The ultimate incentive worked! Now onto phase two

Cinny91

Morning!!
Won another mars ball but the site isn't working properly so it isn't sending my details off. Poo!

Aww, sounds like you had fun Lara! Your nephew sounds so sweet.

Tete - Angels and Demons was really good! OH has a big head so 'figured out' what was going to happen at the end, well this is what he told me on the way home. Sorry to hear the rain unruined you walk! I was stuck inside the house playing little mother all weekend so I didn't really notice it.

Happy - I'm knuckling down to eating healthier starting today too! It's national vegetarian week so I'm taking it as a sign to cut out meat and get my 5 a day. So we can cheer each other on.

Tidying my room yesterday and I'm got 10 books to read! I thought I only had about 3 in my pile.

Oh, and my cats bought me a pressie yesterday, a mouses head! Bleugh. I know they say it's the thought that counts, but I think I need to show them a Cath Kidston catalogue for next time.

ETA: Yay, reached the £500 savings mark! £450 left to go, so £75 a week to save.

Birdie85

Morning all! I'm so achey today after Aerial Extreme on Saturday, which, by the way was terrifying! I'm quite glad that I did it because I was very tempted to chicken out but I did everything, even the massive climbing wall up to the skywalk bridge thing, and it was all rainy so it was slippery and muddy, eek!
Glad you had a good weekend in Ireland Lara and you got to have lovely cuddles with your nephew! I go all gooey if I think about babies too much so I'll move on quickly!
Who won Eurovison Cinny? I didn't see it but OH said we finished 5th?!

Tete_en_l'Air

Morning Cinny (and everyone),

My OH worked out who the baddie was quite early on too, and told me, but I was all smug when it looked like he had turned out to be the goody but then it turned out he was the baddy after all! (Hope that's not too much of a spoiler for anyone who hasn't seen it!)

Lovely mouse's head, maybe they thought it was sort of country kitchen/shabby chic??

Well done on the savings, I'm just about to go and check my balance through my fingers. Off to see my lovely Graham Coxon tonight, tickets are paid for but petrol isn't. After today though should be a quiet week til payday next Tues.

Lara, glad it all went well at the weekend - they're probably more than happy to come over for a little holiday in London for the wedding. And anyway, how can you be expected to organise a wedding there when you live here?

Ok, best get cracking as am having a half day to pretty myself up for my two favourite men tonight

ETA- Morning Birdie! Cross post there. Glad you enjoyed Aerial Extreme - I loved Go Ape last year, and felt like I'd achieved something too!

Cinny91

It was Norway who won Birdie, with 380 odd points I think. He was very good though, Sweden only got about 7 points so my £1 has gone too the bookies!

Well done on the Aerial Extreme too! I couldn't do that, I'm terrified of heights and exercise in general.

Tete - Have fun tonight! And Yaay to half days

I best get to work too, seem to have a bit to do today.

Dinah93

I don't peek through my fingers as I already know my bank balance is dire! I don't know whether our budget is too tight (I suspect it is) for how we can reasonably live.

NIM and I are having a big quality of life debate atm, he's a lot more driven towards the house than I am right now. It probably makes sense for him to take the weekend day at the farm, more money + means I can still paint and work up my portfolio. However on the flip side it means we can't do any of the weekends away, camping, and finding a church that suits us both which we were holding out for. Not sure owning bricks and mortar is worth it atm.

Happytogetdebtfree

Morning dinah, im sorry you feel so glum, my advice is to carry on saving you dont know when things could stop presenting money, i know its nice to have weekends away but in the long term if i had no debt id be saving like a crazy woman incase there was a bargin to be had..... i think its not the best of weather why not say a few more months hard work and dedicate a month where no extra is done so weekends are free maybe august i hear the weathers meant to be great it best be i have my big day...but anyhow people keep promising beautiful weather so while its crap il slog away xxx hope that helps.. i have to go on the damn cross trainer now all my health kick actions speak louder than words bla bla bla x

Birdie85

I think Happy's idea is a good one; if NIM is happy to do the extra work whilst it is available then make the compromise that he'll do it for a few months and take a month off so you can go camping etc. on a weekend, maybe allocate a % of his weekend earnings for treats when he's off so you know you're getting something lovely out of it!
I keep flirting with the idea of having a healthier lifestyle, I have been eyeing up our exercise bike but avoiding it for some time, maybe it is time I actually get on it?! I think I might try to rope in a few ladies at work (who are all overweight to be fair) to doing a little weight watchers style support group, having a weekly weigh in and all resisting the biscuits together! I think if people are counting on me I might be better at actually sticking to eating well and exercising!

poddle911

I think that's sound advice from Birdie and Happy - yes, save as much as you can while you can as you never know what's around the corner. However you've been really tough on yourself (budgetwise) for 8 months and maybe you could ease up a little bit so you're able to enjoy life with NIM now that he's finally here.

I think having a WW-style meeting is a great idea Birdie, especially if you're the youngest and thinnest :rotfl:but seriously, it would be a great way to keep the motivation up in the same way Dinah keeps all our spending in check! I find friends can unintentionally sabotage my healthy eating or money saving with 'ah, go on, it's only a dessert/ an extra £5/ one night out...' so healthy eating at work is a good plan as it's 40 hours a week taken care of and your OH is quite fit isn't he, so maybe he can motivate you the rest of the time. Anything to make it easier!

Cinny91

Very good ideas from Happy and Birdie! Plus, if you've only got the one month to go out and do your camping weekends you'll be less likely to think 'Ah, we can just go next weekend' Also, I thought he was only working Saturdays so you'll still having Sundays free for finding a church?

Birdie - I'm trying to go for the 'Healthier Lifestyle' route over the 'diet' one too. It's a bit longer lasting than a quick fix diet me thinks. Need to go to boots on Friday to get some supplements if I'm cutting meat out of my diet, hoping it'll make me loose a bit of my belly along with making me feel better. Good luck with getting the WWesq office group together, sounds like a great idea! And you can do a me on the exercise bike (well, I use the dreadmill) and use it while watching telly!

poddle911

ps. Sorry to hear that the weather sabotaged your weekend Tete - it's one of the many charms of living in the UK I guess. I bought OH an AA guide to Pub Walks and Cycle Rides for his birthday and I can't wait to get out on them! I'm really looking forward to spending some time exploring the South Coast in lieu of a 'proper holiday' - there's so much to see and do that we can do in less than a day so we can keep it really cheap. Yay!

Ashamed to say I didn't make the full on 3D dinosaur extravaganza of a cake requested by OH, but I did make him a double layer chocolate marble cake and little cupcakes which I decorated with lots of different dinosaurs! I'm still finding bits of green icing everywhere