Keeping up appearances.......

joeyjimbles

Well done Dolphin on the scone restraint and the moisturising.
I'm having a little lap of victory around the kitchen as I've managed to hit and exceed my little debt busting and money maintenance targets this month. I am trying to keep all the needs in check and budgets, and any wants spend neutral ie. I can't have them unless I make additional money to pay for them (ideally) in advance. I guess its the principle of YNAB but on a much smaller scale.
Anyway, a small victory claimed, now I shall go and do a survey or three and put some pennies in the C-word pot.

HappyNow

Dolphin1 wrote: »

Not seen who is on Celeb Big Brother yet? Are there actually any real celebs this year?

No-one THAT famous really. Most of them I hadn't even heard of, same as every year

Dolphin1 wrote: »

Update for yesterday...

1) A fruit scone with jam & clotted cream.
2) Meal plan for the week already done. Time to start next weeks.
3) No spends on other people.
4) Face & neck moisturised.

Well done again

joeyjimbles wrote: »

I'm having a little lap of victory around the kitchen as I've managed to hit and exceed my little debt busting and money maintenance targets this month. I am trying to keep all the needs in check and budgets, and any wants spend neutral ie. I can't have them unless I make additional money to pay for them (ideally) in advance. I guess its the principle of YNAB but on a much smaller scale.
Anyway, a small victory claimed, now I shall go and do a survey or three and put some pennies in the C-word pot.

Congratulations and well done, JJ .

I started saving for the C-word in May this year. I set up a direct debit into a Tosco savings account which was partly to cover Xmas and partly as a qualifying DD which I needed for a current account switch. It's the first year EVER that Xmas will be paid for before it happens!! It's a nice feeling

HappyNow

Update:

• MSE stuff. Not great. Mr H and I are using up left-over leave the week after next while the weather should still be reasonable. We are going to decorate the bathroom which desperately needs doing. It'll only be a coat of emulsion and painting the woodwork but there is no money in the 'repair/replace/maintain' YNAB column and nowhere to steal it from other than the food budget, which will then be reduced to zero :cool:. And the bath hot tap has broken. It's corroded and can't be repaired so we will have to replace it somehow and it's a fancy thing that probably isn't available nowadays, so we'll either have to have non-matching taps or buy two. Even then they won't match the washbasin, but who cares really?
• Healthy eating Pffft
• Freezer emptying. Nearly there!
• Alcohol. On target to finish my weekly bottle tonight and won't be buying anymore due to budgeting constraints!
• Sleep I keep waking up in the night which isn't preventable, but I am managing to stay in bed at least.

Honey_Bear

Rah rah with pompoms! Well done Dolphin and JoeyJimbles! You're both doing amazingly well.

This will sound like sacrilege but now that the C-word has been mentioned, I'm going to bung my two penny'orth in. I used to absolutely love it, look forward to it for months, plan everything, start cooking and freezing in October etc, the whole nine yards. OH loves it too, but early on in our relationship banned the C-word until 1 December because he believes that the fact that it starts around the August Bank Holiday in the shops and there's no escaping it anywhere you go, kind of spoils it. I'm now with him. The thing I learned by thinking it through was that I didn't want to feel let down afterwards any more, and I think that became part of my over-indulgence in it. We both now spend about 15% of what we used to, I don't rack up debts, and as I no longer drink anyway so don't have a three day hangover starting on Boxing Day. And I've just spent days clearing stuff out of the loft and there's more to do - I certainly don't need any more stuff.

Idea. Happy, would it be bearable for you to give Mr Happy one tap and for him to give you the other one for Christmas? You're going to be looking at them and using them for years, you need them and good ones can be expensive - but not if you buy them from Ebay, by giving yourselves plenty of time to find the right ones at the right price.

Dolphin1

joeyjimbles wrote: »

Well done Dolphin on the scone restraint and the moisturising.
I'm having a little lap of victory around the kitchen as I've managed to hit and exceed my little debt busting and money maintenance targets this month. I am trying to keep all the needs in check and budgets, and any wants spend neutral ie. I can't have them unless I make additional money to pay for them (ideally) in advance. I guess its the principle of YNAB but on a much smaller scale.
Anyway, a small victory claimed, now I shall go and do a survey or three and put some pennies in the C-word pot.

Well done Joey :j!

Dolphin1

HappyNow wrote: »

Mr H and I are using up left-over leave the week after next while the weather should still be reasonable. We are going to decorate the bathroom which desperately needs doing.

OH and I are off from next Friday too. We are spending most of the week at home and doing things locally but we have got a couple of nights away too. I know you want to get the bathroom done but I hope you manage a bit of proper time off too especially if it's the last of your leave and autumn is coming. Can't the bathroom painting wait for a wet autumnal weekend?

Dolphin1

On the subject of the C-word, I am a bit like Mrs Honey Bear. It used to be a big thing for us but over the years it has become more and more of an anti-climax until one year it upset me so much (I won't go in to the details as it's too depressing) that OH and I decided that we would start making our own traditions. We still send presents to our parents and money to our nieces and nephews but we now spend the time doing our own thing.

Dolphin1

Update for yesterday...

1) Another fruit scone with jam & clotted cream.
2) Not done the meal plan yet, shopping coming tomorrow instead of today so I had better get it done today.
3) No spends on other people.
4) Face & neck moisturised.

joeyjimbles

On the C-word front. At this stage I am merely putting away funds and I only mentioned it as its the next use for that particular 'pot'. I wish I hadn't said anything now :rotfl:
I have just spent an inordinate amount of money on underwear and socks for my boys, when did they get so pricey I wonder? I don't normally buy en masse, usually replacing a few here and there or buying when I see some on offer/reduced but both of them needed new supplies; some of DS2s bore a 4-5 age ticket and he is 11 and starting secondary in 10 days time, some of DS1s were bordering on translucent and indecency though he swore he only used them for rugby which wasn't particularly reassuring given the short shorts they wear! Even at supermarket prices it was a heck of a cost though I did remember TCB so hopefully a few pennies will wing back to me. Still hopefully that's the last of the back to school costs.

Dolphin1

joeyjimbles wrote: »

On the C-word front. At this stage I am merely putting away funds and I only mentioned it as its the next use for that particular 'pot'. I wish I hadn't said anything now :rotfl:

Sorry Joey, my post about the C-word did sound pretty miserable didn't it? Actually, we don't really mind the occasion now that we do what we want instead of the 'normal' stuff.