Carry on Questing

Lula-Hula

Glad to hear you're taking your safety seriously :T & a huge hooray for payday tomorrow :j.

I have to wait until friday but am quite excited as I should be getting my raise this month . Shame I wont get the overtime for working friday but I take that as being a lesson from my dear friend Karma about greed & only receiving what I need.

On the other hand, I've had plenty of home-job work this week & have been reflecting on 'The matter of the broken window'. The repair guy came round today to size & quote for replacing it. The total cost including vat will be £88 & I had to pay a £20 deposit so now only have £68 to pay.

With DD well again & back at school, I am totally calm, rational & able to see the situation for what it is; a freak accident that didnt cause any damage at all other than to the window & which I can afford to pay for without causing me any hardship at all. I get paid on friday & also have the slush fund which is there for exactly this type of event so I am not going to mention it to the neighbour. If he asks & then offers a contribution then I may accept a small amount towards the replacement but I am not going to go chasing him knowing full well that they are worse off than me & certainly dont go spending over £100 on boots or lingerie .

I actually feel quite embarassed about getting so uptight about it all & now just hope that my Karmic balance is restored & my reward will be for the window-fitter to be something a bit gorgeous ... it's been a while since anything of that description (with a pulse) was in my bedroom :rotfl:

Still on matters window; the window cleaner arrived today so it wasnt a NSD & then I rememberd that there was no bread for DD & I also needed a birthday card so the spends continued ... but I did get another £2 coin so only need another 2 & then I have another £20 to pay in to the bank.

I'm getting quite excited about payday as I can sweep more cash into the savings account & this weekend I am going to redo my budget & create a new snowball account & then I will update my signature with all the gory details of the never-decreasing debt _pale_ .

A gruesome day at work awaits me tomorrow followed by a visit from the gas safety inspector & the darling squealer donwstairs was in fine voice again at 5 this morning so I'm off to bed now

night night
xx

Souk08

Hi lady, night was fab and yippee for paydays. Spent a bit today though!

Lula-Hula

Hey peoples,

Not an NSD today as I had to send a card abroad & was then seduced by some strawberry pencil sweets.

However, it appears that Lula's Karmic Law is working perfectly .

Having made the decision to just pay for the window replacement myself, I was rewarded by 2 x £2 coins in home-job wages which means I was able to pay £20 in to my account :T.

Work was fine today, everything seems to be settling down although I've been asked to swap my day off from friday to thursday which means I dont have a friday off for two weeks now :eek: Could be just what I need though to get me out of the spending habit. It's also quite handy as it means I'll be here to do home-job as our week is shifted on a day due to the bank holiday.

I arrived home to discover a £5 Tatco clubcard voucher + some other money off & extra points vouchers so I need to work out how best to use them.

I also received a lovely cheque for £205.10p from the local council in respect of my council tax rebate :j. I wanted to run to post office to pay it in immediately but had to wait in for central heating engineer who arrived just before 5 but was gone by 20 past so I did manage to run & get the cheque in. Sounds silly but I was very keen as otherwise it would take ages due to the bank holiday. I confess to briefly considering paying it in to my secret Quidco drip fund account so I could naughtily use it for fun ... but then realised the council use the same bank as my current account one so it should clear quicker .

I am actually quite excited about getting back on the debt busting track again & my basic plan is to go all out for the next 8 weeks & see just how much I can clear with maximum effort. That takes me up to the last day of the school year & I then have a week off to chill out & enjoy a breather.

I now have to go to bed and spend some quality time with my tv, mags & bar of Green & Blacks ...

night night
xx

Lula-Hula

It's PAYDAY :j:dance::j

It felt grim going to work this morning but knowing I have 3 days off due to Bank holiday has helped. My bank account looks very healthy today but it's just a temporary situation until all the direct debits seep out next week .


We headed off to Tatco with my very strict list in my hot little hand. I will confess that I did pay the lovely car wash man £6 to clean my car while I shopped but am taking that out of my personal spending money so will just have to forfeit a bottle of wine & it's worth every penny. He did a fab job .

I bought £70 of stuff but thanks to a £9 voucher for spending over £60 & a £6 off voucher for spending over £30 on cleaning stuff, it only cost me £55 :T. The only food items were 4 jars of pasta sauce & some sweets for DD but we are truly stocked with all manner of household goodies, cleaning, laundry, toiletries, bathroom stuff ... we have it all .

The best bit is that I withdrew £200 in cash to last the month & have now put the £145 change in a separate purse so I will be able to see the wad getting thinner each time I shop & this WILL make me stay within budget. There is no other way for me to control my spending so this had better work.

I returned two of the school shirts I'd bought for DD & for some reason the refund couldnt go back on my debit card so it had to go on the Barclaycard instead, only £4 but it does help.

Decided to fuel up while were there & due to not whizzing about visiting family & chauffeuring etc the tank wasnt so empy & it only needed £37 worth, but I had a £5 clubcard voucher so it only cost me £32 :T.

I'm quite pleased with this start & tomorrow I'll do the Waitrose food shop for the week & will be very careful with my cash stash.

I have bids on ebay & when they end I'm going to stay away from that particular site for a bit.

The weather is due to be rubbish tomorrow so perfect for just pottering around at home doing chores, laundry, working on budgets or even painting bathrooms :whistle:.

Eeek, gotta go collect DD from her club,

bye for now
xx

Souk08

Enjoy lady. I have SUCH a tight budget after this weekend!!!!

Lula-Hula

Yo peeps,

I'm being a lazy lula today, just hangin about drinking coffee & cadburys highlights which is now my preferred method of chocolate ingestion .

I woke up just before 8 which was lovely & just knowing I didnt have to get up was a pleasure, but I did anyway & bunged a load of laundry on to wash.

DD crawled out of bed about 9.30 declaring that it was far too early to be up so I could go food shopping alone :j so I parked at Waitrose & just couldnt resist first popping in to the charity shop . I'm becoming a bit of regular there but like to use it as it is run for a local hospice & I like the idea of keeping it local rather than the huge national or even international ones that have so much more 'buying' power. I found a £1 Joanne Harris book that I've wanted to read for while now & also a fab Red Herring blue checked shirt style dress for DD in perfect condition for a mere £1.50 :T. She is delighted with it & put it on straight away before I could throw it in the washing machine :undecided.

Next stop was Waitrose where I spent £27.20 on groceries alone & received another £2 coin to go with the one from Tatco yesterday. great that I keep getting these £2 coins, but it does mean that I keep having to replace the value out of my personal spends or I'd be an extra £4 down on my grocery budget already .

So, this Definitely Determined to Destroy Debt budgeting could be tricky as already I only have £117.80p left & 25 days to go until next payday.

Sadly, I've already found great satisfaction in having a purse just for groceries & I'm sure it will make life easier.

The lovely postie delivered my fab ebay find; a pair of brand new Faith sandals that I confess cost me £25 but they are gorgeous; black leather knotted front bit with ankle strap on a 3" wedge heel, really light & so comfortable :heartpuls. As soon as they were unwrapped DD had them on :eek: & I had to threaten to cut her feet off to get them back :rotfl:. Every night I pray that her feet will either stop growing NOW or keep growing til the next size up so my shoedrobe will remain safe. I really will have to find a locking cupboard. At least since I got fatter my clothes are safe from DD1.

The white top I won also arrived but I dont like it at all so will pass straight on to charity shop & therefore avoid declaration.

Right, I'm off to do some more pottering & relaxing ...

bye for now
xx

Lula-Hula

Morning,

I'm all unsettled & consequently inactive this morning .

One load of washing waiting to go on the line & a whole home that needs to be hoovered, mopped, dusted, tidied, decluttered & generally cleaned.

DD has declared a pyjama day which means I should get loads done, I think I need ...

A list of things to do :

[STRIKE]
Hoover all floors - Done [/STRIKE]
[STRIKE] Wash all floors[/STRIKE] - Done
[STRIKE]De-dust & polish everywhere[/STRIKE] - Done
[STRIKE]Clean bathroom[/STRIKE] Done
[STRIKE]Clean kitchen[/STRIKE] Done
[STRIKE] Laundry[/STRIKE] - Done
[STRIKE]Declut[/STRIKE]tering - 1/2 way through ...

& Things NOT to do :

Pick up riveting book until all above chores complete
Eat carbs


Rather annoyingly some of my ebay bids dont end for a few days so I cant quite get a true picture of finances available for debt this month. I have however, already swept money into the savings account, the balances as follows :

Gas : £ 96
Electricity £182
Car Tax : £ 20
Car Maintenance £ 100
Presents £ 200
Slush £ 150

The cash savings are as follows :

DDs clubs & stuff £ 130
Trips & Treats £ 130

Some may say that I should use these savings to clear the Co Op CC, but that just wouldnt work for me, in the same way that using a debit card for my groceries doesnt. I need to keep these 2 tasks ( saving for future expenses & debt clearing) separate, both in my head & in practice.

It's taken a long time to get my head round the concept of saving up for things like bills, presents & car repairs & I now understand that I need to continue with that forever.

The debt busting is a separate & hopefully short term thing that when completed shouldnt need to be repeated.

Right, I'm off to hang the washing out & make a start on that nasty list, bye for now.

Lula-Hula

I've completed most of the chores on my list .

I am saving cleaning the kitchen & bathroom until tomorrow as I've wrenched my back with vigorous hoovering & mopping I also finally managed to bash the new whirly clothes line thing into the ground but gave up on the 2ft long spike as it's just too much effort.

I really want to finish planting out the bedding plants, but am too scared of doing further damage.

I've just realised that my current account looks over healthy due to having already forgotten that £100 in there is for DDs summer camp deposit :doh:

Tomorrow I need to clean the kitchen & bathroom & tackle the ironing.

I'm not looking forward to this week, my usual routine will be all over the place & having to work on friday will make next week end seem very short .

Must go prepare some food & then have a bath to try to relax my back.

Lula-Hula

Yep,

I could be debt free in a mere 30 weeks :j

I have done some calculating, shuffled some cash about & tidied up the CC balances.

Virgin = £3,800
Co Op = £ 800

I really would love to have it all cleared by the end of the year.

According to my calculator I will need to pay £154 _pale_ a week in order to achieve that.

30 weeks is really not a long time to scrimp & be frugal.

I also need to lose 20lbs.

Imagine, I could be slim & debt free in a mere 30 weeks .



* Heads off to hang out washing & think of ways to make this happen *

skint_spice

Sounds exciting Lula, 30 weeks isn't too long to batten down the hatches and get stuck in for... look forward to seeing your plans:D.