Settling in for the long haul

Dakota_Rose

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82134811#Comment_82134811

I may have started book 4 this morning 🙈 😂 it’s very small though. I might need to gear myself up for book 5 - it’s a chunky one!

Dakota_Rose

Twas a no spend day today, making a no spend weekend 🥳. Well, only technically true if you discount my 2 book order on Friday night!

We attempted to drop a stained old chair from Little Miss’ bedroom at the recycling centre twice today, on the way to and from Mum’s, but both times there was a very long queue due to them closing for truck collections. For one item, it wasn’t worth the wait so we came home with it still in the boot.

In other thrilling news, Mr D has managed to unblock two air bricks, with me ‘helping’ aka holding the ladder to keep it stable. It’s actually a job we’re really pleased to have completed as the filler that was used had been rendered over and was a real pain to dislodge. No costs involved, but Mr D’s labour once again. A very long ladder, a powerful drill and metal pick were needed for the job but we already had those in the garage. Fingers crossed this helps with the damp that builds up on that side of the house (eldest’s room and the bathroom).

It was nice to catch up with Mum today for tea and cake. We found ourselves making provisional plans for Christmas time - there’s just something about going into the ‘ber’ months that makes us both head into preparation for winter mode. My siblings and I have agreed to exchange a book, chocolate and something handmade for hygge Christmas gifts this year. I intend to embroider a corner bookmark to match the theme of their chosen book and had my first run through yesterday. It came out well but not quite how I’d envisaged. It was a nice feeling creating something from scratch though!

Dakota_Rose

Nothing much to report today. Mr D was yet again met by a huge queue for the recycling centre today so the chair returns home again 🙈. At this rate shabby old chairs will be back in fashion and we’ll decide to keep it 😂.

I forgot to mention that I’ve had my performance management session and have been awarded a pay rise so that will be something to look forward to in December’s pay. In my draft Jan-March budgets, I have split the increase between car loan overpayments (each £100 will save £26 interest so my overpayment calculator tells me) and the home improvements savings pot. I’d like to feel some benefit to the house of the additional pay, but saving more than £50 a month interest is also very tempting! Factoring non-council tax and water rate months is also very exciting come next Feb and March. I’m completely blocking out the fact that the ‘uary’ months are my absolute least favourite of the year! Does anyone else do future budgets and then tweak them many times over?

DancingInTheRain

Well done on the pay rise. Hear you on the tweaking budgets but I tend to do as an ongoing review rather than future planning too much as my pay has always been variable with overtime.

Dakota_Rose

Another busy day of work keeping me out of trouble on the spending front. I am finally starting to get up to speed with my workload, clearing through a good chunk of the backlog I came back to.

It has been a surprisingly enjoyable return to work and I’ve had time to see more of the good bits which make the work worthwhile. There’s hope for me yet 😂.

Dakota_Rose

Sorry to be a bore but I’m back with book number 20/26. It was a quick read and much shorter than the two books either side of it in the series I am reading. A Court of Frost and Starlight felt like a bridging book after the epic’ness’ of the previous one, biding time before the next big one I suspect, not least because it’s less than half the size of the others too. I didn’t mind the more subdued plot line and it was an easy read. I’d rate it 9/10 mostly for the fact that I’m now fully invested in the series. 

Fantasy books have never really appealed to me, but it’s been exciting to discover a new series that has me completely immersed. I can see why some people could turn their nose up at them but they’re my new guilty pleasure! 

26 books for 2026

1.You Are Here (easy read) 9/10

2. The Seven Murders of Evelyn Hardcastle (time-travelling murder mystery) 9.5/10

3. Love Untold (ending made a middling read worthwhile) 8/10

4. Way Back (engaging easy read with a farm theme and a few typos) 8.5/10

5. The Cuckoo’s Calling (first of the Strike detective novels) 8.5/10

6. Yellowface (‘too awful to look away’ page-turner) 10/10

7. A Thousand Splendid Suns (emotive, heavy but worthwhile read) 10/10

8. Before the coffee gets cold (Japanese coffee-shop time-travelling scenarios) 8/10

9. Us Three (screenplay-style friendship story) 9/10

10. The Twyford Code (a puzzle within a puzzle) 9/10

11. The Shock of the Fall (first person narrative with flashbacks - includes childhood trauma told sensitively and with humour woven throughout) 8/10

12. Guilty (lots of shock factor details, but predictable storyline) 7.5/10

13. The Falls (Scottish detective novel) 8.5/10

14. The Examiner (murder mystery told through emails and messages) 8.5/10

15. First Blood (prequel to a favourite detective series) 10/10

16. We Solve Murders (cosy murder mystery) 8.5/10

17. A Court of Thorns and Roses (fantasy romance) 9/10

18. A Court of Mist and Fury (second in the ACOTAR series) 9/10

19. A Court of Wings and Ruin (third in the series, loved it) 10/10

20. A Court of Frost and Starlight (fourth in the series, bridging book - easy read) 9/10

ohdearhowdidthathappen

I need to read book 4, glad it’s good.

Congrats on the pay rise 😁

Dakota_Rose

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82137990#Comment_82137990

Thank you 😊. Enjoy it!

I came home to the first Throne of Glass book sitting on my shelf today. Mr D and eldest had put it there to see if I’d notice. I think eldest was about to combust by the time I actually did. How lovely is that!

In other good news, I won a £10 prize on Omaze today. I could choose from an extra £10 worth of tickets in the next live draw, a £10 gift card or to donate it to charity. I chose a £10 Tesco gift card and it will be saved towards our Christmas kitchen treats box later in the year.

Dakota_Rose

It’s been a full on week with work. I haven’t really had time to spend money but have been thinking about it in terms of trying to make some more small overpayments to the loan.

We still have some birthday expenses to find and will certainly be a bit short as the pot doesn’t have too much left in it. All gifts are bought but we still have party food and half the entertainer to pay for. First and last big party that’s for sure! We’ve also had very few replies to his invitation so it may well be only a small group of friends that actually arrive.

On top of that, we have a friend of a friend to buy for as we were invited to their special age birthday party and even though we can’t make it, seems tight not to give something when they’re due to come to littlest’s party, and a friend of the family to gift next weekend too. This weekend I’ll need to see what I can sort as cost effectively as possible and decide whether we have enough gifts to put some aside for Christmas instead.

We’re in for a pretty miserable weekend if today is anything to go by. Little Miss started being sick at 2am and has been pretty poorly since then. She looks dreadful and has been sick throughout the day 😞. Work was tough today with so little sleep and has left me and Mr D snappy with one another this evening.

In other news, I’ve sold an item online so I need to remind Mr D to get that out of the garage for me tonight as collection is booked for the morning. £20 isn’t to be sniffed at though and every little will help this month. I think I best put that in the birthdays pot rather than chucking to the loan which is what I really wanted to use it for.

I’ve checked my Tesco app and I had enough points to change to a £2.50 coupon. We now have £12.50 to spend in there that I didn’t have at the start of the week. Think that’ll be ring-fenced for Christmas treats.

Wishing everyone a more pleasant weekend than us!

Sun_Addict

Oh poor little miss, I hope she feels better soon and, more importantly, doesn’t pass it on to anyone else. I hope you can get some rest tonight 🤞