NST: May the odds be ever in your favour!

wishus

Fmess - pass on my congrats to your OH on the job!
Hope you get well soon Samiszel!


Welcome back MessyMare! Hope you had a lovely time.


I had to go shopping today, and spent just over £30 all in, but this should do me beyond next week, apart from maybe milk. Or bread for the bread monster! :eek


A productive day - paid in a cheque for my second job, did library and shopping, and then took OH to a free cardio-tennis try-out. :j


This was AWESOME!!


I seriously recommend it... plus I'm happy because I DID NOT SUCK!!


A little spend getting some well-deserved drinks and ice cream after, but we walked out of the park to Tescos to buy those and back in again, rather than the expensive park caf!. Then we sat in the sunshine, eating our ice cream (half price Magnums, oh yeah, baby!) :rotfl:


Then we went to see the beautiful peacocks in the aviary and came home. Poor OH was pooped, but I got my gloves and boots on and went out again to the nature reserve, where I did the foraging I had promised to do.


OMG - why did I not do this before? I am now drinking a delicious nettle tea - no I didn't think that would be a nice thing either! - a by-product of blanching the nettles to make nettle pesto. This is one a la Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall with breadcrumbs, cheddar and rapeseed oil (so much cheaper than nuts, parmesan and olive oil), though I did add a couple of pine nuts too, seeing as I had some. I've slightly spoiled it by over-salting, but it is LUSH!


So...time to ponder and re-focus (if needed) for the next 15 days. How are your budgets? What extra spends have you had so far? Can you account for where that money has gone?

Grocery budget is fine, in fact I'll have to make contingencies there for other spends. I knew it would be an expensive month.

Are you looking after yourself enough? Enough sleep? Enough good food? Enough fun?
See above - pesto perfecto! Tennis-shenanigans! I didn't get enough sleep last night, but most nights I can manage this. It has probably saved my sanity, to be honest, making sure I get enough sleep.

Are you keeping moving?
I am glad that my walk to and from the train station is more-or-less keeping me fit, but I'm a bit annoyed at myself for not doing more swim-bike-run things. I seem to save it all up for the weekend. Cycling to Weight Watchers tomorrow though! And did I mention I just did some cardio-tennis and it was AWESOME!


Anyway, catch you tomorrow, turtles!

Bobarella

Mothernerd. - this went through the ombudsman before did it not?

Fmess

Glad today has been positive stewbyJ

Hope you feel better soon calling

Well done on the saving bob J

Hope you shake off the stomach bug samiszel

Yay for getting internet sorted mothernerd – well done to DS3 J

Welcome back messymare, what a lovely OH and mum you have JA couple of weeks ago my mum bought a 100 wash box of wash powder for me when she went to a big discount place and it has made me smile every day when I’ve done the washing.Mum’s just seem to know what matters to us, don’t they?!

wishus – I am probably being daft, but what is cardio-tennis?

Thank you for all your congratulations for OH. Bob, unfortunately there is no petrol allowance, however the payrise is so significant that we think OH will be better off by about £400 a month after paying for petrol, and the company will pay his insurance and having a company car will mean we can sell his and use the money to pay off some of the money he has borrowed from me.

Today has been a spendy day as expected and I am glad of your refocusing task apple as I have been wandering off the rules quite significantly this month

How are your budgets? Already spent up

What extra spends have you had so far? Can you account for where that money has gone? Accepting too many invitations to social events (a coffee here, a lunch there) and too many takeaways as treats!

Are you looking after yourself enough? Enough sleep? Enough good food? Enough fun? had lots of fun but need to do it for free from now on. Food has been lacking in fruit and vegetables, which needs to be rectified come payday.

Are you keeping moving? I have set my step challenge to be 11,000 a day but I only met it 4 out of the last 7 days Must try harder this week as I want to move it up further soon.

Hope you've all had a good day, and sorry for the huge post!

The_Only_Girl

Hello turtles,

At last NSD # 6 for me. I don't think I can make it to 15 let alone 20. Doing well on the LTW though, currently LTW #11. The budget is still looking good. I will check and update everything tomorrow to get the full picture.

Wishus, I am also on WW but these last 2 months have been challenging for me diet wise and I haven't been to the meetings since probably the beginning of April . I haven't stopped the direct debit for my monthly pass which is a bone of contention in my head because on the one hand I want to stop it and save £21.45 a month and on the other hand I don't want to stop it because if I did I will have no reason to go back to the meetings and sabotage myself completely. What I really need is a big kick on the backside to get back on track. So scared to find out how much weight I've put on.

Shyspender the cats made my day!!!

CEW, hope you enjoyed your diy and crafts time. I wish I had more time for those. But then again maybe I need to MAKE TIME for those. My house and garden is diy galore, everywhere you turn there's something that needs doing.

Fmess, fantastic news about your OH's new job, pay rise and company car.

Stewby glad to hear your granny is recovering well. How was the roast chicken?

Bob , it's amazing how life throws you an unexpected expense and you still come out on top with zero spend. Very MSE. Another road kill! I need to look into the orchard thingy.

Get well soon calling and samiszel . I hope you get your money back for the hen do,

Mothernerd, sorry to hear about your bother with the Internet and the energy company. Keep your ground and don't give in to them. I hope the ombudsman will be more helpful.

Messymare welcome back from your honeymoon. Can I be adopted into your family so I can have your mum too. She sounds loving, caring and thoughtful. Hugs to her. Wishing Mr. mE the best of luck as he continues his job search.

DrCarrie

Dear Turtles - so much to keep up with in your lives. I will try harder next month to be more freindly and attentive.

I am having a clear out still, not quite Kondo style but quite radical. My dauhgter has bought the book for us to read on holiday!

I seem to be making more mess at times in the service of it. I had a horrid hangover yesterday and didn't go out - so it was definately a NSD (No. 9).

It is sunny here and I am off to do sone more chucking out and cleaning.

Have a good one.

Bobarella

Fmess - wow that really is a life changing pay rise. Brilliant. If it was my OH I'd make sure he fuelled up at the cheapest petrol station, do you use that website that emails you the cheapest within the area? And also have a fuel card for any of them that can be useful. I don't have a car now but used to collect at Morrisons (£5 off shopping voucher once certain level reached) Shell (you get Nectar points and Shell rewards) BP is all Nectar. I tried to never refuel without getting something out of it. Also maybe a cash back credit card being used just for petrol all month might earn you some great extras? Sorry to get all excited on your behalf!

The Only Girl - thanks for the kind words. I do try very hard to always think how I can solve situations with low or zero spend. I never used to be that way but over time I've become very focused on knocking out the small spends that drain your pocket. Hope you have a good day!

So today we are taking our son to do Junior Park Run which is a 2k race for 4 to 14 year olds in a local park. It's free to take part and a friend from dance recommended it. So we will get some fresh air and exercise that way today.

OH has to go and clear our tenants living room of all furniture as we have a plasterer coming to do 3 days work this week (essential maintainance) it's a bit of a furniture jenga situation as the sofa, table and chairs and arm chair are going to have to be fitted into other rooms already quite full for the period. If it were longer we'd hire a storage unit but to minimise costs....so he'll be gone for a few hours but we should have mostly a family day.

Have a good one all.
Bob

The_Only_Girl

Paid £200 to credit card. Woohoo! I've changed my signature but will properly update it when I get the bill from the creditor as for sure they will add interest on to that. At least it's going down. Can't wait for it to be all gone and paid for! :j:j:j

The_Only_Girl

Bobarella wrote: »

So today we are taking our son to do Junior Park Run which is a 2k race for 4 to 14 year olds in a local park.
Bob

I've just seen on sister in law's FB that my 2 nieces joined the Northeast Children's Cancer Run today. Hurrah to young kids getting involved in charity fund raising and moooovvviiiing. :T:T:T
Going back to bed for a few more kip.

wishus

Fmess - basically cardio tennis is running round like a loon with a few other people trying to get to different points on the court while the nutter of an instructor lobs balls at you, and you have to hit them forehand and then backhand, and then there are other games like keepy-uppy where you hit the ball to each other in a circle, or doubles where you have a partner and an opposite, and then play a point, and when the ball goes out or is missed you have to run and swap sides. It's like a grown-up version of things we used to do in the playground because we didn't know the rules! Very silly and energetic. It was good to get out and have a laugh!


The Only Girl - well this week, despite the running round like a loon, I have stayed the same weight, so I have to kick all the self-sabbing in the butt. I know what went wrong - it begins with a little on the Side and ends with Errr.... Cider! Going to the meetings helps because I know without it I am only accountable to myself. My friend runs my group, and I want to do well for her too.


Proud of myself, though, for not succumbing to the In-Meeting product concession this week. The chocolate bars are delicious, but work out at 43p each - even though they are tiny. I had my banana, stayed for the talk and then came home... on my bike, because this week I want to be awesome!


I think OH wants to go for a walk in a bit, and there was mention of a stop in the Buddhist centre for a lovely pot of tea and cake. I have to think to myself I have two budgets, here. can I afford these? Maybe I should take us a picky-niccy?

Fmess

Thanks for the reminder about the petrol bob, I have a cash back credit card and a points credit card. I was thinking of lending OH one of these so he can pay for his fuel and get a benefit as it'll be a big expense. I'll have to look at which one gives the best benefit. Luckily we live near an asdar and this is usually the cheapest in our area (no other large supermarket chains around us).

Wishus I love the sound of cardio tennis! I've promised myself to go to the gym twice a week from now on and have booked on a class from tomorrow. Went today too but now eating a bowl of pasta so will start the diet in earnest tomorrow! I'm going to aim for 1lb weight loss a week until Christmas.