New Empty Nest Mum starts battle of mortgage ...

Morning all :wave:

Had a bit of a head mashing day at work yesterday so was well and truly ready for home and a glass of vino.

Cooked ys pork loin and used up a slightly crinkly pepper, going soft tomatoes, floppy courgette and on-the-verge-of-dodgy onion with a baked potato - was really tasty and the veg looked fine once it was cooked! Had two loins and cooked two potatoes while the oven was on so I have a fully plated up meal for tonight that will only require a few minutes in the microwave.

Sad person that I am, while I was eating I worked out the approximate cost of each meal and it came in at £1.04 which I am pretty pleased with :money:

Yesterday was a NSD and today should be too so the frugality continues :T

I was thinking yesterday about over-paying my sofa to get it out of the way. Its on interest free credit though so not sure if that makes as much sense as throwing the extra at the mortgage. My thinking was, if I could pay it all off within 12 months (instead of the 3 1/2 years thats left), then the original payment (£29.21) plus the overpayment (£70) could go to the mortgage... putting it down in writing it doesn't really make financial sense, but psychologically it does. Not sure what to do now so any thoughts would be welcome! :undecided

Thought I'd post again (couldn't be bothered ranting on to myself on Friday!).

Anyway, had a rather strange and unpleasant weekend. Ex was in touch and I agreed to meet him on Saturday. An hour later and a horrible row I left but then couldn't settle all weekend. Shut myself away in my bedroom with the dog all day Sunday just in case he appeared on the doorstep. Feel a bit pathetic, but he really rattles me.

Then I got into work this morning to find the heating has broken - my office is already absolutely freezing so it's unbearable today :-(

Anyway, feel generally down and miserable (and cold!). Not helped by the fact that I spent pointless money in the pub on Saturday as I wanted to meet him somewhere neutral :-(

Oh well, onwards and upwards I suppose.

Thanks Longway2go, feeling a lot calmer today despite not sleeping very well again last night. I think I was doubly annoyed that I have been sooooo careful with money this month that it was such a complete waste of money - especially as I didn't even eat the meal in the end because I left! On the up side, because I've been so careful it hasn't caused any hardship so there is a positive to focus on!

In other money news, not a lot to report. I've done an online shop for delivery on Thursday in preparation for DS coming home on Friday! Am so excited to see him :j I have spent more than I have been doing as I want to treat him to a couple of meals that there is no way on earth he would be able to afford (or know how to cook!) so we are having a stir fry (he could manage that one, but loves them!) and a steak meal on Saturday - with puddings both nights which is a rare treat for me! Thanks to Mr T sending me a voucher for old unused delivery pass credit it saved me £31 on the shop (hence the extravagance and home delivery!) so really didn't affect my frugal budget in the end :A

I've also had £13.55 back from Qdco today so that has gone straight in the Christmas pot. No more spending this week and I'm actually getting to payday on Friday with money still left! Am chuffed to bits :T

Still looking forward to payday - not because I'm broke for once, but because I'm dying to get my hands on my YNAB budget and fiddle around with it :rotfl: I'm just so impatient!

I'm back online after two days of Norovirus followed by a really lovely weekend with DS at home :-) Am a happy mum!

Managed to not spend too much £35.26 which included a trip to Macdonalds for the boy! I did have to transfer him £300 though as his budgeting skills leave a LOT to be desired! Oh well, it's come out of his driving lesson pot so hasn't knocked my own budget about to badly - although I'll have to replace it before next summer of course :rotfl:

Mortgage OP and savings went out Friday and today so will update signature to reflect this - not a huge amount off, but it's in the right direction.

I also bit the bullet and signed up for YNAB - $83.99 for the year so not sure what that is in GBP but am hoping it will save me that and more over the next 12 months - and of course I can budget for it now I have the app! You can't link UK bank accounts to it unfortunately, but once it's set up it is really easy to pop the transactions in that it doesn't really need to.

Anyway, have a lovely week MFWers! And keep warm