Need to stop spending and chasing dopamine!

Pink_Butterfly

I’ve hit almost 12K steps today - not bad for a work day! I’ve realised that a lap around my estate is about 3K steps, and the same applies to the route I take at work on my lunch breaks. 3K steps, or 2KM, which takes around 25 minutes ish 😊 I went for a walk with my friend/colleague at lunchtime, then a walk with OH after work, and then another walk when he went to bed (he’s back at work tonight). A walk around the supermarket bumped it up nicely too 😉

All of the calories I burned were reversed when I went out with 3 friends for dinner. I love the place we went to, and they were doing pie night, so I had a steak and ale pie with mash & veg 😋 and sticky toffee pudding with ice-cream afterwards! What a piglet! My friend who won the quiz with me recently transferred £25 for my half of the voucher that we won so she could use it all, which suited me and more than paid for my meal ☺️ I tried to give my mum half as she also won it with us but she wasn’t having it 🙄

I’ve booked DD2’s birthday party so have text her to make sure she writes out her invitations tonight so she can give them out tomorrow. It’s not that far away but hopefully most of her friends will be able to make it. It’s on the Easter weekend so I’m worried a lot of them won’t be free, but we’ll see.

Poor DD1 is full of cold. She doesn’t normally get ill so I hate it when she’s poorly 😢 I get quite bad health anxiety when it comes to the girls. DSD has asthma so I’ve been asking her to tell me what I need to do if she has an asthma attack as I’m not really clued up on it.

I’m going to jump in the shower now, and then it’s bedtime. I am verryyyyy tired 😴 No OH and no kids tonight, just me myself and I, so hopefully I’ll sleep well 😁

Pink_Butterfly

OH’s mortgage lender called today to say the value of the house is £20K less than what the estate agent told us a few weeks ago, according to their surveyor (likely because they’re looking at it as a 3-bed and not a 4-bed. The estate agent said it could be marketed as a 4-bed as the garage conversion was insulated differently in order for it to be a bedroom). This means OH can’t take as much equity out of the house to clear his debts. On one hand it’s annoying, but on the other hand I’m happy the mortgage balance will be lower. Between my flat sale and his equity release we can clear all our debts except one of OH’s credit card, so we will balance transfer it to another card and get it cleared asap. It’s got about an £8K balance at the moment. I’ve updated our budget spreadsheet and now I have all the facts and figures I feel calmer. We’ve had a good chat about money and I feel better now we have a plan of action.

We’ve both been terrible with money in the past, mostly because we both have ADHD and have been impulsive spenders (OH isn’t diagnosed but he blatantly has it, he’s more ADHD than I am and I’m diagnosed 🤣). We both have a desire to improve our situation though and realise we need to play catch up. OH cancelled one day’s annual leave for next week so he could work on a bank holiday and get double pay, which will help.

I’ve only done 7.5K steps today but that’s not bad considering the weather hasn’t been good. I need to unlink my Fitbit from my Strava account as every time I go out walking it automatically posts about it, and I don’t want people thinking I’m making a big deal out of walking around my estate 🤣

The girls are with their dad currently but I did see them after work as I needed to take them to the dentist for a check up. The dentist was happy with both girls’ teeth 😊 On my way home my next-door neighbour text me asking me to go round as her friend was over but was outstaying her welcome, so she lied and said I was popping over for a catch up 🤣 I stayed for about 20 minutes and then said I needed to get back as I needed to cook dinner (chilli con carne 😋).

Time for bed, night! x

liselle

Oh my goodness you’ve reminded me of a neighbour calling me over for the same thing - but it was late on Christmas Eve!
Felt so sorry for them as they had young children and of course would be up very early the next day.The visiting husband was really drunk, but just wouldn’t budge.The wife wasn’t in any state to drive either.They’d refused a taxi. I offered to babysit whilst my neighbours drove them home.Found out later that they weren’t close friends but had dropped in - and stayed…..!!

Pink_Butterfly

Oh dear! That’s terrible on any day but Christmas Eve 😬 Awkward!

Some good news on the flat sale. The deed of variation is DONE! 😍 The buyer’s solicitors have approved it and I went to my solicitors office earlier to sign it, so now we just need the buyer’s mortgage lender to confirm their approval and then we can exchange contracts and complete 🙂 Yay!

OH’s mortgage will go through in the next couple of days and then when my flat sale goes through we will pay £185.00 to add me to the mortgage which includes the transfer of equity. We opened a joint bank account last night so we should get the account details for that soon, and then we can start transferring everything over 😊 The horrible limbo period is so close to ending and I’m so happy about it!

Yesterday was a year since me & OH saw each other again after a few months apart (as I thought nahhhh he’s not for me 🤣) and he got me a card & some flowers 🥰 I thought we were classing our anniversary as the date we made it all official (19th April) so I didn’t get him anything 😬 I will do though.

We had DD2’s parents evening which went well. Her teacher loves her 😍 She’s predicted to get “greater depth” in all her SATS papers in May. We’ll see - I’m not putting any pressure on her whatsoever. I wouldn’t care if she just wrote her name on the papers and that’s it to be honest!

I saw £3.75 sitting in my TopCashback account waiting to be claimed so I have requested for it to be transferred… every little helps!

I didn’t do much walking yesterday as the weather was absolutely shocking and I wasn’t feeling well. Today I’ve done 5.5K so far but will do more after dinner to get it to 10K, which I need to start cooking now actually - we’ve got chicken fajitas 😋

One more day of work to go and then it’s my week off…. Yippeeeee!! 🥳🥳

liselle

Fantastic news! You can breathe out now! Many congratulations

Pink_Butterfly

Thank you 😊 My solicitor has said the buyer’s solicitor has chased up the mortgage lender regarding the warranty issue, which has confused me as the estate agent told me a couple of weeks ago they were ok with the fact it has no warranty as they have a building regulations certificate. This is turning into such a rollercoaster 😩 Hopefully it will be sorted out next week.

My Out Of Office is now on 😀 Week off here we come! I’m so excited 😁 I have absolutely no plans, which isn’t normal for me but I am excited for slow mornings and long walks 😍 and time with my family obviously 🥰

I’ve just been for an eye test. They told me I bought my current glasses in 2019… 7 years ago! I didn’t think it had been that long but they are scratched, so I thought I’d better buy a new pair. I ordered a pair of sunglasses too, as I don’t have any prescription sunglasses and I need to wear them more. My mum has a few issues with her eyes and wearing sunglasses can slow down some of the issues apparently. One thing she has recently found out is the gel underneath her macular is leaking, but the optician checked mine and said it was fine. I’m just moderately short-sighted in both eyes, and have significant astigmatism, especially in my left eye. Yay 🤣

The 2 pairs of glasses weren’t cheap but I should be able to claim some of the cost back through the medical insurance we have at work. I’ll submit it shortly. Even though I’m trying to be careful with money I think you can’t put a price on health, and if I get 7 years out of these new pairs then it’s money well spent 😉

OH is out playing golf, DD1 is on the phone to her friends and DD2 is at her performing arts class, so I’m just having a little sit down before I go & pick her up. I’m not sure what we are going to do this afternoon yet. All I know is we are having Thai green chicken curry for dinner 😋

My dad is flying back to Saudi Arabia later 😢 He popped round to see us last night to say bye, and was armed with a load of doughnuts that he bought from Costco 🤣 He also gave the girls £30 each. My mum didn’t come as she’s really poorly, though I text her earlier and she said she was feeling a bit better.

I’m going to attempt to do some tidying up now before I pick up the youngest cherub 🥰 x

Pink_Butterfly

Me & OH have had a very rare, child-free weekend day together ☺️ Unfortunately it’s not been smooth sailing as we went out in his car, and he discovered there was something wrong with it. I can’t remember what the problem is now (I’m absolutely clueless with cars 🤣) but it looks like it’s going to be a costly repair. Sigh.

Still, we’ve had a nice day. I wanted to get DD2 one more birthday gift but I couldn’t see anything for her that wasn’t super expensive, so I ended up ordering her a pair of crocs online that were on sale. They were already cheap but I found a discount code, which worked, got free delivery, and got 5% cashback too! Result! She’s been wanting a pair for a while for when she goes to her Performing Arts class, as the other girls there tend to wear them until they’re inside and then they change into their jazz shoes.

OH bought himself a new t-shirt and he treated me to lunch, and then we went to a couple of local independent furniture shops to look at dining tables and chairs. They were lovely but unfortunately were either the wrong size or the wrong colour. I can’t wait to get a nice table that we can all sit round! At the moment we have a small round table that seats 4 people and it’s just not big enough.

OH did a tip run when we got home so the kitchen is looking better. We’re almost at the point where there is no mess in there 😁 it’s very exciting! I want to get it nice for DD2’s birthday next weekend so we can do a family tea party 🥰

The girls have been with their dad since this morning but I’ll be having them tomorrow while he goes to work. I’m not sure what we’ll be doing yet but I’ve got a hair appointment in the afternoon to get my roots sorted, which won’t take long. Hopefully the weather will be kind so we can get some fresh air! I took the girls out yesterday afternoon as DD1 wanted to get some things with her vouchers and DD2 wanted to spend the money my dad gave her (plus extra!). They were both pleased with their purchases but I really wish they would stop buying so many lip balms 🤣

Tomorrow should be the day OH receives his money from the mortgage and then he can clear 3 credit cards! Woo hoo 😊

Pink_Butterfly

The money hit OH’s account today so he has cleared the 3 credit cards ☺️ He then balance transferred the last card to one of the others so he’s no longer paying interest on it. Hopefully my flat sale will go through any day now and then I can clear his loans, though we need to get a declaration of trust done by the solicitors first in case we ever split up (but hopefully that will never happen!).

We have finally found a dining table we both like so it’s been ordered and will arrive late next week. We’re still on the hunt for dining chairs - we just can’t seem to agree on those 🤣

We’ve also ordered a wardrobe and a dressing table/desk for DD1. Her bed has been moved so it’s up against the back wall which gives her a lot more space. She has the smallest room so we need to be clever with storage etc, especially as she’s not a very tidy person 😉

I had a nice little catch up with my friend today while she did my hair ☺️ DD2 came along with me and just sat listening to us gossiping 😂 I then went food shopping and now our fridge and cupboards are verrrrry full 😁 Which is lovely.

Pay day tomorrow, which is good as I only have £14 in my account 🤣 OH gets paid in 3 days - it will be interesting to see what his wage will be as he’s done 16 hours overtime so far, plus he’s had a pay rise which will help towards the car repairs.

I’m going to finish cleaning the kitchen now and then I’m going to bed 😴 OH is working tonight and there are no children here so I’ve got the whole house to myself (until my 2 get dropped off at 8am tomorrow 😁) x

Pink_Butterfly

I now have a date of when we’re exchanging contracts and completing the sale 😀 Yay! My solicitors called me to say they’re going to look to exchange on 9th April and complete on the 10th. Hallelujah 🥳 I was at my mum’s house with the girls having a coffee with her when I got the news and she started crying 🥹 bless her. I rushed out to buy a thank you card for my estate agents, as they’ve been so amazing throughout this whole process (including when I tried to sell the flat in 2021) and a little congrats card for my buyer. I’ll also get them both a little gifty ☺️ and something for my solicitors too.

I cancelled a few direct debits (as I was originally told completion would be tomorrow which is the day all my DDs go out!) and spoke to my water, gas and electricity suppliers, as well as the council, and told them all I’ll let them know my confirmed completion date as soon as I have it in writing and then will pay what’s due. They were all ok with it.

So that’s the good news! Now for the bad news 🙄 OH was informed by NatWest (mortgage provider) that a payment will be taken tomorrow, despite the person he spoke to originally saying the first payment wouldn’t be taken until 1st May. I’m not going to lie, I cried out of frustration when he told me. He swears blind that the person said there would be no payment in April, which is why we used that money to clear OH’s overdraft. He’s requested the recording of the call, and spoke to another person who said he can cancel the direct debit today so it’s not taken tomorrow, and then he can make a manual payment on 2nd April (when he gets paid). He can then reinstate the DD for future payments. What a pain!!!! I hate this limbo period so much, it’s just a headache.

I’ve done 12K steps today as well as a body pump workout 😇 The girls and I went rock hunting this morning, which is basically an annual event the local estate do every Easter. If you find a pretty, colourful rock (that the people at the church have planted) then you can exchange it for an Easter egg 🙂 Unfortunately we couldn’t find any, so DD2 has insisted we get up at 8am tomorrow to find one 🤣 So much for my relaxing week off…..!!

OH has now got his brother-in-law’s car to use until his car gets fixed. After dropping him off I went to get fuel and there was no diesel or normal petrol, only the premium stuff! So I put £10 worth in 🤣 I’ll try and fill it up tomorrow somewhere.

Time to do my skincare and get ready for bed I think. It’s been a very busy day and I need to rest up for another busy day tomorrow 😬 x

Pink_Butterfly

Hello! I found a garage that had normal fuel this morning so I filled up my car 😊 We also managed to find 3 painted rocks for all 3 girls on the estate, so we’ll be able to exchange them for 3 Easter eggs at the local church on Good Friday ☺️ My friend has asked me to look out for one for her son, so I’ll send the troops out in the morning to find one 🤣 The poor little mite currently has chicken pox.

After the rock hunt we came home for breakfast and DD1’s new bedroom furniture arrived, so OH will build them at some point. I can’t wait for her bedroom to be done! She wants to change her curtains so we’ll find her some new ones soon. I’m surprised she hasn’t dyed her bedding yet - she decided to colour the end of her hair WITH RED PEN the other day as her friends had done the same 😨 Hopefully it’ll wash out ok!

I’m aching today from my body pump class so my step count has been lower - only 6.5K, which has mostly consisted of walking around a big park with OH and the girls. All 4 of them were climbing trees and jumping over streams whilst I stood and watched them 🤣 I’m just clearly not as adventurous as them 🤪 We had a drink in the cafe nearby afterwards, and all 3 girls had a cake too. We didn’t stay for too long as poor DSD was suffering with menstrual cramps ☹️ She’s been taking paracetamol today and walking around with a hot water bottle bless her. I told her when she feels like that she’s allowed to eat as much chocolate as she likes 🤣

It’s pay day for OH tomorrow. I updated our budget spreadsheet earlier and it looks better, mainly because I didn’t realise OH still has over £1K sitting in his account from last month. He said he told me the other day but I can’t remember, so our finances for April are looking ok 😊 All of my direct debits went out despite me cancelling them, so I’ll be due some refunds when the sale on my flat completes. We should be receiving our new debit cards for the joint account any day now, plus the details for the online banking 👌🏼 Not long now and my flat will be gone, I’ll be on the mortgage for the house, and we’ll have all our money in one joint account 😊 And all debts will be cleared aside from one credit card. It’s taken a while but we are almost there!