LBM in 2003.. What have I been doing since??!

Sun_Addict

Welcome back, glad you had a good time

dangers

Where did you go? Was it in the 'van? Glad you had a good time

grannyx2

Welcome home, glad you had an amazing time x

poohbear59

Welcome back. Glad you had a great time. And we'll done on keeping up YNAB.

brizzledfw

Thanks guys...it was truly lovely. Yep, it was a big trip in our van...going to Germany, France, Austria & Italy...bliss. Although I am glad I wasn't doing the driving around Lake Como...lord those roads are narrow!:o

Highlights of the last few weeks..

- lots of gorgeous wine and lovely lovely food (and people.).. despite the language barriers. For example buying the MOST amazing wine at €7 a bottle (£5) and then staying for free at their vineyard.
- espressos at €1...:D
- used my 'marshmallow' no electric slow cooker OH who had been very sceptical was completely won over. A pretty fatty breast of lamb from the home freezer was turned into a delicious stew that lasted 2 days...
- discovering LD Markt in Italy..even cheaper than Lidl!!!! And peach iced tea...my new favourite soft drink!
- doing lots and lots and lots of free stuff, like wild swimming, cycling and just chilling...bliss.

So back into the swing of things... And as August was largely a drought month from a pay perspective, I really need to keep an eye on EVERYTHING

- need to enquire into dates for when I am going to get paid for a couple of things, it will also make my YNAB income forecast more accurate
- need to finalise the meal planning so that we can use up some more of the AF and other food we still seem to have
- using a loyalty card from our local independent shoe shop got 30% off DD2's school shoes..result
- got a £8.95 battery for an old smartphone ( it was free due to some mix up at CPW..and didn't work..we eventually worked out it was a faulty battery) and now DD2 has a phone for school..she is thrilled and well, I am ecstatic
- £300 odd in credit on a CC..must have paid it off twice...anyway nice position to be in. It will be used to help pay off the holiday bill which I am planning to pay off by the end of Sept, all being well, and as long as I can shuffle the the money about on YNAB. Basically, it should be OK as although we have a bill, it is equivalent to what we have in the budget for entertainment, groceries etc. So fingers crossed will be all OK.
- some decluttering done, so 1 item up on EBay already and more destined for A@azon, MM etc

Think that's on the 'good' side. On the less good side, had my hair done today. If I say so myself, it looks great, ( and I got home before the heavens opened!) but £80 :eek:

Looking forward to catching up on diaries...laters xxx

brizzledfw

Oh, and just updated my sig, more in hope than true anticipation...but it's good to have a goal

dangers

Your holiday sounds fab. My DH and I want to do something similar but I think it will have to wait until the boys are no longer holidaying with us. We nearly bought a camper van a couple of years ago....

debtfreewannabe321

Holiday sounded so blissful! I think I also (sadly) would need to wait for the kids to move out before being able to afford that xx

cazmanian_minx

Welcome back, sounds like you had a fab time

brizzledfw

Holiday was fab, and DFW321, not as expensive as you might think!....bucketing down now though...so good to be back in the rain (not!)

OH and I have spent 5 hours yesterday eve and very early this morning wrestling with YNAB....... (very romantic way to spend our child free time hey??!!) It's paying off the pre YNAB CC bills and it then not shoving out the rest of the current account budget that has caused the problems. It's been very stressful....BUT...on the plus side, at least OH are working on it together (first time monetary wise!) and everything is now ironed out apart from the Pre YNAB angle. If anyone knows what I am doing wrong, tell me!

Basically I wanted to show that in August I paid off 2 preYNAB balances (they were CC balances that needed paying off, work expenses etc), but if I show that as either a transaction or as a transfer, then the dashboard and budgeted amounts seem to go awry and not tally up.

We discussed starting again, but as we have an accurate dashboard now and a challenging but accurate budget for September I think we can make a go of it, but not understanding why we have got it wrong is driving my OH mad...(and he is very logical and numerate so it bothers him even more! )

Today, I am working..just taking a short breather from con calls.

Tasks for today...
- rescue washing and hang up inside
- make tuna fishcakes for tea from left over mash
- check decluttered DVDs against 3 sites ( discovered from these threads) to try and get best price for them
- [STRIKE]put meal planner in diary[/STRIKE]
- work on my Autumn Plan :rotfl: for medium goals..yep folks I love a list...
- [STRIKE]put more bread in the BM[/STRIKE]

Have a good day everyone