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

Swinstie73

Hi SA,

Glad you had a good holiday and didn't spend too much! I'm worried about not having enough but don't want to come home with it either! It will be good to get back to the budget, but you need a few home comforts to keep that holiday feeling - just not too much!

Sun_Addict

Good afternoon everyone!

Still trying to get back into work mode - not very successfully at the moment I'm afraid! Fed up of all this dull weather and rain. I want to go on holiday again However I must get a grip and get back to my debt busting money saving ways. On the plus side I've not been tempted by any of the sales on in town.:T (YET!!)

This lunchtime I spent £7.73 in Wilko on household bits and bobs and 29p on a birthday card. Out of personal spending money I have spent £3.76 in Boots on magazines and hair conditioner. So total spend for today is £11.78.

Payday on Friday but this is all spoken for on bills and grocery budget. OH doesn't get paid for holidays as he is self employed but he'll get paid next Friday for this week's work so will have to wait until then to pay some more off debt. Not holding my breath that it will be a great amount but aiming for paying off £100 this month. Hopefully will be able to pay off a larger amount in August.

Sun_Addict

Not much to report today. Spent £13.75 on groceries in Aldi at lunchtime - most I've ever spent in there but got loads of bargains so happy with that.

Am plucking up courage to weigh myself after holiday excesses! :eek:Clothes still fit but feel sluggish. Started back in the gym and walking to work on Monday so should soon get back to normal. Might set myself a 12 week mini challenge to get back to pre-holiday weight. Last night was the first alcohol free night I've had in just over two weeks. Can't be an alcoholic as didn't miss it!

Roll on Friday!

Sun_Addict

Spent £18.42 on groceries in Sainsburys this lunchtime and £4.38 out of personal spending money on body scrub and new pair of tweezers as suspect DD "borrowed" these whilst I was on holiday and they are nowhere to be seen (she claims to have no knowledge of them :rolleyes:). I had a voucher from the Metro paper for a free bottle of Oasis from Sainsburys and apparently although it is only £1 you get £1.08 back so you make 8p out of it! :money: Used my £5 Boots skincare voucher this morning on the way to work to buy an Olay cleansing lotion, had to put £2.48 towards it but got another voucher! They do some Olay face washes for £5.86 and you can use your voucher to buy these and only pay 86p and get yet another voucher - currently have 5 of these face washes in stock! Should keep me going for a while! :j

At work we are in a swine flu "sandwich" - 2 people on the floor above have it and 3 on the floor below! Trying not to touch any door handles or stair rails!

Friday tomorrow! :beer:

Sun_Addict

Yes it's finally Friday!! :j

I have been a little bit naughty today but not as naughty as I could have been however! I have been to the M&S sale. Luckily for my bank balance there wasn't a lot in there for me as they didn't have a lot in my size (I'm a size 8) but still managed to spend £19.09 on a t shirt, undies and socks. So not too bad but shouldn't have gone in really as I can never resist the M&S sale. I thought I had been doing well today as I had only spent £3 in the £1 shop up until then and 86p on another Olay face wash from Boots (now have yet another £5 voucher).

Looking forward to getting home tonight, going in the gym, having a soak in the bath and then putting my feet up with a couple of glasses of wine. OH is going to light the barbecue and cook his steak and my salmon on it. If it rains we have a covered area outdoors (and the new patio heater ) so it won't spoil it - but fingers crossed it will stay dry.

Have a great weekend everyone!! :beer:

Fire_Fox

Sounds like you are getting some good Boots bargains! I don't buy body or face scrub, just a cheap pair of scrubby gloves for the body and gentle Buf-Puf for the face and use my normal shower gel/ face wash. Saves me a fortune and doesn't aggravate my sensitive skin with too many different chemicals! :cool:

Sun_Addict

Happy Monday everyone!

Thanks for your comments Fire Fox. I've got a pair of those scrubby gloves - I prefer using body scrub but use them if I've run out. I used to have a bufpuf too many moons again. A few years ago a beautician told me to remove my make up with face wash and a clean face cloth as this gently exfoliates so I have been doing this ever since and find you don't need to use as much face wash this way and it gets into all the nooks and crannies.

Been fairly good spending wise over the weekend. Actually spent nothing on Sunday as didn't go anywhere!!!!! Cancelled my big monthly Tesco internet shop for this Wednesday and picked up the stuff myself on Saturday so saved the delivery fee there, however, supermarket shopping and OH are not the best match and have decided it's well worth the £3.50 fee and won't be trying this trick again!

I have now got £191.13 grocery budget left to last until my next payday (25 August). There is no earthly reason why I can't stick to this. Will be making the first inroads into it this lunchtime when I visit Sainsburys. I have a strict list and will endeavour to stick to it!! :rolleyes:

Sun_Addict

Just updating to reflect Virgin card minimum payment has gone out so debt has gone down to £1949. Hope to pay some more off this later this week.

Only spent £7.73 in Sainsburys this lunchtime. Mainly on fruit and veg. Target spend was no more than £10 so under budget!

Off to update signature now.

Sun_Addict

Good afternoon everyone! Another working day almost over!

Had a near spending miss at lunchtime in TK Maxx with coat reduced to £15. Tried it on but it was slightly too big for me. However if it had only been £10 I could have lived with it. As I wasn't 100% certain about it I decided that was a sign not to buy it. I'm learning!

Today's grocery type buys were in Wilko and £1 shop. Went out with a budget in mind of no more than £7 but managed to spend £9.77. However, this was because Wilko were selling off some food items half price (excuses, excuses :rolleyes:). I now have grand total of £173.63 to last until next payday and start of new grocery budget - and it is still only July! It's a wonder my house doesn't sink under the weight of all the stuff I keep bringing into it every day!

Sun_Addict

What a horrible wet day today! Feels more like autumn than high summer! :sad:

OH has finally heard from his accountant re his tax rebate - it's only taken 3 months!!:rolleyes: Unfortunately he's not due as much back as he thought but anything's better than nothing. We are going to put it towards getting his van through its MOT in October as quite a bit of stuff will probably need doing to it.

Grocery shopping today was in Aldi and I spent £9.63 but got quite a lot of stuff for my money. Now have £164.00 left. Felt quite ashamed yesterday as I was reading a thread on OS Money saving about managing a whole month on £100. I have already done my big shop and still have more than that left. However, £100 wouldn't cover much in my household but if that's all we had then a lot of the luxuries would have to go. We must spend more than that on fruit and veg alone. It would help if we all ate the same type of thing but I don't eat meat but eat fish, OH eats meat but not fish or vegi stuff and DD works shifts and prefers things she can just grab and microwave and she is VERY fussy in what she likes (in fact she is a pain in the butt!).

I know it's early but got DS an FHM subscription 12 issues for £12 for Christmas. I've set the subscription to start with the January issue. One less thing to buy. OH renewed his subscription for the same price too so money saved there. :money:I am trying to buy as many Christmas presents as possible well before Christmas every time I see a good offer.