A blissful home - mortgage_girl's MF diary

mortgage_girl · 13 February 2011 at 6:42PM

@ adwat - I agree totally, I think I can reduce my food bill down to at least £75 and will probably aim to keep it as close to £50 per month as possible

@ Sepa - lol at you rushing home in your lunch hour, that's exactly what i'd do too. I just wouldn't be able to settle knowing that i'd left it on while I was at work. Funnily enough I have been gifted with a slow cooker today - I was at my Mum's and mentioned that I might invest in a cheap one just to try out at the weekends and she has a small one that she doesn't use so gave it to me. :j Whilst i'm quite happy to keep cooking in my large le creuset pot I have been wondering if a slow cooker would be cheaper to run than the hob, so i'm going to give it a try and see how it goes. I see a geeky session of avidly watching my electricity meter coming on! :rotfl:

Sepa74 · 13 February 2011 at 6:47PM

lol... I should probably try and get an electricity meter, but I know I would become completely obsessive about it. Not only that, I would just start feeling guilty whenever I left things on, no matter how small. I bought a new toaster last year, and the stupid thing has an electronic display... I turn it off at the wall every time I use it

I was wondering today whether I should start boiling water in the microwave rather than using the kettle.

Don't forget you need to factor in how long the slow cooker is on for - it is probably more efficient than the hob, but it might not be for the oven.

mortgage_girl · 14 February 2011 at 10:05PM

Good point Sepa, although I rarely use the oven so the slow cooker would be replacing the hob. I'll try not to get to obsessed with the electricity meter...just a little peek, honest! Haha :rotfl:

Anyway today i've 'bingoported' (made up word alert!), been thrifty and had cheese topped jacket potatoes for tea - yummy, refrained from buying chocolate (will treat myself at the weekend

) and I didn't put the heating on when I got up this morning - it's warm enough now and I think i've just got into the habit of switching it on. I keep telling myself that it's little steps like this that will make the biggest difference in the long run.

Right, off to do a survey or two.

mortgage_girl · 17 February 2011 at 8:56PM

Well it's been a busy week at work -phew - I can't believe that tomorrow's Friday! Not that i'm complaining as I have next week off :j I've managed to make a few more small steps towards my £1800 overpayment target. This week i've received £16.88 in amazon vouchers from tcb and bp so i've transferred the cash to my mortgage overpayment pot. I've also sold a few things on amazon and ebay but i'll add those to my total once i've got the money in my account. I've been busy surveying too but no redeems as yet and i'm still trying to be a bit more careful with putting the heating on during the week. I also had a pleasant surprise when I looked in my food change moneybox as I found I had £14 in there so i'm going to put that towards my food shopping next month and i'll transfer the savings from my food budget into my overpayment account. Hmmm think I may be addicted to scrimping and saving now

...i'm amazed at how much having a concrete target to work towards is making me focus though, especially with using up what I have in the cupboards - would you believe I have 4 bottles of half used shampoo in the cupboard?!!...hmmmm, must use it up before I buy any more! :rotfl:

linz · 17 February 2011 at 9:06PM

lol that sounds like me MG, can't believe what a tight*rse I feel like sometimes, since starting to OP, I think i've got OCD

I've gone and OP'd £400 and left myself with £80 for the rest of the month :rotfl:

The surveys all add up though, i'm near to cashing out on a few now, which will bring in about £50 - enough for a new ipod nano on Amazon so I don't have to buy one

Enjoy your week off!

mortgage_girl · 22 February 2011 at 10:09PM

Lol - glad i'm not the only one Linz. It is a bit addictive this overpaying lark...hope you managed to survive on £80! :rotfl:

Well today i've been quite a busy bee. I've dug over the veg patch ready for the growing season - I should have done it before xmas really but oops, nevermind

I've also ordered the extra seeds that I need from the Real Seed Company (thanks Sepa). I've bought some rather lushly named sweet chocolate pepper seeds (mmmm, didn't order them just because of the name, honest

), also some chilli, mini cucumber and basil seeds too. I can't wait until they arrive :j. I've also stocked up on some body moisturiser, mascara and eye cream while they were reduced, i'm working on the theory that if it's something I use and it's on offer then it'll pay in the long run to stock up on it now, which is fine as long as I only buy things that I use and i'm not just buying them because they're bargains.

Hmmm tired now, think i'll go and read in bed for a bit...did I mention that i'm trying to read all the books I own before I buy any new ones? Oh dear, i'm definately addicted :rotfl:

mortgage_girl · 23 February 2011 at 5:40PM

Well today i've had to have the builder out to look at a leak - it turns out that my toilet has been leaking and as a result its ruined part of my kitchen ceiling. The toilet will need removing and refitting and part of the ceiling will need removing too :eek: So i've been on the phone to my insurance company and it seems that they'll pay for the damage to be repaired if I pay for the leak to be repaired. I'm feeling a bit despondent really as I seem to constantly be one the phone sorting out one thing or another to do with the house at the moment (usually to the solicitors who are dealing with the transfer of equity - they've been rubbish to put it politely, but I wont even get started on that one!)

However, while on the phone moaning to my Mum and generally being a grouch, I received a text from my mortgage company to say that the solicitor has confirmed that the transfer has been completed and they've amended the mortgage...so it seems that the house is finally mine :j I can't believe that after 5 months it's finally over, the process was only supposed to take 8 weeks and it really has been a bit of a slog.

So it's been a day of highs and lows - although i'm not sure i'll quite believe it until I have the paperwork in my hands. Anyway i'm heading round to my Mum's tonight for a little celebration :T

On another positive note i've added £10.75 to my mortgage overpayment fund from an Amazon sale and I have an ebay item ending tonight. It's currently at 99p but has 15 watchers so i'm hoping it gets a few more bids! :T

mortgage_girl · 25 February 2011 at 9:55AM

I've just received another £5 amazon voucher from bp so i've transferred the equivalent into my mortgage overpayment pot, bringing the total up to £52.63

I've been busy doing surveys too and i'm getting quite close to cashing out on some of them -it's amazing what you can find the time to do when you put your mind to it!

I've listed a few items on ebay but I really need to get my act together with this one and maybe sort out a little ebay box so that I don't have to go searching for things that I know I want to list. Maybe i'll just try and add a couple of things each day and then when I get time to list something i'll know exactly where to find it.

It looks like i'll have saved about £40 on my food budget this month, which is brilliant as it means that i've only spent £60 instead of £100. I've still been stocking up on things when they've been on offer and now have enough porridge and muesli to last me at least until the end of the year! I've also found a butchers that has lots of great offers and their meat is really good quality, so this month i've bought a large tray of chicken breasts that will probably keep me going for a couple of months. I'll make sure I pop in once a month or so and stock up on bargains rather than going to Mr T's.

I've decided that next month, just to keep things interesting

, i'm going see how long I can make my £100 food budget last me. My cupboards are well stocked up so I think that stretching it out to last a couple of months is do-able, so we'll see how far it can go - I like a challenge.

I went shopping with Mum yesterday and spent more than I should have on a new to and some cushions - whoops! But, she did give me a load of electric toothbrush heads, as she no longer has hers, which will save me a fortune

Right, I need to get motivated as I want to do a workout this morning and then get my planning done for next week. I might try to squeeze some surveys and ebaying in too.

Have a good day everyone!

linz · 25 February 2011 at 11:13AM

MG, I read on the Grabbit board that it is free listing on Ebay this weekend so you may want to hold off listing til then

Are you a member of Topcashback? If so try their 'It's Your View/New Vista Live' surveys. Think they're under Recurring Earners but a search will find it. You can do as many as you want, though i find its about 4 or 5 a day. Sometimes you'll be screened out but when you complete one it's worth 70p. I've got about £5 pending from the last month and that's just from a couple of times when i've had the time. You'd probably get a nice little amount of cashback if you tried it everyday or a few times a week.

You could also get whole chickens from the butchers, roast it and then there's about a weeks worth of chicken (for 1 person)

They work out cheaper than the breasts in the supermarkets anyway, don't know what ur butcher charges.

When you run out, look on Amazon for toothbrush heads - miles cheaper than in the shops, though read the reviews as I think there are some fake ones on there.

I might join you on the food shopping challenge next month, I like a challenge aswell, let's see who can spend the least lol

mortgage_girl · 25 February 2011 at 6:01PM

Ooh thanks linz i'll hold off listing them until then. I actually haven't got any listings done as yet because a plum tree I ordered ages ago turned up today so i've been outside digging up the garden and trying to find somewhere to put it. All done now thank goodness...I don't think my back could have taken any more.

Yeah you're definately right about chickens being cheaper - if I remember rightly they were 2 for £5 at the butchers so I might see if he has any in next time. I didn't realise about the surveys on Topcashback so i'll check them out - they definately sound like a good idea.

And of course you're welcome to join in with next months food challenge - the more the merrier - lets see who make make £100 stretch out the furthest :beer:

A blissful home - mortgage_girl's MF diary

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