My 2020 Vision

XSpender

I thought I would make a list of what I want to get done between tomorrow when I am home (actually back 10pm tonight) and Tuesday night when I am away with work again:

1. Money shuffle Friday when get paid - £250 saves, £250 OP, big chunk to holiday and payments to CC (min payment plus walking coats and concert tickets purchased) - Done :j
2. Transfer friends concert ticket money from CA to CC - Done
3. Small fresh food shop - Done
4. Eat all fresh items in the fridge and fruit bowl this week - NO WASTE
5. List storage cupboard, eat some and sort out what can be used up quickly
6. List rest of kitchen freezer contents, eat some and reorganise
7. List garage freezer contents and move to kitchen freezer if possible
8. Turn off garage freezer and arrange for council to remove
9. Meal plan from freezer and cupboards Done
10. Swim minimum 40 lengths
11. Walk minimum 3 miles with DS/DH
12. Walk dog x 2 shorter walks with DS/DH at weekend
13. Arrange camper hire for weekend away with friends
14. Homework and reading with DS x 2
15. Tidy up and put stuff away (before cleaner comes Friday)
16. Up to date with washing (so cleaner can iron it)
17. Cash out for cleaner
18. Collect prescription from docs and take to chemist Done
19. Collect prescription from Chemist (has to be ordered) Done
20. Make a coffee cake for DH (rare request as he hasn't got a sweet tooth

Eeek:eek: I didn't think I had much to do but that list looks huge!

Goldiegirl

XSpender wrote: »

We had a very wet and cold walk yesterday, we gave up half way as the weather was too rough for DS who is still only 4. We had bought some proper walking boots for DS on Saturday afternoon and DH bought some new ones too. I say bought but with discounts, vouchers and what not DH's ended up free:D We were a bit naughty and used some of DH bonus to buy 2 new walking coats as we have decided that every Sunday we are going to do some kind of walk. I have been after a warm walking coat for a while as only have a thin waterproof which doesn't do much to keep the wind out. Again heavily reduced in the sale. Walking is my favourite activity and it is something we want to encourage in DS as we both love the outdoors.


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We are finding we are needing to buy various items which we help us with our plans for cheap days out - Mr Goldie needs a good pair of walking shoes and we need a flask and ideally a nice small cool bag for lunches.


Like you, we are doing our best to use vouchers and points etc, but some money will need to be spent.


I'm thinking of it as an investment - these new things will pay for themselves when we avoid expensive days out:)

XSpender

We invested in a huge therm0s flask this summer as the thought of a hot cup of tea always makes the last few miles of a walk go quicker;) It also stops us using the National Trust cafes when we use our membership.

XSpender

Pay day for both of us today. This is my third pay in my new job. My first pay was for 6 weeks, my second included a bonus so this pay is what I will normally be coming out with every month and OMG it’s a lot. I don’t mean that in a boastful or smug way as there are plenty of people who earn a lot more than me on here it’s just that my 91% pay rise compared with my old job has finally sunk in. The last 2 months just felt like when DH gets his bonus but this month has come the realisation that I earn this amount of money every month for doing a job I really enjoy. Lucky, lucky me.
I have been excited all day to come home and make a £250 OP and make payments to the cards and the ISA. I have no plans to buy anything this month and will be sticking to the budget I have already set.
DH and I have been discussing our TV usage as we are paying a lot for TV, phone and broadband and hardly watch any TV! This is going to need sorting out over the next few weeks and I am aiming to half our current spend. There are also a couple of small DDs that I need to ring up and cancel too.
I have been really tired this week and it’s due to not eating properly/enough. I need to think about what I can take to eat when travelling in the car and ensure I have breakfast. That way I am more likely to have enough energy to make a healthy dinner. We have done a small shop tonight including 3 months supply of soap powder and fabric conditioner and a joint of pork for Sunday. We have enough in for meals until I am back with work Wednesday night as DH has booked a table for dinner tomorrow (early as we will go with DS) and we will have the pork Sunday and either chicken and chorizo paella or sausage casserole Monday. DH will have chilli or beans on toast Monday.
I have not done much on my to do list and have put the prep for the cleaner in red as it didn’t get done before she came as we got the days mixed up again. I haven’t done any exercise either as I have been so tired on a night.

XSpender

Rubbish morning yesterday as DS swimming teacher made him cry:mad: He is not enjoying his lessons, is bored and I am not very impressed with the way the teacher goes about the lesson TBH. There is no praise or encouragement for any of the kids. DH and I have decided to not re enrol him but wait until after the summer when we will have had our holiday.


Lovely meal out as a family last night but this morning I feel like I have a hangover and only had 2 glasses of wine so a combination of too much food and more wine than I normally drink contributing to a sore head and tummy ache


I have washed DS duvet and have it hanging over the washing line. It has come up great so I am now washing the pillows. I want to wash our duvet and pillows too. Saves me buying new ones.


It is very windy here today so will be taking the dog out on a short walk only. He has rolled in something and is a little fragrant so DH will be giving him a bath this afternoon while I cook the pork joint and do DS homework and reading with him. Plans for the rest of the day include getting the laundry up to date, DH will iron, re make all the beds, a good tidy and listing the freezer and cupboards and sorting out the fridge.


I managed to smash the handles off 2 of our denby mugs yesterday while unloading the dishwasher. What a numpty. I made the mistake of looking on the emm@ br1dg3water site and they have a cocoa size mug which would replace the one I broke 2 years ago and miss for my morning tea. I am a little tempted but haven't succumbed yet:o

XSpender

Hmmm, well the 'I don't need to buy anything this month' comment on the 27th has come back to bite me in the rear. I was listing the contents of the kitchen fridge freezer yesterday lunchtime.


Of the three freezer drawers only 2 have fronts on, the others have snapped off and despite gluing numerous times fail to stick back on. This FF is one we inherited from my DM when she had a new kitchen fitted and our newer one became the garage freezer as it was in worse nick despite been a lot younger. The garage one has slide in drawers with the slidey bit being part of the drawer but when they get heavy the gliders snap and the drawers wont fit in properly.


I was so fed up with it yesterday that DH and I went and ordered a new FF and arranged to have the 2 old ones removed for recycling. The new freezer bit is bigger and has clear drawers which means I wont have to open everyone looking for something.


It is coming tomorrow so I need to empty everything out of both freezers and have a good sort out of all the jars in the fridge.


I have used a bit of the money I was going to pay off the holiday as I have paid the OP, ISA and CC bills this month already. As I got paid more than expected I paid for the walking coats and camping weekend this month rather than out of DH bonus next month. Its the same money just jiggled about a bit. I must pay a chunk off the holiday today so it doesn't get spent!


The only other thing we want to buy for this house is a wardrobe for DS to match the storage units we bought him earlier in the year and some paint to decorate the living room and kitchen. Both of these can wait a while. We were going to get the patio door replaced but at a £1000 we have decided to scrub and paint the old one and make do until we move.


I didn't make much progress on my to do list last week but the healthy eating and exercise need to start again this week or I will undo all my good work.

XSpender

WFH again today, until about 4pm when I will travel to Manchester for an early meeting tomorrow morning. I have managed to scuff the back bumper a little bit this morning on the wall when dropping DS off at breakfast club.:(


99p TT and £2.84 TT done to the coffers account bringing the total to £249.90.


Went on the mortgage account yesterday and for the first time since we took the mortgage out the balance is below £120k!:j


We are still on track to SIF the secured loan by the end of July. I am using the OPs as a savings pot and it will be a killer to see the balance go back up when I withdraw it to settle the loan. It won't take long for it to get back down I suppose as we will be ramping up our mortgage payments once the loan is settled.


FF is coming this afternoon which is good as I still need to empty the garage freezer. It's 2 degrees here so I will pack everything in the cool bags and leave outside so it doesn't defrost.


Small spend last night on deodorant, wonder web for DS school trousers and deep heat for DH dodgy ankle. Hoping to not spend anything today that is not covered by expenses

XSpender

£24.24 requested from TCB.


Signed up to MFP - will be living on lettuce and air based on the calorie allowance it has set:eek: If I get off my rear and do some exercise I might be able to eat a carrot or 2 as well;)

XSpender

Hello

TCB and some TTs added to the coffers. Oh and £4 in £2 coins put in the camper.

The new FF has arrived and is full! 2 FF contents have been squashed into one. I was away overnight the day it arrived and the following evening we discovered DH had not unpacked the cool bag with the meat in into the freezer. There wasn’t a huge amount but as it was partially defrosted it has been binned.

DH was offered a trade C0stco card this week so he signed up and we took DMIL and DFIL for a visit. Restocked the freezer with chicken, bacon and gammon. Also picked up some shorts and sunglasses for DS, a mother’s day present and some tins/cleaners for the stores I am supposed to be reducing! I have spent my food budget now!

We saw some garage shelving but couldn’t fit it in the car with 5 people so are considering returning for it as we have no storage in our garage, everything is dumped in and gets lost and damaged.


I have bought a fitbit with my personal spends to hopefully motivate me to increase my activity levels. My weight has stayed the same for the last couple of weeks. I haven’t been eating a lot but it has been rubbish and next week I am away most of the week eating hotel food.

DH and I have decided to stop using our cleaner as we don’t think we are getting value for money and will split the money saved between savings and entertainment.

I still haven’t paid anything else off the holiday this month, I want to pay at least £260 odd as that will bring the balance to a nice round number, just not as nice as a number as I was planning.

Plans for today
Freeze the meat bought yesterday - YES
Dog walk - YES x 2
DS to a party - YES (nice party too )
Washing and ironing - Some more washing done, no ironing
Clean kitchen - a bit
Change DS bedding - YES
Tidy up - our bedroom done rest looks like a bomb site
Pack for next week - YES
Book a hotel for Wednesday night
Eat 3 proper meals, 5 F&V and remember to take my vitamins YES, but not enough F&V

XSpender

18,000 steps done on the fitbit today. The dog even got a 2nd short walk, his little legs didn't know what had hit them this evening :rotfl:


My DDad rang today to advise he is seriously ill and as he lives abroad I don't see him very often so was a bit upset.:( We may change our plans and go over in the Summer for a few days or for October half term to visit him after his treatment. I don't get many holidays in this new job and I would want to take DS as my DDad wants to see him so it will need to be school holidays


I am not looking forward to next week I am away from 7am Monday to about 7pm Thursday. Tomorrow I have about 7 hours driving to do on top of my usual appointments. And I need to fill up in the morning.


I should be dying my hair tonight but I cant be bothered.:(


£10 spent on drinks at the party (it was I a pub ), £14 spent in Mr S on pyjama pants, bottled water and snacks for my days away.


We didn't go get the shelves from C0stc0 as DH wanted to finish cleaning the oven (it looks brand new:T) so I did some washing and tidied up a bit.


Nothing much planned for this week as I am away so much and we have a twins christening at the weekend.