Keeping up appearances.......

HappyNow

Just wrote a long post catching up with everyone, but it disappeared
It's after midnight now so I will try again tomorrow

Dolphin1

HappyNow wrote: »

I'm here! And yes, I have been AWOL!! I've been away on a fabby, last-minute, two night get-away with Mr H to the Lake District!! You can tell by all the exclamation marks that it was completely unexpected! Mr H was using up some leave and getting a bit stir-crazy when he came across a bargain-bucket last minute offer at a hotel we once stayed at 15 or so years ago. He rang them, negotiated an even cheaper deal and we chucked some stuff in a case, jumped in the car and left.

Very embarrassing for a DFW to admit to of course, but we just blew £206 of next year's YNAB holiday fund that we've been saving since June . But really, that's the beauty of YNAB - we spent money that was put aside for holidays on a holiday! Now we either have to built that fund back up quicker (but without nabbing from the debt categories) or just accept that we will be holidaying later next year. That's the real benefit of being able to discuss the debt now with Mr H - we can make joint, informed decisions as to whether to be 100% sensible all the time, or occasionally seize the day. And on Monday we soze the day! And I don't regret it at all because we had a great time for a ridiculously cheap (for the hotel quality) price and loved every minute of it. And I still kept to my targets - see below.

Well, that just sounds fantastic! I will absolutely let you off for going AWOL. You have nothing to be embarrassed about, you had the money in your holiday budget and it's trips like this that make life more pleasurable.

Dolphin1

HappyNow wrote: »

Money making/saving Now, I'm not going to claim that £206 on a hotel stay is money saving . However, we did do our bit and hardly spent anything while we were there. An evening meal was included in the price, but the cheapest bottle of wine in this very, very, VERY fancy hotel restaurant was £32. So, we told the waiter that we don't drink and asked for just water with the meal - but then afterwards we shared a bottle of red in our room which we'd brought from home. Not 100% victorious on this one because I thought water would be free, but they actually charged us £4.50 for it!! Still a good saving though. And instead of having the £8 per head cream tea, we bought a supermarket cheesecake and a tub of cream and ate it secretly in our luxury room. We had to cut it with a teaspoon but that made it taste even nicer

Well, I think all of that sounds very money saving under the circumstances (except for the water, £4.50 :eek: what a cheek). When we go away, the budget goes out of the window and we go in to recovery mode when we get back . Thankfully, there wasn't too much damage this time.

Honey_Bear

HappyNow wrote: »

I'm here! And yes, I have been AWOL!! I've been away on a fabby, last-minute, two night get-away with Mr H to the Lake District!! You can tell by all the exclamation marks that it was completely unexpected! Mr H was using up some leave and getting a bit stir-crazy when he came across a bargain-bucket last minute offer at a hotel we once stayed at 15 or so years ago. He rang them, negotiated an even cheaper deal and we chucked some stuff in a case, jumped in the car and left.

I am really, really pleased to hear about this! Good on both of you, and as you say, it was in the Holiday Budget, and you spent it on a holiday. Good on Mr H for negotiating an even better deal, too.

That's the real benefit of being able to discuss the debt now with Mr H - we can make joint, informed decisions as to whether to be 100% sensible all the time, or occasionally seize the day. And on Monday we soze the day! And I don't regret it at all because we had a great time for a ridiculously cheap (for the hotel quality) price and loved every minute of it. And I still kept to my targets - see below.

You probably don't remember, but in the early days of your diary the fact that you felt you had to keep the information about your financial situation from Mr Happy worried me because that kind of thing can eat away at people. So, when you 'fessed up to him I was chuffed for both of you, but this is just the icing on the cake - his working at ensuring you both share the best life can offer you together. Fab.

HappyNow wrote: »

Targets for the last few days:

• Zero waste. Tick. I'm booting this one out because I now realise that I don't need it. From tomorrow, this one will say 'STOP EATING CRAP'!

I like being able to reset targets mid-month because they're not really working for whatever reason.

• Money making/saving Now, I'm not going to claim that £206 on a hotel stay is money saving . However, we did do our bit and hardly spent anything while we were there. An evening meal was included in the price, but the cheapest bottle of wine in this very, very, VERY fancy hotel restaurant was £32. So, we told the waiter that we don't drink and asked for just water with the meal - but then afterwards we shared a bottle of red in our room which we'd brought from home. Not 100% victorious on this one because I thought water would be free, but they actually charged us £4.50 for it!! Still a good saving though. And instead of having the £8 per head cream tea, we bought a supermarket cheesecake and a tub of cream and ate it secretly in our luxury room. We had to cut it with a teaspoon but that made it taste even nicer

Aren't we naughty doing this! The wine and the cheesecake, I mean, but I think everyone on this website has done that kind of thing once or twice. As to the £4.50 water, our :money:has quite a lot to say about charging for water, and actually sides with the business. He lays out his reasons very clearly and made me realise why they do. Soz, though, that you were caught out by it.

• Fridge/freezer clearance Left Master H in charge of all the animals and with only freezer scraps to eat. He moaned a bit, but got on with it . Down to three bags of oven chips now

How can Master H be unhappy about freezer dregs if they're all chips? I love chips. I could eat chips every day, three times a day, honest. I thought youngsters lived on a Pizza + Chips Diet, or is your beautifully, thoughtful son one of those rare young men that saute themselves a vegan partridge in brandy for a light lunch?

• Alcohol Ummm, I'll start this one again tomorrow

You were on holiday!

• Sleep The bed in this hotel was massive and so very comfy. But I only slept properly on the first night, yesterday I was still awake at 4am

That seems totally unfair.

Lovely to hear about such a great treat mini-holiday.

Honey_Bear

1. Kelpie to come to call. Improving. He was very well behaved when the neighbours invited me to go and watch the meteor shower with them on Dartmoor. He absoltutely loved being with all three of us, for the first time, on a sort of walk. Mr Neighbour identified all the stars from his ap *jealous* and I identified the space station.
   
2. Five fruit and veg a day. Stood over the kitchen sink and scoffed a baked red pepper, a roasted parsnip and then made myself a beetroot and feta salad just to make sure I did this at the end of the day yesterday. Withut this target I'd have sloped off to bed with only three under my belt, and they were all fruit.
   
3. Cut out all the swearing. I am nowhere with this. Good to know it's not just me that talks to themselves. My problem is that I do it while I'm walking the dog and I know, I absolutely know I'm starting to behave like a madwoman. It has to stop!
   
4. Switch to goat's cheese, yoghurt and butter for the eight days OH is in Edinburgh. Doing without butter isn't actually a problem but I am rather slathering on the mayo.
   
5. Lights out by 11.30pm. Couldn't sleep, so I read until 2.30 am. I'm going to pay for that later so I'm working ing through the things I really, really want to get done today in strict priority order.
   
6. No computer after 9.00pm. No, but lots of paperback reading. Bad Honey Bear.
   

Dolphin1

Update for yesterday...

1) I had a small pot of rice pudding.
2) Meal plan for the rest of the week done.
3) No spends on other people.
4) Face and neck moisturised.

joeyjimbles

Yay for impulse holidays Happy, and you got some decent weather too as its been very hit and miss up here. We're on the edge of the Lake District and DS1 is currently at Windermere doing outward bound so I'm only too familiar with our interesting weather patterns.
Dog is a bit better again today but I'm looking forward to hearing all 4 feet on the floor. He's still very protective of his sore one which is understandable, but he keeps chewing the sock and making it soggy. I don't think its anything to do with the wound particularly, he's always been a devil for chewing socks.

Longships

Just found your diary and have been reading it from the start on and off all day and "subscribed". Only have around 1,000 posts to go to catch up!

HappyNow

Longships wrote: »

Just found your diary and have been reading it from the start on and off all day and "subscribed". Only have around 1,000 posts to go to catch up!

Hello Longships and thanks for dropping by. I don't think there's anything too startling in the last 1000 posts (or the previous 800 really!!) so do feel free to skip them and just join in with us ongoing. You will be very welcome

HappyNow

Thank you everyone for helping me justify the Lake District trip. I'm very glad we did it, but noses back to the grindstone now!

Yesterday:

• Stop eating crap I did eat five portions of F & V which is good. I did eat 200g of Cadburys Marvellous Creations which is bad.
• Money making/saving Nothing to report I'm afraid, but nothing spent either. Tried to make a start on our tax returns, but decided to join the 21st century and file online for the first time ever, which means waiting for a code through the post. Legitimate procrastination
• Fridge/freezer clearance Still on with it but yesterday we lived off sandwiches and beans on toast so not much progress. Cheap though!
• Alcohol I really can't have the stuff in the house, I just drink it. I will finish one bottle tonight (there's only a bit left), but there will still be another bottle in the rack. I'm going to take it outside and lock it in a shed so it's not so convenient to get to it. Ridiculous that I have to do this at my age
• Sleep Not too bad last night but I woke up too early because it's payday and I get excited - also ridiculous at my age .

Back later for a proper catch-up, horses calling.....