Dalyan – 1st to 4th November

All plans went out of the window on Saturday 1st November as I had a few Resort Experts quotes to do. I didn’t bother going to the market and went back to bed with a cup of Yorkshire tea, for the first time in quite a while!
I faced the income versus expenditure spreadsheet with a little trepidation as I knew I’d spent too much this month. My budget for October was set at £500, which included Captain Caveman giving me some cash. Unfortunately, I ended up spending just short of £900 including all bills, the course for making my new planner and a flight to the UK with luggage. It meant that I really needed to be extra careful in November and that I was starting the new month on a minus figure of £106. It was going to be a tough month and Captain Caveman was coming to visit at the end of the month which means we always spend more then.
Captain Caveman had already been in touch as he had decided he wanted to go to a music event in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, for his birthday next year. He’d bought 2 tickets for the 3 day Phillgood gig which had bands such as The Cure, Gorillaz, and Moby headlining. So, I spent some time looking at flights and hotels for Plovdiv and Sofia in Bulgaria for the 2 of us.
I had to cancel going round to Kate’s to meet the new kittens as I was too busy faffing around. I managed to get to the bakery where I bought a croissant and a fresh loaf for 105 lira (£1.91) so had lunch while still working, but then had a belly ache.
For dinner I made a chickpea and spinach curry with steamed rice and booked the Old Legends hotel in Plovdiv for Captain Caveman and I. Surprisingly, I got a better rate than Booking .com on a hotel in Sofia so I booked that for 2 nights prior to the gig, so that we could have a look around the capital. Neither of us have been to Bulgaria before and it was on our list of places to visit. I was excited as I miss going to concerts and hearing good live music.
I then decided to look at holidays for January as Captain Caveman really wanted us to go away, despite me saying I couldn’t afford to spend money on holidays while I was still building my empire. 

Gratitude List
1. Dealing with budget issues instead of ignoring them
2. Captain Caveman insisting on a trip to Bulgaria in 2026
3. Getting some good deals with Resort Experts for our own holidays.

On Sunday 2nd November there was a bit of excitement in the air. I booked our own holiday to Morocco, through Resort Experts of course. We decided we would be staying in Marrakech for a week on a Bed & Breakfast basis, in a cute little riad for around £900 for the both of us. We were both excited and thought that was quite a bargain.
Nanny Kay popped round with some gifts; spare plates which she was getting rid of and I never have enough if I invite people over for dinner. She also gave me 3 black tops which were ideal for winter.
Later I met Vanessa and another friend in Ozzy’s as Vanessa had just arrived back in Dalyan for a few weeks.
I had a strawberry milkshake and a soda water for 210 lira (£3.82). For dinner, I just ate chicken nuggets for my one meal that day as I’d not had time to make what I had planned.

Gratitude List
1. Booking a holiday to Marrakech with Captain Caveman
2. New plates and tops from Nanny Kay
3. Out with friends for an entertaining catch up.

I had a busy Monday morning on Monday 3rd November; mostly content writing and scheduling. I also had several interactions with Captain Caveman, including messages before his 9am start. He got me researching the flight times and prices for our trip to Bulgaria. We finally plumped for the ones with BA and they were cheaper to book direct so Captain Caveman booked those and he paid for Morocco and the Bulgaria hotels. He’d also booked us tickets for Faithless, with cousin Anna, and a Metallica weekend ticket in July – both of which we were really looking forward to.
I didn’t have lunch until 2.30pm and just had soup with pasta in.
When I finished working for the day, I popped out for a walk and to get some shopping. Here’s what I got with prices in lira;

Migros Supermarket
Green peppers 10.49
Red onion 14.49
Milk 21.80
Red peppers 26.99
6 eggs 49.50
Wholemeal sliced loaf 84.95
Bitter chocolate 87.50
2 Quark 91.90
Total spent 387.62 lira (£6.96)

There were still no tinned tomatoes so I went to the next shop;

Şok Supermarket
1 Dido chocolate bar 46.50
775g chicken 189.63
Total spent 236.13 lira (£4.29)

No tomatoes still!
I wasn’t hungry, so for dinner I just had chestnuts and had an early night.

Gratitude List
1. Booking our own holidays
2. Shopping
3. Having an early night.

It was the calm before the storm on Tuesday 4th November. I split my day between Resort Experts and designing my new planner. I was getting rather impatient with Canva as I was half teaching myself and half following instructions from Claire Clarke from her videos. I had never realised it, but I’m not good at following spoken instruction and would much rather read the instructions.
It was 4pm when I finally got some lunch which was a warmed up chickpea and spinach curry. Captain Caveman had booked his trip to Vietnam without me for March as I was already busy then. We had discussed me getting a flight to London on the Easter weekend to meet him on his return but they were £74 one way, without luggage. Also, I had a couple of work related events/more Fam trips which may be happening in April and I didn’t want to miss out on those. I worked hard that day and didn’t realise until 10.30pm that I had not moved from my desk! At 11pm I just had chestnuts for dinner (again).

Gratitude List
1. Curry for lunch
2. Captain Caveman finally getting a trip to Vietnam booked in
3. Chestnuts.