Saving for something big - 7 top tips.

I always think it's very unfair how your mid-twenties are normally the time you need to buy your 'biggest' things. Getting married and buying your first home require big savings and unless you have money tucked away somewhere, this means saving for a long time. Not just saving here and there, big HEAVY saving.

Tom and I have been putting money aside each month properly for about a year now, but it's only when we got engaged it all became very real and we fully realised how much money we needed. I have set us a pretty small budget for our wedding. Humongous when you think how much is going on one day, but pitiful in the wedding world. If we already had our own house then I imagine it would be different and obviously we still want to have an amazing day and not look back with regret, but we feel uncomfortable throwing all our savings on one day, then heading back to our rented house and starting from scratch on a deposit. It would be so easy to spend £20-30k though and still not even have gone that mad.

But saving IS hard, when you're already paying so much on rent and bills it hurts to put all the rest into your savings account. I'm 24, I want to go on holiday to Bali and buy a Mulberry handbag from Selfridges and buy ALL the Jo Malone candles. But I want a house more, because those things in this house would be wasted. The feeling of knowing we're renting our house drives me mad, I can't cope with how temporary it feels. I want to get stuck in and make my own home and that is impossible when it's someone else's house. It's just uncomfortable all the time.

It's Monday, but it's okay!

Happy Monday! 

I had a lovely weekend of not doing much in particular, which is just what I needed. Carbonara, dog walks, mini eggs and Gardeners World are what weekends at home were made for really.

I spent last week totally stressing about wedding planning and have had nightmares every night about something going wrong. I forgot to buy a dress, I forgot to tell Tom the date of the wedding and he didn't show up, the BBQ dramatically blew up and we had no food etc etc. It's been very easy to get overwhelmed by it all, especially as I've made the super clever decision that I want to do everything myself because a wedding venue wouldn't do it right (good one). I spent a whole 2 days frantically trying to source gold cutlery. I think I must have contacted at least 10 suppliers, which are surprisingly difficult to find. About 20 types of silver cutlery, but no gold. I mean, who WOULDN'T want gold cutlery at their event? Apparently everyone. Tom's asked if this is a necessity and if I need to be obsessing about it this much seeing as we still have 16 months until the wedding and we haven't even decided which venue we're going to book yet. But I was adamant, there would be no wedding without them, tears were shed - WITHOUT GOLD KNIVES AND FORKS THE DAY WILL BE RUINED. I've calmed down now (only because I've found and booked some) but I've also realised that maybe I can slow down a bit and there will still be a wedding at the end of it.

My wedding spreadsheet is now obscenely extensive, there's currently 7 sheets on it and counting. But I've done a to-do list and even though it's scarily long (and I've only ticked one thing off on it, and I only put that on it so I could tick it off) it feels much better and manageable to see exactly what needs to be done.

Crazy control-freak that I am, with my spreadsheet in hand (literally in hand - I have it on my phone so I can check it whenever the mood strikes) I am ready and ON IT. But also, I just drank a huge mug of coffee so maybe that's helped as well.

What helps you feel in control and Beyonce-ish? Or am I alone in my madness?

Happy Monday all! (Lies, I hate Mondays).

Gemma

xXx

9 ways to Spring Clean your Life.

I've said this before, but I REALLY love Spring.

After months of feeling so cold you can't even imagine wearing less than 7 layers and just curling up into a ball on the sofa all the time, it feels amazing to walk the dog without a coat and with only one scarf on (in the depths of winter I wear three, with gloves, and 2 pairs of socks, and earmuffs, and sometimes I wear jogging bottoms over jeans. I hate the cold).

It’s good to finally stretch out in the weak spring sunshine and come out of hibernation. But then you have a look around and see that actually you’ve not done a lot over winter and everything needs a bit of sprucing up. And there is nothing I like better than a good spring detox.

3 smiley things for this week.

Happy Monday everyone!

What a lovely sunny Saturday we had! I spend the day walking the dog, visiting the Garden Centre and tidying up our little garden. We were meant to be going to the Cotswolds on Sunday for a day trip, but as it rained most of the day we drove into the city centre and looked around the shops instead. I accidentally bought a new skirt, and a cake, and pointed out all the things in Selfridges I 'would like' for my birthday. Seeing as they came to the grand total of £89 million+ I think I may have got carried away. Tom says I'm 'over-reaching'.

A few things to keep me feeling perky this week:

Happy Weekend!

I’m so glad it’s the weekend. You know sometimes just everything seems to go wrong at once? 

Well it’s been a very un-fun week.

I have a pretty heavy schedule tonight to welcome the weekend in though; hunters chicken dinner then Crufts and Gardeners World on the telly. LIVING.THE.DREAM

Tomorrow I am having a deep Spring clean (physically, mentally and house-workly), and I’m very excited. I have Epsom bath salts, a new book and kitchen bleach!

Sunday is a rare day when Tom has a weekend day off so we’re going to make the most of it and head off somewhere. Probably the Cotswolds for a long dog walk and stopping off at a dog-friendly pub on the way home. We were at the Peak District exactly a year ago and I wanted to go there again but it's maybe a bit too far for just the day.

I’m just realising how elderly this is making me sound. But I like my geriatric life. Who knows, maybe I’ll jazz it up and sow some plant seeds as well and clean my car. Oh god, I just remembered I applied for an allotment last night as well. Is this it? Have I peaked too soon?

Happy Friday everyone, hope you don’t go as mad as me!

Gemma

xXx

It'll all be alright in the end.

I'm not feeling particularly dreamy today.

Everything seems to be on hold at the moment. The new build house we're waiting for, work contracts, elderly cars and being in full-on saving mode.

The house is the worst part. I can never really relax and feel at home in a rented house, it's temporary and it feels it. We've still actually got things in boxes from the last move. There's only so much planning and forward-thinking you can do until you have to just stop and wait.

But sometimes you just have to suck it up and really think about the good things you have in your life.
We're getting married, we've got the dog, we both have jobs and we have savings ready to be spent.
It'll be alright in the end!

Waiting is rubbish, so I guess I'll have to keep myself busy in the meanwhile!

Gemma
xXx

Yay 2015!

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Happy New Year! 

I know it's super late, but it's January so it still counts.

We moved house mid November and the Sky engineer guy has just installed our internet today. After 8 weeks of me shouting and wailing down the phone to them ("how are we supposed to live like this?!?") it turns out they've been trying to connect the line to the wrong house. Good one Sky. Today's engineer was totally baffled as it has literally been a 5 minute job.

It looks like this year is going to be a busy one for us now. We got engaged on Christmas Eve (eeep!) and this has now forced us to think about plans further ahead than next weeks dinner schedule.