The first hurdle - Nichelette v the huge mortgage

I'm really quite excited about it :rotfl::o.

Not much to report on money front. Did a couple of onepoll surveys so a bit closer to payout on there.

My sister's bunny (soon to be mine if he pulls through) is unwell so I'm helping her with the vet fees. Not sure how much that will affect the budget yet, but I hope he is okay and can live out his twilight years with my oldish girl.

Today has been a productive day :beer:.

On Saturday I took advantage of the cheap Easter veg and got 5kg of potatoes, a head of broccoli, 3 leeks, a bag of carrots and a bag of parsnips for £2. I also managed to pick up some cheap meat which is in my freezer now. I only really buy it when it's reduced (I often get quite lucky with it). Anyhoo, I spent the morning prepping it all so I've got 2kg of wedges and 3kg of chips in the freezer along with the carrots, parsnips, remaining leek and a celery head. I'm truly living the dream :rotfl:.

I made some impromptu potato and leek soup this morning. I had some for lunch and the other 3 portions will be work lunches. It also allowed me to free some sourdough rolls which had been languishing in the freezer for a while. I've made a meal plan and and doing my best to stick to it as I really don't need to be buying food, bar fresh stuff and the odd missing ingredient to make a meal possibly.

Curry is in the slow cooker for husband's dinner. That will be 2 or 3 portions depending on how greedy he is feeling!

Have planted some seeds over the weekend. I have grown veg in the past and like the idea of self sufficiency, though our AstroTurf and woodchip don't really lend themselves to it. I've bought a lot of cheap planters (thank you Poundland:rotfl:) which fit neatly into a bit if the raised bed, and some mesh which I hope will stop neighbours cat from using them a toilet/digging before anything is established.

Have been looking at what sort of overpayment it would take to get into 282's. Regular payment goes on the 1st but of the £1160 only reduces the capital by about £500 (boo), so I'm looking about £400. Overpayments have totalled a bit over £1500 so far this month so I think that might be a stretch but you never know.

I have a few bits I'm going to sell which will go toward overpayments, but I don't want randoms in the house until living room is in order. I don't actually live in a tip , it's just under the stairs has some stuff that won't be living there forever, but is there until I can get my old cooker out the shed, and my sister is part way through making under the stairs a bunny enclosure for me. She's nearly done and it looks really good.

Oh, and I've done another two lots of washing today whilst I could hang the sheets outside. I think that's me done for today!

I've been off work today. My husband has gone to visit his mum in Scotland but his flight was really early. I didn't fancy getting woken up at 4.15 and then going to work so I booked the day off. I thought today would have been a NSD but I've bought a new hoover . I was doing the housework this morning and decided I'm sick of sweeping the hard floor because it's a pain to get all the bits up properly. Our hoover was a cheap one and is so terrible on hard floors I don't even bother using it on them. So anyway, I've treated myself to a shark (have wanted one for ages). It was £200, but using vouchers through work and with cashback it's costing me £180 so a bit better.

I've been a bit lazy on the matched betting front lately so I've done another 2 sign ups today to get in before the football season ends which will make me about £45 profit and offset hoover purchase slightly.

I gave my sister £50 for bunny treatment yesterday. His stitches are out now and he's almost back to normal. Yay .

Finally, we're £230 in credit for our gas/electric :eek: so I've adjusted the direct debit down to £10 a month whilst we eat into some of the credit.

Kitchen is being delivered tomorrow. Will be nice once it is all sorted, but I'm dreading having boxes all over the place. Our house isn't very big so I don't really have anywhere to put them out the way whilst we're installing it, and that will probably take us a while as husband can only use his holiday to visit his mum at the moment.

I've been thinking about which bills are still to go. There isn't much left so I'm expecting to hopefully make an overpayment of around £400 in mid May, though again I'm not doing it yet so we're not left short.

I've joined up to prolific now so fingers crossed for some studies. There was one last night be it had to be done on a PC and I didn't fancy sticking that on about midnight so I passed.

Hoover & kitchen have both been delivered. I'm loving the new hoover . I was really worried hoover delivery guy was going to get stuck in front of big Wickes lorry (we're last house in a cul de sac) as they were scheduled to arrive at the same time, but luckily hoover arrived about 10 mins before kitchen so crisis averted :rotfl:.

I now have an oven sitting on my dining table and kitchen doors in the shower (have a different one we're using, I have no plans to stop showering!), but they're out the way there for now, albeit an unorthodox storage situation. There are more boxes in living room but I've stuck them in the corner with dining table, and worktops and plinths are concealed behind the sofa. Am reminding myself that it will all be worth it once it's installed for following reasons:

• I'll be able to open the fridge the right way and the door won't scrape along the wall because space is too small
• Ugly worktop and extractor will be gone
• Cupboards will be ceiling high so stuff on top will be hidden and no dust will gather/extra storage as taller
• we'll gain a lot of space wasted with extractor pipe
• Will finally have a dishwasher after years of desperately wanting one (both hate washing up and it's not really how we want to spend time after being at work all day, plus won't have dishes on side anymore which is another bugbear :j)
• I'll gain an extra two cupboards which I really need
• Annoying gas hob will go and I'll gain extra needed worktop space when it's off as new one is flat unlike gas one
• I'll be able to put the cold water tap on without things on drainer being in the way, and new taps will be easier to turn off as the bit you grip won't be tiny
• Rubbish oven will also go and new one is self cleaning
• Cupboards will be installed at a normal height so I'll be able to get utensils/toast out without them being in the way. They're currently really low to accommodate where extractor pipe is boxed in
• I can put my hanging utensil rod thing up again because I'll have space
• It will look pretty and make it so much easier for me to cook again, which I've really missed because my old kitchen was great and I love cooking

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You can probably tell how much I hate the kitchen from the list! It doesn't really look that bad bar ugly extractor and worktop, but I plan to be here for at least 8 years so I think we'll get our money worth from replacing it. I've realised how important a kitchen is to me, so when we move next time it's something I won't compromise on space wise. Happy to replace, but I want a decent room next time!

Anyway, in other news... Have done a yougov survey this morning. Think I need another 24 to reach £50 payout. Yesterday was a NSD and I'm meal planning today that make best use of what I already have as freezer is rammed. Husband is back late tomorrow :j.

Matched betting sign ups actually made me about £60 but it's in my exchange so not overpaying that at the moment. Am cautious about leaving myself enough cash to do the offers as I was a bit short at the end of last month and didn't want to use money from savings so I'll overpay closer to when we're paid.

The gods of bet 365 were shining on me today and sent me a £50 free bet :j. I managed to make £31 profit from that, and another £4 from a pinecone survey so that's an overpayment of £35 today. Regular mortgage payment had also gone. Interest is now £20.49 per day so coming down slowly, but still so much money .

Edit: Forgot I made £14 from MB yesterday too so I'll pay that off now. Will round to £15 making overpayment of £50 today