Carry on Questing

Lula-Hula

A very productive weekend here in Lulaville, all cleaning & tidying done, paperwork dealt with & accounts checked.

As we had planned to visit various relatives on sunday & I had the laundry mountain to tackle I opted not to go the allotment - 3rd week running . Still struggling with motivating myself to spend 3 hours on what feels like yet another chore at the moment, when I'm still not managing to get everything that needs to be done at home.

I have lost so many bids on dresses in the last few weeks that I got a bit naughty & resorted to upping a bid in the final minutes & now have a mere £00.86p left of my clothes allowance :eek:. Yes, I am very scared & still no nearer to actually selling anything on ebay :whistle:.

The Virgin CC minimum payment DD goes out this week & as soon as it does I will tidy up the balance.

I've booked my car in for a service & MOT next monday & just hope I dont have to resort to the Barclaycatd to pay for it.

We had to do a bit of grocery shopping at the weekned & I finally persuaded myself to count up all this month's receipts & was pleasantly surpised; the total spend so far is £183.78. Certainly not brilliant, but a lot less than I feared so I'm happy.

Work is a bit bleugh but I'm just focusing on getting through this week & looking forward to not having to go in next week :j

Souk08

Getting through the week sounds like a plan! X

Lula-Hula

Feeling very moany & whiny today so wont hang around for long.

Work is just yuk & even a snippet of gossip about Gropey & Goblin hasnt enthused me.

DD went out for a meal & cinema trip for a friends birthday celebration so I got on with home job & then finished the book I've been reading. It felt quite odd to be sitting down reading at 6 in the evening, but very enjoyable.

I had to pick DD up at 7.30 & so as not to ruin a NSD I parked in the street outside town centre & walked in as it's free street parking after 6pm.

Dad popped round this evening to drop off an electric sewing machine that someone was getting rid of so I need to get the local sewing machine shop to service it & see if it's still useable. It's set inot a table so has been stuffed in the junk corner for now with al the stuff like photos that still havent been dealt with.

Not sure if I mentioned it but I discovered that the local tip is now closed for refurbishment for the next 6 months :eek: That is not going to help my decluttering plans at all.

It's only recently dawned on me that I will only get paid my basic salary this month as I havent done any extra hours & more scarily; that I need to live on those wages until the end of August while on holiday from both jobs & with DD to entertain too ...

I'm off to come up with a plan
bye for now
xx

Souk08

I'm sure you will come up with a plan but any survey money to come in? Or what about the dreaded ebay?!

Lula-Hula

Souk08 wrote: »

I'm sure you will come up with a plan but any survey money to come in? Or what about the dreaded ebay?!

Hello Early Birdie,

Dont tell anyone :shhh: but one of my plans for my time off is to actually get to grips with loading up photos & to try out some selling :eek:. I've been scything through our wardrobes again & have added to the pile of stuff that's good enough to sell .

I have also just claimed £13 of surveys earnings & had them paid into my PayPal account so that I can at least fund future spends, as the amount left in my clothes challenge fund is actually less than I thought - a pitiful 35p :rotfl:.


Another of my time-off plans is to actually get around to updating the Clothes Challenge, it's been too long . The shame has made me all shy .

Work job = a whole lot better today knowing that I only have one more day to get through & that when I am in for the 3 weeks that DD is at camp, Gropey is off for 2 weeks :j.

I've not spent a single penny today inspite of our trip to the lovely dentist. Her payment machine wasnt working so I will have my check up fee added to the ahem ahem ahem £s I will be paying for the long-delayed semi cosmetic treatment I'm having next week.

So what with that, a service + mot & the new bike I've promised DD, next week could be rather shocking. Thankfully the bike will come out of presents fund & it's payday next friday.

I've earned enough from home-job this week to top up all the cash funds & will try very hard to save all extra cash towards the second hol in August.

DD has brought home an excellent end of year report :Athat makes me glow with pride so I've promised her another year of Club Penguin membership as a reward. She has also been to visit her new teacher & is delighted as she's her favourite & has already vowed to work really hard for her

I am absolutely shattered & am going to bed now so I can get through tomorrow with some degree of enthusiasm ...

bye for now
xx

Lula-Hula

Humph humph humph :mad:

Having spent the last 2 weeks reminding the Project Manager that I will be off next week so he needs to complete his stuff so that I can do my part ... he left it until 3 hours before I was due to finish today :mad::mad::mad:.

Needless to say I am seething & now have to go in tomorrow to try to finish off the most urgent stuff for next week. Project manager has tried to get his part of the whole 3 months project completed which is why he's been holding back on letting me do the first phase of my part. I think that's a very selfish attitude & not like the teamwork I was expecting from him. Live & learn.

Money wise things are on the move again; the direct debits have finally gone out including the Virgin CC minimum payment so I have topped that up to a nice tidy £100 payment, which brings the total balance on that down to £3,600.

Curiously, I have been rather affronted by the £4.23 interest charge on the Co Op CC. I dont know why, it just seems rather a lot for a paltry £200 balance & has really annoyed me so I plan to pay that off within the next week & then close it. I know its a casback card but I've only ever earned £6. odd from it & with a limit of £1200 it's not worthy of being an emergency card ... + it's a horrid yellow colour, & yellow so doesnt suit me . I really didnt like having to add money onto my snowball either. Cant wait til monday when I can 'tidy up' the total blance again. For now it is a very messy £3,804.23p Grrrrr

As far as the cash funds are concerend I have achieved my targt of £200 for the summer holidays trips & treats, I also have £100 in the childcare fund & £80 in DDs clubs & hobbies fund - which I need to keep going as alongside the PGA trip payments, she has asked to to learn a new instrument & I am keen for her to pursue another interest.

It's taken me many years to actually realise this & a whole 2 to see the benefits, but when everything is budgeted &/or saved up for, life really isnt so stressful & so many things seem achievable .

I know when I started out with budgeting for everything I felt really despondent & that it would never work, but a DFW (who I havent seen posting for ages) told me that it would take a year or more to see that it can work; so to just keep on going & his wise words have stayed with me so a big Thank You to EmbarassedAboutMyDebt :A.

As I didnt pay in to the bank savings funds on payday in June, I've been too scared to look at how much I owed them , but tonight finally plucked up the courage & it's not quite as bad as I expected. I was already a month ahead with the car tax so that's £10 not due, & the presents fund I actually covered as the birthday meal for my Dad cost £40 which would have been the monthly amount due.

So, in reality I only owe it £100 for Gas & Electricity savings, £30 for the slush fund & £20 for the car maintenance ... which is where it will all fall down . If I can get away with a small service & MOT for under £120 then I will have managed to wing it through.

Next year, I will be totally organised for the car as I will have had a whole year to save up for the maintenance - I only started in February so am a bit stretched.

I've also realised that I dont as yet have savngs fund for either dental treatment or the car insurance. That's due in November so I'm already thinking ahead & proposing to pay it on the Virgin 0% CC if I havent managed to save the cash ( remembering I have both DDs birthdays, 2 PGI payments, 2 clubs & possiby 1 term of music lessons to pay for before November :eek:)& then start the fund for the next year's from then on.

I also have to keep reminding myself that it is imperative to be DF by end of March 2011 AT THE VERY VERY LATEST as I'm falsely wealthy this year due to not having to make any Council Tax payments & also that VAT is rising to 20% next year & I want to cut down the home job hours too.

I had a bid on a skirt that ended today, my maximum was £8 & it ended up at £14.50 & although I was really tempted to up my bid; for some reason I suddenly didnt want to have to use the £13 in my PayPal account when that's all I have standing between me & nudity for the next 5 months :rotfl:.

Got to go to bed now, the relaxing Gordon I had last night meant I really struggled to get up this morning

night night
xx

Lula-Hula

Yippeeeeeee yi yay yay yay :j

I'm on my holiday ay ay as of today ay ay

Whizzed into work to get all my tasks done - atmosphere strained to say the least - Bosses not talking & both want eachother to sell out of the business. In the day to day running of things I'm on Team Grumpy as he's very laid back & rarely throws his toys out of the pram. However, in the long term I may have to switch allegiance to Team Gropey as he at least is keen to make money, progress the company & hired me in the first place.

Had a chat with the Goblin who has admitted that she's now just fed up with both of them & the entire place . She also says that things have never got as bad as they are now but does admit that Project Stress has played a large part in wearing down everyones enthusiasm & ability to work together. this has made me feel somewhat better about her moodiness as I dont think i'ts all down to me.

Yesterday, I had a conversation with Grumpy & expressed just how much I dreaded going in everyday & how the atmosphere was affecting everyone so they need to sort it out asap please.

No more shop talk ...

I got home about 2 minutes before DD & was excited to see that my ebay win had arrived. A gorgeous Monsoon spotty tea dress that fits perfectly apart from the sleeves which were a bit tight ... 5 minutes & a needle & thread later, I moved the button an inch & they are now fine . A fab dress in perfect condition for £11 which matches my gorgeous 'better than chocolate' sky-wedges = a very happy Lula.

While wandering about on Quidco I came across a bike sale & after confirming with DD that she likes it I have now ordered a new bike for her for a mere £95.94 including delivery, which will be on monday . A truly bargainous find as it was previously priced at £240 & also have great reviews with 100% of customer recommending it. I transferred the cash form my savings account & have paid for it immediately.

Next step was Amazon to find the CDs my sister would like for her birthday; found them both & with the E voucher I collected the other day & delivery, they only cost me £6.83

I'm off to empty DDs school bag now

ZTD

Lula-Hula wrote: »

Curiously, I have been rather affronted by the £4.23 interest charge on the Co Op CC. I dont know why, it just seems rather a lot for a paltry £200 balance & has really annoyed me so I plan to pay that off within the next week & then close it. I know its a casback card but I've only ever earned £6. odd from it & with a limit of £1200 it's not worthy of being an emergency card ... + it's a horrid yellow colour, & yellow so doesnt suit me .

I always think that an emergency credit card should be brown, just to remind you not to spend on them unless "brown alert" has been declared...

Lula-Hula

Aaaah the return of the Prodigal ^^^

Best not to get me started on colour co ordinating my CCs to match my outfits :eek: ... I seem to remember that's how Capital One first attracted me ... it was either pigs, smarties or dolphins

Shoe_Gal

Lula-Hula wrote: »

Aaaah the return of the Prodigal ^^^

Best not to get me started on colour co ordinating my CCs to match my outfits :eek: ... I seem to remember that's how Capital One first attracted me ... it was either pigs, smarties or dolphins

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: