Looking for the silver lining

Thank you all, it's been a long slow process but done. Been doing some calculations and I should be able to declare myself officially debt free on payday (a week on Friday). Then the spending card will be clear and I will have finally caught up with myself.

Looks like Mr SA will be on his own this week as his carer has a brain infection - sounds nasty, involved a lumbar puncture and scan at hospital. Unfortunately this means I'll have to reschedule the gym appointment. Can't be helped though and I don't want Mr SA catching it, it's the last thing he needs.

Spent £20.52 today (all cash) but bought a retirement present and card for a friend so not much on groceries.

Have had a great idea - I usually buy a coffee at work everyday at £1.40 a pop. They're nice coffees (Costa machine) and I enjoy them and the stroll out to the canteen but I buy coffee bags from Mr S at £2.40 for 10 too which are equally nice, like mini filters you sit on your cup, can highly recommend (taste the difference). So I've decided every day when I would normally buy a work coffee I will put the £1.40 in a tin. Started doing this last Friday actually. Every 10th coffee would have been free and I'll be taking out the £2.40 for fresh stocks when required - so I'll take this into account. Whatever is in the tin in 12 weeks time will be used to buy myself a bottle of perfume. Reckon it might be in the £50 region.

Thank you all for your lovely comments. You lot have really encouraged me along the way Now for the hard part - staying out of debt. It's like maintaining when you've reached your goal weight.

Looks like Mr SA's carer will be off at least for the rest of this week. No replacement but luckily DD is off work most of this week so he's not on his own. Apparently the carer has had bad headaches since last week but the tests came up with nothing so it's been put down to a virus. He's on strong painkillers as he still has bad headache.

Had a bad night's sleep last night as an ambulance was at our next door neighbours for over an hour from 2am. Not seen them since so hope everything's ok - they have 2 very young children. All you could hear was footsteps going up and down the stairs and voices. You know how sound carries in the night. Then our dog started barking.

Almost had a no spend day today, until I strayed into Homesense at lunchtime and saw a massive lantern reduced to £5 because it had slight damage. So today's spend an unplanned £5 but very happy with my purchase and it looks lovely in my fireplace with a candle in it.

First day back in the home gym today but I've still been walking to and from work everyday despite being ill so not too bad.