May's happy list

Here's May's happy list; this one took a little more thought than the one I posted in April. Here goes....

1. The smell of freshly baked bread wafting around the kitchen from the bread maker. I baked a loaf last night, snoozed on the sofa and walked into the yummy smell. I wanted to break a chunk off, but couldn't persuade it out of its tin :(

2. I've achieved another good month of saving, and our joint saver is inching towards the £500 mark thanks to the use of a basket in the supermarket.

3. BF is making progress in getting his promotion which will mean that a] we can borrow a decent amount of money and b] he can start helping me with the savings a bit more to scrape together a bigger deposit.

4. Getting organised; I blogged earlier in the month about creating a spreadsheet where I can see and track all finances at a glance. Our piles and draws of paperwork are now also neatly filed in labelled plastic wallets and all junk is in the bin.

5. Our re-arranged bedroom- I think I prefer it to the way it was.

6. Lighter mornings and evenings; last night I had to pick my bike up from the pub and enjoyed the sunny evening cycle which has become such a rarity thanks to the recent rain.

7. Spending time with family.

8. Pigging out! This weekend I enjoyed a couple of meals out, which is a rarity these days and I enjoyed every morsel :)

9. Microwave popcorn, sitting back, snuggling up and watching a good film while the rain patters on the window.

10. Meeting up with old work friends I haven't seen for a year and a half before one sadly returns to South Africa after a recent break up with her English boyfriend. We also have a friends birthday drinks this weekend, and a 21st house party the weekend after to look forward to.

Hmm... not as hard as I thought after all. It's definatley a good habit to get into! Thanks Astra. 

Another week, another update....

I've got a bit of an obsession with cat paint atm lol!

I think this has been the longest amount of time I haven't blogged for to date. The reason? hmmm... no real reason really, things seem to be ticking along fairly smoothly, no disasters to report etc. I did end up picking up another four hour, last minute bar shift on Tuesday evening, so come Wednesday eve I was feeling pretty sleepy.

Then on Thursday I went out after work for a colleagues leaving do in town; I made sure I stuck to the happy hour glasses of wine which were £2.70 with 50% off, topped up with soda to make them last longer, as well as to dilute them down. Because we had reserved a couple of tables the bar gave us a couple of platters of free finger food, bottles of champagne and about 20 shots. Luckily I was well positioned when the freebies arrived, so enjoyed a couple of glasses of Prosecco for free as everyone else seemed to turn their noses up at it, some food and three free shots (I'm pretty sure they were mini glasses of bitter lemon lol!) before heading home.

Friday lunchtime we went out for lunch to a new American restaurant called 'Meat Liquor' which is located behind Oxford Street. The food was delicious, and I could see why the burgers have been getting rave reviews all over the internet. The bill set me back £16 which meant  it took up the majority of my weekend budget, but I was paid for the Saturday bar shift so squeezed it in without going over budget. I also put all three meals on my credit card and the others are transferring me the money to get more use out of my credit card to try to push up my credit score. Friday evening I was so sleepy from my huge lunch and kind of late night the night before me and the BF just dozed on the sofa in front of the TV.

Saturday I had to buy my Dad a present for his birthday; I couldn't find anything and decided to give him the vouchers I won through work instead which can be used at Halfords, Homebase and HMV amongst others. My Dad's quite practical (think that's where I get it from) and was very pleased when he opened his card and found these nestled inside. Saturday night, after watching Britain's got talent I cycled to the pub for a few drinks, spent about a fiver sipping slowly lol, and this also included the price of my cab fare home too.

Sunday we decided to rearrange and sort out our room, all junk was thrown out, stuff we won't need has been put away in the loft and all our paper work has been filed neatly into labelled plastic wallets.

Then yesterday we visited my family and went out for dinner for my Dad's birthday. We went to the harvester, and managed to wrangle a free round of drinks for six- and four of them were re-fillable too! The bar man completely messed up the change he gave my dad, and ended up giving him all his money back in a different form. Mum & Dad covered the bill, so will probably have them up and cook something nice as a thanks in the next few weeks or so.

I've got £16 of disposable income to last the week, then I should get paid about £25.00 for my bar shift last week. I'm out for a few drinks Saturday, so this should easily cover this leaving me with about £40. I'm also expecting one of my Quidco payments of £13, so should be able to scrape through the next two weekends and make it to payday.

I think there's another happiness revolution due, but I'm a bit stumped for ideas as to what to include....