Took a while there to figure what kind of phone you bought

Sounding good and fingers crossed for OH. I am currently consulting and so far it's all good...

Let's hope it's the same for him

Thanks Brizzle, fingers crossed here too.

Went for a run yesterday in preparation for Bath, which is in March. 5.8 very slow miles. Must try and work on pace!! I've also been looking at rucksacks etc for trailwalker, but I've got ages to get that, so no rush.

In MSE news.. Present shopping is almost finished, and all within budget. Food shopping has gone out of the window for this last couple of weeks. My grandmother died last week and so Mum is staying with us to sort a few things out. Last Wednesday she was emptying the freezer, and was putting bits in the bin, and fell. She's now sporting two black eyes, and massive graze down her face .. And a plaster cast on her broken wrist.
The funeral is next week, and Mum is going to have to go in big Jackie O sunglasses I think!

Work is mad, so I'm counting the days til the Christmas break.. I'm off from 22nd to 2nd, which will be fab. Planning lots of walks and runs. And not spending much money!

It's my birthday today and we're all off out for dinner tonight. I've been very lucky and DH has listened to all my hints; I have a new fitbit
DD has given me new running gloves and a hat (I might have given those to her to give to me - lol!).

Happy birthday

Really sorry to hear about your grandmother and your poor mum xx

Thank you Abba

Funeral was today. It went as well as these things can, I guess. I did a reading, and just about held it together. Feeling exhausted now, and very glad it's over. Mum is feeling much brighter, and although her bruising is still very visible, it's much better than it was. I'm claiming a NSD for today, which is incredibly rare for me !

In other MSE news, I've swapped my CC balance over to a 0% offer that came up on BCard. 0% til June 18. Much better than 14%!

And DH starts a 3 month temporary contract job tomorrow. I'm so relieved; even though it's only a short term contract it will help give him confidence and improve his cv so it's all good.

Time for a G&T to celebrate!

Happy Christmas everyone! I've succumbed to a horrible cold, and have been ill since Christmas Eve. Which is unfortunate, as I was supposed to be singing at midnight mass..
Christmas Day was lovely, just the three of us. DD loved her phone; we had hidden it on the tree and so she unwrapped all of the rest, and then we said 'oh look, there's one on the tree..' She guessed pretty much straight away what it was, and burst into tears, she was so happy. Love her so much.
We went round to a neighbours house in the evening and played board games. Yesterday and today though, I've been in bed. DH and DD have gone off to see his family today, so I'm resting. Haven't been this ill for ages. I knew I'd be poorly as soon as I stopped, if that makes sense.
The turkey was very disappointing, so I'll be penning a letter to Mr S to see if we can get some vouchers or something. Loads of food left, as I haven't been eating, but most of it can go in the freezer.
My plans for January are to do a financial review, and update the snowball. I also want to start back with running; I would have gone out yesterday but I'm feeling so weak at the moment that it's not a good idea. Bath half in March to prepare for!

Hope everyone is enjoying/coping with (delete as appropriate) the family time. This time of year isn't everyone's favourite.. I have an active dislike of NYE, although I do love Christmas (when I'm not ill!)

Other plans for 2017:
* continue with writing my appreciations every day
* back on my clean eating
* be one of those awkward mums at school to get DD the support she is supposed to get
* declutter the house; decorate the sitting room

A work in progress! I may well add to this over the next day or two

Sorry to hear you were poorly hope you're feeling better now xx

Thank you Abba, it's taken until now to shake it

December was a spendy month.. So time to take a deep breath and start things off again. On the plus side, I still have my emergency fund, which has gone up, thanks to Christmas money from DM and MIL. On the minus side.. Actually there isn't really a minus side all accounts are up to date, and I transferred the balance on my outstanding CC to one of the others for a 0% offer. OPs continue to be made, and I've also started the penny a day savings thing, although I've started at the other end, so at £3.65 end, if that makes sense!

Training for the half marathon is NOT going well though.. I'm finding making the time really difficult. Did a 5.5 mile run today, and struggled with most of it. It was frosty so my pace was shortened because it was so slippy, and my legs were so cold!! I'll be doing a 10k walk tomorrow in training for trailwalker. Fingers crossed the forecast (rain!) is wrong!!

How did you get on with your walk xx

Hos it going? Hope you finally shook off the cold/illness? I found it hard to get rid of it this year too, am rarely ill ever, and not for that long. It got very boring after a while.

X

Hello!! It's been a while..
Not too much to report. The debt total is coming down more slowly now, as I'm trying to build up an EF in case DH's contract isn't extended.
I completed the Bath Half!! It was a little bit hillier than I'd anticipated, so no PB time, but I'm doing it again next year so it can't have been too awful!
I've got an interview on Monday for an internal promotion.. Fingers crossed! It'll help financially of course, but it's the job I'm doing now really, just it'll be official!! So the weekend will be mostly spent thinking of good answers to competency based questions

I'll post more regularly, promise. I need to be kept on track!! xx

Well done on the Half...glad the weather was warm for you all and hear you and lots of music to cheer you on your way!


Fingers crossed for contract extensions and promotions xx

Thank you there was so much support round the course, it was fantastic! And thank you for the fingers crossed! xx

Good luck for your interview I'm sure you'll ace it xx

Thank you Abba and Brizzle, your fingers crossed must have worked, I got the job!! Probably a phased pay rise, bit now and a bit more in 6 months. But it all sounds very promising!! Having a G&T to celebrate

I'll be the first to say congratulations!!!

Hi!! And thank you!!

Woo hoo congrats on the new job that's fantastic news xx

well it's been a while.. madly busy with new job, and various bits and pieces at home, but the day-to-day business of getting the debt down has not stopped. It's definitely slower now that DH's job is not a permanent one, as I'm having to build up my EF to cover us if it is not extended. But it is still going down, thank goodness. Updated numbers in my signature. The total overall (joint) debt is coming down too and now sits at £6600.

I'm trying to get into the habit of meal planning - better for my waistline and the budget - but it seems to be hard enough to set aside the time to plan it, never mind buy it in time must try harder!

Hope everyone is ok? xx

*slinks in quietly*

It's been ages.. DH's job is still not permanent, although the contract was extended. He's still not really looking for anything else and only looks for jobs when I nag him. Sigh.
Debt busting is still ongoing.. much slower these days though. I've had to dip into the EF this month as DH - at very short notice - said he was paying £700 less into the joint account. He has his own debts to pay, but it was very frosty here for a few days...

So the plan continues to be, meal planning, selling what we can, being careful where we can. I've got an expensive month coming up, some of it budgeted for and some of it not, so I've got to keep on top of it. Wish me luck!