Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

Mrs_Money_Penny

Sorry to hear about your cat. That happened to my old cat. He was so upset and stressed we ended up having him put to sleep. I have no doubts it was the right decision. Very difficult.
Enjoy the wedding dress shopping how exciting.When is the wedding? I have been reading your diary for years. I was so surprised to read your sons are going to be 21!
Enjoy today xx

greent

sorry to hear about puss x

Have a lovely time looking at wedding dresses - how exciting!  

killerpeaty

Sorry to hear that cat has lost sight. As long as she's happy, you're doing the right thing. My cat lost a lot of sight, all of her hearing and didn't like going up and downstairs but she purred every day up until it was time to go. (Yes, she used to call us over to get lifts up and down the stairs, who needs a stair lift when you have servants?)

I hope dress shopping goes well! Very excited for you and your daughter 

newgirly

Thanks guys, it’s difficult with the cat, she has age related kidney disease which is very common after 10 apparently so she is expected to have it but doesn’t seem overly upset although she was the first couple of days. Will keep a close eye on her and make the horrid decision of needs be ☹️

On a brighter note dd has chosen a wedding dress (its next June Mrs MP 😬) I should have guessed she would be fairly low maintenance dress wise 😂 it’s a stunning very plain but big skirted type, quite classic and not strapless , with pockets - I think the pockets swung it 😆 after she decided we found out the price and it was under budget phew 😱 under £1600 and in quite a big fancy shop, so that was a good surprise. 

She’s happy and it’s more ticked off the very long list, apparently the dress was a low priority after food, she must take after me 😆

Off to my parents to watch England tonight with pizza, fingers crossed! 

killerpeaty

Delighted for you guys in finding the dress! A big stress off from the wedding I think. It sounds wonderful.

newgirly

Thanks KP, we are getting there slowly!

We are going back home today after a lovely few days in York, dh managed to leave work early so we came up Tuesday, we have been to Harrogate, and yesterday went to Whitby for the day for the first time which was stunning. Visited the Abby ruins and did a “pirate” boat trip 😁

A whopping £368.91 spent - £93.82 on diesel, two nice evening meals, a breakfast, chips and ice cream in Whitby, drinks, little food in tesc@, and a few bars of chocolate for the kids from the Cadbury outlet shop, parking, entrance to Abbey and boat trip. 

I’ve dug out the old tesc@ credit card and I’m going to track all holiday spending on it through the year so we can estimate how much certain types of breaks cost and what we are wasting on.

£2.23 topcashback payable and op’d along with £5 form my personal spending pot as I’ve been away so not bought coffee this week 😬 

Big spending for an unbudgeted for euro / dd birthday party Sunday for family (not including some of the boys as they prefer the pub) will go to Costco this weekend and get some cake and food, plus we are tagging along with ds2 and fiancée to see a wedding venue Saturday at lunchtime, busy this weekend!  

LadyGnome

That sounds like a lovely trip.  Tracking the holiday spending is a good idea.  You can then budget appropriately.  I bet you are glad you have some scope in your budget this month.  You can enjoy your life and still meet your OP target.  

newgirly

Hi Ladygnome, I think I have to track as I don’t know how much to budget for regular trips as we don’t budget that well usually, having the odd short night away in the uk ends up costing more than it should! 

It’s been such a busy few weeks I’m exhausted, especially after a year of laziness 😆 it’s been a bit stressful as ds2’s wedding is now booked for early next April and dds is in late June and they were not happy it was booked later but ahead of them. I can see both slides and have tried to keep out of it, it’s settling down now though and it’s more dds fiancé who has been upset rather than her really, luckily they are quite kind to each other so no blazing rows just a lot of awkwardness 🙄

So I need to lose half I stone I’ve put on since Xmas, plus another half I was always intending to lose, with two weddings to go to in less than a year the pressure is on 😆

Today I’m booking a two night break to Birmingham for the German Xmas market I’ve always wanted to visit, after looking at the luxury grand hotels,  I’ve restrained myself and found one that’s central with good reviews and no time off needed as dh will hopefully just leave a little early on a Friday night, should cost about £180 for the hotel.

themadvix

Definitely with you on the need to track holiday spending - it's not much fun, but I think it's probably necessary for us too. Especially this time, we seemed to spend quite a lot (on meals out, rather than activities). That said, it felt like we definitely deserved it after the last 18 months! But knowing how much to realistically budget would be better.

Good luck with the weight loss!

Moneyfordreams

Wow 2 weddings - I can see why DD and her fiance are disgruntled. Mind you you get carried away in your own world when you are planning things. We arranged our wedding 3 months after OH's brother. I think they weren't happy. But I changed it to the following year in the end (through my own pig headedness and nothing to do with them).