Busy Mee's Last Leg

teapot2

Figures look really good - well done. Bet the next 12 months will go by before you know it

Suffolk_lass

I love reading your updates Busy Mee1 - your DH is a month after mine, who has two more pay days (and only two more weeks actually at work) - very exciting.

Busy_Mee1

Thanks everyone for popping in, your kind words are much appreciated.

Well, I actually have some financial shenanigans to report this week. Firstly, both Mr Mee and DD have switched their phone networks to 3 and under the new text and switch arrangements that started this week, it was incredibly easy. You just need to text your existing provider for the PAC number and 3 did the rest. Although Mr Mee was already on SIM only at £10 a month with T€sco, the £10 3 contract gives you roaming in 71 countries and he got £45 TCB. We have been using a PAYG 3 SIM card that needed topping up every time we went outside Europe, so this will save us some money. Miss Mee has also switched to 3, but a £22 a month contract with unlimited data and binge watching, and this will save her around £30 a month on her existing EE contract, with the added advantage of the roaming.

Also I have switched one of now redundant T€sco current accounts to B@rclays to get double Blue rewards. This was something I picked up over on the Banking thread, apparently this switch offer is available to existing customers......it was incredibly easy using the app. It feels a bit too good to be true but if it works I should double my Blue rewards fro £12 to £24 a month for a year :T

And finally our Sky is cancelled from this week and we will be using Now TV, and the kid's Netflix and Amazon Prime going forward. I will let you know how this goes, but this saves us circa £50 a month. £59 Sky v £7.99 Now TV.

The weather has been great this week and looks like it will be good today too.
We had friends over yesterday for a BBQ, which was lovely and we had a really good catch up. I have quite a few jobs to catch up on today, shopping, ironing and visiting the outlaws, but first the pup needs walking so must get a wriggle on.

Have a lovely day x

shangaijimmy

We trialled getting rid of Sky about 6yrs ago. Happy to report that not once have we missed it or considered getting it back. Instead of channel hopping for an hour i take the dog instead!!!! Have to say the dog probably hasnt' been impressed, especially when its raining!

Suffolk_lass

Just wondering if your DH is feeling end of termish now - less than a month to go (mine finished last Friday - already changing the systems and rhythm I had established just 2 days back!)

Busy_Mee1

Thanks for the nudge Suffolk Lass, I have been meaning to pop in and give an update but "real life" keeps sucking me back. Mr Mee is indeed feeling end of termish but still has 3 months to go....he finishes at the end of October. He is working from home more now, which is saving on petrol and car parking. He is also becoming actively disinterested in the office politics and general nonsense that goes on. Because. He. Just. Doesn't. Care :rotfl: And I have to say I am starting to have the same mindset, but I can't let it show just yet, as I have another 11 months to work.

Real life has been dealing us a healthy dose of perspective recently. I won't bore you with our woes but life is definitely too short for unimportant nonsense.

We have had one good bit of news in that DD has got the job of her dreams. Her path has involved a bit of zig zagging and doing jobs that were definitely not part of her dreams, but she has now got there and is rightly delighted. She is hoping for the HR stuff to arrive shortly so that she can hand her notice in. She hopes to start in September :T

In financial news Mr Mee's FD switching bonus arrived, or rather £100 of it did. I briefly wondered whether it was peevish to ask for the full £125 they promised via an MSE link, but gave my head a good shake and emailed them. In fairness they responded straight away and credited the extra £25 to his account.

Other than that, everything is plodding along as normal, we are on track with the savings and limping quietly along to the end of the month and pay day.

And it is so hot today, the pup is really struggling... we have given him a cold bath to cool him off and been freezing carrots as a sort of doggy ice lolly (although he quite likes a human ice lolly too :rotfl:)

Hope you all manage to sleep tonight :cool:

beanielou

Great news for your DD

Suffolk_lass

I echo beanielou, that is just great for your DD - I really hope it lives up to her dreams. We have just a week and a half to get through before setting off for our hols and the temperatures look horrific - 40+ and dark red on the maps. Our (black) cat is also struggling, but helping herself to any unattended glasses of cold fridge-stored water!

savingholmes

Just caught up on your diary over the last few days. Impressive progress. Well done.

Busy_Mee1

Hi Suffolk Lass, Beanie and SavingHolmes. Thanks for popping in, I really appreciate it.

Anyway, I need to get a grip again, not only on the finances, but also on my health and weight. Over the last few months I haven't really tracked our spending, and although we haven't been dreadful we could have been a lot tighter, particularly with our grocery spending. I have been shopping a lot more often, doing at least one top up shop a week and not particularly meal planning. As a result I reckon we have been spending around £85-100 a week. This needs to stop, not least because my budget was only set at £300 a month. I think realistically we probably need to set it slightly at £350, because food price do seem to have increased. But I definitely need to focus on how much we are spending.

I have started today and done a meal plan and spent £76.44. I am determined not to shop again now until next weekend. Anything we don't have, we can do without

I also need to get a grip of my weight and fitness levels. I cancelled my gym membership at the end of May with the intention of starting running again. And I didn't :mad: Consequently the lack of exercise and a bit of s0d it mode with the eating has meant that I have put 3 lb on. I now need to lose 10 lb to be able to fit in all of my clothes comfortably. Something needs to be done, so I have downloaded the couch-5k app ( which is excellent by the way) and I completed my first run yesterday. My Fitbit is back on and I am aiming for 10k steps a day.

So my goals are as follows:

Grocery shopping £350 a month or £80.77 a week
Complete C-5k 9 week programme and start doing Park Run again
Lose 10lb over the same 9 weeks (by 29 September)

Please feel free to shout at me if you think I am making excuses, procrastinating or generally not getting my large lazy backside moving

I have been feeling fairly motivated this weekend. I loved the first run on the C-5k app yesterday, and today I went on a bit of a soggy adventure with the pup. We went off road, probably did a bit of trespassing across some farmers fields, climbed fences with barbed wire :eek:and found some new woodland. We both thoroughly enjoyed it and my Fitbit tells me I climbed the equivalent of 25 flights of stairs :T

Hope your weekend isn't too soggy

BM