Finally I have a mortgage I can start to pay off!

chumpy45 · 5 May 2017 at 12:28PM

Holiday and activities sound great, have fun !

themadvix · 17 May 2017 at 5:44PM

Thanks everyone for the good wishes

We had a lovely time... albeit not quite as planned. We cancelled the canyoning in the end - the guy couldn't confirm that we'd be doing it and we decided we'd be stupid not to have insurance for it (even if it was highly unlikely that we would need it....(see next point!).

On day four of our holiday we were in the sea and within a wave of each other managed to be knocked of our feet and both lost our glasses... lesson learned....*NEVER* wear glasses in the sea. Really, really fortunately, I had a spare pair that were ok to drive with. DH had no such luck. So I am now experienced in driving on the wrong side of the road! It looks like we'll be able to claim on the insurance, but it'll still going to cost us money to replace them (insurance isn't new for old and excess is £99 - on each claim... separate waves, separate claims - boo

). I've ordered a new pair this morning (did get my eyes tested and my prescription has changed slightly) - £260. While we were still away DH got his dad to order the same again from where he'd bought his a year ago (his prescription doesn't change) - £255. We both have some money budgeted for replacement glasses, so hopefully this, combined with the insurance money will mean that we're not too out of pocket.

Apart from that, holiday was great, beautiful (quiet) beaches, amazing rainforest, and came in at the expected cost more or less; we even brought a few euros back with us. We had takeaway last night as we were completely exhausted and there was no food in the house (there's no way we could have cooked!). There's enough left for tonight and I did manage to cobble some food together for lunch for DH for work today (his spare pair (superglued together!) were at home, fortunately, otherwise he'd have been using up holiday waiting for new glasses).

The cats seem to have enjoyed their stay in the cattery - it was nice not worrying about them wrecking the house (new carpet) while we were away.

While we were away I received a cheque from NV for £50 and £8 from the internet monitoring thing - both for the OP fund. 50p YG survey done today, as well as checking FPL, etc. (no wins!). There should be 1000 Nectar points credited soon for booking our holiday through Expedia.

Ukrainians are now claiming that their national bank is blocking the transfer of money, which is possible. Awaiting decision from bank... it wasn't a problem when the monies were originally due, so will have to see what happens...

Just debating now whether to order the flower bundle in the MSE newsletter - it would be cheaper than the (really cheap) nursery we go to... but not sure if I can't afford it at the moment...

atypicalblonde · 17 May 2017 at 10:22PM

Glad you had fun honey, but boooooo to the glasses!

Hope the money is sent through asap from Ukraine xx

Jessy103 · 18 May 2017 at 10:26AM

Glad you had a great time MV! I feel your pain over the glasses!

Hope you get the money you're owed soon, it's ridiculous how long it has taken! x

Karmacat · 18 May 2017 at 10:51AM

Hi madvix, good to hear things went so well - apart from the glasses, ouch ouch ouch

Your cats are happy :j:j:j

Flower bundle: do you want the sort of plants that are in it? Because otherwise its not a bargain ...

Save

ch4rly2002 · 18 May 2017 at 11:25AM

Glad you had a good holiday, and sorry to hear about the glasses. Is it just me, or does it seem like a cop out from the insurance company making two claims because they were separate waves? Surely It's one session swimming in the sea so one claim? Have you thought about checking it out with Citizens Advice or something? It might be a legitimate reason but it just seems like a bit of a con to me. Anyway, glad the insurance covers the majority of it so you're not too out of pocket.

Hope you get the Ukrainian money soon x

themadvix · 18 May 2017 at 11:29AM

Thanks everyone

Ch4rly - you have a very good point. I think maybe we should try to argue that one. DH spoke to them as the policy is in his name. Will have to double check. Thanks

Jess - the length of time the money has taken is partly my fault - I left it for about a year as a lost cause. Only the lack of work earlier this year prompted me to actually do something about it! If they're willing to pay then at least it's a start - we can work around bureaucratic obstacles. If I have to go to Kyiv myself to collect it, I will! (Not entirely sure about that, but it would be an experience!)

KC - I bought the flower bundle in the end. I'd like some tomato plants, the fuschias and the bedding plant bundles and I think the garden this year (overgrown as it is at the moment) might be a bit of a case of chuck some stuff in to make it look pretty and worry about the rest later! We go to a not-very-local but very cheap nursery usually and get loads of plants but it usually costs about £50 (for a whole boot full), so if this does the equivalent, for this year I'll be happy!

As the sun is shining today, the washing machine is on, with a load just hung out. One more load after this one and I'll be caught up on the washing

Working going on in the background, DH being fed lunch today as at meeting. No idea about dinner - we've had a veg box delivered though and I intend to do a freezer inventory later as I have no idea what we have to eat! Also need to cut the grass (garden is looking very wild!) and get some bits listed on ebay (I may have said that yesterday

)

Checked the bank accounts yesterday and noticed we've been paid our first cashback from our 123lite account for paying the mortgage via it - £6.90

This will be added to the OP pot

Just reached payout on VB too - another £12 but I don't think they'll pay now until next month though. Will try to increase this amount before the cut-off date.

I've been looking at the figures and I need to do some more calculations, but we're excruciatingly close to being under £100k next month if I pay off what I've set aside as OP plus standard monthly payment. I'll take a proper look later and work out what the interest will be and then the aim will be to get this together, despite the expensive month! Payday should be a good one this month, so hopefully I'll be able to replenish my buffer fund too.

Even more excitingly, our tickets to see Robbie Williams arrived this morning!

These were bought with some of the prize money DH received from work. The concert is on our wedding anniversary and we're going with some close friends - we've never seen him before so we're all very excited!

Have a good day everyone!

Busy_Mee1 · 18 May 2017 at 12:17PM

Great to see you back Madvix and glad you had such a lovely holiday (apart from losing your specs.
Sounds like you are back on the MSE trail with a vengeance &#55357;&#56838;

themadvix · 18 May 2017 at 3:28PM

Hmm....back of envelope calculations suggest that I need to find £342.52 extra this month to get mortgage down below £100k.... (And then I looked at my spreadsheet and saw where I owe various bits of money to my bills account

). However, we haven't done a joint bills a/c sweep in a while, so this might still be possible.

On that note however, our water bill is about to go up £6 per month, apparently because we've been using a lot of water. I'm not very happy about this, but the numbers make sense. I think it's possibly because we had the boiler replaced and had to use tap water when we cleaned the pond out rather than the water butt. Closer attention must be paid to water usage! (Budget for water remains a ridiculous £25 and actual spend is only going up to £18, so still overpaying into that pot by plenty each month - hence potential for a/c sweep!)

Busy_Mee1 · 18 May 2017 at 4:43PM

Gosh under £100 k is a great milestone. I am hoping to get under £200k this month.
It does focus your mind a bit having a target like that to hit, I hope you find enough funds from your bank account patrol to hit it or maybe the Ukrainians will save the day :T

Finally I have a mortgage I can start to pay off!

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