And now we go again...

EssexHebridean

Good morning lovely MSE cheer-squad - and Flowerpots - thank you for delurking to say hello and other lovely things! I LOVE it when my lurkers pop their heads up! 

Last day in the office today - hurrah! Thoroughly looking forward to the break, although the next few days may well be quite busy. I've got Christmas earrings and my sparkly boots on so feeling quite festive - the boots are comfy-ish although I may not be saying that by the time I've walked back to the car in them later! They'll be fine though - in fairness this is only the second time I have worn them so I've not given them much wearing in! 

MSE Stuff:
- Little Christmas bonus received from work yesterday which is extremely kind of them - that has already cleared into the bank and I have just transferred that to my airshow account ready to use when I start buying tickets. 
- I think I will aim to make the end of month mortgage OP the off £53.xx on the balance, so leaving it as a nice round amount at the end of the year. 
- CC was cleared back to zero yesterday and I have already transferred the diesel money from this morning to it as well. Aim is to keep right up to date with that going forwards, although spending should ease a bit now...I hope! 
- Free treaty C0st@ courtesy of Madam Boss yesterday - and very delicious it was too. (A special order decaff Mocha with the sticky toffee christmas flavouring!) 
- "use it up" tea planned for later - Frittata to deal with the remaining eggs, some slightly squishy mushrooms, a potato or two, a few rashers of "spare" bacon and some cheese. If I decide we need some extra carbs with that I'll defrost a couple of pitta bread as we still have some of the tasty Turkish supermarket ones.
- Banks checked and everything is OK there - there is one pending transaction on the CC I will need to keep an eye on as it shouldn't have got that far but should just have disappeared when the actual transaction went through - the pending one is a validation payment only. 
- I need to work out what the best options for food are for tomorrow night to fit in around the rugby match. On the whole though I am leaning more towards saving the chinese takeaway option for Christmas eve.

Spendiness:
- £20 diesel in my car this morning. MrEH's car still has around half a tank, so will need topping up ready to drive up to our friends on NYE but not before that I should think. 
-Turkey will need paying for when we collect it on saturday morning - that's in the Christmas budget
- MrEH needs to sort the Niece & Nephews Big River site vouchers - again, budgeted for in the Christmas budget though.
- I THINK we are there for all other presents now.
- I'll be heading to Lil's tomorrow morning first thing I think with a view to making a small spend to bump the month over the £50 level - and I can then grab my free bakery item when I go through with the main shop. 
- Also want to go back to T's to make a final use of my "150 extra point on any meat joint over £8" coupon, which has one more use on it. I may yet decide to maximise value on that by buying the largest FR chicken they have, which can then go in the freezer. 
- MrEH made the second order for beer yesterday - this from our most local brewery, and we will be collecting that tomorrow afternoon. MrEH tells me that he will be covering at least most of the cost of that one too, as the Christmas budget is now starting to look a little squeaky! 

The C0st@ yesterday played right into what we were talking about on Foxgloves diary I think it was - about things like that being so much more of a treat when they only happen occasionally! It's the same with takeaways - we enjoy them far more now that they happen infrequently rather than being a weekly thing. (It used to be very much "I'm not cooking on a Friday - blow that - takeaway it is!") 

I may be back later with a proper list for this evening/tomorrow! 

TallGirl

Sounds like you are organised and ready bonus work is finishing as well today. I agree Costa's are a real treat when you do not have them all the time. I only get them when I can claim them on work expenses and then I look forward to when I get that 10th freebie one to treat myself. 

Hope you have a lovely Christmas in your new home. 

dreaming

You are right about treats being much better when they are occasional and/or unexpected. When I was working I used to shop after work on a Friday and got into the habit of buying a "treat" for myself - a bottle of wine, a nice dessert, a magazine etc. Then when I was facing redundancy at 58 and seeing if I could live off my company pension until state pension kicked in at 66, I started going through my receipts much more carefully to see where I could cut down and realised that I had started buying several "treats" each week, and was spending nearly a quarter of the bill on them. That soon stopped, and along with seriously reducing or stopping other outgoings I lived quite well on the company pension (which I topped up tax-free from part of my redundancy payout). I paid all my bills, ran a car and lived comfortably - and the best part was that the occasional treat became much more special. I'm 68 now so have state pension, but can no longer drive to to ill-health so I am able to save to get bits done on the house and garden to hopefully future-proof it a bit.
I have loved reading along about your house move and financial planning, and hope you and Mr EH have a lovely Christmas in your cosy new home.

Willowtree222

Another lurker here! Wishing you a Merry Christmas 🎅 

jwil

Enjoy your break!

EssexHebridean

Ooh TG I bet the freebie C0st@ tastes even better than the expensed ones too! Dreaming - I suspect the majority of us here can identify with that thing of a “treat” that actually just becomes habit, but we still convince ourselves it’s a treat. It’s only when you stop and start adding up how often they occur that it hits you! Willow - 👋🏻 thank you for stopping in - Merry Christmas to you too! jwil I was entirely delighted to leave the office just after 4.30pm - felt like skipping down the road shouting “I’m FREEEEEE!” (But didn’t - that would have been a bit too strange even for the bit of East London work is in!) 

I have a general list of jobs to do before Monday, and a more targeted list for tomorrow which includes a reminder to sort my camera kit out as otherwise it will reach the time when I should be heading out to the rugby club and I’ll realise I’ve not checked memory cards/batteries etc! 

One load of washing was run through as soon as I got home and is now on the airer, and I will run another load first thing and that will just have to wait until the current lot is dry. I may ask MrEH to bring the dehumidifier in from the office and take it upstairs for me in the morning if I think that will be needed. 

Also whizzed Jaws 🦈 round downstairs so that is another job that won’t need doing tomorrow.

I’m intending to do Lil’s in the morning - plan is to go in and get just a couple of items, put those in the car and activate the free baker item coupon, then head back in for the remainder - I may regret that if the queues are horrific though! 

milann

Not sure if I’ll be about tomorrow so Merry 1st Christmas in your new home.

savingholmes

Totally relate on the I'm free feeling 

rtandon27

EH - I'm feeling that freedom too after a particularly horrific two weeks at work!

joedenise

The shops where I am were horrendous this morning!  Got to Tesco and hardly any parking spaces left and some that were couldn't be used where cars had been parked inconsiderately (over the line!).  Got to the shop and no trollies so ended up walking round with my bags and putting stuff in them.  Once 2 bags were full that was my lot!  Still had a few things on my list which I couldn't carry - things like fizzy drinks so went to Morrisons as I needed bread (I like one of their own brand ones!) so got them there.  Glad that's all the shopping done for now.  Anything left on the list isn't important this side of Christmas and can wait until after!

Merry Christmas EH.