Keeping up appearances.......

PinotGrigio41

HappyNow wrote: »

You're absolutely right Poohbear, thanks for helping me justify!

I rarely buy clothes (I don't often go anywhere and have a uniform for work) and when I do I prefer to go for practical, comfortable and warm stuff. I have a colleague who spends a fortune on clothes - and to be fair, she always looks gorgeous. In November she was complaining about how long it takes her to put away her summer clothes and get out her winter wardrobe. She was horrified when I explained that my winter wardrobe is just my summer wardrobe with a jumper on top!

This weekend has been a huge success. The tenants moved out of our rental house on Saturday so we've been over there cleaning, doing bits of repairs and decorating to get it ready for the new people. The work came in under-budget because the outgoing tenants had looked after it so well, and we've got it finished in under two days. Fingers crossed the new tenants will be moving in (with a month's rent paid - yay!) on Friday, so we will have only missed one week's rent.

It made me realise how unfit I'm getting though. I've been up and down ladders, stretching to reach the high bits and climbing under the bath etc and now I really ache. Must add 'get fit again' to my list of targets as soon as I get a bit of breathing space.

I have to confess that on Saturday night we called in Tesco on the way home from our day's DIYing and bought a £10 meal deal. A bit of a luxury but we were both knackered and just needed tasty, quick food and a bottle of wine! I will update my grocery challenge figure to tell the truth......

Personally I think the Luxury Tesco Meal Deal was well deserved after what sounds a very hectic weekend !

Get Fit is on my list of targets, but still in my head , its ot quite made it down on paper yet. I think theers only so many lsit and targets to be handled at one time !

Hope the shoes are very comfy ! I walked away from the shops on Fri after everything was calling to me, but I managed to resist the temptation. I had a little bit of a sulk to myself at the time as we had an event to go to and I fancied something new, but having been yesterday, wearing something that was already in the wardrobe and looking perfectly acceptable, I am so pleased I did. The shoes though, sounded a necessity, hope they are really comfy !!!

Have a good day x

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Morning Happy

Well done on the clear up.

Tesco meal day very MSE when you consider it could have been a meal out or a takeaway so please don't beat yourself up.

HHx

brizzledfw

Hi HappyNow

Have just read your diary from the start! Wow you are focussed. Well done. SoA posted too. Very good start. You seem to be really changing your mindset which, I know, is what makes all the difference. I am sure you can bring down the DFD a little over the next few years. Youre making all the right changes for sure.

There is a thread on here I used to give me some ideas on what to buy and to avoid at AL£I and Mr L. i am doing it by trial and error personally but may be worth a shot.

My plan, after sorting CCs, is that we need to work on our mortgage. But as you can see from our sig it's HUGE too many remortages over the past 10 years..but I suspect we are not alone on here having remortgaged and got shot of unsecured debt for secured debt at a lower rate ( old me not new me) over the last few years..:think:

Have to dash now but have subscribed and will keep on cheering you on from the virtual sidelines:T

poohbear59

Happy I think the Tesco meal is exactly what you need after working on the house for two days. When we had the last spurt to finish our let we ate in the pub. It felt like absolute luxury but was definitely required.

We have no bookings for a couple of weeks so it gives us a more relaxed clean and touch up than you have but we usually have cleaning every week.

HappyNow

Thanks for the replies ladies, much appreciated.

Today's financial project was to sort out our dog insurance renewal. She is the only animal who we have insured so I intend setting up a self-insurance pot for the others.

Last year we were with Tesco who had a good introductory offer, but this year the premium would have doubled. So I shopped around and used a few comparison sites and realised how different all the covers are - this is probably the most confusing insurance I have ever bought! I finally settled on Sainsburys. The premiums are slightly higher than Tesco but the cover is much better, and there's £80 cashback via Quidco and no charge for paying by monthly direct debit. After Quidco, the yearly cost is £158 for good cover, underwritten by Axa. That does seem a lot, but she is very big, very boisterous, very clumsy and just an accident waiting to happen! And if/when that accident happens, we need to be able to pay whatever it takes to repair her (spot the empty nest/child-replacement syndrome!).

Right, best get back to making tea, which is pasta bolognese made with quorn. I decided to cook it in bulk and it has escaped the too-small pan and is now all over my hob. I'm going to scrape it off, bung it back in the pan and serve it for the next three nights. Enjoy, Mr Happy!

brizzledfw

Well done with completing the insurance project. All sounds very logical!

PinotGrigio41

Well done with sorting the pet insurance. Thats something I need to do, ours dont actually have any at all ! Oops !

Really good to see you are still so positive and focused on your to do lists !

How has that Bolognese been the last two nights ?!:) Is Mr Happy fed up with it, or is he still being as good as gold with whatever is put in front of him. Must admit Mr Pinot is great like that, if I gave him a bowl of baked beans he wouldnt complain !

Have a good day x

HappyNow

Hello, nothing to report here but I still want to update my diary so I don't lose momentum. Feel free not to read it!

One horse is lame so I am hoping he gets better without needing a vet, but I am keeping a close eye on him just in case.

The grocery challenge is going...hmm... ok. I'm more than halfway through the budget, and there is almost three weeks to go until payday. We're still eating mainly from the freezer and cupboards but they are starting to look very empty. We're not hungry though, and Mr Happy doesn't seem to have noticed anything is different which makes me wonder why I bothered all these years! Quorn bolognese for tea tonight for the third night running, and the final portion will be coming to work with me for lunch tomorrow. Good job we like it!

Our new tenants are signing up for the property tomorrow so we'll get a month's rent in. Well, not a full month's rent because we've let it via an agent so their Finders Fee of about £120 will be deducted, but it should mean that we won't need to use our credit cards at all this month (other than Little Miss Happy's replacement laptop which was unavoidable)!! Yay! I wouldn't have thought that would be possible at the start of the month.

So, nothing really to report, but the month is going much better than expected!

HappyNow

PinotGrigio41 wrote: »

Is Mr Happy fed up with it, or is he still being as good as gold with whatever is put in front of him. Must admit Mr Pinot is great like that, if I gave him a bowl of baked beans he wouldnt complain !

Have a good day x

We cross-posted. Mr Happy literally HAS had bowls of baked beans a few times this month, served with some of the 19p bread. And no, not a single complaint! He knows we're having an expensive month, but also he would eat anything I make rather than cook himself. We both work full-time so technically he should contribute with the cooking so I think he doesn't want to rock the boat! (Realistically my working hours and travelling time are much shorter than his, plus I work from home two days a week, so I don't mind!)

PinotGrigio41

Yep so has Mr Pinot actually, but his were mixed with a tin of Sweetcorn and are affectionately known as Cowboy Beans in the Pinot Household !!