Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans .......

savingholmes

Well done on the run and for embarking on Project Sparkle. At least if you know your baseline - you can measure improvements from there.

seahorsey

Thanks savingholmes

Payday at last :j:T:j
Had a spendy day yesterday - thankfully all budgeted but even so Vet check up for woof and 2x written prescriptions total £67 :eek: The saving grace is that the prescriptions are saving me £108 each so even when you take off the charge and check up fee I’m still £149 up (plus fuel and 40 min round trip once a month!)

Had the long awaited doctors appointment this week. He was great and agreed to do bloods and was asking loads about my mental well-being. Really pleased I went. Bloods booked for a fortnights time.

Plan for today is meal plan, home bargains and Aldi shop. I’m also going to sit down with my journal and write down loads of ideas for self care. That way when I’m in need of SC I can dip into the list for inspiration. Hopefully in doing this it will encourage me to take a bit more time out for me. I had it drilled into me by the doctor how important it is for making time to be me, rather than mum, partner, employee etc etc.

Ordered some hoodies for DS last night- he’s getting desperate! Had a £10 M&S gift card from Christmas and they were on 3 for 2 so 3 hoodies have cost me the grand total of £14 - happy with that. Fingers crossed he slows down a bit now! Still need some bottoms but will see what the supermarkets have for him.

Weight loss front, I’ve been tracking calories in my fitness pal this week and am 4lb down. Will take Saturday as the official weigh in though, so fingers crossed it’s still looking good then.

Right best get cracking- have a good day x

pidge04

Sometimes I read a diary which really resonates loud and clear with me... Yours is one of those!
Our debt totals have been very similar too. This is all a phase and one day we will be debt free and feel like we have something to contribute in conversations with friends and work colleagues!

seahorsey

Thanks Pidge04. Although it’s not always a good place to be it’s nice to know I’m in good company

So, Aldi and home bargains shop done £120 spent :eek: but that includes a months worth of a lot of stuff such as rice, yogurts (fab best before date ) frozen stuff, cheese, cleaning and laundry and general household bits. Really pleased with myself as there was no splurges. And because I’d got a spare 20 minutes before picking DS up, I’ve plugged it all into the Morrison’s website and the own brand equivalent of what I’ve biught would have cost just over £165 :eek:
Definitely been worth the trip!

savingholmes

Well done on the Aldi shop and using vouchers for kids stuff. Glad you went to the GP - self-care is essential

seahorsey

Morning!
Monday’s come around quickly again!

Not a massive amount to report. A few eBay sales over the week end have been sent straight over to the next account, so that’s currently standing at £33.00 rather than £88 - so good progress there.

Food shop this week was closer to £70 than the usual £90 - thanks to the Aldi shop. This also included staples that I couldn’t get from Aldi and won’t need to buy again this month, so fingers crossed the coming weeks should be cheaper. I worked out we spent a whopping £610 on food shops in January. Yes it was a looooong month but even so that’s extortionate!

Project sparkle front, exercise has been non existant this week - very much a case of life getting in the way. Every time I’d carved out time to exercise something cropped up such as unexpected visitors, vets trips, friend in need. So really need to prioritise it this week. I am however starting the week 2lb lighter than I started last week - 2lb / 45.5lb - long way to go but it’s a step in the right direction!

Hoping to clear the next card this week and then move onto the overdraft. I was paying interest on one card so BT this onto another @ 0%. In a moment of madness, I also money transferred enough to clear the OD should I not manage it by the 14th March changes (highly unlikely that I will). As the OD is currently 0% the money is sitting in a savings account at the moment. I’m hoping to get at least half paid off without touching this, in which case I’ll either pay it straight back off one of the cards that finishes sooner or keep it in savings as my EF and divert the EF payments to a cc. Not sure whether I’ve made a good decision there (probably not) but the fee was far less than the charges will be in 5 weeks time.

Right I’m going to sign off and spend some time with my planner before DS wakes - have a good week all x

savingholmes

I think it was a good call on the OD - we did this a year or more ago and by having an EF have broken the OD cycle.

seahorsey

Thanks savingholmes, it’s funny, I’ve suddenly become very protective over that £1k sat in the savings account and am determined to do everything to keep it there!

Paid another £10 off the next account - this is now at £23, so perfectly doable to clear before the weeks out. Also cashed out another £10 from air rewards, so next months mobile bill is covered - can divert the £18 elsewhere.

Not much else to report so I’m going to disappear and get something productive done before the mayhem starts. Have a good day x

seahorsey

Morning!
Lovely day yesterday - dropped DS at preschool, popped to the gym, came home, showered and popped a huge Bolognese in the slow cooker. It’s sorted 4 portions of lasagna and 3 of Bolognese bake, so freezers restocked with some homemade ready meals.

Collected DS from preschool at lunchtime and headed to the local farm park. They’d got an offer on where kids go free so it cost £7.00 for the 2 of us. Went armed with pack up, so it was a nice treat but didn’t cost the earth.

Had a letter from the tax office to say I’d over paid my tax from last year by £20 so was due a reimbursement. Not earth shattering but £20 is £20 so I’ll take that!

Another couple of £2 coins placed in envelopes for the Christmas fund. That’s 3 x envelopes filled with what I’ve budgeted for people. Determined to make this Xmas a lot less stressful than this one!

Plan for today, ponies (done), dogs, preschool drop off, gym, sort bedroom & kitchen, hoover throughout, collect DS from preschool and then head to the village library later this afternoon before doing the ponies bedtime. I’ve then got my yoga class tonight which I’m looking forward to as I missed it last week.

Have a great day x

[Deleted User]

I’ve a bit of a mare re. my account and have had to re-register  so I’m now seahorsey_thesecond. Will restart my diary and project sparkle under my new username.......