“Debt is normal. Be weird.”

browneyed_girl

@BellaLasagna2018  @WinterWarrior  I think the idea is to give that negative voice in your head a separate identity, so that when you scoff an entire cake or fail to go to the gym as you’d promised yourself, instead of berating yourself you can tell off Dave (or an alternative monkey name).  

I do sometimes think Dave has good ideas (mostly finding different ways to consume my body weight in chocolate), but knowing that his intentions as a naughty monkey are to sabotage my efforts, I only let him out to play occasionally!

browneyed_girl

Quick update on yesterday.  Was pushed for time when running errands in the morning, so DH kindly offered to do the top-up shop at Mr T.  Gave him the list and Clubcard vouchers.  Budget was £28 (extra spend fine if covered by vouchers) and DH came back having spent £54.01 after vouchers!   He went off list by also picking up superglue, a new water bottle for DD3 and a couple of bottles of spirits to allow us to have some drinks on our anniversary.  Lovely thought so I can’t be too annoyed with him, but I was a bit shocked given that the spend was higher than our main shop for the week!  Going to have to plan carefully for next week in order to keep us in budget for the month, but with an almost empty freezer I’m not very hopeful!

No other spends yesterday though and I think the only spend today will be on DH’s fuel.  Main shop tomorrow, so I’m busy coming up with a meal plan and shopping list (which will be adhered to!).  Big excitement tonight is defrosting the freezer (this is what my life has become).  I’ll finally be able to get rid of the random freezer tray taking up space on my kitchen counter - had to remove it last week because it stopped the freezer door from closing properly!

Next headache is that I am currently trying to make plans for best friend’s hen do but struggling to figure out the best plan of attack.  I’ve had lots of ideas suggested by other bridesmaids and attendees, but have been given overall control.  My main concern initially is not to exclude anyone by pricing them out, but everyone is a bit cagey about discussing their budget (am thinking of asking them each to privately message me with what they’d be willing to spend).  Some people have been looking at packages costing upwards of £400 per person, so I think I’m going to have to manage expectations.  The current basic plan is to include a spa, dinner with drinks and an overnight stay somewhere - not sure it can be done for less than about £250 each.  It also doesn’t help that this is all taking place in the North East and I’m 300 miles away!  Does anyone have any wisdom they can share or even suggestions for locations in the north that won’t break the bank?! 

WinterWarrior

Just googled and there’s a site called spa breaks.com where you can filter on area and it brings up everything available. It might be difficult to do cheaply ☹️ But it’s excellent that you are caring about people’s budgets, much kinder!

savingholmes

Good luck with the budgeting

CRANKY40

Could you hire a holiday cottage with a hot tub maybe? Less chance of everything going wrong if travel is cancelled. See if there is a local beauty therapist that would come and do manicures/pedicures for an evening. 

browneyed_girl

CRANKY40 said:

Could you hire a holiday cottage with a hot tub maybe? Less chance of everything going wrong if travel is cancelled. See if there is a local beauty therapist that would come and do manicures/pedicures for an evening. 

@CRANKY40 - you are a genius!  Suggested this to the group and they LOVED it!!  I’ve also spoken with the bride to clarify what she would like and (being the lovely person she is) really doesn’t want anyone to miss out because they can’t afford it, so is extremely happy with cheaper group activities.  This does make it easier and I’m going to suggest an optional spa treatment before the main part of the hen do for those people that can afford it and would like to do so, therefore the bride still gets pampered but we can avoid the group cost of a pricey spa day.  Feeling so much happier with this plan so thank you!!

CRANKY40

Off peak center parcs might be an option - spa on site plus restaurants, takeaways and swimming. Country cottages is also a good site to search. Some lovely places there. 

browneyed_girl

Not posted on the daily grind for a few days, so I think I’m due an update.

Main shop done at Lid! on Sunday.  DH and I went with the kids to maximise time together but this proved dangerous for picking up impulse items.  I do say no to a lot of things the kids ask for and so I do like to be able to say yes to little items occasionally.  Of course, once you say yes to one, then you have to make the same allowances for the other three (four if including DH!).  Total for shopping came to £66.14 which is about £10 more than I would normally spend, but worth it for the children’s happy faces .  Also made a small donation to the NSPCC book stand they had in store (not sure how much as it was just the loose change in DH’s wallet), as DD3 and DS saw books they liked.  

Also realised that I’m not part of the Lid! rewards programme, so quickly rectified this egregious oversight.  Shopping at Lid! is a relatively new thing since a new store opened nearer us - have to admit that I wasn’t even aware they had a loyalty scheme.  But by signing up at this time, I get a free bakery item for my troubles.  I’d like to pretend that there will be some deliberation as to which item to purchase, but we all know it’s going to be a brownie.  Lid! chocolate brownies are off the charts AMAZING and should probably be banned in order to save what is left of my waistline!

Onwards to Monday and this proved to be a NSD!!!  Everyone rejoiced and there was much excitement amongst the crowds that gathered at our door to offer their hearty congratulations.  It is also entirely possible that scenario only occurred in my head...

Back to today and the only spend thus far has been £3.80 on posting a gift to a friend.  Pretty happy with that.  I also saved myself at least £10 by fixing a backpack that had been neglected for years because a strap had broken and there was a hole in the bottom.  Only thought to try and fix it today because it had DS’s favourite cartoon characters on it and he needs a bag for preschool next week.  The plastic material around the edge where it was broken had previously stopped me attempting a mend as it didn’t look possible by hand.  However, we all know what can be achieved when in an MSE state of mind!  Admittedly, I did snap one needle completely in half (didn’t even know such a thing could happen) but I’m happy with the end result, as is DS .

On the back of my backpack success, I’m going to try and tackle the pile of mending that has built up recently.  I hate today’s throw-away culture.  I have clothes that have lasted me 15 years and I still love them!! 

Need to go and hydrate (herbal tea only at this hour and no biscuit as I’m trying out a new intermittent fasting approach to dieting), then will be off around the house finding things to fix (needle in one hand, superglue in the other!).  I hope everyone else has more exciting evening plans!

savingholmes

browneyed_girl said:

Onwards to Monday and this proved to be a NSD!!!  Everyone rejoiced and there was much excitement amongst the crowds that gathered at our door to offer their hearty congratulations.  It is also entirely possible that scenario only occurred in my head...

Love it.

I didn't know there was a rewards scheme at that shop either - may need to look into it.

WinterWarrior

If you want to come and fix my house next please do feel free 😁