Cheery's path to fulfilment - finishing the DIY, looking after myself, appreciating the garden 🌻

Cheery_Daff

Right, I am OUT of work, and home for the holidays! Woo hoo! 

Today's buffet haul involved two veggie sausage butties, two mini quiche things, and three pieces of flapjack. Went to the pub briefly after work so couldn't bring another giant box of fruit unfortunately. 

Anyway, first job now I'm home and fed is banking -looks like I've not filled in the cash book since 6th December so it'll be in a bit of a mess, and I suspect the results won't be pretty... Still, better to have all the information laid out. 

Mr C is just having a nap - when he's up I'll take the recycling out, then I'm entertaining myself for the rest of the evening while he finishes a musical project. I'm tempted to just get into bed with a hot chocolate and a film

Tomorrow was going to be a lovely leisurely first day off, with Mr C at a daytime band practice. Unfortunately, I have to take the big car to the garage instead, hoping the bumper doesn't fall off on the way. Yawn. Garage is about a mile away from work, so that'll be the fifth day in a row I've been over there.

Going to take the opportunity of a free day in town to see if I can finish my Christmas shopping (I've barely started, so this is optimistic )

Right, taking a deep breath and diving into the budget!

Cheery_Daff

Right, ugly budgeting truth...

Amounts remaining of the December budget (I feel like we're nearly at the end because I've finished work but that's not quite true 😂)

Food & household: £184.84/£350
Joint treats: £83.50/£150
Diesel & parking: £41.52/£300
My treats: minus £45.46/£150
Mr C treats: £97.19/£150

Hmm. Food budget is doing ok, we don't do a big festive shop so that'll last easily. Joint treats budget is doing well, largely because I've either been ill or busy so we've not been out much - what we've spent includes two actual meals out which is unusual for us.

Mr C is abstemious, as ever. I am not, as ever 😬 BUT my treats budget does include a posh hair cut, plus a book for my sister that she'll give me £19 for at some point. I've been out for coffee/dinner with a few people this month, and sent some stuff in the post (not christmas) so it adds up. 

We've had 4 tanks of diesel between the two cars, and I've parked at work 7 times in December, which is unusual, but between being run down and lots of events and dreadful weather I think I've made the right decisions. 

So we might just manage to be under budget on the whole lot, but clearly not on my treats budget... 😬

Right, just need to do some transferring stuff from the Christmas pot back into the bank account...

Cheery_Daff

OK, shuffling done. Pots standing as follows:

Savings pots
Holidays: £512.60
Home & garden: £934.00
Dentist & medical: £259.30
Presents: 306.02

Annual bills pots
Cars: £1084.16 (insurance due Feb)
LPG: £698.95
Web hosting: hmm, just noticed this is minus £47 but it's been canceled now so won't be a pot at all from Jan
House insurance: £810 (due feb)
TV licence: £175 (due this month)

Not too bad. House and car insurance are budgeted for but will make me feel poor come Feb (do remind me to shop around in Jan though rather than leaving it to the last minute).

Web hosting is cancelled now (although is it?! Because Mr C was meant to be clearing out his emails then ringing them back. I bet he's forgotten!) 

Will check LPG in the daylight tomorrow - I looked a week or two ago and we were at 60%. I'll order at 40% (as it can take 28 days for a delivery) but it's not been that cold so it's not dropping too quickly. Wouldn't anticipate a delivery til Jan, so no invoice til Feb, and I add £170 a month to the pot so it adds up quickly.

I've got a dentist check up in Jan, Mr C just had one. Like to keep this topped up though in case one of us needs a crown or something stupid.

Presents should be OK, although clearly neither of us have done much Christmas shopping yet... Will try to do all mine tomorrow!

Right, recycling before I get to the point where I can't be bothered 😬

EssexHebridean

Hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised and the web hosting has, in fact, been cancelled! 

Insurances - set a reminder now on your phone/email/wherever to remind you at the 25 day out point so you can deal with the comparisons sites at the right time. I usually rely on reminders for stuff like that, although they don't always stop me missing the sweet spot! 

Cheery_Daff

You're right, of course! Not sure of exact dates right now, but I'll plink a reminder for mid Jan and amend later

Cheery_Daff

Evening chums 😊

A productive day today, albeit a long one! 

Up early for candlelit yoga, then took the big car to the garage to get the bumper put back on. Ditched the car, went for a cuppa, and sat plotting and scheming in my new goals book for next year, and going through my Christmas list. 

Picked up the car, charged me £40 which is a considerable bargain 😊 I took them some chocs. 

Bumped into a friend in the city centre, and another was collecting their car from the same garage 😂 Odd to randomly bump into two people you know in the midst of the city - and even more odd that they both have the same first name 😂 amused me considerably 😂

On a bit of a roll with Christmas shopping, so I decided to brave the large put of town shopping centre while I was out and about. There's a weird part of me that quite likes a bit of Christmas chaos, as long as I'm not on a schedule and can leave when I like. Picked up a few more things, including stuff for a couple of awkward people who I always struggle with. 

Obviously ended up leaving there during rush hour, but I had a nice singalong to the radio on the way home so all good. 

Had a nice bath this evening, and removed blue and gold sparkly nail varnish ready for replacing with red and gold for tomorrow's Christmassy band concert 😊

And somehow now it's gone 1am! 😱

Greying_Pilgrim

Wow Cheery you achieved loads!  

I think there is something in what you say, about enjoying an 'event' but on your own terms, and being able to leave when you want.  Although sometimes getting out of the carparks of these places is an added chore in itself.  

Red and gold nail polish - how cheery!  Do you have to dress in specific colours too?  

Greying X

Cheery_Daff

The car park was surprisingly uneventful,  thankfully! 

We usually wear all black for a concert, but at Christmas we can do Christmas jumpers😁 I, however,  returned my only Christmas jumper to the charity shop from whence it came,  as I didn't like it very much 😂 so a black dress for me,  and a black cardi with silver edging,  and sparkly nails, and our section has coordinated our sparkly headgear 😂

Today then. Yoga in a second, then slimming world 😬 won't be pretty this week - this has definitely been a week of work buffets and too many mince pies 😬 Mr C is going to come to town with me and we're going to head to a cafe afterwards - not done that for an entire week which is the longest we've gone for ages! 

This afternoon we're going to get the tree out of the loft and put it up 🎄 love a Christmas tree but just not had time yet. That will require some tidying - there's currently a full drum kit in the living room, so that will need to shift a bit 😂

Yoga first. I'm hoping my sore throat is just a combination of snoring (I often have a sore throat in the morning for that reason) and having talked too much this week 😬

Cheery_Daff

Morning chums 😊😊

Yesterday was uneventful. Put half a pound on at SW and I was pleased with that having had work buffets four days in a row and been out for tea every night 😱

We had a nice time in town, but it meant we didn't really have time to put the tree up, so that'll need doing tomorrow now. Good job it'll be staying up til at least the end of January 😂

Concert last night was extremely festive 🥰 Mr C came, and two friends, which was lovely, and we all fest very festive afterwards 😊

I slept mostly well, but woke up with a raging sore throat about 4am, so much so that I was reading the NHS website trying to work out the difference between tonsillitis and laryngitis 🙄 Right now it doesn't seem any worse than any other morning after snoring and talking a lot over the last few days. No other symptoms except a bit of a tickly cough, so we'll see. 

Today is the solstice, the shortest day. I imagine it will feel like quite a long day, as we're off to see Mr C Snr, which is a good 5-6 hour round trip 😬 doing it again on Wednesday too 😬

I'd like to do something to mark the solstice a little, but I've not planned anything so we'll see. I did put up a little frame with pages from an old diary in, so I can switch to the solstice one now, and I do have a solstice-themed print done by a friend so I'll find a frame for that too. 

On the cards today aside from this visit - candlelit yoga in a minute, I'll get some washing on before we go, and then a small bit of tidying when we come back.

Best get out of bed!

Cheery_Daff

No solstice-themed activities today - I'll save those for tomorrow, I think. 

Candlelit yoga (21 days now!) then an uneventful 2.5 hour drive to see Mr C Snr. Took him out for lunch, had a nice chat about christmasses past. Then popped to see Mr C's sister - who informed us that the family Christmas Dinner is, in fact, Christmas day, not, as we had previously been informed, Christmas eve 🙄

Sigh. Doesn't really matter, we don't have any other plans, but between you and me I was really looking forward to Christmas day itself at home this year. We always did this, until the last 3 years when Mr C Snr's health has been very ropey and 'it might be his last christmas'. I thought christmas eve was a nice compromise this year, but no, christmas day it is again.

Not really something to quibble about, he won't be with us for much longer and it's important to Mr C. But I'm going to permit myself a teeny tiny moment of disappointment at 5 or 6 hours of driving on Christmas day again. 

Hey ho. I am grateful for family, and that my own family don't really do a big christmas (I haven't been to them on christmas day for 19 years), and soon enough we'll be having christmas day on our own again and I'll be feeling guilty 😬 

Anyway, on the plus side it gives us extra time to get our acts together, and we'll just have to allocate Boxing Day as 'Christmas Day At Home'.

So. Tomorrow is final present-buying day for me. I've got Mr C to get for, and three other people who so far have nothing. Then I'm going to come home and make sure everywhere is nice and tidy, and get the tree up 😊😊

Got friends coming for lunch on Tuesday (I think I'll do a wholesome soup - there's enough rich food around i think we'll all be grateful for some veg!) Christmas Eve is unexpectedly free 🙄 

Anyway, I'm going to go nd do something cheerful before I get into danger of being grumpy about it and forgetting to count my blessings.