Champagne Lifestyle Lemonade Budget (My attempts to get debt free by April 2010)

BADPENNY_2

hi sun addict,

the phone should be ok if left to dry out properly, Oh dropped his in a tin of paint a few years ago and it was fine, the screen was a bit fuzzy but it was usable. enjoy your wine and good luck with the decluttering you never know you may findsome hidden treasure you can e-bay and pay the last tiny bit on your credit card.

hve a great weekend!

Claw_back_money

One of my boys dropped his phone in the pond... mate told him to take battery out etc and put in airing cupboard and it was fine apart from needing a new sim card. Hope its ok?

£125 is pretty magnificant! Reading your thread at the mo is like watching an egg hatch, you know it (DF - not a chick) is going to happen, it could be any moment but you hold your breath anyway

Cbm

Sun_Addict

Hi all

Thanks everyone for your helpful comments and hello to Fliparoo, lucky you living in Nice bet it's not freezing cold and trying to snow there!

I think OH's mobile has recovered after spending the night in a bag of rice (phew!).

Well we decluttered the cupboard under the stairs yesterday so that was a job well done. Unfortunately nothing worth e-baying just a load of junk! It looks a lot better now, however, have tons of rubbish to get rid of. OH thinks he might be able to sneak some of it into a skip at work. Next weekend's mammoth task is my walk in wardrobe (not at fancy as it sounds it's a walk in cupboard in the bedroom that OH converted with shelves and rails). It's starting to get a bit out of hand in there so it's time it was sorted.

Made a huge batch of leek, broccoli and spring onion soup for my work lunches this week. Trying to be careful what I eat from now until I go on holiday as I'd like to lose about 4lbs. For the past 3 weeks I've stayed the same weight so need to put a bit more effort into it. So the plan is to count WW points all week and see if that helps.

Sun_Addict

Went in work late today (10am instead of my usual 8am) and had a wander around town and a coffee before going in. I do this now and again and I really enjoy it. I was given an M&S gift voucher for Christmas which I used today to buy some undies - which don't come under my category of no clothes/shoes/bags until April so are allowed!

On Tuesdays I try to use up something from the freezer/store cupboard that's been hanging around a bit so tonight for my main meal I'm using up some of the soya mince hanging around in my cupboard and making a vegi cottage pie with sweet potato and swede mash. Will have tons of vegetables with this to bulk it out a bit.

In my bid to lose 4lbs before my holiday I changed my treadmill routine last night by alternating sprinting and jogging. Enjoyed it! I know you might think I'm mad but I do actually enjoy running. Used to hate it but followed a "Couch potato to 5k" running plan which started off alternating walking and jogging and building up until you can do 3 miles straight running. It did the trick and I love it now! Even better is the feeling you get when you've done it - can't beat it! However, no running tonight I'll be doing some toning exercises either in the gym or on the Wii.

Claw_back_money

Mmm a couple of hours off in the normal working day feels like a real treat doesn't it, although sometimes I have a few seconds of guilt, like I'm bunking of school (which I never did!)
I think M&S vouchers are my favourite to be given. My mum always used to give me some for my birthday, but the last few years its been John Lewis. John Lewis is miles away and seems to be really expensive, so I often buy something with regret. We have got a Waitrose a few miles up the road now, so I guess if it happens again I can buy groceries, but again possibly not the best use of money!

Cbm

PS treadmill and jogging - mad - yup!:rotfl:

Sun_Addict

Hi all

Looking forward to tomorrow when I'll be paying a bit more off the debt, £50 if I can, then I'll be below £100! Can't believe it's now so low, this time last year it stood at around £3k. I'm doubly amazed as last year (and this year so far) has been difficult money-wise with OH's work slacking off so much. I'm going to apply the same effort to saving - if I can save during bad times just think what I can do when things pick up! However, OH thinks it will be next year before the building trade really picks up.


Going to see what bargains I can pick up from Aldi this lunchtime. It's quite a long walk from where I work but it's worth it. At least it all adds to the exercise! Tonight I'll be cooking smoked haddock on a bed of lemon and leek rice for my main meal. Still trying hard to stick to eating plan and I've bought a little notebook to add up my day's points in. I've been trying to sort of detox Monday to Thursday with no alcohol allowed until Friday along with very healthy eating. Let's see if this has worked when I jump on the scales on Saturday!

Sun_Addict

Good morning!!!

Paid another £50 off debt today so now owe just £75!! :j

AND have saved a whole £49.19 towards holiday spending money! Better than nothing as OH has had a very bad week wage wise but I keep telling him anything is better than nothing at the moment.

I don't know why but being this close to DF feels like a bit of an anti climax. 8 years ago I lost a stone with Weightwatchers and when I got to goal it felt the same. It may be that I know we're not out of the woods yet as OH's work is still going from week to week and he never knows what's around the corner.:( However, I'll be keeping myself occupied with plenty of saving goals so I won't be getting bored!

beanielou

Great news

BADPENNY_2

Hi Sun addict,

I think you need to treat your finances the same way as you would a diet. its something that you need to stick with for life and not something that you stop and start if you know what i mean. I think once you have been in debt there could always be the temptation to use your credit card for one little purchase, sort of its only £50 i will be able to pay it off next month and before you know it your back to square one. But i agree that trying to save will keep you motivated and imagine that feeling when you make your last payment and know that you don't owe anything.

keep going your doing so well.

Sun_Addict

Thanks beanielou and badpenny

Badpenny - what you are saying is right. In the past I've bunged things on the CC and said I'd pay for them next month when the bill comes in. This is what I've stopped doing now. If the money isn't already there in the bank to cover it then it doesn't get spent. Especially with OH's work being erratic at the moment I can never guarantee how much we're going to have at the end of the month.

Friday at last and Valentines Day on Sunday! :beer: In the past on V Day OH has always gone mad and bought me something expensive like jewellry but this year I've put the reins on him and we're going to go into town tomorrow and buy each other a very small bottle of perfume to take on holiday with us (thinking of the baggage allowance here!). Boots and Superdrug are doing some brilliant offers so this should only come to around £15 each. Instead of being ripped off in a restaurant for a Valentines meal I am going to cook us something nice for Sunday lunchtime and we've got a bottle of bubbly to go with it. :smileyhea

Fell by the wayside on the no drinking until Friday rule last night by having two glasses of wine but at least I made it until Thursday! Did a stint on the Wii last night and tonight will be running 3 miles again.

I've set myself some mini goals for next week:

1. Lose 1lb
2. Pay another £50 off debt
3. Declutter wardrobe
4. Save some more towards holiday spending money

Hope everyone has a great weekend!