There is light at the end of the tunnel

girlatplay

Managed to PAD £1 yesterday but nothing since then I have £5 in my purse but we need bread and cheese so will be using it for that. Have been a bit naughty and used the cc quite a lot this month (I would like to point out at this stage it was for essentials, I am not partying every weekend!! :rotfl: - mores the pity). Because of that, next month will be tight too :( Car needs an MOT and service in mid August so have allowed for that in my budget but it means there are no funds for anything else.

Oh well. Getting treated to dinner out from Mr G tomorrow night. Really looking forward to that Getting my hair done tomorrow (budgetted for) and out for lunch on Sunday (Mr G treat again!) so nice weekend coming up where I won't really have to spend anything.

Have a good one everyone.

Gap x

mummytogirls

Hi Gap, well done on the pad. Blooming cars cost a fortune dont they!! I have been so spurred onto setting up a car fund after my £277 MOT last month :eek:!!

Ooohhhh have a lovely meal out tomorrow, enjoy your hair pampering too!! xx

girlatplay

Well that was quite a weekend! Was my birthday weekend so I knew it would be quite full but I didn't realise quite the surprise I was going to get. I had my hair done on Saturday afternoon and I am really pleased with it. It is not much different from normal but I like it

Saturday night Mr G took me out for dinner at a French restaurant in Edinburgh. Was very nice, even tried frogs legs :eek: We did actually have rather a lot of alcohol to drink. I don't drink very often so my system didn't like it. I was raining and I had sandals on so of course, usual clumsy me, I slipped and fell and landed on my bottom and my elbows. REALLY painful. My right arm is sore from the middle of the upper arm to the middle of the lower arm, right down over my elbow. Ouch

Anyway, the best part of the weekend was next. Mr G and I were going out with Little Miss and Step-Little Miss for lunch on Sunday. We managed to drag ourselves together and get up and organised. Mr G went away to collect SLM from her mum's. LM and I got ready and went down to Mr G's house so we could go to the restaurant together. When we got to Mr G's house it turned out he had planned a surprise BBQ for me. My family, his family and a couple of my friends were all there! What a massive surprise I really had no idea. We had a lovely afternoon and the sun shone the whole afternoon.

Back to reality with a bump now (not the elbows again please). Managed £5.20 to PAD for the whole weekend MOT is booked for Saturday - Mummy, I am thinking about setting up a separate account for a car fund too.

Hope everyone had a great weekend too

Gap x

tootoo

Hi GAP,
sounds as though you had a lovely weekend and birthday!
Loving your diary (although I do tend to read more than I post!)
Tootoo

girlatplay

Thanks tootoo. I tend to read far more diaries than I post on. By the time I have read them (I am quite nosey so quite thorough ) there is no time left to post!

Managed £2 PAD today. Going to Mr M's after work. The fridge is bare :eek: Payday is supposed to be the 28th but the Boss Man is going on holiday so I will do the pay cheques early and we will get it on 27th instead just in time for my big shop delivery from Mr S :T

On the non-MSE news front, Mr G may be moving in with us. He was made bankrupt last year and they made him sell his house. It is now sold and date of entry is 29th July. He has been looking for somewhere to rent but hasn't found anything suitable yet. I said if he couldn't get anywhere before he has to move then he could come to our house. He will pay his way so there is no problem there. Little Miss and Step-Little Miss don't always get on so we are worried there might be friction. SLM only stays over every Wednesday and every other Saturday so I'm hoping that it will be fine. Ideally we need a 3 bed house/flat so that they get a bedroom each. It is a dream for one day in the future when we are both debt free (although technically Mr G is now since his house sold) and in a better position financially. If he definitely comes to ours then we will have 3 month trial initially to see how it goes. I am a little nervous but only because I have been on my own and completely independent for about the last 8 years or so. I'm sure it will all be fine in the end Going to have to sort out tax credits and lose my single person council tax discount. Oh well.

At least we are half way through the week

Gap x

Itsadogslife_2

Hi Gap, what a wonderful weekend and surprise BBQ (I did wonder for a moment whether you were going to say he proposed :rotfl:). Bloomin cars! Our family car failed the MOT, it needed 4 new tyres all round because apparently the tracking is off and so all of the tyres have worn unevenly so they look fine on the outside but are actually illegal. To replace them all and have laser alignment to realign all the tyres properly is nearly £500.00 :eek: Gutted to say the least. We have managed to get it all sorted for £300, and am currently frantically ebaying to try and raise some funds. I was so cross as I was secretly saving up a few pennies (which in itself is a very slow and painful process) for a puppy which has just been put back till probably after Christmas now :mad:

It must be quite daunting considering making the jump to live with Mr G, definitely think a trial is worth while, and for the sake of the girls think you would definitely need enough room so that they can have their own space when they are all at home. How exciting though! If you don't fancy living with yours, you could always take mine, I found a little e-mail in his inbox for £30 of cricket stuff that he has bought and it has arrived and he quickly syphoned it out of the packaging and into drawers, kind of like we do with shoes and clothes "what this old thing darling, I have had it for ages....." he must think I was born yesterday. So on top of the £300 I need to raise an extra £30 for his cricket stuff :cool:

girlatplay

:rotfl: It wouldn't have been a wonderful surprise for me if he had proposed. I don't want to get married and have made that very clear to him from the start. At the beginning, he also didn't want to get married and so we were both of the same feelings on that one. However, more recently, he has mentioned marriage a couple of times. No idea why he has slightly changed his mind as he was as dead set against it as I was. Anyway, maybe one day he will ask and maybe one day I will change my mind and say yes. At the moment he is not asking because he knows I will say no. (All the hassle I went through with LM's dad put me off for life).

I'm not overly worried about the MOT. I know I need a new tyre as a puncture was just repaired last week and the tyre is on it's way out. It won't fail the MOT for that though, I'm just aware that a new tyre will be needed soon. I completely trust the guy that does my MOT. I know he won't rip me off and he treats me like a normal human being, not like a dumb, blonde woman like the rest of the garages seem to.

We are not in a position to get a 3 bed property at the moment. My flat only has 2 bedrooms but because SLM only stays 2 nights a week max, she will sleep in with Mr G and I will sleep in with LM on those nights. Seriously, it is the only way we can work it. If he hadn't been forced to sell then we wouldn't be moving in together. I am VERY independant and I like my own space. I am a bit nervous about it but as I say, it is a trial to start with and if it doesn't work then we haven't lost anything. The chances are our relationship will survive even if house sharing doesn't! I just have to remember to be a bit less OCD!! I'm not too worried about the cleaning I just don't like things being moved

Nothing MSE to tell. In fact, I am wasting money today. I got a lift to work and am walking home but I have to go to the docs in the middle of the day so have to use bus fares there and back :mad: No PADs as yet today but going to have to buy something for lunch today :mad::mad: so will see what I get in change.

Right, off to do the salary cheques :j Means they will clear on 27th.

Gap x

girlatplay

50p to PAD and I got 3 £2 coins in my change so they have to go in the holiday handbag. Skint again!!

Pay cheque paid into account so will clear on Wednesday. Such a long time away

mummytogirls

Hi GAP, ooohhh to Mr Gap moving in... exciting times!! It may take a while to get used to though with you having your own space for all this time. Im sure you already know this though! Will you be a lot better off too?

Yay to getting paid a day early. My payday is Tuesday so only one day earlier!!

Have a nice day xx

girlatplay

We are quite nervous about the moving in thing. He is moving from a 3 bed house to a bedroom. He is having to get rid of loads of stuff. My flat is sufficient in size for LM and I but it is going to be a squeeze for the four of us. I just need some reassurance occasionally and reminders like yours mummy: It may take a while to get used to. I won't be hugely better off. We have discussed what he will give me moneywise and it is slightly more than half the bills (although I didn't tell him that ) and I have told him that we need to share the grocery shopping bill separately from that so I will be able to put some money away out of the money that he gives me. My plan is that I put it away in a separate account and see how the PADding goes until December then if I have enough money in the separate account I will pay off my loan then. That would be exciting However, since we are having a trial, if it doesn't work then he won't be there in December so a lot depends on how it goes.

I was moving stuff last night to try to make space for him. I woke up this morning and my right arm was extremely painful, right at the elbow where I fell on it on Saturday night :mad: Stupid me.

£1 to PAD today. Not much else MSE wise.

Got a hen night tomorrow night (is everyone getting married this year???) but kept money aside for that. Won't be a wild one, just a meal and a couple of drinks then I will head home. The wedding is not until 3rd September and we are only going to the evening reception so I will find something out of my wardrobe for that. Just need to worry about a small present.

Come on payday, what is keeping you?

Gap x