InaPickle getting out of a pickle!

LeeSouthEast

Jaffa cakes!!! Oh I think I'm going to have to go lie down.. I love Jaffa cakes.. and I don't have any

InaPickle

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

Jaffa cakes!!! Oh I think I'm going to have to go lie down.. I love Jaffa cakes.. and I don't have any

*Hands Lee a virtual jaffa cake* Here you go. It's not as tasty as the real thing, but it's still better than virtually nothing!

LeeSouthEast

Yay!

Nomnomnom...

InaPickle

I've been for coffee and panini with my friend. It was very nice, but, as I have mentioned before, not budgeted for.

I have just had a quick rejig of my finances for the rest of the month, and the result was not rosy. As a result, I have had to transfer £30 out of my savings to compensate for the extra social activity, and also a book I have a nasty feeling I will have to buy before the end of the month for the last essay I have to do (if I'm still considered a student!). I've been wondering if I could do without, or beg/borrow/steal, but at the minute it's not looking likely. I'll refrain from ordering if at all possible, but needs must.

I'm not happy about this, but there's not too much I can do. I have told myself strictly that the first thing I am going to do when I'm paid this month is transfer the removed £30 back to my savings before working out my budget for next month, so at least it is replaced and I'm not kidding myself about increasing my savings by more than I really have: if, say, I put £150 in savings that sounds a lot more than the £120 I've really saved this month, given that the other £30 is just replacing what was originally taken. I don't want to start lulling myself into a sense of false security: that's part of how I got here in the first place.

Other than that, I've realised that I fritter little bits of money away. Today, I paid for a 'going away' coffee for my friend. Now I hate a social meanie more than most, but given the current circumstances and the fact that the aforementioned friend was practically pushing the money for the coffee into my purse, perhaps I ought to have accepted. (I just can't do it, though!) I also left a small tip for the waitress as I have often been in her place (and still am in many respects, only people don't leave tips for shop assistants although we are on a similar wage), but perhaps I shouldn't have technically left that small tip. Perhaps this is taking money saving too far. Where do you draw the line?

I'm unimpressed at taking money out of my savings, but have to admit that this month has been a bit of a leaning curve and of balancing of books given the fact that it's the first money I've had for a while (I was unemployed for a month which rinsed all my previous savings) and I got a bit excited with squirreling money away. Making a realistic social budget I have found to be hard due to last-minute additions, but I shall have to take the good advice proffered here and make my social budget a bit bigger than anticipated and turf any leftover back into the savings at the end of the day. It seems the only sensible solution. (When I refer to a 'social budget', don't think that I'm painting the town red seven nights a week: I have four social engagements all month (two big, two little), all of which have clustered together in less than a week. It's just that when I think that the money spent on those could be paying off debt, I start to think 'ahhh', only to realise that it is unrealistic: (wo)man cannot live on [strike] bread [/strike] no social life alone.

P.S. Hypno - there was more than one glass of wine involved last night and no study (unless The X Factor rerun counts. Bad, bad, bad girl!).

InaPickle

Hmm. Dissertation supervisor (DisSup) should have rung me by now to tell me what's going on. I've not heard from her. Has she forgotten, or will she ring later? Ho hum...:( (What are the chances she rings now after me posting this for you all to read?!)

honeybear_2

Hi Pickle :wave:

Have been reading but not posted yet - I really hope you get the call & it's all ok

InaPickle

honeybear wrote: »

Hi Pickle :wave:

Have been reading but not posted yet - I really hope you get the call & it's all ok

Thanks, Honeybear! And what a nice name, BTW!

hypno06

Fingers crossed for that phone call.

LeeSouthEast

Any news Pickle?

InaPickle

No, nothing! She must have forgotten, or has gone out to a dinner party which has gone on for longer than expected or something...:eek: I could try to ring her tomorrow but she will be at the uni as it's the first day back and she lives a great distance from it, so there's every chance she may stay overnight and not return home if she has lessons the day after. Gah! I can always e-mail, I suppose.

Well, there's little I can do at the minute given that it's 01.20 there, but in the meantime I have been thinking.

I was initially reluctant to start a DD until after I had finished all my work as I know that I suffer from an acute case of procrastination. I was really worried that this would cause all the usual, horrible symptoms such as doing things other than those which I should. Ashamed as I am to admit it, I've had a bad relapse: I find myself checking MSE several times a day rather than do my work as actually writing a dissertation is rather like having teeth pulled without anaesthetic: it might have to be done, but you aren't going to like it and it will hurt like hell in the meantime. As a result, I've got a horrible feeling that I'm slipping behind with what I need to get done, and imagine if I get told that I can continue but I've slipped behind so badly that I can't catch up?! :eek:

As a result, I have decided that I have to ration my MSE time. I have decided that I am not allowed to check MSE (and any other non-necessary websites) more than once a day, and I may only post once as well. I ask you all to ensure that I stick to this for the next few weeks until it is all over, on pain of having rotten virtual vegetables thrown at me (FYI I particularly hate cabbage!). I simply cannot afford to mess this up.

When I post, I have to tell you guys honestly how much work I have done that day. If it is an insufficient amount, you may hurl more vegetables at me, then form a virtual ring around my diary. (Hypno, Lee and Becky, I'm thinking particularly of you guys!) Please don't take offence: I love talking to you guys, but I need to learn to button it for a short while! :lipsrseal

Also, I've been thinking about money. As I said in my first post, I'm normally not too bad with cash, but I've been thinking that I have never made the money that I have had work quite as hard as it should. I have often wondered why some friends of mine have been able to afford exotic holidays etc. while I have not. I'm quite prepared to believe that some of them have been playing fast and loose with their flexible friends, but I think more of them have just been very clever with their cash and really prioritised their spending. I want to be one of those people from now on in.

Thanks for asking how the uni thing is going guys - it means a lot. Just pelt me with eggs if you see me here (or in any other thread!) before tomorrow night! x

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D'OH!!!! *Facepalms vigorously* Thinking back to my converstation with DisSup, she never asked me for my phone number. Given that our last conversation was quite a while back, what are the chances that she's lost my phone number?! :wall: