Plodding determinedly up a 300k mountain!

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  • Busy_Mee1
    Busy_Mee1 Posts: 1,015 Forumite
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    Loving the sound of your pumpkin based goods and how excited you must be for your new kitchen. A bit of pain while it is being done, but well worth it : )
  • michelle09
    michelle09 Posts: 912 Forumite
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    smallholdingsister wrote: »
    Pumpkin soup with nutmeg?

    Ooo... that's an idea. Probably not enough pumpkin left to make much soup but there is a bag of carrots about to turn.
    Busy_Mee1 wrote: »
    Loving the sound of your pumpkin based goods and how excited you must be for your new kitchen. A bit of pain while it is being done, but well worth it : )

    We've lived with this disaster zone for 18 months now, we just need to hang on three more months. :) Thanks! OH is currently enjoying some cake pre-night shift so they are going down well.
    CathT wrote: »
    I know what you mean about not managing with the kitchen now it's so close to being done. I enjoy a soak in the bath but now we're so close to replacing the bathroom I'm only using the shower room as can't dace bathing in there now I know how fantastic it's going to look!

    Wouldn't have thought of roasting the pumpkin seeds so thanks for that tip. DH taking the children pumpkin picking tomorrrow so I may come home to carved pumpkins.

    What tutoring do you do?

    They're pretty good, just toss them with some cooking oil, salt and any herbs/spices that you like. Roast them on a baking tray for 20 minutes or so until golden brown.

    At least they will be fantastic rooms soon!

    I tutor in the sciences mostly. GCSE if people want it, but I prefer A level or under/post graduate. I'm really picky about my clients so it's very easy work and pays insanely well per hour.
  • michelle09
    michelle09 Posts: 912 Forumite
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    Karmacat wrote: »
    Ooh! If you really enjoy doing it, you could make images to be sold as cards on deviantart or something!

    Thanks :D:D:D I'm definitely forgiven by me :D:D:D and the little ones that are "only" 60 miles away are 3 years old and newborn - and oh my, they're half French, I've just realised I know absolutely nothing about how the French do Halloween. More learning to do :)

    Slurping at the thought of pumpkin brownies :)

    They were vegan and 'healthy'. Or at least they were until I dumped a load of caster sugar in anyway. They taste ok, but have been seriously improved by the chocolate ganache I put on top!

    Hmm.. I don't know either and my SiL is French. Whoops!
    beanielou wrote: »
    I dont answer the door either these days.

    It's just easier not to engage. Our bedroom is in the attic and the warmest room in the house, so I tend to hide up there in the winter months anyway.
  • michelle09
    michelle09 Posts: 912 Forumite
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    The weekend! Worked this morning and have a couple of dissertations to proofread this evening, but apart from that I'm free until Monday morning. Few issues at work so logged up 10 hours of OT.

    In good news terms, we booked a holiday. :) Abused one of our Eurostar vouchers and got two return tickets to Brussels for £15. Used TCB to get 10% cashback on the hotel room - £170 for three nights. Don't think £170 for travel plus three nights in another country is too shabby. Leaving in a month. :D

    As everyone knows, I'm sure, the BoE stuck the interest rate up which would have added £50/month interest to our mortgage and £35/month to our payments. So we remortgaged to a 2 year tracker at 0.74% above the base which knocked £95/month off the payments. We're down to £860/month which is nice.

    We got free internet this month too. I got OH to phone up as we were paying £40/month and they have an inductory offer of £29/month. Apparently they can't go any better than £33/month but they did manage to give us £50 credit when we threatened to leave, averaging our monthly payments to £29/month. It's frustrating you have to be a pain in order to get the best prices, but I'm still going to do it!

    Current Balance: £248,000.00
    Kitchen Savings: £8,250/£13,000
  • Karmacat
    Karmacat Posts: 39,460 Forumite
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    Thats a great remortgage, good for you :)

    And the holiday financing! Wow :) well done.
    2023: the year I get to buy a car
  • michelle09
    michelle09 Posts: 912 Forumite
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    Karmacat wrote: »
    Thats a great remortgage, good for you :)

    And the holiday financing! Wow :) well done.

    Thanks KC! The £749 arrangement fee (which was apparently the discounted version for Advance customers...) will hit the credit card bill quite hard in December but as long as budget Christmas well enough it should be ok.

    Not sure I'd want to spend 7 hours in a Calais basement again but we did at least get £296 in Eurostar credit out of it. :)

    Good news. We found out yesterday that both OH and I have managed to secure 24th-26th December off. This is a magical unheard of event and I am so thrilled. Luckily we can then go back to my parents who don't expect us to contribute financially to the food/drink as long as we help cook and clean up after. Seems fair to me. :)
  • Busy_Mee1
    Busy_Mee1 Posts: 1,015 Forumite
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    Great news about your cheap trip to Brussels and getting Christmas off work.

    The mortgage deal sounds great - we got lucky 9 years ago with a lifetime tracker at 0.69% above base and I thank my lucky stars everyday given that we have such a big mortgage. Just keeping my fingers crossed that the base rate doesn't get raised too much, although they are only predicting another two raises in the next three years.
  • beanielou
    beanielou Posts: 90,270 Ambassador
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    Great news on the holidays for you both :love:
    I am a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on Mortgage Free Wannabe & Local Money Saving Scotland & Disability Money Matters. If you need any help on those boards, do let me know.Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any post you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button , or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own & not the official line of Money Saving Expert.

    Lou~ Debt free Wanabe No 55 DF 03/14.**Credit card debt free 30/06/10~** MFW. Finally mortgage free O2/ 2021****
    "A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of" Jane Austen in Mansfield Park.
    ***Fall down seven times,stand up eight*** ~~Japanese proverb.     ***Keep plodding*** Out of debt, out of danger. ***Be the difference.***
    One debt remaining. Home improvement loan.
  • michelle09
    michelle09 Posts: 912 Forumite
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    Busy_Mee1 wrote: »
    Great news about your cheap trip to Brussels and getting Christmas off work.

    The mortgage deal sounds great - we got lucky 9 years ago with a lifetime tracker at 0.69% above base and I thank my lucky stars everyday given that we have such a big mortgage. Just keeping my fingers crossed that the base rate doesn't get raised too much, although they are only predicting another two raises in the next three years.

    Wow, that is an amazing deal. We were at 1.49% above the base on a lifetime so hoping the switch was sensible, not knowing what we'll get in 2 years. Maybe OH's lottery tickets will pay off and we will be MF by then. :rotfl:
    beanielou wrote: »
    Great news on the holidays for you both :love:

    Thanks! I can't wait, first trip just OH and myself since we got married.
  • michelle09
    michelle09 Posts: 912 Forumite
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    Today I had a day off so went to visit a couple of universities to see their postgraduate facilities. Not a particularly MSE move to go for a £15k pay cut, but these programmes are all super competitive so I may well still be in my current job after applications!

    There's been a sharp temperature drop so I've dug out my buff. It's so helpful for my asthma that I love it. Starting to have the heating on routinely now which sucks. :(

    Making a start on Christmas. Not sure what to get for my niece yet. Do 2 year olds really know what's going on at Christmas?

    Current Balance: £248,000.00
    Kitchen Savings: £8,250/£13,000
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