Russell's 'New Leaf' Spend Less, Make Money, Pay off Debts Diary

rustysmart

Back from another £10 night away in Reading at the Millennium Hotel - very nice. In fact we have booked it again for 21st Dec as a mini Xmas break. That will be the third time of going this year and all for £10 a night!

Used the TasteCard whilst there (used to be called Taste London - found it on MSE) and got 50% of at Strada - lovely meal which I can highly recommend and the staff were lovely too.

All in all a great moneysaving weekend!!

rustysmart

Oops, I appear to have spent double my weekly budget in just 4 days. Let's hope the rest of the week is a little quieter. In fact, let's hope that next week is a quiet one too!!

On a slightly more positive note, I have transferred a bit of money from one savings account to another today. I've decided that the savings account I sometimes use to 'dip into' at the end of a busy month only needs a max. of £150 so I have transferred the extra (£200) to my ISA which has a higher interest rate. Hardly rocket science, but felt good to do it!!

rustysmart

Using a spreadsheet to manage budgets: useful if not a little geeky,

Mistyping an amount at the start of the month and then finding you are £5 better off a week later: PRICELESS!!

rustysmart

Enjoyed a lovely night out at the cinema. Cleaning day tomorrow though the joys of half term!!

rustysmart

In on a Friday night (although out tomorrow night). May start next month's spreadsheet a little early - that'll be next month as in 23rd Nov to 22nd Dec, may be a little early!!

rustysmart

November is not going to be a pretty month! Today marks 'new weekly budget' however judging by last week's extravagances I do not have any money 'in the budget' for the next two weeks! How can one person spend over £90 in a week and have nothing to show for it?

Going to need petrol next week but not much else, let's see how I can scrape through the week!!

rustysmart

Things are looking up, a little! Got £75 cashback ready to be released om Tuesday which should help the budget. Gonna put it into my instant access savings though and see if I can avoid spending it - certainly will be a challenge! Here goes!!

rustysmart

A quick little flutter on Sun Bingo (£10 cashback for playing £10) and I've just transferred £12 to my account. £2 up isn't much I know for the bingo, but that's £12 up if you include the cashback!

rustysmart

Back on the Quidco again - oops!! £10 sports bet and you get £10 free bet along with £25 cashback. Doing the sums, that means even if my bets lose then I'm £15 up - can't be bad!! Will update (if I win) later. If there is no update tonight then you know I haven't won

rustysmart

Oh dear, lost one bet. Let's see how my freebet goes....