6 grand in 6 months - my personal challenge!

EchoDelta

Really enjoying reading this diary. I love your organised approach, I'm a big fan of lists and tables too!

Good luck with it and thank you for the Yazz ear worm to start the day! :rotfl:

cottage_retreatist

Hehe! Thank you beach-holiday and EchoDelta!! Lovely to hear from you!! Reading your post put Yazz back into my head

Today spent 7 quid on some beer and treats for the OH as he is feeling a little down about work so wanted to cheer him up with a stella or two and a bag of monster munch! He gets depressed at times and its bad but it's the only way he can pick himself up. Just hope he can get through this down week or two he's been having. But we're going to visit his parents this weekend by the coast so hopefully that'll be a nice refresher from the city life. Cost blooming 166 quid for the tickets down to the coats though!!!!!!!!!:eek: Fingers crossed we can make that grand deadline this month.

Tomorrow i'll update on our meal planning progress but tonight some support and counselling is required. So I will wish you a good night till tomorrow and get a late dinner on the table.

EchoDelta

Hope that OH is feeling better soon. Enjoy your weekend by the sea. Hope that the sun shines for you.

debtfreewannabe321

Have a great weekend at the beach, the weather is meant to be really nice so you chose the right weekend for it i'm sure a BBQ in the sun with another beer will help your OH forget he was feeling down (it does my DH anyway lol)

beach-holiday

Enjoy your weekend cottage_retreatist, weather's looking wonderful for a day on the coast

Hope your OH perks up soon, I know what you're going through

Looking forward to seeing your mealplan too!

b-h

cottage_retreatist

Well, I'm back! :j

Thank you ED, DFW & B-H for your kind words - we did actually have a BBQ and enjoy the sun (as my red shoulders and red forehead can attest to!!!) :rotfl:

It's funny - we seem to have our most frank conversations when we're driving around the countryside on our jollies down the country lanes around Lands End. So he said how excited he is about us tackling our debts and how we should have a debt-free day of December 2014 (this means if the 6 grand in 6 months challenge is successful we will continue it all through 2014 - eeek! :eek:) but also if we continued this for the following year we could have 12 grand to put as a deposit towards a House and then the final one - he agreed that maybe it should be time not to prevent having a baby and if something does happen then we will accept it! I totally didn't expect that it was a complete surprise as he is usually so against children and the only prompt he needed was me saying 'i think i should like a baby within the next 3 years so i have one before i'm 30'!

Of course being a man he thinks that means i'll be up the duff before this Christmas with his virility!!!!! :rotfl: But i think it'll take a bit longer so I'm happy to just let nature take her course!!!!

So the trip away did help his depression, although the 6-hour journey back on the train dampened his good spirits slightly! But we've got today off to recover so i'm letting him sleep (Still!). We're going to book the next trip down there when he gets paid next week so it's not so darned expensive next time!!!!:mad:

I can't do anything towards the grand challenge for July until the OH gets paid but i do need to prep the meal plans and i'm about a stone and a half overweight so I think it's going to feature lots of salads and vegetables. I'm working on that this morning so will get it up as soon as possible.

And - great willpower restraint (just) - went on the Hobbs sale web pages the other day and filled the virtual basket with 400 pounds worth of clothes thinking 'if i bought them my work wardrobe would be complete' walked away from the computer, returned and then closed the window on the website! Did I need it? NO! So I didn't buy it! Just got to keep up my willpower for the next 18 months! :eek:

debtfreewannabe321

Weekend away sounded great! I could do with one myself well well so you're trying for a baby! Three is a lucky number so I hear and I know of two dfw'ers now who are currently pregnant. I wonder if you will be the third have fun trying!!

And great job on the online basket I love to virtual shop too and then walk away

Jonesy88

Just wanted to pop in and say keep going, you're doing so well!

I too am a lover of lists and organisation. I have a diary/planner thing and spreadsheet - woe betide any transaction not on my lists!

Ps. my DH actually asked to be allocated "spends" so he doesnt have to worry about finances. It works for us.

Pps. 2015 is going to be my baby year

cottage_retreatist

Hi Jonesy88!! :beer: Thanks for dropping in!!

I wish my man was at a stage to ask for an allowance/fun money!!! Right now he gets what he's given - I know ALL of his internet passwords/pin numbers!!! Mwahaha!!

Fingers crossed for your 2015 little one plan - that would be my perfect time frame - give us time to be debt free before we go from two to three!! Or four!! Our ideal would be twins - get them all out of the way in one go!! :rotfl: But we'll leave that one to fate I think!

I had a good day today - left all my cards at home so only spent 1.15 on a packet of mushrooms and an onion to make a risotto to be bulked with veg from the freezer. No beer for the OH tonight as well! Success! Got a week til the OH's payday so may be enforced frugality and an eating from the cupboards week will be planned - still got a portion of spag bol left from the big cookout and we've got two portions of bacon pieces left as well so we could do a pasta bake sauce thing or two with that too!!! So that's for the next few days - we could do another risotto or two and we've got some eggs for an omlette for one night - maybe spend 5 quid max on supporting goods - an onion or two and maybe a carrot or two - keep that til Sunday! Do want to do a big tesco shop as well - but hopefully hold out til next week.

What makes things a bit annoying at the moment? MICE!!! we've got mice! so we're looking to get a cat to maybe put an end to them - we've tried everything else that's for sure! Unless anyone has suggestions? We've done the sonic plug ins and traps but the poos when we came home - eugh! :eek:

So - looking for cats that need a home for free!!!! :T We've had cats before so we could look after it. and it would be a nice companion while the flat is too small for my dog to be here.

And the meal plan - on hold for now (see above!) until we actually have enough food to warrant the time for planning rather than: can of tomatoes, pasta or rice, an onion - supper for the next five days!!!!! MMmmm, tasty!

debtfreewannabe321

:eek: to the mice!!! My sister had them under her floorboards for ages they had come from next door which was empty the landlord had to send in exterminators in the end as she had tried everything she could. I hope yours are easier to get rid of!

Dinner sounds yummy and I am debating doing similar tomorrow as it is just too hot to cook (and eat!) very much! I think Rice, tomatoes, mushrooms, ham (have some gammon cooked) all chopped up will be our dinner, the kids just aren't interested in my usual quick meals (spag bol, chilli, etc)

P.s hope you're all enjoying the sun!