Old Style Diary Archive - MARCH 2006

ms_london

Snowyowl - of course you can carry my suitcase. Well, a backpack really - and you could probably fit inside it (havent quite grasped the concept of packing light - ooops!!). I hope you feel cheerier soon, completely know how you are feeling! Big hugs to you. We are all here if you need to chat.

I hope you all have a good weekend. I am working tomorrow unfortunately, but oh well, mustnt complain as I need the ££££!!

Almost a long bank hol weekend to look forward to - yaaaay!!

xx

RacyRed

Hi

OS day for me today. Battled to the bottom of the laundry basket, did a "big stuff" load in the DW that was overdue and have some blinds in a bio soak in the bath tub.

Seriously hacked off with my oven though, I used to have a gas cooker but now have a gas hob and a fan oven. Very neat but I am having to learn to bake all over again. Ah well such is life, at least I'm making bread again thanks to the BM (used to handbake it all with the gas oven). Off to rescue the blinds.

Breakfast, Toast and fruit
Lunch, Avocado, tomato and alfalfa sprouts.
Supper is going to be Gardeners pie (Soya mince)

Hugs to all

MATH

Bargain_Rzl wrote:

Is it my imagination or is the population of this board somewhat depleted today? No Queenie, no Ticklemouse, no MATH, no Nicki, no Lillibet... do you think the other half of the regulars have gone and started their own board without us :eek: :rotfl: I was starting to wonder about Pooky and Snowy but then you both turned up.:drool:

hehehehe, LOL @ Rzl, I've just been soo busy this week, there seems even more to do than usual and I'm also trying to sort a few bits out for going to the coast next weekend for 2 weeks. YAY!!!! I've applied for a job:eek: working evenings at one of our local colleges doing evening enrolements and stuff. Yeh! Like I've really got time to pull that in as well. LOL

I suspect that TM is REVOLTING:D I mean out taking part in a revolt:rotfl: Isn't Condelesa Rice (sp) visiting her neck of the wood today? I will be scouring the news footage of the visit tonight for a moonboot wearing, tough old bird sporting a safety pin and dragging a wally trolly loaded with bogoff in the background. If anyone spots her PM me!

comping_cat

(((((((((HUGS))))))))))) to Snowy, sorry your week hasnt got any better, hopefully the weekend will be good for you, enjoy your red medicine, it can do wonders sometimes!!!!!
Bargain Rzl - i was only wondering earlier where everyone was, and hopefully Kiwi Chick is getting on ok as well, it must be 2 weeks since she moved in with the in laws!!!! Hope all the missing ones are ok!!!!
Moggins - so glad you have had a good day, you deserve it!!!

Well, i have finally cleaned my kitchen floor, HURRAH!!! well, i actually sweep it and wipe it most days, its the dusty bit under the table that i often 'forget', but its done now, so really pleased!!
Damp microcloth dusting done, and ive hoovered, and all the little ones toys have been put away, and i have some peace until monday, when it all starts again.
Off for our HM pizza now, and maybe some of that red medicine that snowy is having tonight as well!!!!
Take care everyone xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Bargain_Rzl

Racy - know what you mean about not having a gas oven. I have one at the moment, but in the type of flats I'm looking at moving into next year, it's very uncommon to have a gas supply - most just have leccy. I love gas cookers but I bet I'm going to have to learn to live without one

Still it could be worse - at least it ain't a ceramic hob :eek: we used to have one when I was younger and my mum hated it.

I've just been booked for a paid choir job on Holy Saturday :dance: which is great, as I didn't have one lined up, and it's twice my usual fee for singing music I love and observing my religion . It used to make me feel weird, being a salaried churchgoer, but priests do it I suppose! So that will be £50 more towards the savings target at the end of April :j :j

As sod's law would have it, though, I had a phone call 2 hours earlier from somebody else I sing for, asking me if I "might possibly be" free for an unpaid church singing job the same evening. I said yes on the condition that if somebody offered me paid work before it was confirmed that they needed me, I'd be taking the paid job. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. I hate letting people down, and the unpaid one would have been more interesting music (that I haven't sung before).

Now, must make up my mind whether I'm going out tonight.

cha97michelle

Hello everyone.

I'm glad to reach the end of my first week back. I am going to have to get some routines organised so i can cope better in 2 weeks. DH has been fantastic, although i felt it for him when he got in last night and was as shattered as i was. I think i managed to talk to the whole of the staff at school, so i should get back in proper after the Easter break without interuptions, although the news of my pregnancy will probably invoke another round of people wanting to talk to me. I suppose it shows people like me. :rotfl:

I have a christening to go to at the weekend, so i think i will try to not do much tomorrow so i can enjoy the party and cope with the rellies. (Not mine - sisters partners ) My sister has still not officially told me that she would like me to be a godparent so it should be interesting, and it will be my 2nd church visit of the week.

My MIL's niece has just announced she is pregnant, so she must be about the same stage as me. MIL is now desperate for Mondays scan so she can start to spread the news. I'm glad they are so happy. We found out last night that they hadn't even told my BIL, even though they all live in the same house. Luckily DH had told him.

An interesting thread today. Snowy, sorry to hear that you are having a rough time. Hope you enjoyed the day better without the boss.

BargainRzl and Lucie and Miss London - the savings are coming along well. Any particular tips? I need to get on with it as it was pointed out to me that without holidays, i will only have 15 weeks left at work before maternity leave. I am doing SAT marking in May/June, so i will be slogging my guts out for 4 weeks, but should hopefully get something between £1000-3000 depending on how much i do. That would last me a good few months of being off work, as i won't be doing much. Perhaps also add the funds from me not drinking :beer:

moggins - sounds like you had an enjoyable shopping trip. Just shows how much your parents appreciate what you do.

Anyway, I'm going to start warming up the settee ready for DH getting home.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Michelle, x

dorry_2

hi all, :wave:

welcome outragoues monkey, u poor thing it's no fun a bad back, don't worry we will keep u entertained!!

ms. london, it's 16 weeks till i finished placement, so that's me & u wishing the year away!!

lucie & bzl-- wow your saving are good!!! very impressed :j

purpleprincess-- hope doctors was ok??

snowy--- i think its only natural for u to be tearfull, i would be! me thinks i will be having red medicine tonite as well :beer:

moggins- u sound like u had a lovely day, u made me laugh earlier with description of hair, sounds like mine!! :laugh:


well, another productive day, me and another student had some jobs to do in a nearby village, we got finished early, then did our weeks food shopping at the tesco. got loads of bargains.

then got home at 1 and ds1(21year) phoned and i picked him, we went to do more shopping

i spent my mothers day money £20 on a very snuggerly pink fluffy dressing gown and pink checked pj's. i can't wait to get in the bath and put new stuff on!! god it doesn't take much to make me happy!!! :cheesy:

we are having movie nite toinght, getting wolf creek dvd to watch, oh is going to put projector on and i just know i am gonna be frightened!! :eek:

so i have not been very os today, but its nice to have a treat sometimes!!

mr pp---hope pp is ok? send kisses to her tell her to get herself back home!!

ok bye for now :wave:

Chipps

DS & I went shopping today to big town 10 miles away. There is an Asda there, so first stop was to buy his trousers (Thanks, Squiggles, for the tip. I would never have thought of looking there. But £7 - brilliant, the cheapest I had seen otherwise was £14. He was pleased, too, as he buys his clothes. He has a monthly clothing allowance, and a Saturday job, so it's his responsibility.)
He was also pleased when we went to the market, as they had the Lord of the Rings "warhammer game" magazines at 3 for £1.50. He bought 9 & got over 40 little figures for his games. Then went to "Game" and bought one at normal price ie £6, and a tin of dice for the games (£5). He handed over a £20 note, but the shop assistant did not have any £1 coins, so gave him a £10 note in change & told him he could have £1 discount! He was very pleased with his bargains!

smokey112

Evening all

((((Snowy)))) - sorry to hear you are feeling so down

Well done Catowen on cleaning under "that table"

welcome Outrageous Monkey - hope you back gets better soon.

Moggins - well you could have knocked me down with that flying pig - he has cleared most of the mess up - only one little bit to do and he said he will do it in the morning when he comes off nightshift)............i would normally tidy it all up as I hate having a mess but seeing as he made it all in the cause of new bit of computer equipment then he can deal with it.

had very busy day at work - finished at 230pm went to ASDA for odds and ends, back home I put shopping away, two loads of washing in machine and hung out as it a lovely afternoon and breezy, kitchen tidied, cats tray cleaned, kitchen floor mopped, snack made for OH before work .... all whilst he played with his new toy.

having a quick browse on here then off for dinner and some of that special red medicine in the green bottle that a lot of people seem to be having tonight.....then it will be starfish in the bed for me...

Have a lovely evening all

take care


Ang
x

Bargain_Rzl

Saving tips for Michelle
I should start off by saying that I have a good amount of disposable income at the moment, so don't feel like a failure if you haven't got as many areas that can still take cutbacks! I also have a second (variable) income from my singing.

I was originally saving £500 a month anyway (I'm lucky because my accommodation costs are so low, if I lived in any other houseshare I'd probably be saving £250-£300 a month before extras).

However for the remainder of this year I'm aiming to raise an extra £100-£150 a month and that's comprised of the following:

1. Currently I have singing lessons at £25 a lesson, and I'd budgeted for 3 a month. I am cutting this to 2 a month. Hence £25 a month saved.
2. I normally put £50 a month aside towards a holiday. I have scrapped this. Hence £50 a month saved.
3. I have a £50-a-month allowance for "general extras" which covers overspend on my basic spending, shoe repairs, dry cleaning, and any other little extras like CDs or birthday cards. I am aiming that in some months I don't spend this at all: by shifting shoe repairs and dry cleaning into my clothing budget, and aiming for an underspend in my general "groceries-and-other-pocket-money" budget (which is £50 a week) to create pin money which can replace the "general extras" buffer zone. Realistically, there are going to be some months where I need to use this money, so it won't be available every single month.
4. My usual choir salary is £24 per service I sing, so normally this is 4 services a month - I include it in my budgeted income at £96 a month. So whenever there are 5 Sundays in the month I have an additional £24 that's not spoken for, and in April I've got three extra services (5th Sunday, plus Maundy Thursday and Good Friday) plus a £50 fee for singing elsewhere on Holy Saturday!
5. I have a haircuts budget of £20 a month, and this more often than not gets used up. However, I've got a week off in early May and I'm going to aim to get an appointment at Toni and Guy's Academy, which should be free (or possibly up to £25). At this point I can sweep the budgeted hair money built up over the last few months into my savings. I'll do the same thing next time I need a haircut!
6. As I know that I shouldn't need to spend much in April and May, I've decided to go on an all-out economy drive and give up newspapers (60p a day), and my morning takeaway breakfast (£1.80 a day) to aid the underspend on general spending budget (as I mentioned in no. 3).
7. In July I should be eligible for a standard salary raise related to performance and cost of living. I've estimated this to be approx £50 a month (net).

The above items alone, plus interest (once it's been paid) on my savings account, currently leave me about £800 short of my £15,000 target by the end of 2006, so I'm trying to squeeze a few extra savings that could round it up!

I don't know how much you normally drink, but if I was pregnant I'd suddenly find myself with another £60 or so a month (I get through 1-2 bottles of wine a week, plus about 4 pints of beer).

Added to regular amounts like this, I add in the interest from all my accounts, plus any cashback I get from credit cards (minimal, as I don't spend anything !), plus the annual 2 months of not having a council tax payment, plus any small extras I get elsewhere. And I'm doing very well at underspending in my one remaining luxury area - opera tickets! - by blagging free tickets wherever possible. Also I'm hoping that I can get away with spending (on average over the year) less than half what I'd originally budgeted for clothes. What I'll most likely do is, make myself a list in July of what I could really do with buying in the sales, and once I've done all that, I'll empty what's left into my savings - and the same again after Christmas. I will aim to come in under budget on Christmas, too.

Sorry for rambling on, I know some of the above won't apply to you, but hope you get some ideas.

Rzl xx