YNAB robber needs help to execute the plan

Wanna_Bee_Free

A NSD yesterday. Vertigo is keeping me useless and at home so mimimal temptation. Wednesday hobby evenings cancelled this month anyway. OH still having to do everything. Little sis and father don't sound like they are managing the basics at theirs. Mental health team visiting them in person Monday. OH and I planning to make them Sunday lunch as we do most weeks so I will be driven there and back. I've explained I may not be up to housework at theirs yet but not sure Little Sis listened. Still doesn't sound like she is eating enough. I am eating enough for both of us as I feel sorry for myself when I feel rough. 

I am planning a restful day and hoping my ear sorts itself out soon. 

Pots empty except dentist as I was too ill to go. Positive money of any kind is better than the last few months when I had a credit card balance. Paid in full at the end of the month but it still means I was running behind. Off to check yesterday's cc statement. 

Wanna_Bee_Free

Paid £5 balance off cc :-) Woot. 
Also forgot two other positive lines in YNAB - Hairdresser and YNAB. 
Other moneysaving things yesterday. Meal planning including things we want to eat up. Sausages and Mash tonight for dinner. I am looking forward to that. 
I might be up to festive earrings today when I finally get out of bed. 

Wanna_Bee_Free

Another NSD yesterday. Feel about the same level of vertigo. This morning I was about to donate a fiver to a nature charity but then I realised that I had frozen my credit card so it gave me time to think and look at YNAB and stopped myself. 

Not feeling very festive but I guess that's not surprising really. 

Wanna_Bee_Free

Family visit yesterday - I was well enough to leave the house. Woo hoo! Saturday I was well enough to jigsaw, exciting vertigo progress. Before our visit my Little sis asked us to help cancel some of her recurring payments but then spent the time distracting and prevaricating instead. We are planning to return today for little sis mental health assessment with professionals. Then back on Wednesday through Friday for father's 91st birthday, oh and turkey roast dinner day. Bah humbug. 

MSE good news:
Protein bar for breakfast tided me over until lunch
No energy for shopping online so another no spend day
I was grateful to past me for filling OH car with petrol in the rain when I was tired at the cheap local petrol station. 
Decided to get Christmas card stragglers written but was too down/lazy so just tit for tat people. This is technically not MSE as we missed second class post but I woz poorly last week gov. 
Shopped from home (thinking of you Foxgloves, thank you!) and regifted a bottle of wine and an unwanted bottle of  spirits) instead of making a special trip to off licence for a thank you gift.

Gratitudes
OH a complete hero all day
Lovely friend got us two nights at the hotel she works at for friends & family rates, hence thank you gift
Daft free rom com film Rosaline on 4 helped us decompress
I knew OH would want to watch American football game so cued it up as I was feeling magnanimous and have had solo charge of the TV remote for weeks. We often discuss our top things of the day to cheer me up on a bad day and his was me choosing to watch this with him. It's the little things!
My father was really glad to see me and have ally with little sis. He's started reading Kim in the Kipling anthology he asked me for back in October and has finally discovered he can read himself with his reading glasses. Cataract op back in March so took him a while considering how intelligent he is and that we reminded him aka me nagging. 

Wanna_Bee_Free

I just reread my diary in September. Wow past me was on fire and had energy for planning. It reminded me you can actually count up the number of NSDs rather than just mention them randonly. Off to lurk on that thread if I can find it  One for me to work on for sure. So far i am not regretting my £7 per month YNAB spend but one to keep under review. 

3 pots with money left totaling £114.64 (Dental/Medical £60.84 Haircuts £30 and YNAB £21). I have been stealing from every category, especially when I cancelled the dentist but have £0 balance on my credit card and £197.55 intact in savings pot.

Christmas is feeling bleak and scary but at least I am not going crazy on spending money on it too. Being ill has been very MSE. 1 star - do not recommend!

Wanna_Bee_Free

Including essential bills etc I think I have had 14 spending days in Devember so far (7 NSDs) so I am mulling over joining the January NSD thread with an initial target of 10. On my own diary I lose count so joining Cathybird's thread might help me. 

PennysIntoPounds

Hello, I've only just caught up with your diary, apologies that I didn't spot the notification that you'd @'d me!
(Though later you put @ penniesintopounds, I hope there isn't someone on here with that name as they must get a lot of my notifications, including from the mse team on last year's advent thread 😁)

It all sounds a bit blimmin constant at your end! 
Hope you're able to enjoy some relaxing festive time 🥂

Wanna_Bee_Free

Good afternoon everyone,

Thanks for visiting @PennysIntoPounds - you summed it up for me at the moment. Hoping to have a more relaxing time once I get back home on Friday.

OH and I had a lovely afternoon in London. I returned a charging cable I didn't need. OH probably spent more than my refund buying us a couple of glasses of wine and some nibbles. It was really nice to wander around outside my house! After seeing it on the Ian Visits updates we went to Berkeley square to check out Annabel's and it was beautiful. Like Narnia come to life. 

My new Grrr Argh Festive T Shirt arrived and it fits. It will be perfect for boxing day 2026 if not sooner. The Hobbit arrived last week too so I can start that if family are watching stuff I hate on TV.
My bag is almost packed ready for the off tomorrow, ironing and washing mostly done although it seems infinite at the moment.

I still need to write birthday and christmas cards and wrap the pathetic selection of gifts I have bought. I need to decide whether to buy Little Sis an M&S gift card so she can treat herself while she is skint. I have decided if my father thinks my one little gift is too little I will remind him about all the books and beer I've bought him. If he wants something I get it straight away as he's 90, don't want to delay just in case. 

So in money-positive news:
Mental health lady ill yesterday so we didn't drive over to support after all. Petrol saving c£14
Withdrew £12.69 in survey earnings so my savings pot from surveys, ebay, Vinted and cash back for tapping is now £210.24 just 5 months after I started my diary.

That's it for today, I hope you are all happy out there in diary land.

Blackcats

A little, gentle nag ... your gifts are not pathetic.  You have bought presents based on your budget and that is absolutely fine.  You give of your time and energy to your family all year round.  I often have a wobble when I look at the gifts I have bought and in the past I would feel the need to buy more.  I'm much better at not doing that now and remind myself that I have thought about the recipient, allocated a notional budget and bought a gift that I think they will like.  That's enough, that's absolutely good enough.

well done on the "extra £'s" that you've accumulated!

Wanna_Bee_Free

Thanks for the reminder Blackcats, you are right. I haven't reached the point where I am organised enough to have allocated a notional budget I have certainly given a lot of myself all year and tried to think about gifts they will like. Over £200 free pounds is a great start!

Here is a photo of the lion in Berkeley Square. No Nightingales there yesterday...