A bit of a strange Easter week

This week has been a bit of a strange one- I had two days annual leave on Monday & Tuesday as the BF had his last week to use up before the new financial year.

On Monday I went to have my nails done (£15) for a gel manicure that lasts for three weeks- Whenever I paint my nails they smudge and chip off within days and I was ashamed of my scruffy nails.

We went for a (cheap!) pub lunch £8.00 for two meals and drinks, went to B&Q, chose some wallpaper for our new flat (we actually agreed! :) and I had a phone call from my Mum.

She told me had some bad news- that my Nan had died. Despite being almost 95 years old it was still a bit of a shock as I had last seen her at Christmas and she was perfectly fine. I think it was a shock because there had been a house fire. However, the post mortem revealed that she had had a heart attack, fallen and knocked one of the knobs on the cooker which had then started a house fire, which was confined to the kitchen.

Although we wasn't particularly close to her it was upsetting and I really felt for my Dad, so the week has passed in a bit of a sad, weird blur. And the funeral isn't until the end of the month either :(

However, because of this I no-longer need to borrow money from my parents for the increased deposit, which is a strange feeling as it was my Nan & Granddad's money, but also a bit of a relief.

This week we have eaten out almost every day as we have had things on, and my wing mirror was also smashed off my car as I had parked in the alley behind the flat, so I'm kind of looking forward to going back to work tomorrow and getting back into a bit of a more normal routine.

I hope everyone has enjoyed their break and sorry for the gloomy post- RIP Nan. xx

I'm back!

I've been kind of awol on the blogging front, despite following my favourite blogs on a regular basis. Looking back, it has been two months since I last posted. During this time a few things have happened:

1. We had an offer accepted on a flat, with the condition the lease was extended in time for completion. 

2. The lease came back 5K more than expected, prompting the seller to want to pull out of the transaction.

3. We ended up paying an increased purchase price to cover the lease extension costs + an extra £1000 on top (to cover the loan the seller had to take out?) who knows.

4. Our mortgage lender was only prepared to lend us x amount, leaving us 10k short. Cue tears and my M&D coming to the rescue with the offer of lending us money. 

5. I joined the gym! Only a frugal £20 per month; so far I have been to spinning and zumba classes.

6. My car is back on the road and is now registered to my parents address (It was registered to a flat I had lived at two and a half years ago!) 

7. I got a £200 tax rebate and £200 interest payment on my ISAs which covered the cost of my annual insurance. 

8. The building survey & all searches are almost complete on our flat, and we have given our two months’ notice to break our rental contract. 

9. The glasses I bought plus car costs (MOT, repairs & tax) have all been paid for (hefty credit card bill last month).

10. Have been trying to save as much as possible, so lots of home cooking and cutting down on waste has been taking place. 

However, I have been carrying on with the packed lunches to work every day, and even at weekends if I go to the pub I have been driving so the cost is minimal. 

One thing I have discovered though is http://www.nectaradpoints.com/nectar/ad where if you have a nectar card you can earn points just for watching adverts and rating them. It’s been helping to build my nectar nest egg which pays for my diet coke habit at work. 

By the way, has anyone else been having a problem with what I think are spam comments? I keep getting them on one post. I'm not sure what to do with them, or even whether they are actually spam.