Keeping on the Straight and Narrow...

DancingInTheRain

Good evening all, another busy work week has kept me away from here.
Last weekend was lovely, My Aunt & Uncle who live at the opposite end of the country decided to make a short notice visit so I gathered a few family members together for a catch up on Saturday.
Sunday was my niece's birthday so a soft play date & birthday cake for the boys and their cousins filled the afternoon in.
Also spent some 'normal' time with SIL this week who is having a better week after being in quite a dark place recently.
Then work - busy but done for another week. Now it's time to get ready for the birthday celebrations ahead of the big 4 0 on Sunday:eek: Out for a meal with friends tomorrow, DH taking me away Saturday night while the boys stay with their Grandma :A then family visiting Sunday afternoon. So a busy but fun weekend instore, looking forward to it as with having the boys so close together I've either been pregnant or had a very young baby for the last few years meaning a few non-existent birthday celebrations so, selfishly, I'm really going for it this year (within budget of course ).
Payday for me tomorrow so signature updated for the final time for this pay cycle. I can't quite believe it but we've managed to bring the debt down by £731 this month! Absolutely over the moon with this, working more has had a good effect on keeping our spending down I think We've had a lot of NSD's due to lack of time & thankfully I'd batch cooked when I was off at Xmas which has been a god send on these busy work weeks, it's been a relief to just defrost something and bung it in the oven rather than having to think about every meal. We're looking forward to seeing what we can achieve during this next pay cycle.
Wishing everyone a lovely weekend, take care x

beanielou

Enjoy the celebrations

FootyFanDan

Wow that's a huge amount to have brought debt down, well done

Enjoy the celebrations and have a lovely weekend.

savingholmes

Happy Birthday. Good to treat yourself sometimes (or allow others to)

Congrats on the debt repayment too

[Deleted User]

Hope you had a wonderful birthday xxx

DancingInTheRain

Thank you all for your lovely comments, I have indeed had a lovely weekend
The meal and friends catch up on Friday was brilliant then lovely DH whisked me away to the Lake District on Saturday and, despite the rain, we had a really lovely 24 hours child free - lovely food, a few cheeky drinks, the boy did good Then Sunday saw birthday cake, family visits and an early night as I was so shattered (in a good way).
Then real life hit, both boys were up through night with the start of a sickness bug and it's taken them until tonight to start recovering, poor things The washer and tumble dryer seem to have been on non-stop for 48 hours and I'm officially massively behind at work as have had to stay off to look after the boys so other than responding to emails, I've been pretty stuck as everything I need to work on is at the office. I'm sure I'll get back on track but feels a bit stressed thinking about it.
No movement on the debt front but since being paid I have sent money across to the 3 mini breaks we have booked for this year so those balances are coming down nicely - Grand National now fully paid; £75 left on May half term break and £225 left on October half term break.
DH gets paid on Friday, aiming to pay off at least £400 in this pay cycle but ideally £500 plus send a little extra to the mortgage.

savingholmes

Glad you had a good birthday and nice time away. Sounds like it was back to earth with a bump. Hopefully the rest of your week will be better

DancingInTheRain

So, inevitably, I got the bug too all better now but safe to say so far my 40's have been rubbish :rotfl:
Instead of feeling stressed and overwhelmed I've been a bit more pro-active today: clear to-do list for work next week; day off today so have batch cooked and frozen our evening meals for next week (plus sent some to Bro & SIL); budget planned for Feb and debt payments sent. Current debt total £9,500 :T
I'm struggling to find time to keep up with diaries at the moment so sending love and best wishes to everyone, keep fighting the good fight!
Here's to the weekend and the start of a new month :beer:
DITR
xxx

*ETA Signature updated and 30% paid off the debt total

sashybo

Hi Dancing, happy belated birthday and sorry to hear you've had the boys' sickness and then your own to deal with.

Well done on your current debt total. :T

Sarahwithlove

Hiya just caught up with your diary, well done on your achievement last year. I love the idea of rounding your bank account down, do you do it daily and is it based on actual balance or pending balance? I have set up save the change on my two spends accounts so that will round every purchase up and put the difference in a savings account. Every little helps.