Hurray for Pay Day!

Don't you just ♥ pay day?

I got paid today and already 3/4 of my salary is gone*! I've decided to pull my finger out with regards to my money and start being a little bit more savvy.
* 2/4 on bills and 1/4 into savings

With this in mind...
* I've got a target of £1500 to have in personal savings by the end of the year (31st December)
* I've got a target of £3000 to have in joint savings by the end of the year (which Mr H will match)
* To have paid off my credit card by 31st October
* To make overpayments on my Graduate loan after my credit card is paid off. On my current payments I'll have paid it off by June 2012, I want to shave at least a year off this (well so long as my bank don't sting me for paying it off early, if they do, they can wait until 2012 to get it all back!)
* Set myself a monthly budget for food/clothes/fuel etc of £240, this gives me £60 a week, which I'll withdraw as cash to avoid using my cards like there is no tomorrow. Anything leftover at the end of the week can be carried over to the next week, anything left in the £240 can be carried over to the next month, anything over the £240 left in my account each month will be saved into an instant access account for a rainy day.

We made an emergency trip to Tesco last night to get a few bits and pieces. I got 2 punnets of strawberries, a punnet of raspberries and a punnet of blueberries in their 2 for £3 offer (so £6 overall), along with a lettuce, cucumber, some tomatoes, bananas, yoghurts for Mr H and a packet of Ham. This should see us able to get through to at least Friday evening or Saturday morning without doing a proper food shop.

Meals I've got planned before then are:
* Pizza Wraps and Salad for dinner tonight
* Salads/wraps for lunches
* Homemade beef burgers & salad for dinner Thursday night
* Meatballs and Ratatouille Friday night.

Last night's dinner was awesome. I was going to do oven baked lemon salmon, but when I discovered that Mr H had thrown the tin foil out in rage the plan had to evolve. I ended up putting the salmon in an oven proof bowl with a little skimmed milk and topped it with Green Thai Curry Paste. After about 20 minutes in the oven I had super spicy salmon, with sweet potato discs and a mixture of peas and soya beans. Yum! Dolly is once again on hand for any food that might slip off my plate whilst I'm holding it for a photo. I'm sure one day her persistence will pay off! I didn't make it to the gym yesterday lunchtime. The sun was shining first thing, so I came to work in a summery outfit that just could not stand up to the torrential downpour that happened at lunchtime. However, I will make it there today - I've come prepared with a brolly and a coat!

Food for today is as follows...

Breakfast: 200ml Skimmed Milk Protein Shake, Tub of Strawberries, Raspberries and Blueberries & Berocca

Mid Morning: Homemade mini muffin

Lunch: Lettuce, Tomato, Cucumber, Egg, Ham, Cheese Salad with Salad Cream + 200ml Skimmed Milk Protein Shake post gym.

Mid Afternoon: Banana

Dinner: Ham & Jalepeno Pizza Wrap with Salad.

Reviewing todays goals:
* Vitamins everyday - check! Food Diary everyday - check!
* Run at least 3 x 3 miles - 1/3 TBC
* Exercise at least 5 times (including the running) - 2/5 check! went to the gym at lunchtime
* Drink 2 litres of water a day - check!
* Do my physio workout everyday - check!
* Get to the pool! - TBC

Finally, here's a pic of Edie, who we are now affectionately calling Cone head. I think she's been bitten in between her toes and as a result she's been chewing her back foot. But chewing it so much it had become quite red. The cone was a preventative measure whilst the cream I put on took effect to stop the itching. If its still bothering her by tomorrow, we'll get the vets to look at it as we're taking them both in for their annual boosters.