Getting out of my comfort zone

savingholmes

well done on finishing one of the loans

good luck with job hunting

make sure you make time for friends and fun too

gilligansyle

Note to self - keep on track!

Monday busy day in work, didn't get in until 9pm, so NSD. Did tax return online, don't think there will be a tax bill as part time wages, which are classed as SE aren't about threshold.
Tuesday - received overpayment cheque from previous lender £108 so will PaD some of that when I get it. Will save some too and may treat myself. Friend came for tea and managed to cook something spectacular out of 2 chicken breasts, some old carrots and some whoopsie mushrooms. Really nice chasseur type thing. Also did tarte tatin out of apples that had gone a bit soft.
Funny thing, shows how little people notice. I made a comment about doing the dishes and friend said leave them till morning.and offered to load dishwasher......what dishwasher???? There's just about room in my kitchen for a cooker and a fridge. I have known her for all the time I've lived in this house and she always thought I had one.
Today have got to wait in for virginmedia to look at box. It keeps freezing and the only way to fix it is switch it off and back on. At least 10 times a day for the last week.

Money stuff
£18 in purse, mainly spent on whoopsie buys and veg, and still haven't put petrol in car. Get paid tomorrow so will do then.
Spent £50 on almost new sat nav but offset this with money DS put in account to cover extra fuel etc.
If I was still working would have got paid this weekend so will transfer DD money from savings to current account.

HM soup and bread for lunch

savingholmes

Glad your friend cooked for you - sounds yummy!

gilligansyle

Haven't updated in ages.


Have hardly done any shopping, just bread and milk, chopped pork for DS packed lunch. Living out of freezer. Still have 4 curries and a couple of chilli's. Have made soup and bread so have been using that. Also by looking on Frugal Challenge have realised what I can do with left overs.
Wages last week were v. good so have SAVED £30 - not in the bank but put it in a bank bag for emergencies.

Money stuff:-
Its payday tomorrow and still have £45 in my purse - petrol in car and gas and electric in meters.
All DD's are paid except 2 - so need £40 for them, leaves £150 in account (potentially)
Mum has paid me £0 towards the £300 she borrowed at Christmas. Again, that is going in a separate 'pot'.

Have dug out my Nan's old sewing machine and am looking to sort out the stack of curtains I've got stashed and see which ones can be used. The rest can go to charity shop.
Agency have an interview for me tomorrow, in Birmingham, but potentially the money is good enough to make the commute worth it.

savingholmes

Hi Gill - it looks like you are doing really really well - emergency money in January - well done you

gilligansyle

savingholmes wrote: »

Hi Gill - it looks like you are doing really really well - emergency money in January - well done you

It's scary what you can do when you have to!

Today was yet another NSD. These are getting to be a good habit. DS is undecided about what he wants to eat. Its his first night off for ages and his body clock is all out of sync. There's plenty in the freezer, but if he doesn't make his mind up soon he's getting beans on toast if he wants anything else he can do it himself.

savingholmes

I would just give him beans on toast.

We had pancakes for tea... not bad for 10p plus egg!

About to have porridge - as had no breakfast LOL

I know what you mean about doing what you have to when needs require

gilligansyle

Right todays stuff:-

Nothing definite on the job front, potentially a few things, but they are all project management jobs and are all just in the pipeline.

It's freezing here at the moment as DS and friend are draining the central heating to fix the valves. That means the front door has been open all day. On the plus side its cost me the £45 for the valves plus feeding them both, so a couple of bacon butties, cups of tea and a a pizza is a small price to pay compared to plumbers call out charges.

Money stuff
Left over from last week £20 note + £18 in change - £20 added to emergency pot.
Managed to do shopping for £19.96 - £11.50 in Mr M - got some of the 30p essentials, (and £4 of that was Coca cola for DS which he's paid me back for) £5.50 in Iceland and the rest in the butchers. So still have £20 of grocery money left plus what was left from last week.

gilligansyle

savingholmes wrote: »

I would just give him beans on toast.

We had pancakes for tea... not bad for 10p plus egg!

About to have porridge - as had no breakfast LOL

I know what you mean about doing what you have to when needs require

Thing is, he LOVES beans on toast - would it it all day every day if he could.

10p plus egg, does that mean it was a mix?

If someone had told me a year ago that I could survive on what I do now I would have laughed. Just hope I can keep these habits up when I get a job.

savingholmes

You are doing amazingly well! Yes the 10p plus egg was a smartprice Asda pancake mix - makes around 4-6 pancakes something like that. I've been using my very non-stick wok and it makes fab pancakes...!

Your diary has influenced me to try and cut back my food spend! As a family we are going to try and reduce spend on snacks and where we have 1 large meal try to enforce cheap third meal (breakfast is already cheap)

Today We had chicken kievs for dinner £2 for 4 from Asda with chips and peas for dinner. For breakfast - porridge (smartprice oats 59p for around 1kg) and soup 40p each or noodles 10p each . Not bad!