Did I do All The List...

Nearly, I did all but re-pot the plants from my list.

The tea-light holders from free-cycle are all glass and look lovely on our mantel.

I left the biscuits for my freind in my kitchen but got her a nice basket of plants for her flat.

I sent a cheque off for the credit card bill so it is now has a zero balance.

I updated our spending/bill spreadsheet and we have £250 for the money to spend. It sounds alot but we need to re-stock the freezer and I will be using more petrol to visit mum as the new hospital is alot further away.

My OH and me went to Scarborough today.

The weather was great, especially for the 1st November. We were so hungry when we got there we had fish and chips.

We got takeaway as it is cheaper than a restaurant and sat and ate them looking out to sea.

We took a slow walk along the beach, just enjoying our time together and chatting.

We didn’t venture into town this time, just got an ice-cream on the way back to the car.

On the way home we called in at the new hospital my mum is in. Its a lot smaller so there should be more one to one care. She has settled in well.

Once again thank you for all your comments, I love reading them.

SFT – My OH is learning well about being frugal, I think the butties tasted all the nicer for being free! Hope you got your shampoo at a bargain price lol. You’re my inspiration with mortgage payments, I think we are going to half any money we have left at the end of the month with one half going on overpayments and the other into our emergency fund. Even if it just a few pounds every little bit helps.

MUM – Thank you for comments and support and see you for tea :)

NSD – You’re right about the “jet lag” days but I can’t complain as he is working and enjoying it which is great after he was out of work for a while.

DANNIE – It has really focused my spending on food and made me think about what we eat.

Well I did it, I drove to Edinburgh, nonstop on the way there. It wasn’t as bad as I thought and I’m proud that I managed to do it. There was a few delays, road works and an accident so it took a bit longer than planned, 5 hours.

We dumped the bags at the B&B an adventured out. It was quite a walk to the centre and we went to TGI Fridays for dinner. I often prefer not to go to chain places but we have been there before and everything is spot on. It was so busy, so we had a couple of drinks at the bar before our table was ready, their banana sandwich cocktail went down very well! We had a burger each, mine with blue cheese and OH with bacon. They were so tasty and meaty.

The next day, after cooked breakfast we walked from Leith, which was the area of Edinburgh we were staying in. There was lots of charity shops to browse in. I only brought a book as I did think they were all very pricey.
We had a late lunch, Chinese buffet which was ok and then back to B&B to rest and get ready for the concert.

Adele was amazing. We were near the front so got a great view for pictures if I’d remembered the camera! I liked the fact she chatted inbetween songs and explained how they came about. Her voice was fantastic, note prefect.

This was from that night

It was great to have a break and it didn’t cost too much.

OCTOBER TARGETS

FINANCES
I really want to cut back on spending this month. I don’t think that we make too many unnecessary purchases, however our down fall are takeaways. We have a freezer full of food and I’m determined to use it this month. I am going to try and only have £10 each week to spend on groceries. To be honest I have no idea if this will be possible but am up for the challenge. All we should need is fresh veg, bread and milk.

We are having a loft hatch and ladder fitted this month which is £235. I have saved this up but would love to try and replace some of this by the end of the month from cutting back.

I have yet to venture onto ebay but hope to give selling ago this month. And also have an old mobile that I’d like to sell.

Hopefully we can claim attendance allowance for mum, which will help with paying for the careers. I have a 44 page form that needs filling in!

I also want to have some sort of plan for the next 12 months. We have managed on one salary for over a year and its just now that we have a little bit more money coming in. It would be very tempting to “waste” this but we both would like to have an overseas holiday next year so we need to sort out what we want/need to save for that and if we can save any for our emergency fund – which has been dramatically reduced over the last year.

HEALTH
I want feel healthier. I have felt so tried and have had a few migraines which I think have partly been due to stress but also think that if I was healthier might be able to deal with the stress better. I know that when I eat better, I feel better. Also I haven’t been swimming for a while due to looking after mum but I have missed it so will make a real effort to go this month.

HOME
The house is a complete mess, each room needs de-cluttering and then decorating. As mentioned we are having a loft hatch fitted which will enable us to get into the loft (we can’t at the moment due to its current location). I need to make a list of what to do and decide what to do first – there just seems to be sooo much to do.

FUN
This month I want to spend time with friends I haven't seen in a while if possible. I have already arranged to call to see a friend tomorrow to give her some strawberry plants I got from Freecycle and catch up. I also hope to go out for a curry (using a Groupon voucher) with another friend. She is in the process of moving house so we might not manage it this month.
At the end of the month another friend and me have booked on a Glass Creations course. It is a free half day course the council is running. We are also doing a rug making one in November. So all in all even though I will be out and about it isn't costing alot.

I think thats all for now - wish me luck!

Time Out

As of tomorrow I have 4 days off work - yippee.

I’m having an early start tomorrow picking my OH up from a night shift, then dropping off a congratulation card for a colleague who is getting married on Saturday. They very kindly invited me to go but typically it was on the only weekend I was away.

Then I’m going to nip up to mums to check she is ok and drop off a few bits of shopping for her.

After that we are going to Edinburgh for a couple of nights and to see the singer Adele. I’m driving us there and it’s the first time I have driven such a long way and I’m a bit nervous but it will be worth it. I’m making us a pack up to save on spending money at the motorway cafes. The plan is we will arrive at the B&B around 7pm, and then nip out for something to eat.
We haven’t really got anything planned for during the day on Saturday, just see how we feel and what the weather is like and then have an early dinner before we go to see Adele.

I’m really looking forward to it.

Last Sunday mum and me went on a coach trip to Beamish Museum - http://www.beamish.org.uk/.

We had such a lovely day.

We caught the tram to the town and wandered round the shops and the motor fitters, the smell of which reminded me of my Dad’s work shop.

As we came out of one of the shops there were two spitfires flying passed as part of Armed Forces Day. It was an amazing sight. Mum said she didn’t like to hear it as it, I guess it took her back to growing up in London during the 2nd World War.

Also as part of the celebrations there was a parade with a pipe band, young Army cadets and members of the British Legion. I found it quiet emotional, especially seeing one war veteran who was wearing the same medals that my father was awarded.

We had taken a bit of a picnic with us and sat in the sunshine listening to the brass band.

After lunch we got the tram again to the pit village and had an ice-cream.

Mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a few months ago so spending time together and having lovely days out seem more important than ever as we’re not sure how much longer she will be able to get out and about.