Carry on Questing

Lula-Hula

That may well be my longest absence from DFW.

I've been working very hard, eatung properly & making sure I look after myself both physically & mentally.

First week back at both jobs was shock to the system & we had a very busy weekend helping DD1 find a new car, having peeps round for a meal & then getting shopping, laudnry & chores done on sunday.

Back to work on monday feeling a bit bewildered by it all & then straight back into working 3 x 14 hour days in a row :eek: 2 peeps on hol from home-job so I'm covering for the next 2 weeks as well - but just sucking it up as it's more money .

I wake, work, do meals & wash up (DD puts away bless her :A) work some more, prepare lunches for the next day, have a bath & go to bed.

I have had 3 NSDs each week but wow have I paid out to the school

School trip = £10
Pantomime = £14.50
Clubs = £52
Cycling = £20.50

That's £97 in the first week back :eek:

The grocery & household spends is now £70.04p & I'm really pleased with that. We will need more fruit & veg this week & maybe some pasta & quron, but that's about it.

I havent paid any more off the CC as I had forgtten I need to fill my car up so had to do that at the weekend & it cost me £50.81.


I also used my £5 off skincare at Boots voucher & incorprating the buy 2 get one free offer I saved a total of £22 . I also did rather well at Waitrose as I had the voucher for free biscuits which was worth £1.99 but the price of the biscuits was actually only £1.49p so I got an extra 50p off my shopping. Yummy organic yoghurts were half price at 82p for 4, but I had a 40p off voucher from my previous purchase so only paid 22p for 4 :j.

I've topped up the cash funds & paid another £50 in to the bank but cant pay anything off CC until monday as there are more direct debits due out soon.

I need to do a bit of shopping tomorrow as Cat getting low on cat food, but other than that I'm looking forward to my first day to myself in a long long time. There will be cleaning, exercising & catching up on things MSE too .

Karmacat

Oh my word. I've been away for 3 weeks cos of moving house, and I suppose I was doing 12 - 13 hour days, but at least I was choosing when I was working.... I'm glad you've got at least one day to yourself coming up, make sure you spoil yourself!

taxi73

nice to see you back hun xx

Souk08

Hey Lady, been away again with work but glad to see the head is down and the debt is going that way too! XXX

Lula-Hula

Hi,

I dont have any fantastic debt-busting tales to tell, but am in danger of drifting off the path a bit so thought I'd better check in to keep me focused.

I had a big spending day day yesterday - DD1s birthday today - & although it was mainly financed from the funds, there were a couple of unplanned extra costs. I also seem to have 'lost' a few pounds somewhere. Ok, I didnt exactly lose them, rather I gave them to the nice man on the till in return for some fab bright pink silicon bakeware . I still dont get how it works & why they dont just melt or dissolve in the oven so it's a bit of a scientific test really . DD has already made a large cake & some cupcakes too & the stuff really does work :j.

I almost wandered into that trance-like state when I just pick stuff up because it's pretty or nicely packaged or potentially useful & it took every bit of my willpower to put the teapot with the little black dog & painted pink spotty ribbon trim with matching milk jug down.

I also manged not to buy 3 lovely framed prints that would have looked fab in my kitchen & didnt even set foot in a clothes shop so that was reassuring.

I spent £29.04p in my favourite supermarket which brings my grocery & houshold spends to £99.13p. As long as I can keep it within £200 a month I'll be happy.

The Virgin Media bill has arrive & is a shocker at £ 62.89 :eek: I must not call abroad. Ever. That's over the amount I have budgeted for both the Virgin bundle & my mobile .

It's DDs birthday in a couple of weeks so I'll be spending quite a bit more money for that & then it should calm down again until christmas.

I need to reassess my budget & be very clear about just how giving up the home-job is going to impact on my life. Much as I really detest the side affects of the actual work, there is that small part of me that knows that it's easy money when I'm at home anyway due to having DD, & that maybe I should carry on with it for another 4 months until DD actually leaves junior school.

Doing the extra day a week at work-job would not earn me as much as doing 3 evenings at home-job unless I got a decent payrise. It would also cost me more in childcare. I also have to confess to being curious as to just how much I could save each month if I wasnt paying off the CC :think:.


Anyway, I've had a busy day doing chores & tomorrow we need to get more kitty food & visit some rellies so I'd better get to bed now.

Will update again when I've actually made some payments to the CC.

xx

Karmacat

You're right - you need to know that information to make choices that are best for you - hope you can get time to work out the sums and that its a clear choice for you.

Lula-Hula

Hi Karma,

great to have you back on the boards I must confess that I havent been keeping up with all the diaries though will try hard to fit it in soon. After this week there is one more manic home-job week with DDs birthday at the end & then normal service should resume.

As to keeping on with home-job a bit longer; I believe part of this current feeling is due to the onset of winter, meaning that I dont want to go anywhere after work. It's cold & dark we're indoors anyway, so why not earn some extra money.

Of course, come spring & summer when I am stuck inside rather than growing my own veg, riding bikes along the towpath or just enjoying pottering in the garden, I will feel bitter & resentful all over again.

I think the crux of the matter is that I dont really want to work 5 days a week at work-job on a permanent basis. I know that I will start to feel very claustrophobic & trapped & eventually resentful about that too. I will not be able to afford to only work 4 days a week there, without some extra income to pay for the treats & refurbs I like.

I have plenty of time to think about the right path to take so apologies if I do 'think out loud' about it for the next few months. Other points of view, & thoughts always welcome.

I'm still maintaining my calm & detached persona at work-job & it has been noted Grumpy has been magananimous with his offers of 'an amorous nature' :rotfl: but I am resisting with ease. Gropey is in good humour & has been very calm & Goblin has seemed to be ok for the last 2 weeks, but today did slip in a few snidey comments .

I'm not here to whinge though, I'm here to declare that I have paid another £200 off the Virgin CC :j

Total outstanding now is £3,300.

I'm off to update my sig & then heading to bed with a book - oh the excitement is palpable

Wol2

Lula-Hula wrote: »

I'm still maintaining my calm & detached persona at work-job & it has been noted Grumpy has been magananimous with his offers of 'an amorous nature' :rotfl: but I am resisting with ease. Gropey is in good humour & has been very calm & Goblin has seemed to be ok for the last 2 weeks, but today did slip in a few snidey comments .

I'm not here to whinge though, I'm here to declare that I have paid another £200 off the Virgin CC :j

Total outstanding now is £3,300.

I'm off to update my sig & then heading to bed with a book - oh the excitement is palpable

Go fantbidosi frugal female..... you go girlie :T:beer:
Ahem....Suck it Branson....:p:p:p .....:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:.

Hugs and wheeks from me and piggies (in slight absentia but honest miss.....we have been lurking )

xxxx

Karmacat

Sounds good to me, Lula - we need *somewhere* where we can think out loud.

Erm, Wol? 3am? Stop living a Simon and Garfunkel song! I know that was Wednesday morning, but same diff! Lots of hugs, to Lula and Wol both.

Shoe_Gal

Hi Lula

Just a quick 'hello', hope you are OK?