Need to stop spending and chasing dopamine!

Pink_Butterfly

Thank you. It thankfully all went well. I think OH was a bit shocked when he saw all of his family there. I thought he may have had an idea, but he didn’t have a clue bless him!

The cake survived, just 😂 The good news is it tasted amazing.

I have packed my suitcase except for toiletries, make-up etc as I’ll do that in the morning once I’ve finished getting ready. The taxi is booked for 10:15am to take us to the train station. I’m getting excited now 😊 Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly!

Pink_Butterfly

I’m home! And skint 😂 Dublin is spenny, but it was worth every penny 😉 We had a great time. The hotel staff filled the room with balloons for OH before we arrived which was cute 😊 We did the Guiness tour, and a small whiskey brand tour, a bit of shopping (I didn’t buy anything though), and plenty of eating & drinking. Surprisingly our favourite meal was in a very small pub just a few yards from the hotel - we both agreed their burgers are the nicest burgers we’ve ever tasted!

I’m not much of a drinker but I did drink a fair bit while we were out there, especially Baileys. One place charged €11.35 for a shot of it with some ice which nearly made me cry 😂

The journey back today wasn’t fun as the flight was delayed, the train was delayed, and the weather was awful, but I can’t complain too much. We made it home safe with memories to last a lifetime 😍

We only got home around 2 hours ago and I’ve already unpacked my case, stuck a wash on, ate some dinner and updated my budget spreadsheet. I’ll go to bed as soon as my washing is done as I’m TIRED! I’m so glad I booked tomorrow off work, although I’m still going to get up early as I’m going to go to my ex’s house so I can take DD2 to school. DD1 wants to walk to her school with her friends 🙂 x

Pink_Butterfly

5 days until Christmas Day and I picked up the final Christmas present today. I’ll wrap it up later and then I’ll be done with the wrapping! Actually, that’s a lie, I still need to wrap DD2’s phone, but that’s with her dad at the moment. I’ll get it tomorrow when I drop the girls off at his house.

I saw my dad yesterday for the first time since 31st October. He flew home on the same day I flew home 😊 I ended up staying for dinner as my mum had done a huge cottage pie. OH and the girls stayed too. DD1 shared her school newsletter with us while we were there, which gave her a special mention as she had come 414th out of 30,000 kids in the country in the “LanguageNut” competition. She’s such a clever cookie. Her school rewarded her with a voucher 😊

I went out for coffee this morning with some friends whilst DD2 was at her performing arts class. The coffee shop is on the same estate that OH lives on so he popped in on his way home from work to say hello and meet the ones he hadn’t met yet. One of my friends is in my team at work and she gave me a £40 gift card from work that I can spend in various shops 😊 I’ll probably use it in Boots as I want some more skincare. I’m skincare obsessed 😁

The girls and I are just going to chill for the rest of the day. Will no doubt watch the Strictly final and eat too many Roses chocs 😁

Pink_Butterfly

I really can’t wait to move in with OH, for many reasons, but one reason is so I can talk more about our finances on here 😂 I realised that I haven’t spoken about my financial situation much, but it’s mainly because I’m treading water right now. I’m not really throwing any money at the debt due to Christmas, OH’s birthday and moving costs. We also need to get DD1 a new bed, all 3 girls need a new wardrobe each, and OH and I will most likely need fitted wardrobes installing because of the shape of his bedroom. It’s a big room but there are 3 windows which makes things awkward, plus the radiator is in an odd spot.

We do often wonder if we should buy a bigger house, not just because of OH’s bedroom, but also the kitchen is quite snug when there are 5 of us in the house, but we’re going to see if we can make it work. If we find we need more space then we’ll look into it further.

The Dublin hotel fee isn’t showing in my pending transactions yet. Maybe they’ve forgotten to charge me?! 🤣 I forgot to say before but while we were in Dublin I saw that the theatre had released the tickets for next year’s panto, so I paid for 9 tickets. My brother has given me the money for his share (3 tickets), and my mum will no doubt give me the money for hers even though I’ve told her not to 😂

I’m back to work tomorrow so I’m going to make the most of this afternoon by watching my favourite programmes on catch up. The girls are at their dad’s and OH is going to sleep soon as he has work again tonight so I can have the sofa to myself 😍 yay!

Pink_Butterfly

I survived work but that alarm clock was a killer this morning 🤣

I thought the office would be really quiet but it was actually quite busy. My boss called for a catch up and told me he’s giving me an extra day off next year as a thank you for all my hard work, which was lovely.

OH had a beast of a shift but swung by the butchers on his way home to collect the meat for Christmas Day & Boxing Day bless him. He also was able to get most of the veg from there 😊 He’s fast asleep now but will be getting up in the next hour to get ready for work again. He works so hard.

After work I went to my parents’ house to swap gifts as they’re going away for Christmas. I decided to keep DD1 & DD2’s gifts there though due to the lack of space in my flat. I will collect them on Christmas Eve, although I’ll have to hide them in my car until the girls are asleep 🤣 Mum kindly offered to give me some dinner while I was there 😍 bless her, she’s the best x

Pink_Butterfly

Thought I’d hop onto here before the madness starts 😁 I am working today but then it’ll be mission hide all presents from the kids until tomorrow, which won’t be easy! I might just put them all in my bedroom and say they’re banned from going in there lol.

Last night me & OH went to Tesco to get some fizzy drinks, wine, cheese, crisps & some other food that we are planning on eating outside the main Christmas dinner. I was absolutely gutted to see there were no more Roses tins, or Celebrations, or Heroes. Only Quality Street left, but I don’t like them. We went into Morrisons afterwards but they didn’t have any either 😢

I’ve just been to the local Royal Mail Delivery Office to collect an Amazon order that tried to be delivered while I was away. The customer behind me was telling me how he was going to be spending Christmas Day on his own. Made me sad 🥺 It’s so easy to forget how lonely Christmas can be for people.

In money news, I have transferred £19.00 from my TopCashback account into my bank account this morning. It’ll help repair some of the damage that Christmas and OH’s birthday have done to my finances 🤣

If I don’t come on here before then I hope you all have a fab Christmas! 🎅🏼🎄🎁

Pink_Butterfly

Hello 😊 I hope you all had a lovely Christmas & Boxing Day. I did - I got utterly spoilt by OH with gifts & he cooked 2 amazing Christmas dinners 😍 He’s definitely a keeper!

Unfortunately my stomach couldn’t handle any more food or drink and a few hours ago it got very upset 😬 It seems to be easing off now though thankfully.

The girls also got spoilt and we definitely need to do some serious tidying up this weekend as they have gifts everywhere. We also need to start thinking about packing! Now that Christmas is done that’s the next thing on the list. The garage conversion starts in 10 days and once it’s done it’ll be a case of decorating it, moving DSD’s bed & furniture into it as that’s where her bedroom will be, and then we can move in. Eeeek!

The girls got me a £30 Next gift card which I used in their online sale 😊 They got a lot of gift cards so I might take them shopping this weekend if we have time. I need to go anyway as I need to return OH’s shoes that I got him for Christmas as they’re a bit snug & he needs the next size up.

Time for bed - knackered 🤣 x

Pink_Butterfly

It’s that weird time of year when no-one knows what day it is 😂

I didn’t sleep well last night because of my stomach. Despite feeling tired though I managed to get a lot done today! It started with a trip to the petrol station, and then to Argos to collect my new Fitbit to replace the one I lost when me & OH went to Portugal (😭). I need a fitness tracker as I took out critical illness cover & life insurance with Vitality and to keep the monthly costs down I need to do a certain amount of exercise. Unfortunately I lost my Fitbit about 3 weeks after I took out the cover. D’oh!

I then drove to OH’s house to meet with the fitted wardrobe man. OH paid a deposit for the new wardrobes (and dressing table and bedside units that match) and they’ll hopefully be installed in early February. The 3 girls played on the PS5 whilst the guy was there (3 hours!!) and ate their body weight in bread, melted cheese, ham & gherkins 😂

After that I drove home to sort out the laundry & do some tidying up. I sadly had to take down the Christmas tree to make room for all the gifts we received! I have managed to fill my dustbin and it doesn’t get emptied for another 4 days 😬 This should be fun lol.

DD2 persuaded me to get a McDonald’s for dinner so I nipped to a supermarket first to grab a few things we needed and then I went to McDonalds to get us all food. It’s such a rip off in there 😩 Still, it’s DD2s favourite place for food and I haven’t given her it in months so I didn’t mind too much.

The girls are just getting their pyjamas on now and then we’ll be watching something on TV. OH is at his place asleep as he’s back to work tonight 😢 He’s only got 3 shifts before his next rest period though so that’s not too bad I suppose.

Have a good evening all x

Sarahwithlove

Not long before you will all be under one roof! Glad you had a good Christmas 🎄 

Pink_Butterfly

I know! I can’t wait, though I’m quite anxious about the flat sale. I think I’ll be anxious until we exchange contracts 😬

OH won £750 on a work raffle 😊 We are going furniture shopping later this week so the money will definitely come in handy!

Work has been ok this week so far. I’m making the most of the quiet time by getting things that I’ve been putting off done. The girls have been having a bit of a sort out while I’ve been working - thankfully it’s bin day tomorrow as there’s a lot to throw away!

OH has got 4 family birthdays in January, plus there are some birthdays on my side (not family as such but people I need to buy for) so I did a large Moonpig order last night. I also got all the birthday gift bags & wrapping paper out of the storage cupboard so I could see what’s needed. I think I have enough luckily!

Will try and get on tomorrow but if I don’t… have a great New Years Eve! 🥂