The Crumpet family's journey to Mortgage Freedom:-)

Crumpets · 4 July 2018 at 12:32PM

I've just checked the mortgage and the OP is showing :j One part of the mortgage is now below £40K...if only that was all we had to pay off :rotfl: Still it's going down which is the main thing. :T

I used up some of the milk supply yesterday by making macaroni cheese ( I refuse to use it mac 'n' cheese like dd1 does :cool:) and pancakes for dinner last night. We are going away on Friday so hopefully we will use the rest before then. I've also had a go and making my own oat milk today, it's oK! not as creamy as the branded variety but it seems fine in tea and coffee (most important!)

Still not sold the pew

I think we will have to lower the price if it doesn't sell this time. I want the space back now, plus I want the money to buy the dc a new wardrobe.

I have loads and loads of rhubarb to use up, I'm going to make some rhubarb cakes, one for school and one to take to the in laws this weekend. Not sure what else to do with it - suggestions welcome

I'm waiting for £50 to become payable on TCB and the I'll be able to make another OP. It's confirmed so hopefully it won't be long. According to TCB we have now earned over £1000 through them - I think all of that will have gone towards the mortgage :T

themadvix · 4 July 2018 at 4:28PM

Rhubarb cordial - it's delish, although high in sugar (I'd rather have simple sugar than nasty artificial sweeteners, but YMMV). Use the strainings to make a crumble after (but don't leave it in the oven for an hour (plus?) like I did at the weekend!)

Crumpets · 13 August 2018 at 12:52PM

Hi diaryland :wave:

Blimey, it's been a while. I almost couldn't be bothered to search for my diary and was tempted to start a new one :rotfl:

Well I had an enforced hiatus from posting as my laptop broke

Dh managed to fix it though without spending too much :T Since then having the children off school has kept me busy. We had a lovely week away at the beginning of the holidays and then lots of days out and meeting up with friends. Today we are actually at home and I'm catching up with housework!

Money wise - I have no idea where we are

DH and I need to sit down and update the spreadsheets. Days out have been pretty frugal though so I don't think we've strayed too far off plan. We have booked the flights for our holiday next year - they actually came in under budget which is great. Got to save to book the next part of our adventure now

:T

The normal OP has been continuing to go out every month and I've requested £75 from TCB which will be OP'd when it arrives. I've also sold a few things on ebay over the last few weeks too, so it's all ticking along. I've had a deep clean in the little ones bedroom today and found a few more things to put in the car boot pile. A few things are on freecycle too so hopefully they'll go!

We need a new fridge, so that will be the next expense. We have an under counter fridge and it's just too small for us. Food gets pushed to the back and then gets forgotten about

the salad drawer also keeps filling up with water so it just needs to go! Hopefully we can get some TCB though :money:

Crumpets · 16 August 2018 at 3:11PM

Yay! I've finally made an extra OP - £76.38 from TCB :T It feels like ages since I've been able to pay off extra. It feels good

Other than that good money news the rest of the week has gone a bit wrong

Trips into the big city have resulted in parking fees of nearly £20 :eek: plus food whilst we were there has meant I've spent all of my weekly spends

At least it's Friday tomorrow.

We're off away again tomorrow, this is our trip to L@mmas - I am looking forward to it, but I feel so tired, I wish it was next weekend rather than this week. I don't feel prepared at all! I still need to get food to take (meals are provided but I'll need snacks for the kids :cool:) Dh and I both need some waterproof trousers and I need to get a new torch as ours broke on our last trip! There are not enough hours in the day!

Another thing has just left my house thanks to freecycle and the children's bedroom is still tidy :T [STRIKE]shame I can't say the same for the rest of the house [/STRIKE] :rotfl:

themadvix · 20 August 2018 at 8:37AM

Well done on the OP!

Hope you've had/are having a great time at Lammas - and managed to recuperate too.

Crumpets · 24 August 2018 at 9:10AM

Hi MV, we had a wonderful weekend at L@mm@s, I couldn't recommend highly enough. It was excellent value for money, lots of lovely activities for the adults and children and wonderful meals all included (which even the children ate!). We came back very inspired :j

I've just been on the phone to the bank, some bar-steward has been trying to make 'tester payments' from my account :mad::mad: luckily the bank were pretty hot on it and my card has been cancelled! how dare they :mad: Unfortunately that means my milk man payment has been declined so I need to sort that out

It was a spendy day yesterday, it was new shoes day for the children. Luckily it is the only part of the uniform I need to buy as I have everything else :T I can't believe there is only a week left of the summer holidays

There has been lots of DIY and sorting out happening, DD1 wants her bedroom decorating, she wants it painted white and it's only a box room so it shouldn't take long. I've also given away another item on freecycle and I've had interest in another item. We're getting there slowly :T I also have a couple of things to stick on the bay which I will do today!

Other small things that have made a difference this week

using windfall apples to make a fruit compote for my porridge...yum
getting new school uniform from our 'loft shop'
visiting a free museum with the dc
mil buying us some goodies from a vegan fair :T

I keep forgetting it's a bank holiday this weekend, we have no plans though and I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend. hope the weather is good !

Crumpets · 31 August 2018 at 8:18AM

Another week has flown by, I can't believe it's September tomorrow and back to school next week

This week has been extremely frivolous for dh and I. We have ordered a new fridge - a lovely tall one so hopefully I won't be finding horrible things lurking at the back

We have also had a lovely night away without the kids this week, we kind of blew the budget and went for luxury - but it was so worth it :cool:. We were away for less than 24 hours but it has really restored us and we feel energised and ready to tackle the new round of kids activities and homework that is about to descend on us

I felt quite uneasy at the amount of money we've spent this week but it's because we live a frugal lifestyle most of the time that we can splash out every now and again. Normal service will be resumed now

I've also been decorating both dd1's room and the conservatory and my house is starting to look lovely again. The conservatory hadn't been decorated since the kids were babies so it had lots crayon marks and mucky finger prints on the walls. I'm hoping it will be our grown up place now the kids are older.

Tomorrow dh and I have an Indian cookery course to attend. I'm really looking forward to it, I really hope we learn how to make a nice curry! hopefully will save us some money on takeaways too

Crumpets · 3 September 2018 at 3:59PM

Happy Monday! We've had a lovely weekend, DH and I went on our cookery course on Saturday which we thoroughly enjoyed! We came back having eaten plenty and with loads of food for the freezer! I think vouchers for further courses will be on our Christmas list. It was also nice to spend the day doing an activity together :smileyhea

Yesterday was a day for the children so we had our last spendy day of the holidays. We bought an annual pass to one of our favourite museums which allows us access into other museums too. So at least we'll be able to have cheap days out over the next 12 months

Last day of the holidays for dd2 today

we've had a productive day though, we made samosas (using my newly learnt skills

) this morning and then we all went foraging this afternoon. We now have blackberries, elderberries, sloes and rosehips to turn into delicious things. I'm thinking flavoured gins, crumbles and syrups :T

Mortgage has gone out today and I'm just waiting for the regular OP to show and then I'll update my signature. We will be below £85k though :T:T

We're off out to dinner tonight as an end of holiday treat, We have a £100 voucher to spend thanks to DD2's prize winning drawing

greent · 3 September 2018 at 4:07PM

Curry course sounds fab - hopefully you learned how to make lots of yummy things

x

themadvix · 4 September 2018 at 8:39AM

Sounds like the curry course was a real winner - how lovely that you were able to bring stuff home!

That sounds like a very productive foraging session too - and you sound much more inventive/imaginative about what to do with the stuff than I would be.

The Crumpet family's journey to Mortgage Freedom:-)

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