Trying to get on track

in_need_of_direction

yesterday i had a day off and took canadian sister to dublin airport from where she caught a bus to go stay with her husband at his family's place before flying back tomorrow. she's the sibling i'm probably closest to so it's always a bit gutwrenching. her departure does mean the end of a very spendy summer. admittedly, we have our holiday in september but with managing credit card spend dates carefully, this shouldn't cause too many problems especially as i'm back up to my full monthly spend allowance which i can normally shave a bit off to put in the household pot.
i spent more time than usual with my mum with whom my sister was staying but it was because the two siblings who most regularly visit her, were on holiday. hope that's what she sees as opposed to visiting her cos overseas sis was there. another sis who refused to go to the wedding as it was too far, traveled 80 miles less each way to go away for last weekend. Knowing that four out of the six of us were away, it wouldn't have killed her to pass up a weekend in their holiday home. she makes my blood boil. i'm not the most dutiful of daughters but she gets along better with my mum and yet won't consider anyone but herself. here endeth the rant, for now!

today i transferred my clubcard points to avios, upped my nectar points by 150 and transferred £8 as a mortgage overpayment coming from a £5 voucher use and a TT. i also started my son's emergency fund with a £6 transfer. I recently realised that i would buy bits and pieces for dd who lives at home 9 months of the year but not for ds who is in London. This wasn't sitting comfortably with me so he identified an account he no longer uses and i'll make the odd small transfer into there. i also owe him £50 from his birthday as he sourced his present for less than expected but i want him to confirm receipt of the £6 before i transfer any more as i don't know how long it is since that account was used.

I also sorted through vouchers into my wee wallet today as i got new, generous ones from sainsbobs and had an extra points one from Tscos that i had mislaid. i'm also going to aim for lunch two days a week from home as i have a fair number of vouchers now so lunch ingredients will give me better value than trying to reach spend totals and then buying sandwiches.

on a completely different note, I rarely am photographed. however, thanks to my lovely niece, I feature in several photos of last week's real wedding. I don't just look like a beached whale, I look like a pregnant beached whale. i've enrolled in couch to 5K from 12 Sept though will need a doctor's note to confirm my fitness. I am also determined to up my veg intake. there are too many days when my consumption adds no nutritional value. i've got the ingredients in for sweet potato (i had) and coconut soup. does anyone know if thai green curry paste can be frozen as i won't get through the entire jar in 14 days.

anyhow, here ends the epistle.

today i am grateful for
getting the budget back on track
being able to start DS's emergency fund
getting laundry outside to dry

in_need_of_direction

oh, i made a £25 purchase via quidco and will get £10.50 back due to a bonus offer. i also requested £32.31 from tcb which will go to the mortgage

giblet1979

Hi INOD - just checking in as I'm finally back. Will catch up properly soon. Hope you're well x

in_need_of_direction

Hi Gib, good to see you back. Hope things are going well.

I've done a fairly accurate budget for September am have enough to satisfy semi commitments such as engagement presents etc that I've been meaning to buy. Yesterday was a dublin day but hopefully the only one this week. Only spends were on tolls and parking that I can reclaim.

Anyhow, got to get going.

doingitanyway

Well done on such a low spend day yesterday, well NSD really if you can reclaim expenses.
I'm with you on the upping veg intake too
I hope your week goes well

in_need_of_direction

Yesterday I was supposed to meet a friend for lunch but she had to cancel. I then had to purchase lunch and took the opportunity to add a few salad ingredients to my wrap that I wouldn't normally bother with. It was tasty and something to be repeated.
Today is my third last non working Wednesday so I want to make the most of it. I'm pulling together a list of bits and pieces that includes soup making. Because OH does the bulk of our cooking, is a whiz in the kitchen and wouldn't be much of a fan of what I would have cooked, I've kinda lost cooking confidence. So, please, fingers crossed for me. Also, I really need to up my veg consumption so I reckon soup is the way to go.

I will have a counselling session this afternoon. It too is coming to an end and I'm not sure of the impact but I gave it a go. I think it's one of those things where you only really see the benefits afterwards. Anyhow, need to get a wiggle on if anything's to be done.

in_need_of_direction

Ever have a day when you should have stayed in bed? Well nothing to catastrophic happened but it was just one thing after another. A broken jug, splattering a clean tee shirt, finding out that someone hit my car and drove on, etc. also had a near miss. Next door couldn't find their cat yesterday. Luckily hearing it cry today, they asked to check our garage and found it there. Looks like my nephew had accidentally locked it in on Monday. On the plus side, the soup worked out well. Just need to get some into the freezer. Also got whoopsied carrots so will do some carrot and coriander to be frozen too.

Today I am grateful for
Support
Being able to see that while things went wrong, there was no tragedy
Getting some stuff done

in_need_of_direction

Back to work today for me. So much to get done but am heading for a coffee at lunchtime. Next door are getting work done and the noise started around half past seven. At least work should be quieter. I used one of my £9 off vouchers in sainsbobs and scored around 600 extra nectar points so need to make a mortgage op. Will hopefully get to that this evening.

It's starting to feel like things are coming together. I now need to engage OH and talk through finance plans. Hope today gets September off to a good start for everyone.

beanielou

All sounding positive.

in_need_of_direction

Friday but still with lots and lots to get done. Happily my team are, in the main, committed to this. We are also having a charity dress down day to raise funds for an ex colleague whose son has a rare medical condition. It's odd but I always feel I'm more productive in jeans. Yesterday I packed up soup for today's lunch which means that, if there are any spends, they will be low. Tonight's dinner is already sorted so structure is starting to creep in. I still haven't finished everything on Wednesday's to do list but there's no urgency in what's left.

Yesterday I also requested a payout from inbox pounds so a cheque will soon happily be en route. That can either go to the mortgage or to the car repairs. I've had a bit of a life LBM but haven't fully thought it out. I'll be back when I can articulate it more fully but, it's fair to say, that it is in part influenced by many on here. Anyhow, back to getting today underway for now. Hope the journey to the weekend finds everyone well.