Too much month at the end of my money...

Sunday spends: 43p on a lemon to make homemade Arrabiatta with (all other ingredients in the house already and utilised homegrown tomatoes). Two portions made and in the freezer for later in the winter.

Monday: £1.40 on coffee and £1.25 on salad to add to lunch that I bought in from home. Not too bad considering I am in central London.

Today: I have bought in lunch again (leftover beef and cous-cous from the weekend) and I have yogurt, fruit and a babybel for this morning Also crisps and a mini-roll. Suspect I will spend the same as yesterday.

So, that's the good money news. The bad is that it is still ten days from payday and I have a lot going on and need to keep everything as under control as I can. Tomorrow is work so will need to bring in as much food again as possible although no more leftovers after today. Then boot camp in the evening (paid for by monthly DD) and then we are going for a few drinks after boot camp. We don't often do this (we tend to go out as a group once every 3 months, but for various reasons we will need to have a drink tomorrow). Quite a few people will be driving (I will cycle) so I hope it won't be too expensive. I also need to add ££ in to a work collection for someone's leaving do. If I can get away with spending £20 tomorrow that would be a win.

Argh! I know this will be a slow process, but hate having to think about ££ ALL the time! One day at a time I think. I also want to try not to go mad when I do get paid, but it's tricky when I am going to have to watch every penny for the next 10 days! I do have £200 in savings in my bank account but this is earmarked for a trip to Wales in October and the water bill. I may need to borrow £20 or so from it depending on how things go. We'll see.

One day at a time, one day at a time...

ChasingSunshine - it made perfect sense! This really is a long-term process in my view. In the last few years I've managed to lose 25 pounds and get much much fitter and it's interesting how many similarities there are between losing weight and retraining my spending habits. I have only been successful on the weight loss and fitness front because I have been disciplined and consistent, rather than 'motivated' for the short-term. The small consistent changes are what make the biggest difference in the end.

On to £££. Good money news: drinks last night ended up costing a tenner and were brilliant. I do have a lot of social stuff going on, so I need to think of ways to keep it as low-cost as possible.

Good money news part two: off for some leaving drinks for a colleague tonight. There is £500 behind the bar, so I am hoping not to spend too much, though no doubt I will need to spend something towards the latter end of the night.

Bad money news: I have £150 until next Friday. This sounds like loads, and I'm aware that for some people it is loads. But I can't see that this will be enough to get me through because it needs to pay for:

Tonight (see above)
Lunch (leaving lunch for same colleague who is one of my best friends here, so not begrudged)
A haircut tomorrow (approx £55)
Bikini wax tomorrow (£15)
Cleaner on Monday (£50)

And I'm away for the weekend tomorrow. The weekend trip away is an awkward one financially, as OH's brother is taking us away for a significant birthday OH had earlier this year. We did the same for him, so this is the return leg. It's awkward because although we're being treated, we're away for two nights, and I am sure it's going to cost in terms of drinks and eating out. This is the kind of thing I find it very difficult to budget for. So cost currently unknown but will do my best to keep down.

We're getting the train tomorrow and I have delay repay vouchers to cover my part of that, so that's one saving.

Hair cut - I have it done every 10 weeks. We're in the south East and this is one of the cheaper places I have found to get it done (cut and colour). But still a lot, I'm aware. After 10 weeks the grey is already starting to show through!

Anyway. I'll report back on how things go.

So yesterday was £13 on lunch (not bad for central London and was delicious and fun) and then £10 last night at the drinks.

Didn't get in until 12.30 and awake at 6 so shattered! This morning is bikini wax and hair cut. I think I'll have to transfer £30 from my savings as a buffer for this weekend/next week. Was thinking £50 originally but let's do £30 as a challenge to myself to keep spending down.

I need to leave £5 for the catsitter (She owes us a free feed from last time and is only doing 2 this weekend) but I may have that in change from last night so need to investigate my purse.

Ugh. Must get going but a bit tired and hungover! Ah - must fill my bottle of water for this morning so I don't have to buy one.

PAYDAY.

While this is a relief in many ways I also know it is a big trigger for me. Money comes in and a lot goes out immediately, and then I get the urge to SPEND. In many ways I am far, far better at being Money Saving in the last two weeks of the month because I HAVE to focus. Whereas for the first two weeks I feel a compulsion to not have money in my current account. And as noted I am caught up in a cycle of binge-restrict-binge. I want to stop this.

So, today was pay day. I have sent OH £970. This is for my portion of the household bills this month, plus £100 towards the Cambridge weekend and £100 for our week in Wales in October. One good thing is that this month I calculated what things I would be paying for in the next couple of weeks and deducted half those spends from the money I sent to him. He is very, very generous to me but if I don't deduct the ££ I always end up paying everything for cat food or the window cleaner etc through lack of organisation.

I have spent £75 on cat food (half paid by OH)
£89 on registering on a house sitting website (half paid by OH). We holiday a lot and getting a house sitter each time for £89 over a year is cheaper than the £16 a day it costs to have two pet sitter visits otherwise.
£55 on my share of the lock fittings.

I have spent £20 on MorrocanOil for my hair. I absolutely love it and now buy nothing else for my hair, It usually lasts 3 months, so not too awful.

I have moved £400 in to my Mondo account. This is to try and separate out my 'available' spending money from my direct debits. I really like it because what I spend comes off the balance IMMEDIATELY - so I always know exactly what's available. With my bank account I always 'forget' something I've paid for and then it 'suddenly' is debited from my account. I know, this is a failing on my part - there should be nothing unexpected about this! So I am hoping that this will make it easier for me to budget.

From the £400 today I have spent:

£1.40 coffee (this should be the final coffee as from next week I intend to make my own).
£2.15 breakfast (once a week I have breakfast from our canteen; the rest of the week I bring my own in. At one point I bought toast EVERY DAY but now I have a fry up once a week as a reward for getting through the week).
£4.80 on a pint at lunch. I go out with this group of colleagues about once a month and it keeps us sane.

Tonight I should be in and I hope will be no spending.

Tomorrow is a big obstacle course race day. Danger areas are the merchandise and the food stalls afterwards. We're leaving at 10.30 tomorrow morning so I need to look tonight to see what food I have to take with me to try and keep costs low. I am DETERMINED.

More soon. I need o look at costs coming up for the month and see where I can make savings.