Getting a Grip and Saving towards the mortgage

Busy_Mee1

So despite my best intentions it has been 14 days since my last post ( sounds like the confessional or AA ! ) I actually don't have too much to confess because work has been manic - I honestly don't think I have ever been this busy in my life and the pressure we are all under at the moment is awful. I am employing every strategy in the book to try and keep my head above water and look after those that work for me. This should stop towards the end of Feb, so I just need to keep going until then.
On the MSE front not much to report, I simply haven't had time to spend any money and I have tried to be as organised as possible with food and the slow cooker has been working overtime.
I had a quick patrol around the accounts last night and swept the Halifax rewards into the O&S account, I have done a few Tilly Tidies over the month but here is the confession ....I have lost the plot a bit on my current account :eek:.....I know ...I know. I normally know to the penny how much I have but I have lost track a bit this month. I will do the reconciliation over the weekend to get myself back on track, it shouldn't be too bad because as I said I haven't been spending anything. Our cash back for using contactless with the TSB finished in December so that will make things a bit simpler because I will be back to using one main account again for everyday spending.
I having a proper weekend off this weekend ( no working ) because DD and I are going away on a girlie shopping weekend for her Birthday. There probably will be some spending done this weekend I do however have some money left from Christmas which will help !

Think that is all - will try and check in again next week.

themadvix

It's good to hear from you BusyMee, but sorry to hear it's so manic. It sounds like you're largely keeping on top of things though. Hope you've had a good weekend and things improve soon!

Vix

Moneyfordreams

ooo girlie shopping with your DD I get chills through me when my girls suggest me shopping with them... spending +++ , hope you had a lovely time

Busy_Mee1

Hi Madvix and Moneyford thanks for popping in. As you predicted Moneyford the girlie shopping trip with DD was a bit:eek: on the spending front. However we had a great time and I managed to have a good heart to heart with her. After 6 weeks apart DD and nice boyfriend (NB) look like they are getting back together again - absence seems to have made the heart grow fonder. I am cautiously pleased, but she hasn't officially moved back him with him yet. This means that I have now acquired NB again for meal times a couple of nights per week as they are sharing their time between his house and ours. I am just keeping my fingers crossed now.
Work continues to be manic but generally I had a better week last week, I am hoping things will die down after this week.
I summoned up the courage to get on the scales of doom on Friday and it was every bit as bad as I expected - 5lb on since before Christmas :eek: It has given me the kick up the bum that I needed though and my body is now a temple ( albeit a fat temple !) I am back at the gym in earnest ( 3 times last week ), and I have been good on my eating for two days now. I probably need to start running again because that really drops the weight off.
Nothing much to report on the money saving front, I am back on top of my current account and I rang Sky to go through the rigmarole of pretending to cancel to get this year's 50% off.
Off to Aldi in a while to buy lots of vegetables for this week's healthy eating plan - have a good week everyone

try_harder

Good to see you Busy mee1.I had to laugh to myself when hearing about DD boyfriend and feeding extra people we can have up to 10 extra mouths to feed if other children and partners plus grandchildren arrive at the same time and the nicely budgeted food shop is blown for the week ,some children do bring food with them which does help somewhat.The problem arises when they dont like the same things and different meals have to be made using another evenings planned dinner,

Kittenkirst

Hey Busymee!
Good going with getting back into the gym, I'm back running again (I have a love hate relationship with running) & you're right that it really does shift the weight....the heart rate monitor on my Fitbit goes into overdrive when I run

Hope the Aldi trip was a success?

themadvix

Don't belittle the moneysavingness of ringing up of Sky to haggle - it's a pain to do and makes a huge difference! I do appreciate though that it's probably something that you just do anyway - these things all become routine after a while!

Good effort at the gym - I solve this problem by not having replaced our broken bathroom scales!

Busy_Mee1

Hi Kittenkirst I am not sure my relationship with running is even love/hate, just hate/hate. I do love the whole concept of Park Run and enjoy the community spirit of it, but the running is just too hard 😩 But it does make me fitter and the weight does drop off.

Madvix - the whole rigmarole of ringing sky, car insurance etc to haggle is just a bit of a pain but there are huge savings to be made. It is awful to think how many people just accept their renewal quote year after year.

Work was the vilest of vile last week - 12/13 hour days every day but the piece of work I have been working delivered this week and thankfully in the main all went well - phew ! I can honestly say I have never been under so much pressure in my career. All over and hopefully things should start to quieten down now. I am trying to decompress this weekend - trying not to look at my phone and have booked some bargain flights for the States in October :T

Finances are all on track - will have saved over £1k this month. A lot of my monthly savers mature in the next few months, so need to do some reshuffling soon. I might take a day off in lieu of all the hours I have worked just to have time to focus on this.

The weather is beautiful here today after a miserable day yesterday. It is cold but sunny, so going for a walk followed by afternoon tea with a couple of girl friends. Have a good week everyone:)

Kittenkirst

Enjoy your afternoon tea & walk Busymee

themadvix

Hope you had a good afternoon yesterday Busymee and that work is a bit more relaxed now you've finished with the big project!