I have a dream...to be a MFW

ajmoney

In 2 days time I will be with Mr AJM :j for a whole 9(ish) days

ajmoney

Didn't meet up with my colleagues on Wednesday night but did get to see them for a bit on Thursday for a catch up which was lovely. My neck was quite sore so I was glad I didn't have to go out.

Spent Friday travelling through rush hour traffic from Hampshire up to Manchester, I don't want to do that again in a hurry. I picked Mr AJM up from the airport and then we had a lovely meal at our hotel. We were at a lovely wedding yesterday however it was well passed my bedtime by the time we got back so I am very tired today. I have had a couple of hours to chill at home while Mr AJM has gone to find out about an army reserves band, I used to be in one 15 years ago and loved it so it will be interesting to get his verdict when he arrives home in about 20 minutes. We are feeling lazy so are going to a local hotel for a carvery dinner. I then have a lot of tv to catch up on with Mr AJM.

We have a 5k run to do but I think that will probably happen tomorrow now. I am also going to need to do quite a bit of swimming this week so I finish my 5 mile challenge by the end of September. I would like to complete it but it will depend how easy it is if my neck is sore. It has got a lot better but I don't want to crick it again anytime soon.

My mum and dad are coming up for a couple of days this week, really looking forward to the time with them during the day and then having Mr AJM join us in the evening.

Moneywise things seem to be going ok. We paid for the weekend's hotel and wedding present from our holiday fund and my fuel for the journey up was funded by my travel benefits for living away from home. This means I have about £73 left in my current account for the rest of the month. I am also expecting to get [aid for our youth band work in August this Thursday. I will be submitting my invoice for this month's cadet work at the end of the month although I don't know how long it will take to come through. There is nothing I need for this month although I may buy myself some new trainers as mine will need replacing soon. I also need to make sure I have enough money during October for a couple of reunions that are happening and a repair course that Mr AJM and I am going plus the next set of PT sessions. I may put back the trainers until November to make sure everything is covered and then I won't need to dip into my savings.

ajmoney

Really enjoying being at home, so much that I can't be bothered to meal plan and go shopping. I find it really easy to do for us but need to plan the next couple of days for mum and dad coming up but am stuck for inspiration. Think it will all be roast type dishes, roast balsamic chops with roasted veggies for tomorrow and rost pork with all the trimmings for Wednesday. It is all relavtively easy and means I am not ignoring them for ages, especially as Mr AJM will be in late from work each of those days. Now I just need to plan for the lunches which is where I am coming unstuck. What I would eat is not what I would usually do for them, maybe I will vary my diet for the next couple of days for ease and then get back on track when they go home. I am looking forward to baking too, I will miss it when I get back to work though.

Ok, so that wasn't so bad, will go now so I can do some more of my nutrition course when I get back, really enjoying it at the moment. Also going to nip into the gym in the next town for a look round at the equipment and pool, I am hoping to inspire Mr AJM to come swimming with me later in the week.

ajmoney

Mum and dad have just left after a lovely 2 day stay. Although it is quite nice having some time to myself before Mr AJM gets home it is also very quiet. Not sure what to do today but I have fallen quite far behind on the exercise front. I know when I get back to work on Sunday that normal service will resume but I seem to be lacking motivation for the first time in a very long time. I think I will go for a swim later once a small headache has cleared as otherwise I will not meet my swimming challenge for the month. The intention is to swim a mile, anymore is a bonus.

I finally feel slightly more in control of my money again. I have been paid for my youth band work this morning and so have moved that money out of my current account with a plan to not use it for my normal monthly spending, instead it will go towards paying for the course later in October. I am contemplating having another tight month and paying for the next PT block from my pay and not touching any of my extra income, I need to check the budget though and see how this will work.

I am going to spend a little bit of time today trawling the internet for present ideas for December to price up how much they are likely to be. In a couple of weeks I am thinking of going shopping to try and get everything and if I am by myself I want to make sure Mr AJM knows what I am getting for people. I might even go into Edinburgh for a few hours tomorrow to get some inspiration.

ajmoney

I have 2 ideas for my finances in October, the first is to put the PT money to one side and try and live off the rest of my wages for the month as this should cover my course, alongside with today's pay. The other idea is to put the PT money to one side as I have each session as they will be funded over the time they are active for instead. With either of these plans I think I will pay for them on my credit card but at least I will have the knowledge that I can pay for them from already budgetted money rather than using my pay and then having to dip into my savings. If I can start using either of these theories then I may be able to save my cadet money at the end of each month if I don't need it. I will be submitting my first invoice for this at the end of the month so it will be interesting to see how long it takes to get paid.

ajmoney

I am going to do the swimming challenge by the end of September even though it will be tough due to my laziness this week. However I have set my challenge for this term, to swim the channel distance in a pool. I am heading out soon to swim as far as I can today.

ajmoney

Mile swim done, I only have 3 and a half miles left to do so will attempt another mile tomorrow to make next week a little easier!

There is no going back now. I have entered a charity challenge to swim the channel, have pledged how much I will try to raise and have linked it to my facebook page. I hope the people I have sponsored recently will return the favour. One mile completed, 21 left to do before 7th December.

ajmoney

I have £60 left in my current account. We will need to move some money into our joint account over the weekend as we are quite low but I hope not to need too much. Normally this would be a healthy end to the month however I have a few outlays next month so as long as I end October with a couple of pounds in the bank I will be happy. Although I haven't been scrimping during September I haven't been frivolous either so I am hoping this will help immensely.

I finally dragged myself to the gym this morning, it was hard work and I can't say I enjoyed it too much but at least I know the next time I do one of these workouts I will be back in my own gym which I am sure will help. I also went for a swim. I have got 2.25 miles left to swim in my own challenge and have already managed to cover 10% of my channel swim challenge. I have a couple of weeks where I will be away or won't have much time to swim so I am trying to get myself ahead a little so I don't have to spend all my time in the pool towards the end.

Off out to a friend's house for dinner tonight so looking forward to a good catch up. Shame I need to head south again in 2 days time

ajmoney

2 days back at work and it feels like I have never been away! Mr AJM is quite fed up at work at the moment and sounds quite down on the phone which isn't making things any easier. At least I see him again in 15 days

I am submitting my invoice for September's cadet work tomorrow so eventually £200 will be on its way to me. I will be doing the theory side of things on my own for the first time on Friday which will be quite tiring but will give me the opportunity to see if my methods are working.

I finished my September swimming challenge of 5 miles today, 1 day early. I am also 20% of the way through my channel swimming challenge and have already raised 40% of my target. It will be interesting to see how far I get to by the end of this week. There will be some time during the challenge when I am away with no access to a pool so I really need to get ahead.

Looking forward to payday tomorrow and doing the money shuffle. October will be a tight month but hopefully that will mean that November will be a little easier.

I keep waking up at 6am by someone, I only know this because I see the corridor light on when I wake up. I don't really want to sleep with earplugs in but is getting quite tiring as it is an hour early than my alarm in due to go off.

ajmoney

ajmoney wrote: »

I keep waking up at 6am by someone, I only know this because I see the corridor light on when I wake up. I don't really want to sleep with earplugs in but is getting quite tiring as it is an hour early than my alarm in due to go off.

I woke up at 5.45 this morning and hadn't fallen back to sleep so now have my answer, I think someone must come back from their night shift at that time. They are not particularly loud but because the corridor is fairly quiet it is enough to disturb me. I am hoping that knowing what it is means it might not disturb me anymore but I shall see tomorrow.

I had an impromptu day off today so caught up on a little bit of work and also on the tv I have missed this week on catch up. I had a gym session today, the first one in nearly 2 weeks. It wasn't too bad but definitely hard work. I am booked in again tomorrow so I shall see how much I ache by the time Saturday comes! Tomorrow is the last of my paid sessions so I need to pay for the next block. I am going to pay for it on my credit card and transfer the money to pay for it each time I have a session. That way if I don't use all 10 this month I will be able to use some of next month's pay to clear it when the credit card bill comes through. By then I should have had my cadet money through so that may cover it anyway.

I have quite enjoyed the money shuffle for the first time in a while, maybe it is because I feel in charge of my money again. My stocks and shares ISA is not doing well for working towards my mortgage neutral goal. I hope the economy picks up soon!