Need to stop spending and chasing dopamine!

1stTimer

Happy Birthday! 🎁🥳🥳

RhiBi

Happy Birthday @Pink_Butterfly 🎉😘🎂🥳

FootyFanDan

Happy Birthday @Pink_Butterfly

weenancyinAmerica

Happy Birthday @Pink_Butterfly!

teapot2

A belated Happy Birthday 🎁💐🎂🥳hope you had a lovely day.

Pink_Butterfly

Thanks guys! I had a lovely birthday 😍 It’s been a wonderful couple of days and I’ve been spoilt beyond belief (not just in gifts). I’m a very lucky lady!

I think word has got around that I love ordering my clothes from Next as I received £80 worth of gift cards 🤣 I’d already ordered things through my account (like the pjs) so I used the vouchers to pay it off and reimbursed my “fun money” pot. I’ve got to return one item and then my Next account balance will be zero so I’ll try and get that done today.

OH left £65 of the birthday present budget so that I could treat myself to something when we went to London, which was very good thinking as I saw a beautiful bag for our holiday on sale (was meant to be £120) and I probably wouldn’t have bought it otherwise! She’s a beauty. I am a sucker for a nice bag 😍 He got me a lovely jacket that I’d been wanting, some luxery skincare and some make-up 👏🏼 He knows me so well.

On my actual birthday my mum’s car had a flat tyre so OH took it to the garage for her to get it sorted and she transferred an extra £20 when reimbursing us for her new tyres. I told OH the extra £20 will go to his fun spends as he was the one who did all the running around. He tried to argue it but gave up in the end! He didn’t spend anything on himself when we went to London which was surprising as he loves buying new things 🤣

When he got back from the garage my mum, OH’s sister & her husband came over and then OH did a very nice bbq. The kids loved it and it all pretty much got demolished. We then all had cake 😋 Perfect!

London was such a nice day out. Even better because it was on a work day 🤣 We’d never been to London together before and we were trying to work out how much it all cost so that we’d know how much money we’d need to put aside for future. It’s not the cheapest day - travel costs alone were around £90. Luckily we got 25% off our food bill (which was a lovely little tapas place, though OH booked a table at the Soho one, forgot, and we went to the one on London Bridge instead 🤣) so that was only about £53, which I didn’t think was too bad for what we had.

Back to work today 😭😭 I’m slightly dreading it, though my month end tasks have been delayed by one day due to system issues which will give me some breathing space. I’m just out on a walk now and then I’ll go home, shower, and get ready to start at 8am. I have the girls back tonight so I’ve decided to work from home to make it a bit easier. I’ll need to see if we’ve got enough food for dinner but I have a feeling we don’t, so I’ll also need to go to a supermarket.

Thanks again for the birthday love! 💕

Pink_Butterfly

Well I’ve made it through 2 days of work, and have just one more to go 😊 It’s not been too bad to be honest. I worked from home both days but will go into the office tomorrow. It should be nice & quiet as it’s a Friday.

Not much else to report really! I’m still doing a lot of steps a day, and DD2 comes on every walk with me if she’s at mine 🙂 she loves walking bless her. She is having a brutal week at school due to the SATS tests next week - the school just love to push the students hard for it as they set their standards extremely high. She’s had double maths every day and I think she’s a bit sick of it 🤣 It’ll all be over soon though. I ordered her leavers hoodie & t-shirt today 😔 I’m not ready for her to leave!!!

DD1 has been having some tests too, though they don’t seem to phase her at all. Both girls are having a sleepover at their nanny’s house tonight, which they’re very happy about because nanny lets them stay up later and she tends to give them lots of sugar 🤣 lol. I popped round there earlier for dinner which was nice.

The budget is still looking ok at the moment. I’d like to pay a bit more off the credit card if possible but I’m holding back until this transfer of equity has all gone through because of how spenny it is! We’ve got an appointment with the mortgage lender next week so hopefully it’ll move quickly after that and then we can pay off the home improvement loan, car loan, and just concentrate on getting rid of the pesky credit card 😉

OH is asleep as he’s working tonight, and obviously the girls are with my mum, so I’m going to make the most of my free evening and go & get my nails done 🙂

Pink_Butterfly

TGIF! 🥳

It’s Friday! Yay! I’m just home from body pump, as I couldn’t go earlier in the week due to the birthday shenanigans. It had been 10 days since my last class and I could tell 🤣 It was harddddd. But we got it done 💪🏼

My nails are now a nice pink colour with a bit of shimmer. Very ‘me’ ☺️ It was nice catching up with my nail lady. Her 16-year-old son popped in at one point as he wanted us to help with him with his history GCSE revision. Bless him.

Work was ok today but at one point I lost an hour’s work because of Excel being annoying 😭 I could’ve cried 🤣

The girls are with their dad for a few days and OH is working the next 3 nights so it’s just going to be my, myself and I this weekend! It’ll be strange but I’m looking forward to catching up on housework and stuff. I will be going out with my mum tomorrow, and then a coffee and a walk with some friends on Sunday, so I won’t be a complete loner 🤣

Pink_Butterfly

I’ve had such a lovely weekend 😍 I’m not quite ready for it to be over!

It was nice spending some time with my mum yesterday. We had a very nice brunch (her treat bless her) and then we went shopping to try and find me a dress for a wedding I’m going to next weekend. Unfortunately I couldn’t see anything so I’ve ordered one from an online store. I went on Voucher Codes and found a 5% off code so I saved about £2 🤣 It should arrive tomorrow. Fingers crossed it fits. I also tried to find a specific fake tan because I’m super pale and I feel more confident with a tan but I couldn’t find it anywhere, so I ordered it from Boots aswell as some make-up sponges, lashes, and a birthday present for DD1 as she turns 13 in less than 2 weeks (😭😭).

It was also nice seeing my friends this morning for a coffee and a walk. My target for the day was 12.5K steps and I’ve done 14.5K steps so far 😁 I hope it’s something we stick to because I do really enjoy them. Before I met them I stuck a joint of beef in the slow cooker that OH got from the butchers and smothered it in bbq sauce 😋 OH didn’t get to bed until late so missed dinner, so I’ve pulled the beef apart and just stuck most of it in containers for him to have when he fancies it. I had some in a roll with some shredded lettuce and light mayo and it was lovely.

Before OH went to bed we nipped to B&M and got some storage for the main bathroom and en suite, so I’ve had fun putting things away and doing some housework. I’ve spent a lot of time in DD1’s room and it looks stunning now 🥰 She is a very messy person, bless her, so I like to make it tidy for her when she’s at her dad’s house. She now has fresh bedding, the furniture has been dusted, and all the rubbish has been taken away. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for DD2’s room 🤣 Her room is bigger, so it should be easier to keep it tidy, but I think she has the wrong furniture in there so it’s just a mess. She’s got my furniture that I had in my bedroom in my flat, but it’s not right for the room. She’s in my old double bed but it would be much better if her bed was smaller, so I think my mum is going to have the bed and we’ll get her a small double or a single bed with storage instead. We also need to get her a wardrobe as she still doesn’t have one, and we need to sell/get rid of her dressing table and bedside units as they’re too big and buy her a smaller dressing table/desk, matching bedside tables, and if we can fit in a chest of drawers then one of those too. It’s at the top of my priority list! Once it’s sorted it should be easier to keep it tidy. Her massive lip balm collection and her obsession for buying new hair clips doesn’t help 🤣

I popped round my mum’s earlier as the girls & my nephew were there, so it was nice seeing them all. DD1 may have ruined a pair of her jeans as she fell in some mud when she was out with her friends yesterday and they were CAKED 😬 Her dad is trying to save them lol. My nephew is suffering from hayfever bless him. Yesterday I saw him briefly and he just laid on my lap for a good 10 minutes while I stroked his head 🥰 as he was suffering. He is usually on the go 24/7 and is not a chilled person at all, so it was nice to have him lay on me 😍 though obviously not nice to know the hayfever was getting to him. His mum is 8 months pregnant with my new nephew so in about 5 weeks I’ll have a new squishy to cuddle!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I’ve also had time this weekend to do some work, food shopping, loads of laundry, and I did all the ID verifications for the solicitors and mortgage lender, and sent them my pay slips, bank statement etc, so that is all done 🙂 I feel like I have some control over my life, unlike last week 😂

I’m going to do some more cleaning now and then I’ll chill for the rest of the night. OH is working again tonight but it’s his last shift for a couple of days 🙂

Pink_Butterfly

It’s Wednesday, AKA hump day 🐪 and it’s raining here. Where is the lovely spring weather?! I am not impressed lol.

I’m struggling with my step count this week. On Monday I only did 1,954 steps as work was super busy and then I had to go for a hair appointment that lasted over 4 hours 😳 Hair extensions are such high maintenance 😂 I’m going to try and be brave and stop wearing them after my holiday in September. I feel naked without them and they act like a comfort blanket for me but I know it’s not good for my hair to keep having them. Luckily my hair isn’t in bad condition considering what I put it through 😂 I’d rather keep the money that I would’ve spent on the extensions and use it for treatments to get my hair nice and healthy.

Back to the step count… I did 12,351 yesterday which was much better (mainly thanks to the gym, though I did go for a walk with my friend at lunchtime too. She scared me as she started screaming at one point because she saw a dead rabbit 😭), however today is set to be low as the weather is terrible. Maybe I’ll go to the gym tonight aswell. The girls will be here but maybe they’ll want to come! I’d rather go outside walking but it’s set to rain all day.

Me & OH have a telephone appointment with the mortgage lender shortly. I’m not looking forward to it because it’ll be long, and I just don’t see the point. All the information they need has been sent to them already so why do they need a telephone appointment too? I also suspect they’re going to tell us something that will p**s us off because they have done many times already! God help them if they do.

DD2 is halfway through her SATS. She’s doing well - I think she just finds it boring! Last day of tests tomorrow 🥰

The dress for the wedding has arrived but I’m not sure if I like it, so I’ve ordered another one 😂 The other one is a more casual dress that I’d wear throughout the summer, so seems like a better option but I’ll see what it’s like when it arrives.

I need to get DD1’s birthday presents ordered in the next couple of days. Her birthday is approaching fast so I need to sort it out 😬 She still can’t decide on what she wants to do for it. She hates making decisions 😂 bless her.