Need to stop spending and chasing dopamine!

Sarahwithlove

£6 is good, mine has gone up £18 a month. 

Could you pay your service charge monthly? Would they allow that? Or work out what the monthly amount would be and put that aside in the future? 

I like you only use Spotify when they give me it on offer! £12 a month is alot! I wouldn't mind if it was like £5 

Pink_Butterfly

I’ll be paying my service charge monthly from October 2026. Until then I’ll be paying it in full every March & September, and the way my budget is set out I won’t be setting aside money for it each month as I’ve already got my money allocated to other things! It should be ok though.

It’s been a great weekend. Yesterday my friend and I went into London for a nice lunch and some drinks. We’d planned it ages ago so it was all budgeted for and it was lovely 😊 Today I had my girls back but they just wanted to chill. I was going to take them to the farm but they said no 😭 I wanted to see the baby lambs and the alpacas! Never mind. I got to catch up on my washing and housework which is good. For dinner they just wanted a good old fish finger sandwich! They’re the best 😍

My dad came home yesterday after working in Belgium for 6 weeks. I’ve not seen him yet but it’s his birthday on Wednesday so I’ll definitely see him then.

Right, off to do a bit of work (even though it’s a Sunday… I am good to them 😇😂)

Pink_Butterfly

Oh my goodness 😳 A whole month without checking in! Sorryyyyyy… I’ve been very busy. And it shows, as I feel very poor right now! Diet and being frugal has left the chat 😬

I’ll try and remember everything that has happened.

DD2 turned 10 🥰 For the first time ever she had a party at home (at her dad’s, not mine, though I was there of course!). 6 friends came over, plus we let DD1 bring a friend, so 9 kids altogether. We got them all a McDonalds and they played Twister and listened to Taylor Swift songs. A cheap party all in all, much cheaper than previous years anyway! And more importantly she had a great time. I treated myself to a 90-minute facial & a massage the next day - I was a new customer so it was 50% off the first hour 😍

I had last week off work for the Easter holidays and spent an absolute fortune! I have zero regrets though. We had the best time. The weather was sunny & warm and we were out at various parks all week, including theme parks! It was so much fun. I also took DD2 to London for her birthday present, so we got to see Wicked, have some lunch and browse some shops on Oxford Street. DD1 spent the day with my parents.

I’ve been going to the gym but unfortunately the healthy eating took a break last week. It was eating out & takeaways galore 😳 So I need to be good now! I’ve been enjoying the gym… I just put my music on full blast and get lost in it. It makes the time fly!

My friend had her 4th chemo session last week. No nausea this time (yay) but she’s been very fatigued. Lots & lots of sleep. I’m seeing her next month, unless she’s not feeling up to it.

Lets talk money now…

I have none 😂 I’m kidding, I do, but not a lot. I’m hoping my child benefit and UC get paid this Thursday before the Easter weekend and not after! I did put some spends on the 2 credit cards last week while I was off work, so the debt has increased a bit, however I’m about to pay off my holiday in the next couple of weeks which will bring it back down to where it was (plus extra). The interest on my Barclaycard will kick in in 3 months time, so I’ve got a new M&S card on its way to me. To avoid a balance transfer fee I’m going to spend money on it, and then transfer the same amount to my Barclaycard until it’s clear. I should be able to do a chunk off the NatWest card too 😊

Right, I’ll leave it there for now even though I’ve probably missed loads of things! I’ll make sure I come on here more regularly in future 😂

Pink_Butterfly

Hello all! Happy Easter 🐣 Hope you’re all having an amazing day! It’s been a fairly quiet one here. The girls and I just went to my mum’s for lunch but that’s it. I did get a couple of Easter eggs though ☺️

My M&S card is here & activated. It has a £4K limit on it so I’ll be using it on as many purchases as possible so I can pay off the holiday and get the Barclaycard cleared. I’ll try and clear the UC debt too 😊 Then I’ll just have the NatWest card to clear by the time the 0% stops (07/02/26) and then I’ll only have to clear the M&S card. The total debt at the moment is £6,679.10, so slightly more than when I last updated, but once I pay off the holiday in the next 2 weeks it’ll be under £6K 👌🏼

Pink_Butterfly

Hello all! Long time no see 😬 Forgive me… I’ve been somewhat distracted to say the least… 🤣

I’ll start with the bad news. My debt has gone up to £9,516.86 😩 I know, I know, it’s not great, but I know why it’s gone up and I have a plan to clear it.

In much better news, I am in a very happy relationship with a lovely man and the girls and I will be moving into his house in around 2-3 months time 😊 We actually went on a couple of dates last December but I was a bit unsure, so we didn’t see each other again but then in March I reached out and we’ve been inseparable ever since ☺️ He’s so kind & thoughtful and I’m very excited for the future!

I accepted an offer on my flat a few days ago so if everything goes well the sale will complete in early 2026 and I’ll use the money to clear the debts. The rest will go into my OH’s house and he’ll add me to the mortgage 😊 I know it’s not ideal but OH has debts too and we both agreed we would clear everything using equity from our properties and start our new chapter with a clean slate. I’ve insisted we have monthly budget meetings to keep us on track & he agreed. He’s going to convert his garage into a 4th bedroom as he has a daughter and we want all 3 girls to have their own room, and then will revalue the property before remortgaging. It should add 10% to the value of the house.

My friend who had stage 3 bowel cancer is now in remission 😊 She did 12 rounds of chemo bless her. She did so well. I haven’t seen her since May and we are struggling to find a date we can both do as our child-free weekends don’t align.

The holiday to Turkey was really good and the girls and I had a great time. I also went on a 4-day holiday with OH to Portugal which was really lovely. And next month it’s his 40th so I’m taking him on a surprise European city break 😊

I’m trying to think what else has happened since I last checked in. Oh, my brother got married. It was a lovely day but absolutely scorching! I got my promotion at work which came with a £3K pay rise and I should get another 3% increase in January. DD1 is now in year 8 and DD2 is in her last year at primary school 😭 We selected her secondary school choice about 3 weeks ago. I’m not ready for it!

I think that’s it for now but I’ll try and check in a lot more frequently… I need to be held accountable!

Pink_Butterfly

Hello! Look at me posting twice in 2 days 🤣

All of the conveyancing forms have been filled in & dropped off at the solicitors, so all I need to do now is the Help To Buy application form and then I’ll be up-to-date with it all. I’m also £270 down as I had to pay money up front before the solicitors would start the process.

The buyer’s surveyor was round this morning but it didn’t take him long to do what he needed to do. I was dreading this process before I sold the flat but it’s been ok so far. I normally avoid forms like the plague but I’ve faced it head on instead of procrastinating which has definitely helped!

Last night DD2 performed in her school choir at the local theatre. It was her last one and she did so well - she was one of the narrators and she remembered all of her lines and spoke clearly 🥰 Very proud mum here! It was snowing when we left the theatre which pleased DD1 but it didn’t settle unfortunately.

OH has been looking at cars today as he currently has 2 cars but neither of them will fit all 5 of us, so he’s going to sell them both and buy one for the same value. He saw one he liked but he’s got to book an appointment for a test drive. He also sold his motorbike earlier this week as he rarely went out on it and he’s not really got anywhere to store it now he’s about to have his garage converted.

Off to run some reports for work… fun times 😉

Pink_Butterfly

It’s Saturday today and I have not stopped all day… and I still need to go out in an hour 🤣 Tomorrow will definitely be a day of rest! 😩

It started off with me waking up at 5:10am and not being able to go back to sleep. After a while I gave up and got out of bed, stuck a wash on and made myself a coffee. DD2 goes to a performing arts school on Saturday mornings now, so after I dropped her off I took DD1 out to get some new school shoes as her current ones are broken. They’re only a month old and they cost just shy of £50! Her dad bought them 🤦🏼‍♀️ She just doesn’t look after things well so she got a much cheaper pair today 🤣

We then did a little top up food shop and then went home. After lunch I picked DD2 up from the performing arts school and she quickly got changed into her school uniform, as she was doing another choir performance, this time in town for the Christmas lights switch on event. It poured it down! Me, DD1, the kids’ dad, my mum, my OH, my brother and his family, and my friend and her family were all stood there watching the performance and getting completely soaked 🙃 It was pretty terrible, but thankfully the performance was only 15 minutes long 🤣 haha.

OH came back to ours for a bit after the performance to show us the new car he bought today. He’s very happy with it, though sad about saying goodbye to his Golf as he loved that car. He gets quite attached to his cars I think.

After he left I took DD2 to her friend’s birthday party, which I’ll be picking her up from soon.

So yes, it’s been busy!

My washing machine is currently on its 3rd wash of the day and I’ve been buying Christmas presents online. DD1, DD2 and my nephew are done. I’ve almost finished my OH’s - just one more to get for him and I’ve sorted his birthday present out too. I need to start on my mum’s and both brothers’ gifts, and give someone my share of the expensive Apple Watch my dad has requested. Then I’m pretty much done I think!

Trying to plan for a house move, my OH’s 40th birthday and Christmas at the same time is not easy when I also need to be a parent, an employee etc but I know I can handle it 🤣

Pink_Butterfly

Hello! It’s Monday… and my day started off with travelling all around the local villages as the main road to work was shut due to a 4 vehicle collision 😥 Hopefully everyone was ok.

I have been taking advantage of the Black Friday sales and have bought more Christmas pressies. I can’t wait to start wrapping them all but I need to get some gift tags first. Just my mum’s presents & my brothers’ gifts to go & then I’ve finished!

DD1’s teacher sent me a lovely e-mail today, saying DD1 has the most achievement points out of everyone in her form. Very proud mum here! Last month I took DD2 to look around the school in preparation for submitting her secondary school choices and on the screen in the canteen it had DD1’s name, saying she had the most points in her year. She’s such a good girl ❤️ I transferred £5 into her account as a reward.

The solicitors e-mailed me today asking for a bank statement from November 2024 as they needed proof the account has been open for 12 months. I opened it in December 2024 so I sent them the oldest statement. Hopefully it’ll be ok as by the time the sale completes it’ll be over 12 months old.

I need to go and get ready now… I’m going to OH’s house to see him and DSD. Soon to be our house 🥰 eeeeeek!

Pink_Butterfly

I have bought another Christmas present, this time for my mum, as the gift dropped in price thanks to the Black Friday sales 😊 I got out all the Christmas presents from my wardrobe (temporary secret hiding place) and have put the girls’ presents in a bag ready to take to work tomorrow, where they will live for the next couple of weeks 😁 I have 5 presents currently in transit, so hopefully they’ll all be delivered soon.

Work gave me a £50 Next gift card last week as it was my 5 year anniversary 😊 I have bought a new pair of jeans (they are super long & baggy, like something from 2002 😁) and I will probably put the rest towards a new Christmas jumper as mine is a little snug now 🙈

The girls are currently at their dad’s, OH has taken DSD to karate, so I’m catching up on I’m a Celebrity while doing as much tidying up as I can. It’s bin day tomorrow so I’ve just put my bin out, as well as all my neighbours’ bins, as I’m nice like that (and they’re too lazy to do it themselves!) 🤣 Soon it won’t be my problem lol.

Tomorrow is my last day in the office for the week, as after that I’ll be working from home. I won’t miss the commute that’s for sure - it’s been awful!

Pink_Butterfly

Last day in the office done 😊 Now I get to work from home in the warmth for the rest of the week! That office is like an igloo sometimes. It was pretty busy today due to the budget (the industry we are in is very much affected by it, and our clients rely on us to give them accurate updates), so we had a lot of people in watching it from one of the big screens downstairs. I stayed upstairs and watched it from my laptop.

I remembered to take the girls’ Christmas presents to work, so they’re now living in the Payroll cupboard for the next 2 weeks 😁 I’ll bring them home on my last day there before my week off for OH’s birthday trip as it’ll probably be my last day in the office for the month!

I found a dress I loved the look of for my works Christmas party but it was £59.99 and I thought I’m not paying that 🤣 Saw the exact same dress on Vinted for £20, so I sent a very cheeky offer of £12 and it got accepted! 😍 It’s brand new with tags aswell. I’ll put it back on Vinted after I’ve worn it lol.

The Amazon fairy came today with a delivery of Christmas gifts so I’m just waiting for 2 more gifts to be delivered and then they’ll all be here. I also received a gift for my friend so will post that to her tomorrow as it’s her birthday next week. I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since she was diagnosed with the big C. Thankfully she’s ok now 🙏🏼 We had a long phone call a few days ago and she was saying how she looks at life so much differently now. It’s not surprising really after what she’s been through.

DD2’s school sent out some very sad news today. The site supervisor has passed away. I didn’t know he was poorly, but he apparently had cancer. Bless him, he was such a lovely, friendly man. The teachers were understandably upset so choir practice was cancelled and the children got to watch a Christmas film in lesson time.

OH has sold his final old car I think - a guy has paid him a deposit and is apparently paying the balance tomorrow. So now there’ll be room on the driveway for my car too 😉 lol. I think OH feels a bit emotional because this particular car was a show car, but he doesn’t go to car shows any more and it was just sitting in his driveway gathering dust so he said it seemed pointless keeping it.

I’m off to put the girls in bed now and then watch my trashy TV 😊 and then it’ll be bed time as I’ve been awake since 4:30am 😴