Tunnel Vision in 2014!

Skinnylatte

Great going, I'm sure January is twice as long as all the other months. Only half a pound on your birthday, well done you :T

Chardonnay

Thanks SL! I'm sure that it is, it just seems to go on forever!! Still, we are nearly 2/3 of the way through now I guess

Yes, not too bad on the weight gain front really, should hopefully be fairly easy to reverse

Will have a look for your diary and subscribe

Sun_Addict

Hope you had a fab birthday Chardonnay! I bought 10 birthday cards for £1 too - bet they were from the same place! Like you and everyone else I'm counting the days until payday. I agree January is a very long month.

Chardonnay

Hi SA! I did have a lovely birthday thanks, even though I suddenly feel very old! Dunno where the years go!

Yes, I bet it was the same card shop we went to, think it's amazing to be able to get 10 cards for £1 Little things please me lately!

Ah, I know, this month seems to be dragging on forever! Not the best month in lots of ways, but we're getting there!

Chardonnay

Hello! Had a nice day so far. Beautiful weather today so went for a lovely walk along the canal and river with the family and my dad, then went for our usual coffee (Skinny Latte for me!) and cake at the pub by the river. My turn to treat dad, but it was a bit cheaper today, so £12 something, not too bad! Popped into Tesco and bought a couple of bits we'd run out of. Budget looking ok so far!

DD and I have been invited out to my cousin's daughter's birthday meal next Saturday. It's at a restaurant just down the road and only costs £6.95 for a buffet, with all you can eat, so figured it wouldn't be too expensive and it's my mum's side of the family, who I really want to keep in touch with, as it seems even more important now she's no longer with us

The main news though is, well, ahem, I want to go on holiday!!! My best friend is planning on going to our favourite place in Majorca at the end of August, and I soooo want to go over at the same time! We would plan to overlap by a few days, maybe go for 10 days and overlap by 5 so we had half the holiday to ourselves too. I know we shouldn't go but OH and myself get very little quality time together as we only have one day off together, which is always spent with my dad, which is lovely and I wouldn't have it any other way, but we just never seem to just get time to just be together! DD would be coming too, but we wouldn't have to worry about paying for her, so that would help.

I can't justify going if it's going to impact on our debt busting, as I do definitely need them paid off by late summer, but I had an idea that if I could do one hour of self employed work a day, I should have a good chunk saved to pay for the holiday and at least half of our spending money. So that's what I'm going to do! I am not going to book anything until I have the money to pay for it cash, so that has given me a big incentive! I will update my signature now!

Although saying all of this, there is no work available today, so that's not a good start! :mad:

Chardonnay

Oh, Monday again and shattered today after a really bad night's sleep! Couldn't get out of bed this morning!

Things to do today:

An hour's s/e work if available. FAIL!
[STRIKE]Make home made lentil soup for tea.[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Do one load of washing.[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Call Equifax to cancel my membership before I get charged (am on free trial).[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Call HMRC to see if I can pay my SA tax bill through my tax code, instead of in one lump. I think I've missed the deadline but worth a try![/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Call and arrange for a new prescription for DD's medication, that I can pick up on Friday.[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Call friend.[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Get through a busy Monday at work intact! [/STRIKE]

Have a good Monday all!

Sun_Addict

Hi Chardonnay! I never sleep well on a Sunday night - I don't know why, must be the thought of work at the back of my mind. I am also making lentil soup tonight but for work lunches, making enough to last the rest of the week. Holiday is a great incentive to get debt free. I am hoping me and Mr SA can get away whenever he's fit to fly, might have to relax a bit with the debt busting though in order to afford it, but it will be worth it after all he's been through.

Chardonnay

Hi SA, I know, Sunday nights are a nightmare for trying to get to sleep aren't they? I think it's partly being out of our routine on a weekend and knowing we have to get up early again on the Monday, and as you say, work sneaking in at the back of the mind.

Well done on making the Lentil soup for lunches. I like to do one cheap veggie meal a week, as meat gets so expensive and it's nice to have a break from it. It was the first time I'd made this soup and it had potatoes in too so was quite filling. We had baguettes with it too and OH enjoyed it, so that's the main thing. I've also frozen half of it for another night, so very MSE!

Yes, funny, everyone I've told about the holiday agree it's the right thing to do, and say life's too short, which I agree! I know I have to work hard to make it happen but do feel it'll be worth it. A holiday in the sun is one of my favourite things to do and now I've asked my dad to come and he's said yes, it's even better! I love looking for holidays too, so that's part of the enjoyment!

I think a holiday for you and Mr SA has to be number one priority once he's fit to fly! You've both been through so much, the chance to recharge your batteries and get a bit of sun has to be essential surely! The debts can wait, as I said before, life's too short! Hope you have a good day today.

Chardonnay

Well yesterday was a rubbish day.

Just felt so tired and grumpy all day, work was very busy and stressful, just couldn't wait for the day to end so that I could go to bed! Having said, that I did achieve everything on my list apart from the hour's work. However, there isn't much work around at all in my self employed job at the moment - typical, since I decided I wanted to do an hour a day! Managed a little bit yesterday morning, but not as much as I needed! Ah well.

The tax office have made a complete mess of me paying my tax. I spent ages hanging on the phone to them yesterday, firstly to ask if I could pay my s/e tax through my tax code. I was told that I couldn't but they gave me a number to call to make an arrangement to pay if I can't afford it, but I've decided against that as don't really want to go through all my finances with them so will bite the bullet and just pay up when I get paid. It just means less money on the debts this month

I then got a coding notice in the post, showing me that they were going to be taking the majority of the tax (on the PPI interest) through my tax code for this year. I was very confused with this as it was still showing as me owing the total amount on their website, so rang them. They obviously didn't know what they were doing either as first they tried to tell me I had to pay the tax on the PPI interest twice, then eventually told me I couldn't pay it through my tax code after all and now have to pay it in full by 31st January! So that means this month's wages will probably be wrong now on top! I know that I will get the money back next month, but it's not the point. The last thing I need at the moment and very annoying that it will affect my debt busting, but will try and breathe and not let it get to me too much! This debt busting will always have its ups and downs and it's through no fault of my own so that's the main thing!

I am learning, and yesterday was proof of that for me. Mondays have always been our danger time for takeaways as I'm always shattered, can't be bothered to cook, had a really busy stressful day. Started making homemade soup for tea last night, took me ages, really didn't feel like it and the thought of a takeaway did cross my mind but then I thought about how I'd feel after, both Weight Watchers wise and money wise, and carried on making my soup! Might not sound a lot, but my thinking is changing and I'm proud of myself :T Oh, and yesterday was a NSD too

Have to work til 7 tonight, and got up mega early this morning to do some work but there isn't any there :mad: So won't be doing any today. Hopefully it's just a temporary blip!

To do today:
All done!
[STRIKE]Run for half an hour on the treadmill
Stick to WW points
NSD apart from buying some milk
Order food shopping for tomorrow, try to stay under £50
Do another load of washing
Cook an easy tea[/STRIKE]

A short list today, long busy day at work. Have a good day all!

Sun_Addict

Well done on resisting the takeaway Chardonnay! Small changes like this all help win the battle!