5 months to emerge as a butterfly

benbenandme

Today I am planning on staying in - I need to get a few more fresh bits but am going to go tomorrow and get them. Last night I made a big pie with loads of the 19p veggies from Tesco (carrots, parsnips, broccoli) plus some onions, leeks and bacon. It was scrummy and there's tonnes left over for today. 

I booked for someone to remove the Christmas tree yesterday - it's £10 which goes to Macmillan, I could take it to the tip but the needles remain in the car boot for months and I'd rather not have the faff of constantly hoovering it. 

I will ice the Christmas cake today too, and I'm already starting to get my decluttering twitch,so may start with under my bed

benbenandme

So today my thoughts are starting to turn to the New Year, to new plans, and I think that might include a shiny new diary
I usually do all my planning between Christmas and New Year, but today is a bit of a chilling, not spending, kinda day, and I do feel I've taken my eye off the ball with various things this year, so new ideas are starting to form, I can't yet sort my new budgets as I don't know my exact new salary, but I guess I could base it on the minimum I should get (I am negotiating due to length of service etc). Hmm ... lots going on in my head right now  

Sarahwithlove

Maybe do your budget in terms of expenses side and then you can work out what will be left over after for repayments rather than budgeting to your wage if that makes sense? whats liveable amount for you to have and still enjoy life for food/spending etc. whats the ideal budget? thats what I have tried to do and then any left over can go towards debt coming down quicker. otherwise i splurge because I have been too restrictive 

benbenandme

And in line with my financial musings I've just got this months payslip online ... and we have finally had our support staff pay rise backdated to April, so that with my extra money for tutoring means that I have got around an extra £1000 this month   
One very happy Benbenandme right here, I'm off for a bubble bath and some daydreaming of what to do with it .. I'm already thinking I will chuck £100 into m brothers savings, I might need to chuck a bit in to balance the end of year accounts, maybe a night out but probably more chucked into the savings pot Back soon!! x 

Sun_Addict

Wow what a lovely bonus for you 😀 All round to yours this Christmas then 🤣

benbenandme

Thanks Sun_Addict, I am still super chuffed about it One idea I've had is booking the beach hut that I mentioned a few weeks ago - it's a big birthday next summer and I have looked into it and I can get one for 2 days for £100. If the weather is looking rubbish nearer the time I can cancel up to a week before and get my money back (except for a £10 admin fee). 

This morning I got up early and went to Sainsburys for the final food bits, in and out by 6:30am, car park was already about 3/4 full so I'm glad that job is over and done with. Today I need to ice the cake as I didn't get it done yesterday. 

badmemory

I wish I had done that yesterday, it took me an hour to get out of the supermarket carpark.  Not driving in the dark is a real pain in winter.

benbenandme

Morning all, happy Christmas Eve! I've made my sausage rolls and they are nicely doing their thing in the oven. I think I might do another batch too though as they always get wolfed down so quick, I've got another pack of pastry in the freezer so just need to get some sausage meat or sausages. 

Other than that today will mainly be spent as a combination between last minute twitching and preparations and chilling and enjoying it

Blackcats

Happy Christmas Eve
Enjoy your day

benbenandme

Thanks Blackcats, so I popped out, visited a friend and dropped off their presents, then nipped to the shops and got ds final bits. I also nipped into M&S and got some more sausage meat, some grapes and a big bag of Percy Pigs
 
Home again now, a couple of dresses I ordered in the sale have been delivered - they are fine for work so will be staying. I have also ordered another dress from M&S sale, and 3 x roasting tins. I have decided I am going to work on upgrading some of my homeware stuff - most of my plates / saucepans etc are all older than ds and he is 20 next year so I think I've had my moneys worth from them all, so that will be my focus in the sales - saucapans, cookware in general, cutlery etc. My plates / mugs / glasses are fairly decent and not that old, I might keep an eye out for bedding / towels etc too. Wild hey!!