Carry on Questing

Lula-Hula

Hey guys,

Shoe Gal - ciabatta is one of my favourites :drool:, not sure what exactly it is that's not agreeing with me but something is making me feel very bloated & I really hope it isnt bread

Monday all over & done with now :j I really dont enjoy them much at the moment; have had a sneaking suspicion for some time that one of my Boss's who will now be referred to as Grumpy ( he is) is not impressed with me. There's been a fair bit of banter between us since I started there & he is the one who has always moaned that I dont work fridays. He was on leave while other Boss - who will now be referred to as Gropey (always giving 'reassuring' hugs :think:) interviewed & hired me & I think this has always rankled him.

Grumpy is renowned for hating paperwork, dealing with clients & using the job logging system. He passes as much as he can on to me. There have been a few occasions when jobs I am 100% sure have been processed, then 'disappear'. There was also the mysterious case of the job repeated twice under the same job number :huh:. Every time something like this occurs I am held to blame for not concentrating or misunderstanding requests.

When I f*** up, I admit to it; as in the case of a missing order previously, but I now suspect that I am 'being made' to look really incompetent & incapable of doing the job :mad:.

This really annoys me, & a chat with Gropey today revealed that this had been the case with every other woman who had done my job. He said that 6 months was the longest anyone had lasted :eek:.

I think I just heard a gauntlet being thrown down ... the old grouch with 30 years experience & lavish lifestyle vs. the woman on a budget, a mission to clear her debts & in the second year of the clothes challenge who is still resisting the lure of Faith boots .

Bring it on, we'll see who cracks first


Moving on ...

I have just completed my 15th NSD of the month so have reached target :j

Tonight's culinary delight was a quorn tikka masala with the last of the rice, followed by the last spotty banana & a flapjack for DD & the dregs of the yoghurt for me.

I've been scouring the cake book for recipes that only require one egg & finally hit upon rock cakes . Tomorrow I will be using some of that 97p to buy some raisins or sultanas. There is a cunning reason for this extravagance; we've decided that tomorrow will be fishcake day :eek: & DD is not looking forward to it so I need to bribe her into eating them. :whistle:

The good thing is that her absolute horror of tuna, mackerel or salmon has brought forth a confession/pleabargain that she will "eat any white fish" . I am not the sort of mother to let a remark like that go unnoticed & 'unrewarded' . Wholemeal bread was the success story of last year, & this year will be the year of the fish :rotfl:

The apples in the fridge are now beyond botox & require surgery to make them edible, plan for wednesday is to transform them into a very small crumble & smother them in one of the packets of custard mix I found in the cupboard. I also found a bottle of vanilla essence dated 2005, but we dont need to dwell on that .

Havent had much home-job work but really dont care as it's pay day on friday & I'm not going to be at work :j

I still havent updated a certain challenge & really need to do that tomorrow.

I have a good book on the go & it's cold so I'm off to bed now, ready to do battle tomorrow,

night night
xx

Lula-Hula

This might interest some of you fabulous lovelies :
http://robinhoodtax.org.uk/

Lula-Hula

I'm very disappointed tonight as I haven't managed to stay within the 97p budget :mad:

The mixed fruit for the rock cakes came to £1.38p & that was the cheapest of similar products in the shop, so in order to use up the egg & keep DDs energy up I have a 41p deficit.

The rock cakes are delicious we are so over hobnobs & flapjacks now & as DD pointed out, she can actually take some of the dried fruit into school for lunches as well.

We made them straight after school & while they were cooling we had the dreaded fishcakes _pale_ To be honest I'm not a fan of salmon unless its smoked so have promised not to buy them again. DD managed to eat half of hers but has promised to eat any white fish I give her now .

My shopping list for payday is growing daily & I am dreading what it will cost, was hoping to reduce it to £130 this month. I plan to do a big Waitrose shop for all the essentials like pasta, tins, sauces, spices & frozen stuff & then stick to the plan of popping in to the co op for reduced items. Thankfully I hardly need any houshold items but do need more cat food as he point blank refuses to eat anything other than the brand he had when he first came. He has now started using his door as a two way system though ... after sitting at the top of the stairs & looking balefully at us for about an hour and a half :rotfl:

Hardly any homejob work today & Grumpy was busy in meetings all day & just left me to get on with what I was doing

I've already reached £10 of vouchers with one survey site this year, & am about to achieve the same with another . I'm not claiming any yet though as if I store them in Amazon or HMV then I'll just spend them on books or something .

Hmmm, that reminds me, I havent visited the Faith website today to see if those boots are half price yet - ever the optimist

Lula-Hula

Optmism pays off
The boots are now reduced to £70 ... do I buy now & secure them, although potentially facing the wrath of sarahb or do I wait another week or 2 in the hope that they will be reduced further and still have them in my size ?

Agh, hate money decision like this, life was so much simpler when I just used to buy on impulse & not even think about paying

Bowski_1011

WAIT!!!!!!!!!

Think of home job (yuk!), think of being debt free (yay), think of anything other than spending 70 flippin pound on pair of boots!! You're doing too well, stay strong!!

Plus... you're inspirational to others :A if you go buy them that will give sarahb a good excuse to go buy the bedding she desperately needs. Do you agree?

Oh by the way... I think you should wait

Lula-Hula

Oy Bowski - take your sensible thoughts & get off my thread :D

Just kidding, I know you're right really See, I forgot all about home job, I need constant surveillance .


Thank you :A

PS - Is it very wrong that the thought of stopping sarah from buying bedding is more motivational than paying off my debt

Wol2

:eek::eek::eek:....Oh no......:eek::eek::eek::eek:.....

Wol rushes out of lurkdom.......and gently lifts Lula's hand of the mouse.

..Step away from the "Add to cart" button please my dear...:D. It'll be summer soon, and far too hot to wear boots :cool:

Phew

(Sorry sarahb )


xxx

Lula-Hula

Woohoo it's wednesday which means that hideous homejob is over until monday :j

Before we go any further I should warn you that I have had a rubbish day at work job, didnt finish homejob until 9.30 & too make it all better I am drinking gin & not just Gordon either, but the serious Sloe stuff that tastes like heaven & tonic & is also pink

Grumpy was in fine form today - to the extent that I gave him my lunch time rock cake with the words - " Here you go, this will keep your mouth busy for a few minutes" Not a great way to talk to the boss but I just dont do submissive & he has given me so much grief that other employees have now noticed it.

I do enjoy the job & however much he moans, rants & raves at me I learn new stuff every day & will continue to do so; just the pc stuff I've learnt already is invaluable. I've always been a bit too feisty for my own good & realise that this is what he's trying to expose so I need to stay very calm & just deal with whatever gets thrown at me.

Hey ho.

It's been NSD 16 today & quorn spaghtetti bolognese for our evening meal which is one of DDs favourites so she was very happy . In the fridge is some milk, mayonnaise, small ration of buttery stuff, similar amount of cheese & apple juice . Tomorrow's meal will be chicken breast with mushroom sauce & veg. No rice left, but we could have pasta to bulk it up.

I'm now not even that bothered about going clothes shopping on pay day :eek: I'm actually more excited about being be able to do a food shop & fill the car up with petrol. What have you all done to me :rotfl:

I've also done another 2 surveys tonight so need to check my balance again.

Need to go to bed now, so tired & although dreading work in some ways, also looking forward to seeing what Grumpy throws at me tomorrow & have the joy of knowing that I can home home, cook a meal, & chill out with DD

Night night & thank you all for your support :A

xx

niccatw

Hey Lula... still only half way through your diary (I'm a slow reader ) But I'm getting there... I have also managed to glean enough scraps to understand why boots and shoes aren't included in the clothes challenge ;D

Well done on making it into Martin's weekly newsletter too Yay!

I might catch up with your diary one day soon

Lula-Hula

Well, tonight has not gone according to plan :doh:.

The plan was that I bounce in here all full of tales of not spending any money on clothes, buying remarkably cheap boots & having paid shed loads off Barclaycard ...

There has been a slight deviation from this brilliant plan.

Payday today :j My first move was to transfer £230 into the Fund Savings account : -

£50 for Gas - total now £100,
£50 for Electricity - total now £100.
£10 for Car Tax - total now £100,
£20 for Car Maintenance - total now £40
£40 for presents - total now £80
£60 for Slush Fund - total £60

Still have cash funds for DD, Trips n Treats & Clothes

So, all gone according to plan there & I now have some healthy looking savings towards future bills

Head into town to meet DD1 with my £10 for clothes in my hot little hand.

First stop is Faith to try on the boots, but it turns out that sarah b has rung every branch & told them to remove all size 4s in that style from the shelves :rotfl:I try a 5 & they are very comfy boots, but still too much money. I discover that the ones I paid £120 for are now £36 :mad::mad::mad:. I'm unable to prevent DD1 from buying a pair in a size smaller than she takes, so will just wait & see how long it takes her to moan about them being too tight :whistle:.

I try to exchange DDs school shoes but discover that particualr style has been recalled as so many have the same fault - ie strap coming off. I get a credit note & will have to return with DD tomorrow .

We head to Primarni. I stop to pick up dropped coins for elderly man & then a few minutes later leave DD1 in Primarni as I decide it's full of cheap nasty tat & I'd actually rather not spend any money in there . I head to TK Maxx & get a book for DDs friend's birthday, & then find afab pair of knee length boots in black soft leather for a mere £20 :j. I decide that this is Karmic Return & that sarahb cant possibly be cross at me for spending £20, especially as I didnt buy any clothes .

Have a coffee with DD1 & then head off to Waitrose in delight & anticipation of having food to put in my newly defrosted & cleaned fridge/freezer. I stock up on pasta & tins & buy a few bargains, giant blocks of cheese, half price buttery stuff etc & get a few offers on things like quorn, frubes ets that we use regularly. Total spend in there is £66.15 & no, I didnt forget to buy some white fishcakes .

Get all shopping put away, then collect DD & Bessfrined from school, feed them & take to activity. Come home, have a bath & revel in secretly wearing pyjamas under tracksuit to go & collect DD .

Get her settled in bed & then head off to internet banking world to update spends etc.

Check Barclaycard account & discover that £50 has gone adrift, I thought I made a payment on sunday night :think:.

Check bank again & realise that no payment went to Barclaycard on monday :undecided.

Decide I must have miscalculated so decide to pay another £150 to make up for it.

Check snowball accounts & discover that on sunday night I recorded a £50 payment to Barclaycard on both snowballs, I am now slightly concerned for my sanity so check here & am reassured that I also recorded that payment here. Just how much did I drink on sunday ?

Go back to internet banking & trawl through the recent transactions again. No, definitely no £50 payment to Barclaycard on sunday :huh:.

There was however, a £50 payment made to Capital One :eek::o:eek:.

Panic stations : grab the phone, attempt to call in an airstrike on Capital One but instead speak to lovely lovely Rab at the co operative :grinheart who does tell me that while perhaps it's not the cleverest thing to do with £50 :doh:, that as the account is now closed, then it should bounce straight back into my account on monday :T:j:D.

The moral of that story is to always delete any payment beneficiaries from the list of bills to pay as soon as the account is closed. It may also be advisable to be stone cold sober when doing any internet transactions.

Anyway, thanks to my confusion & panic the Barclaycard is now at £3,900 which makes me happy. Not sure what the total outsanding debt is but am pretty sure it's now under £5,000 .

As well as being donut of the year, I have also done 2 of the washloads for the weekend & have only one more to do. Tomorrow we head to town early, will then stop off at the library on the way home & spend the rest of the day doing chores. Sunday the weather is due to be vile so will do some baking & then visit my grandmother.

I am exhausted, so going to bed now

night night

xx