The grand plan for Catzpaws ... can it be done?

Catzpaws

Aniya wrote: »

Another likeminded, excellent, well written, motivational diary for me to Subscribe to - Yay! *Click*

Good luck with your journey Catzpaws - You sound very organised and definitely know where exactly you're going with this and what you want to achieve which is brilliant.

Keep up the good work and veggie soups - you can never have too many! :T

I'll pop along daily and see how you're getting on.

Hi Aniya

Thanks for your lovely comments and support! I do *try* to be organised (someone has to be as we'd live in a state of chaos if it was down to OH), but, there is room for improvement for sure...

Veggie soups - yep, they are my friend indeed! Last couple of work lunches have been frozen HM soup defrosted in work. :cool:

Please feel free to make any suggestions/comments - I'd very much welcome any thoughts...

CP x

Catzpaws

Got really excited last night. A month in from my LBM, I was DYING to update my totals. So, I did. Feel quite proud that I've managed to kick off to a respectable start. This was mainly because OH had a credit balance on his current account that he'd kept there (he didn't know that you could make one-off payments to his credit card via internet banking....:rolleyes:).

My interim goal is to get down to £23K by the end of the year.

Might be a bit tricky with Christmas and a holiday in between, but hey ho, you need goals in life, right?

On the food front, I have realised the secret of carrots and how useful they are in bulking up meals. I have a Kenwood chopper (a Delia cheat product), which my sis bought for my birthday. It is FANTASTIC for blitzing small quantities of food. Love it! My yummy but measley-sized pasta bake grew by a third last night. As if by magic! Shame we couldn't keep any for the freezer - too greedy to make batch cooking work in our house...:o

Back to finances - OH's Santander credit card finally arrived. Sadly, the £5k credit limit is not enough to transfer over the £9k Virgin c/card debt. Either needs to get a balance transfer deal off his M&S card or apply for another one. Fingers crossed it'll be sorted out before he's stung with another £85 interest charge. :mad::mad::mad:

CP x
　
　
　

Catzpaws

Made a v scrummy meal last night with rice, med. grilled veg, sweetcorn, and carrot with stock cube (and tuna for OH). Ended up having a bottle of the £2 wine, which was... well, didn't taste like any kind of pinot grigio that I'd ever had, let's just put it that way!

Had NSD yesterday (OH paid for dog training). Also, did an online survey. OH transferred £5k balance to his Santander card.

Plan for today is:

- HM soup for lunch
- Aiming for another NSD today for a hat trick!
- Ring up library to renew a book I'd forgotten about (guilty admission: I have about £40 in fines on my card)
- Drink 8 x glasses of water
- Go for run after work
- And finally... stop bl00dy going on MSE all the time!

Have a good one y'all!

CP x

Catzpaws

Payday has landed… and it’s Friday. Waay!
I managed another NSD last night after eating very MSE dinner of rice/kidney beans/cauliflower with stock cube/spices. It’s the kind of thing that I like, but OH doesn’t (‘where’s the meat?’), but he was working late so I only had myself to please. I ended up going for an hour’s walk with dog instead of run. I think investment in the doggy training is starting to pay off as pooch was very good! Also did another online survey.
Off to Lidl and Aldi later today for more provisions. Have £9 left in grocery kitty to spend. This needs to cover food for weekend, plus food for planned picnic. I’m planning on dusting off my Morphy Richards bread maker and making some rolls/pizza to take, plus whatever I can put together based on offers at Lidl/Aldi.
CP x

Catzpaws

Annoyed, annoyed, annoyed with myself. :mad: Wanted to not spend money on going out to 'prove to myself' and failed!

We ended up going out on Friday (£15) and also went for drink yesterday at a really nice pub (£8 - for two drinks. Yep, not MSE). Then, we had to pick up some wine/beers to go to his mum and dads with (£15). So, all in all, not great. But, TBH, this is much less than what we were previously spending on going out.

Other spends have been: £5 at Aldi, £4 at Morrisons and £3 car wash.

MSE things done this weekend:

- Found free parking in town when went library (had to circle around for a while though!)
- Went library and got out 4 new fab books (inc a Reader's Digest book on 'Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary things' which contains 2209 ways to save time and money!)
- Made bread rolls for lunches this week
- Ran out of glass cleaner so made up new stuff with vinegar/water
- Got National Trust passes off PIL's for free parking/entry to country park for walk later today
- Making HM pizza to take for picnic

Catzpaws

OH's next statement for credit card landed today and there is another month's worth of interest on there - £82. To try and shift the £3k debt, he applied for a M&S credit card but was declined. Bummer. Annoyed at OH for not sorting it out sooner - finances are really NOT his forte. Mind you, I can't claim to be great at it either as have all this debt... :rolleyes:

So, have decided to use the small pot of savings (£1.8k) that was earmarked for maternity leave savings and then to pay the rest when we can. Rationally, I know we should be getting rid of debt before accruing savings anyway, so there we go... that's what we're ending up doing....

But, yep, still pretty annoyed with OH. Ah well, what can you do?

Bought a new baking tray today from LIDL.... realised just 5 mins ago when I tried to put my bread rolls to bake in the oven that it's far TOO big

Too many MSE misadventures today...

BUT.... on the plus side, I won 10p on the free scratch cards today :rotfl:

Catzpaws

Spends....

Yesterday and today, I've needed to spend on pet-related stuff (kennel cough vaccination, training classes and November's payment for doggy daycare). All in all, a hefty £255. I've also had to get petrol today - £50. Eeek! Also, had to post a £20 cheque to go to my graduation ceremony. I was thinking of not going as need to hire gown, pay for petrol, etc. but, I have decided I *should* go as it would give a good sense of 'closure' for my course - and a chance to celebrate, of course! (Finishing the course was a bit of an anti-climax. Esp cos in my mind, I'm going to be thinking more about babies soon rather than career-stuff).

I won 25p on free scratch cards today, which the most it's ever been! Every little helps as they say...

I'm now on official count down for my holidays. I can't wait! Now less than 8 weeks to go.

Lemon_Tree

you're right to go to your graduation ceremony, after all the hard work it's the proper end to the course.
Please keep posting about your doggie costs, i'm desperate for one but your amounts and giving me a shot of reality and making it easier for me to wait! lol

honeybear_2

Hi Catz :hello:

I've been away for a few days (friends' wedding) but am now catching up

I agree with Lemon Tree, go to the graduation - it's not something you'll ever have another chance at so it's well worth the cost

Catzpaws

Lemon_Tree wrote: »

you're right to go to your graduation ceremony, after all the hard work it's the proper end to the course.
Please keep posting about your doggie costs, i'm desperate for one but your amounts and giving me a shot of reality and making it easier for me to wait! lol

Hi Lemon Tree

We'd been DESPERATE for a dog for about 3 years. As we work full time and we have a cat, I really wasn't sure whether we could ever do it. But, we got her in May this year after much research and questioning things. We found out about doggy daycare and thought it could maybe work. Dog and cat met and all was okay. It helped that she was 9 months old so it made life a bit easier with training.

Not MSE at all, but she is the best thing ever! They turn your life upside down... but in the nicest possible way.

CP x