2020: Becoming a Saver, Not a Spender

[Deleted User]

Morning everyone!

I have ordered some new work clothes this morning, payday is tomorrow but had enough to order them. In dire need of a new blazer as I have holes rapidly appearing in my elbows, and some work trousers. I ended up ordering a skirt, too. Plus some trainer socks (as mine appear to have vanished), some "secret support" vests so that I can wear them as pyjama tops and be able to walk round without worrying about scaring the kids and some shorts to work out in as I appear to have decluttered all of mine and am currently working out in PJs in the morning  

Anyway, that's the only upcoming spends I had planned (famous last words). I have been putting off buying the work clothes but the jacket absolutely needs to be binned so thought I would do it all in one go and not need to go to multiple shops/make multiple couriers come to the house.

Payday tomorrow, most of my excess will be going to OH then paying the last amount mid-month from SE income.

Little kitten is still mostly adorable but tends to have a very savage half an hour where no amount of moving him/telling him off/etc stops him biting and scratching, but I think we're going to try and start doing a solid evening routine including trying to tire him out with his toys and push his dinner back later so that he's sleepy when we want to go to bed and not trying to maul us. He is, however, very well-behaved other than the mad half an hour he has and very, very good with his litter box - he apparently ran all the way downstairs the other day to use it then ran back upstairs to carry on playing So, it could be worse. 

savingholmes

The kitten sounds adorable - we've always had rescue cats so missed that stage. Very kind of you to sort a fitbit for your nan

[Deleted User]

savingholmes said:

The kitten sounds adorable - we've always had rescue cats so missed that stage. Very kind of you to sort a fitbit for your nan

He really is haha, he has the loudest purr which is ironic as when he opens his mouth nothing comes out he has to go to the vets today for his 9 weeks vaccinations and a check up, and hopefully to set up his complete care plan with them. As it's contact-free, they tell you a room to go into, you take him in and leave him, and then they do their thing and the reverse happens. I'm glad OH is taking him as I don't think I could leave him alone in a strange room too soft!

The fitbit should come today, going to charge it up and sort it out so all of the random alerts and stuff won't ping up for her, so she can literally pop it on and get going with it

[Deleted User]

Happy Thursday!

I must admit that the routine of getting up, feeding the kitten, doing some form of exercise and having breakfast before leaving is putting me in much better spirits. I think it's mostly due to cuddles with the kitten and the feeling of having achieved something in the morning with the exercise. This morning was a quick 10 minute "No excuses, roll out of bed workout" by MadFit, I think I will switch between that and yoga on the weekday mornings. 

Paid up the care plan with the vets, didn't have the option for the monthly direct debit as they're doing everything contact-free, but paid up the full year with our voucher for £70, which still fits into my monthly budget and I know it's sorted then. OH just needs to remember to take the voucher when they go.

Payday today, so sent money to OH and paid up the vets, just need to work through YNAB and see what manual payments I need to make to things and transfer between various pots, won't upload the payments until tomorrow though as it's for May's budget.

My new work uniform and other bits will arrive today, same with the Fitbit. Dropping bits off to various households today on my lunch break, but brought a tin of soup to have before or after doing that. Tonight when I get home I want to have a quick mop and hoover of the living room, which is easier now that the kitten is happy to run up and down the hallway and stairs.

Need to check when my Beauty Pie allowance renews as I'm running out of one of my face washes and toners, and there is already a 10-Day wait for deliveries so the sooner I can order them, the better. Their skin care stuff has literally changed my skin!

savingholmes

Some real positives  there. I'm using face cream again currently and can tell the difference.

[Deleted User]

Happy Friday! And happy 1st of the month!

Transferred my usual odds and sods over to the VSP this morning, which has taken it over £100 not bad for transfers I don't miss on a Friday morning!

I was a tad late for work this morning, got part of the way to work this morning and realised I'd forgotten the Fitbit, so dashed back for that. It's my own fault for leaving it tucked away instead of ready by the front door, but never mind I have it now I'll be doing her weekend shop on my lunch break, so plan to hand it over then.

Paid a chunk of my wages to OH, just a bit more to pay mid-month then we are all square again.

Kitten was very sleepy yesterday all day after his vaccinations, I nearly slept downstairs to keep an eye on him but he started nipping at my hand right before I went to bed so decided he was okay. He's also starting to find his voice as I could hear his random squeaking this morning when I got up to make coffee, asking for his breakfast  

We're looking to somehow block up gaps in the bedroom and then he can roam where he likes overnight, the kitchen is a bit trickier as there is some plinth missing and a gap where the bin goes, so he could literally get under AND behind the cupboards with relative ease. I just don't know what to use to block it all off!

Placed my beauty pie order, uniform all came yesterday as expected, so I should hopefully be able to keep any further spends down to a minimum. We have a click & collect order to get tomorrow, and hope to do that going forwards. I don't mind whizzing round on my lunch hour in the shops as it keeps me busy on my quiet days at work, but I'd rather just relax at home than queue and avoid people in aisles at the weekend

Hopefully Virgin will confirm my £130 cashback on TCB this month!

[Deleted User]

My nan was over the moon with her fitbit definitely a good investment.

Given myself a day off from SE work today just to catch up on a few life admin bits and have a chill day. It seems I have put smiles on a few people's faces today, a gentleman in Tesco who I let get some potatoes before me after waiting an age for someone else to finish rifling through them, and pulled into a side street to let a lady pass me on a tricky road where I know most people would have made her stop as it wasn't her right of way. Small things, but big smiles.

The roads, worryingly, seem to have got massively busier this week compared to the rest of lock down. Not sure why people have started to be less diligent, but there we go. They will be the first to complain if/when stricter measures come into play because of it.

No workout for me this morning, the ten minute one yesterday somehow had me aching in places I've never ached before, but to be fair I did a few exercises I've never done before. I'll do her 30 minute stretch video tomorrow morning, and get back to it on Sunday. Glad that it did enough work in 10 minutes for me to feel it the next day, though, I wasn't sure my yoga may be moved to the kitchen in the morning to allow me to focus more on relaxing and not whether or not I'll squash a kitten or whether he is currently attacking my pyjamas  

Last few hours of work, then finally it is the weekend. Although I may begrudge coming here, I am actually still quite grateful for normality and routine most of the time.

savingholmes

Glad your nan loved the fitbit. I too am glad for some routine of work even though I am working from home it definitely helps to still feel part of something.

[Deleted User]

savingholmes said:

Glad your nan loved the fitbit. I too am glad for some routine of work even though I am working from home it definitely helps to still feel part of something.

Thank you  

Definitely, I'd feel a bit lost and vey bored, plus it's nice to still look forward to weekends

[Deleted User]

Happy Monday MSE  

My "new normal" morning routine was thrown out of sync by getting up to bed at around 11pm and realising I would need to have a shower if I wanted to get up and do yoga in the morning (washing and drying my hair eats up the time I now use for this) so opted to skip this morning, and do something in the evening, instead. We did do a 5km walk as OH is conscious about not doing much exercise at the moment. We also had a brief discussion about the weird phenomenon with people about being possibly scared to be happy, or scared of things going right. I always acknowledge this in myself, I have all the tools at my disposable to craft the life I want, I just can't seem to push through a mental block to reach the other side.

We pulled up the carpet in our stinky cupboard over the weekend to see if it helps with the smell that has returned. OH finished painting the bathroom ceiling so I can give some paint to my uncle as he is doing lots of DIY in his house and couldn't get hold of paint, and I finally put my spare cherry tomato plants (nine) out at the end of the drive and they all got taken home by passers by  

I did a couple of hours SE work over the weekend, not lots but more than I usually do. It's easier as we have moved our dining table into the lounge so I can still sit and speak with OH whilst he does other bits whilst doing some work at the same time. 

Kitten is definitely settled, he spends a lot of time lazing and stretching on the sofa or other various places. He has stopped scratching the sofa, but his news obsession is trying to chew wires but I have read that citrus sprays/smells put them off of this so I will throw something together later and hope it stops him. He's generally quite good but he will have around half an hour per day where he just will not listen to the word no, or being moved and put somewhere else, or anything that we try. I'm going to look for some different toys as he may well be bored with what he has. I also need to email the vets and check how we will get the flea and worm treatments in the care plan I've paid for. Now he's around 1kg we can use the worming spot-on, but the flea treatment can only be used from 3 months and over despite asking in pets at home for stuff we could use for our 8 week kitten.... sigh. Never mind, I imagine they will probably send us stuff in the post, I'm sure that's how they said they were doing it for existing customers.

Right...time to work!