Getting a Grip and Saving towards the mortgage

£48.44 spent on groceries - a mix of H@me B@rgains and Ald!. That leaves £135.78 left in the budget for the next two weeks. That should be doable.
The weather is getting worse here - snow and sleet, so will be catching up on work and having a cook in. I am going to do a large batch of pasta for lunches - using up some pesto, with some feta and olives and of course I am making pie !

Mad Vix - the pie was very good and went down well and better still used up the leftover turkey and ham I had stashed in the freezer at Christmas. There is some leftover puff pastry so might make another this weekend. I am thinking steak and mushroom this time.

I have been making up large batches of pasta and rice this week to fill lunch boxes - these have also gone down very well. I made a pasta with pesto, roasted peppers, olives and feta and rice with onions, peppers,baby corn, chilli, soy and some chopped chorizo. All very cheap and tasty and fill my lot up at lunchtime.

In MSE news I have switched our energy supplier to Scottish Power and fixed our energy for a year and should get £30 cash back. I have also rung T@sco to sort out my second bank account - just need Mr Mee to ring to sort his now....

I am very focused again on saving again - I honestly don't think I can keep up the pace of my job until I am 60 and so I need options. I am going to try and be more hardcore MSE

Having a very productive weekend. I went to the gym yesterday ( 3 times this week) but still no running:mad: and then came home and got stuck into some cleaning jobs. I cleaned my oven which was no mean feat as some gunk had dripped down in between the two glass panels.
We dug out the the oven instructions and with Mr Mee's help worked out how to take the door off and take it apart so I could clean it - I felt very pleased with myself as I now have a shiny new oven.
We went to some friends for a very nice Indian meal last night and didn't get home to gone midnight.
I have done the grocery shopping this morning £8.86 spent in Home Bargains and £46.64 in Ald! - so a total of £55.50 spent and £80.28 left out of £200 budget. I am really pleased with this - the spending is definitely back under control and I am enjoying meal planning and cooking. I am now having a bit of a cookathon today and making:
Beef casserole in the slow cooker and going to use up leftover puff pastry to make some pastry lids - a sort of pie ( not enough pastry to make a proper pie),
Swede that had started to sprout has been peeled and chopped, along with some carrots for swede and carrot mash,
A large bowl of pasta made, red pesto, half a jar of leftover salsa, roasted peppers, olives and feta. DD has already had a bowl full because she was starving !! It is meant for taking to work !
I just need to make a cheese sauce for lasagne on Tuesday. Mr Mee will make bolognese sauce and then it can be assembled for Tuesday night. Mr Mee in in on his own tomorrow night, DS is working, DD will be at NB's house and I am in London overnight.
I also intend to make some homemade hobnobs too later today - haven't made them in ages. I just have to do some work this afternoon - slightly annoyed I have been sent some documents to review over the weekend....I don't mind working at the weekend occasionally and when it is my choice but I am not very happy with the expectation that I will. I am tempted not to do it to make a point but I am out of the office on Monday and Tuesday so it will be difficult to do them then :mad:
MSE efforts are generally going well and I think I might even exceed my target this month (but daren't say it too loudly ). Have a good week

I am feeling really fed up with work at the moment. I am just I think feeling a bit battered and bruised from the long hours of the last few months and fed up with the expectation that I will just move on to the next job at the same pace. We got taken out for drinks by our boss on Monday night as a thank you for the project delivered, but to be honest all I kept thinking was I would rather have a bonus.( very ungrateful of me I know). To add insult to injury I have just checked my payslip and I haven't been paid the extra money I am due for temporary promotion, so I am generally feeling under valued and used:mad: This is not like me at all and I think I need to give my head a good shake and sort out my attitude.
Other slightly irritating things, I forgot to get a receipt for lunch while I was in London, so can't claim it back ( only £3.80 but I am annoyed with myself) and the central heating boiler has packed in this morning - so that will be a £50 call out charge to get it fixed under my boiler cover.
What a terribly negative post, I definitely need to sort my self out. So some positive things:

I have a good well paid job that enables us to have a nice life
A very lovely family
A lovely home ( even if it comes with a gigantic mortgage)
Our good health
I am really focused on saving towards the mortgage and early retirement
It will soon be Spring and snowdrops are very pretty in the garden
That I have boiler cover so can get the central heating fixed

I have a lot to be thankful for and I just need to stop feeling so negative - I have a long weekend coming up and I think some relaxation time will help