It’s Louise’s birthday next week, as always I’ve got a list of things to get her (I keep track of things she mentions throughout the year so I’m not left scratching my head when her birthday comes around) but not sure if I’m going to get her anything.

We’ve been chatting about our plans for the house, checking our finances – our mortgage being the biggest concern as the fixed rate ends soon so we’ll need to switch I think – and all the usual planning we do every now and then to see how we are doing. Changing the car for something smaller (read cheaper) was the first stage, and we are slowly beginning to cut back on things, we’ve both lowered our mobile tariffs (we are too dependant on them to ditch them altogether although it has been considered), the cable TV package has been halfed, and I’m trying to make lunches to take into work rather than spending £2-3 a day on lunch.

Ideally we’d like a holiday this year but I don’t see it happening, unless of course I manage to get a little extra cash from a wee side job… but we’ll see. The main reason for all the gardening over the weekend, and continuing into the week, is to allow us to be able to sit and enjoy our garden/weekend in the coming weeks, rather than having it filled with ‘chores’. We are both working harder than ever and we need that cut off I think.

So, for the most part, things are pretty stagnant really. Minding the pennies, trying to save some money with an eye on upcoming events (a wedding in November for example), and generally having a quiet life.

In other words: not a lot to report here guv’nor.