rebanks? I found it fascinating and would highly recommend.
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 -
Ooh no I haven't - just googled and it sounds fascinating, I'll keep an eye out for that! I'll counter-recommend The Sea Room by Adam Nicolson too as it's a similar sort of theme.
Eider are great - they look and sound ludicrous - for the uninitiated readers, they have heads shaped like doorstops!
🎉 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/her6 -
Well that's interesting EH, as I've read a book about the Shiants previously - the story of a couple of men in the 1930s searching for a really rare (back then) petrel that lived there. I've passed the book onto my dad so I can't recall what it was called. It was a slow read, but fascinating - the privations and difficulties of getting there were quite unimaginable! I'll see if the library has a copy of The Sea Room.
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 -
Afternoon all,
February is shaping up nicely for free money. A £25 PB win, plus the £75 TCB payout for opening three Santa savings accounts. The first has gone to my cash ISA (long-term savings), along with some easy access interest, and the latter to my holiday fund. I've also been paid by Cambridge today. I've left a bit in my current account (I don't think I'll need it to top up my SE earnings this month, but would rather have it available just in case) and have used the rest to pay for the Scilly train fare - it would only have gone into the holiday pot and then come straight back out again to pay for the tickets anyway. I popped out briefly this morning for a couple of bits - and paid for one thing with Boots points and the other with my Waterstones gift card - so that was free too.
Having been told an avalanche of work was coming, today is the first day this week that main client has sent much of anything through - frustrating, but the way it goes. This does mean I've managed to get another report almost over the line and start (albeit only a bit) on the next (large) one. I'm hoping next week will be more consistent with work. I'm also cat sitting twice a day from Monday until Saturday.
Dinner tonight, in an amendment to the previously announced schedule will be chilli - not that I remembered to soak the beans overnight, so they had the boiling water treatment this morning and will be cooked shortly. This will use up the last of a jar of passata and be accompanied by last night's leftover sour cream. There may be enough left for tomorrow too. The freezer is beginning to look somewhat empty… I may make the veggie sausages this weekend, depending on the weather/our plans. Currently we don't have any, but I do have a small list of annoying jobs it would be good to do, plus it would be nice to get out for a walk if the weather is amenable.
Better get back to work now - main client will be expecting what I'm working on at the moment and the next bit back before the end of the day (not a huge amount, but I still need to keep on it).
Have a good afternoon all!
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 -
Afternoon all,
I can confirm that the boiling water treatment for the dried beans is definitely a winner - thanks @Greying_Pilgrim! Lovely chilli on Friday night and enough for leftovers on Saturday (no Valentine's stuff here). It was good to get some outdoor jobs done on Saturday, but sadly it did mean we didn't get a walk in as the weather was vile on Sunday. I did make a batch of veggie sausages though and we had sausage and mash on Sunday for dinner - the remaining 14 sausages went into the freezer. Last night we had the sea bream fillets that were in there, with roasted rhubarb. Bit of an odd one, as I usually do the meal with potatoes and wilted chard but I forgot to pick the greens (not chard, either) and we'd used the potatoes the night before, so had it with rice instead. It still worked fine though.
Tonight we are having sushi, which will be coming from the personal spends budget as it's instead of a meal out - no Valentine's here because we celebrate getting together on the 17th instead. Mr MV wants to play sushi battleships - apparently it's a social media thing. I suspect the social media types who post this don't have cats… we'll be locking them right out of the dining room! Pancakes for dessert of course (and for lunch for me too).
Have ordered a R'ford delivery for Thursday, a couple of bits in our milk delivery on Friday and will buy some cheese tonight when I get the sushi. We'll still have about £20 left in the grocery budget - and apart from milk, I can't envisage needing much else until the end of the month, so that will be a good cheap month. The freezer is looking sparse though, but I think can be stocked up with a couple of batch cooked meals and through the normal grocery budget next month. We've eaten well too, and there's still stuff to use - in the freezer, in the cupboards and at the allotment (although really only a bit of kale now).
Work from main client only turned up today - and then not anything that's part of the large projects. So I spent yesterday doing Cambridge data entry (not inclined to start the next report due to looming announcement that may include redundancy). However, my boss/friend has been signed off until end of March and as far as I'm aware, she's the only one who is set up to sign off my timesheets… so I won't be getting paid this month. When other boss who is on mat leave returns later this month, I'll see if she can be set up to sign them off. Boss's boss, who still hasn't announced the restructure despite mid-month coming and going (and has been unexpectedly off today - when the departmental meeting is held 🙄😡) is useless - and has too much work on his plate because he's lost two of his main managers through his own incompetence (I'm pretty sure he doesn't give a rodent's backside about me either, so ensuring I'm paid won't be a priority).
I am nearly done with this challenging piece of work for main client though, which makes it a good day, workwise. Mr MV will be home shortly (to continue working) and I'll pop out for sushi and to feed my cat charge.
MS things:
* Clicks and HW
* A few PA surveys when work has been quiet recently
* Continued use-it-up approach to food
* Sunshine for the solarGratitudes:
* Sunshine - amazing what a difference it makes to mood
* Work that isn't Cambridge work
* A nice weekend - a balance of getting stuff done and relaxingHave a good afternoon/evening all!
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 Hemingway9 -
Ît's been so lovely to have sunshine hasn't it??
Hope the redundancy uncertainty is sorted out soon and someone can pay you!
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