Keeping on the Straight and Narrow...

Bubblesmum

Sympathise with the fall... another arnica champion, hopefully bringing out the bruises as they are less painful....at that stage. 

Hooray for the overpayment that’s must be such a fantastic feeling... 

DancingInTheRain

Thanks @Bubblesmum good to see you  

Arnica has been amazing, how have I lived this long without it? My right leg is looking very unattractive right now but the pain has just about gone so I'm very thankful for that.

It was good to feel confident enough to make a chunky overpayment, I appreciate how lucky we are to be in a position to do so in the current climate.

So the Friday fakeaway was delicious and I was a good girl, just had 2 glasses of wine (can easily polish the bottle off in one sitting), took the rest of the wine to my BIL & SIL's house on Saturday afternoon and enjoyed that while the kids ran ragged. Mum and I also went for our first coffee together since early March (usually a once a week ritual), we sat outside a local independent café and just enjoyed the opportunity to do something normal together.

We were all quite tired yesterday so had a lazy day at home, made a picnic lunch to eat on a rug in the living room while watching a film and then just pottered around or snoozed for most of the afternoon.

Weigh in last night - I've lost another 2lb and DH 1lb, DH had a bit of a beer binge on Saturday which he now regrets but at least the weight is coming off steadily. 

Work is very busy for both of us so this week is in danger of disappearing in the blink of an eye, the boys are ;loving being with their Grandmas more often though as they're both being spoiled rotten while Mummy and Daddy are at work  

Since my last post we've only spent a few pounds on milk and fruit, will need to pop to Lidl tomorrow for a few more bits but the budget is fine with only 4 days left until my payday.

Hope everyone is well, stay safe xx

Bubblesmum

Picnics on the rug and a film - bliss - the simple things

well done on weight loss x 

Lookafterthepennies2020

Well done on the weight loss !  
My boys are both at nana's until the end of August then holiday club will commence! They are both loving it, but the weekend did consist of me being called nana on at least 10 occasions lol x

DancingInTheRain

Hello all 👋

Work unexpectedly finished for the week, we have an audit next week 😩 so will be working extra so was a little cheeky and asked if I could have tomorrow off and it was approved! Just goes to show if you don't ask you don't get.

Haven't had a chance to do a food shop so the boys will go to their Grandma as planned tomorrow and I can get it sorted then, also need to have a blood test tomorrow to check if the recent increase in my BP meds is having any negative effects.

Despite not getting to the shops I have been doing a bit of online shopping this week - ordered a BP monitor as I need to be keeping a closer eye on this and much easier to do at home than at my GP surgery.

Also ordered uniform for both boys ready for September (DS2 will be accessing DS1's school's 2 year old provision 1 or 2 mornings per week), I've over ordered to get the best fit for them both - DS1 is super tall & slim and DS2 is also talk for his age but quite broad so it's a bit of trial and error to see what fits. Money for this has come from the saving pots so no impact on the budget. Leaving winter coats until after they're back at school as they're not needed just yet and usually I can pick something up in the sales once schools are back (hopefully DS1's outgrown coats will fit DS2 too 🤞).

Payslip in and added AVC's are showing as requested. I've made an error by requesting AVC's of 9% this should have been 6% for me to achieve 15% contributions (was already contributing 3% & employer 6%) so that's 18% going in 😳. 

I'm sure my future self will thank me for this, going to leave it like this for now as I can always reduce if needed. On the plus side it's taken me completely out of the tax threshold this month (slightly reduced salary due to furlough) so I'll see what the tax situation looks like when I get paid next month and it may prove to be prudent to leave the contributions as they are.

Lookafterthepennies2020

I picked up a ton of uniform from asda in March as I wasnt paying any childcare and glad I did as I now have 6 weeks of holiday club to pay 
I just need to get shoes for both boys as they had new coats in Jan and only wore them for 2 months x I feel so smug being prepared lol 

DancingInTheRain

You should feel smug @Lookafterthepennies2020 it's great you're so organized 👌

Lookafterthepennies2020

DancingInTheRain said:

You should feel smug @Lookafterthepennies2020 it's great you're so organized 👌

This is the exception and not the rule 

DancingInTheRain

Blood tests done ☑️
Food shopping done (finally!) ☑️
Downstairs cleaned & tidied ☑️
1 load of washing done ☑️
Evening meal prepped ☑️
New credit card ordered to replace the Asda CC that has now closed ☑️

Busy day!
Also DH dropped a little bombshell, he
wants us to consider using savings to pay off the CC 😯 as he's really keen on becoming debt free as soon as possible so we can focus on the mortgage.
He doesn't get overly involved in the finances so I always get a bit excited when he suggests something! His thinking is now that saving interest rates are so low it's a good opportunity to just go for it.

I've got to admit it's an exciting prospect but trying to take emotion out of it so I've suggested thinking it over for a few days and for us both to consider how future savings would look (for example I'm interested in us getting a S&S ISA and possibly buying premium bonds monthly) and then we can put a definite plan in place when gets paid next Friday.

Lookafterthepennies2020

Sounds like a busy day Have you thought about using half the savings for the CC for now, leaving it a week or so to think about it and then maybe committing to the full amount? I agree whilst the savings are so low it seems silly saving when there's debt outstanding, but can take a bit of getting used to wiping them out and going back to square one lol x