Investing in Us: Holidays, Health, and the Road to £150k

debtfreewannabe321

Oh and it wasn't my FD that I got the CB for it was the 5antander one and a referral fee 😃! So the FD has been confirmed but not payable yet. I didn't even put anything in the 5antander really...think it was a £1 🙈..I'll find the paperwork later and transfer it out and close it as I don't need it.

KajiKita

For trousers, look at Mountain W@rehouse. I'm serious! I bought 2 pairs from there last year in the sale in utter desperation and they are brilliant. Fully elasticated waists, but with a flat front panel on some types, easy wash fabric, breathable, light and easy to wear. I bought 2 pairs intending to use them both in the garden, but one pair fits so nicely I wear them out and I actually had compliments when I wore them to work! 🫨😊 I bought a couple of dresses from there in the sale, again for gardening in, but they actually fit pretty well and are comfortable to wear. I think I will be intentionally shopping in there in future!

It sounds like the whole household is going through work mills atm. I really hope things start to calm down for you all and I am so glad you are managing to get some decent rest in 😊

KK

debtfreewannabe321

Gym is done. I managed 3km at 27:45 today and average 4mph compared to last week's figures of 28:28 and 3.9mph. I want to be able to do 3k easily before adding more distance. But I am aiming for a 5k here .... I jogged more than last week hence the time difference and felt okay afterwards which is the main thing. I was definitely done by that point though and wouldn't want to have done any more.

@KajiKita I'll have a look in there as we have a local one! I've got a nice dress from there before too and a few jumpers. I'll check out the trousers though, my mum tum is the bane of my life in jeans. 🙈...!!

Cooking an early dinner of pie and mash and then off to the cinema with DD 😁.

skint_spice

Sainsbos has 20% off clothes until tomorrow night I think. I got some jeans and although they are quick long which suits me I think they had short options?

debtfreewannabe321

Thanks @skint_spice I like Sainsbugs clothes although our local one seems to have reduced the amount they sell over the last couple of years. I'll see if I can get over there.

I've woken up achy after doing my treadmill session and 12k steps overall yesterday. The cinema was good and there were only six of us in there so nice and quiet aside from DD munching on sweets all the way through 😂🫣.

When I got home DP and I popped to a local G0 0utdoors and paid for a membership renewal (haven't used it since DD did DofE) and bought a super cheap and lightweight backpack for our travels. I also picked up a really cheap lightweight raincoat so I can leave my big heavy coat behind and the umbrella now. Also managed to use my BL card for another 10% off so both items and membership were only around £40.

Today I'll do a last wash and iron all the bits we want to take with us and pack the bag. Also need to find some toiletries and decant into the travel pots I have. I was hoping my new trainers would arrive before we went but don't think that is meant to be. I'll wear the old ones on one last trip and bin before work next week when the new ones get here 🙂.

I've got DD cereal and yoghurt for breakfasts. Then lunchtime she can find what she likes and I have three dinners for her of varying difficulty to make. I'll leave instructions on the more difficult of them. So need to get on and do that too. Then will rest my legs a little as they're achy achy 😣. Determined to tone up a little before our wedding though so I will push through so long as the fatigue doesn't hit. 😁

Hoping for a NSD as we shouldn't need anything else now. And just getting everything ready for tomorrow as we leave early.

debtfreewannabe321

Wow what a busy morning, I am now glad that I sat in bed for so long enjoying my cuppa this morning 😏😂 because as soon as I got up to this very second I haven't stopped. Anyway, got a lot done, I had jobs piling up for the last few weeks of term that I have been putting off as I was too tired to care or do anything about them 😆 so I have done the vast majority today.

• I started a charity shop bag and put in an old coat, huge cardigan, some tops I don't wear.
• I brought a dead plant down from it's resting place and it's outside in the porch now, ready to put in the compost.
• I mopped upstairs after sweeping it all.
• I read Dexter his final rites, packaged him up, requested a refund and DP has just sent him on his merry way back to Am.az.on. He refused to map areas properly, kept getting stuck in the same places, threatening to constantly throw himself off a cliff (he's a hoover btw if you didn't know and the cliff is the stairs) and he wouldn't charge properly. I am pretty sad but also want my money back now as he didn't work well.
• I've frozen bits in the fridge I know DD won't eat when we are gone, so we have a ratatouille for the day we are back. I have also gone through the fridge getting rid of old stuff (bits of salad leftovers and suchlike).
• I've done a mini look-through the cupboards and made a plan for next week to eat from them mainly and have added shopping to my basket as I went along on bits I needed to make full meals.
• Did the Sainsbug shop to be delivered on Saturday when we are back, ordered cleaning bits as it was a relatively cheap shop because I shopped from home, so added all the bits that are very low like DW stuff, clothes cleaning stuff and loo rolls etc. Shop came in at £113 with delivery.
• I've half packed our bags, need to dry and iron some bits still later on.
• Done two washes.
• I made lunch with all leftover bits that weren't worth freezing and were too good to chuck out. I am making a mini veg roast later too with leftover veg at bottom of fridge.
• Downloaded my payslip that was available this morning and made sure my budget is looking okay for next month with enough coming in to pay to all things I wanted to. (more on this in a mo).
• Had a general tidy around and put things back in their homes.

House is now looking relatively clean and tidy 😊

So, my pay slip was higher than I thought it would be as I have some expenses on there that have paid out already. Next month I am starting to pay across £400 to my mortgage OP. I am deadly serious about wanting this mortgage paid down to a smaller manageable amount if anything were to happen to either of us. I mean I know we have insurances to cover that eventuality but I want it paid down so I can think about holidays, savings, having some more freedom in my life (& DPs). I have put in EF, money for yearly bills etc and loans, CC etc etc (usual stuff on top of bills). I have worked out if we were to lose my wage we still have enough for all basics and a few extras. Which is nice to know. It would be really tight but we do have enough. I feel that's a first step in some financial freedom. It means my wages each month pay the OP, EF, pocket money and other smaller things that we don't need (like gym etc) so my wage is extra to basic needs.

DP is hoping for extra on his wages too as he's done a few trips here and there and should be due expenses too. He's worked out if he goes out 2-3 x a month it will pay for the loan he took out and his CC…so we are going to try and work that in, meaning we should have another £400 in the budget for DIY and holidays (which I haven't yet factored in as I want EF first).

I am operating a one in and one out mode now for clothes and knick knacks - clothes I have been really unhappy with my weight lately hence me keep buying clothes in a bid to feel better but it isn't working 😑 so I have amassed a tonne of clothing over the last few months (mostly cheap sale stuff or CS but still…) I don't think my new dressing room helped either 🤭 I have never had space to put things like I do now. However, space is running low and things are looking squashed. And I looked through the clothes hanging there thinking, I never wear you, or you, or you…oops. I took the obvious choices out and put into a CS bag (thankfully mostly old CS stuff and only one new thing I bought and never wore). And I have my eye on a few others which I will try on and see if I like, if not, they are on their way out too. I would like my dressing room to be filled with clothes that spark joy not, omg I look so fat in that, and that, and I think I will cry now and go and drown my sorrows in a chocolate bar 🤨😏😂.

Okay, I have earned a cuppa now I think, have been a busy bee this morning, and a sit down with a book or movie ☺️…

beanielou

You have been a busy bee.

debtfreewannabe321

Afternoon all, we got back from Pari5 yesterday 😊 we had a nice time even though the weather wasn't on our side really. It poured and poured 😂 but I was prepared we had umbrellas, waterproof boots and coats and we kept warm and dry enough the whole time. Highlights of the holiday was the architecture I got to take lots of pictures of, I love old buildings and churches 😊 so that was really nice. We also were pleasantly surprised with the food choices available to us. The last time I went to France (albeit south of France and off the beaten track at my dad's house) I lived off salad and chips 😂 this time at least most places had a veggie burger available.

The lowest point was getting to the top of the 3iffel t0wer and it was so foggy you couldn't see anything. Waste of money and time queuing. N0tre dam3 I felt like we were being herded around like sheep but I managed to fight the crowds to stop and look at what I wanted to in my own time (you really did have to fight the waves pushing you around though). I also hurt my foot again from the amount of steps we did. By Thursday evening I could hardly walk 🫤 so we camped out in our room, got a takeaway pizza (one door down from the hotel) and some snacks and managed to log into Netflix on my phone and watched a movie. We were exhausted by that point 🙈 and must have done 40,000+ steps in two days.

Yesterday we were going to go and do something else on the sightseeing lists but I actually just thought, no, I don't need to be one of those people that do something just to say, I went there and did it. Instead we got to 9are du N0rd, wandered not too far from there, found a cafe, sat and had a very lazy brunch, chatted, watched the world go by, played some cards and chatted some more. Spent a good few hours there before camping in the station waiting on our train.

Although I didn't get to do everything I thought I wanted to do we did manage to do the 3iffel Towe7, Ar( de Tri0mphe, N0tre Dam3, we saw the L00vre (however it was closed) and found the Pic8sso museum 🙂 we did enough and we enjoyed what we did. We also tried to stay within a sort of budget and I did have £250 left - half paid for Sainsbug which came this morning and I've half left for savings. I'm tired, and I'm intending on doing not much else this weekend 🙂.

DD missed us and cleaned the house for us (I didn't want to tell her I had already done it as I could see she had done a few things bless her 😆) and we were very appreciative. She even cooked us cookies even though she used all my oil to do so and they weren't quite cooked all the way through I ate it as thought it was so sweet. She's gone to work today and has been moved away from her bully (she sent me a message) so I'm hoping she comes home not quite as exhausted as usual. It's no wonder she was always so tired when she used to come home. She was being made to do two people's jobs (for £7 something an hour what a joke). So I'll report back on that but it sounded like she was doing alright.

I've work on Monday so I'm definitely resting so I can walk properly when I get there. I went to the sauna this morning with DP and we just chilled for an hour or so. No gym or swimming just chilling in the steam room and sauna 😃 that was nice and re-energising. And this afternoon I plan to sit and watch tv whilst DP has taken it upon himself to de-mouse the house. We found a mouse the morning we were due to leave, I could hear scratching...a mouse had found its way into a trap. DP took it up the road and put It out. DD called us yesterday when we were at Kings X and she could hear scratching - another mouse (smaller than the first). And today - mouse #3. 🙃😑 So we've found where they are coming in. They've camped in our garage and ran out of bird food it seems and have decided to scout our kitchen. It cannot get into the actual kitchen but they can get in through a hole where DP put drainage through the wall. Then under the floor boards and up into one cupboard where we had to cut around it to fit it around pipes. It's the only cupboard it can get in and the second it enters it walks into a trap ...but I would rather stop them coming in than have to deal with this every day. So yep, DP mission is to stop them. My mission is to chill and relax my foot 😆🙈.

slm6002

Really glad you had a lovely time, and like you I am camping out on the sofa until work on Monday :)

beanielou

Glad you enjoyed Paris. It’s a lovely city ❤️