NTBY's sensible living and debt busting adventure

Nottoobadyet

Thanks for popping in, Brizzle! Coriander is a great idea, though sometimes the squash that you get in the UK are soooo good that I don't put anything except a bit broth in and just let the taste shine through!

Will think about the £2 challenges, though I find that if I have a few quid left in change they tend to stay there, but if its empty I go straight to the ATM to pull out more cash to burn a hole in my pocket :-)

TheLightFantastic

Nottoobadyet wrote: »

Good news - learned yesterday that I got a pay raise at work!.

Oh joy! Oh rapture!:j

Am really pleased for you!! Hope you are well and enjoying life. Am going to look up your thread on the work lunches. Well done for starting it up!:A

Nottoobadyet

Back after a long absence! Things have been going alright - OH's surgery went well and most of that trip (minus a about £30 and flights) were paid for by the money I had discovered in the old shekels bank account. At the end of January I was even able to put £50 that was left into the ISA, so with my increased monthly DD there is hope! :rotfl: The lunch challenge is also saving me a bundle and getting me to try new things - I made some fab leek and potato soup last night which was cheep as you'd like, yummy and will last for several meals.

If you can beleive its taken this long, I've finally written a proper monthly budget and hopefully that will help keep me in check. I have a visit upcoming from my mum and a weekend up in York this month, but hopefully it being a short month will mean that there will be a bit left at the end to throw at debt!

Im having a great time planning out fun and free / cheap things to do with my mum when she's here, and I've asked her to stay in london rather than the previous plan of going out to the eden project (with all the petrol / car rental / B and B costs that would come with that). So far I've planned the sunday - with strolls in east london's markets (flower market, spittalfields and petticoat lane or the UPmarket) in the morning, then down to brick lane for some inidian food (which she loves), then over to the Whitechapel gallery for some free art, followed by the free organ concert at St Pauls. If we arent too pooped after that, we could cross the bridge to the southbank and see a film at BFI. So a brilliant London Sunday, where we only need to pay for lunch and possibly a film! Now just Saturday and Monday to plan....

Nottoobadyet

Ok so poll for my lovely readers! Any of you left? :rotfl:

I got a £25 gift certificate from John Lewis from work, for suggesting the winning name (by popular vote) for our new team room. Do I spend it on:

1. yarn, as I need to finish a scarf for my mum. I do have loads of yarn, but not in the matching colour of course. This would only be about £5, assuming I dont give in to temptation.
2. Something for the kitchen - though I really am out of kitchen counter space so the things I want (slow cooker, bread maker...) may need to wait for a bigger flat.
3. Makeup. I dont own any at all and know nothing about it so maybe I can go to one of their stalls in the lobby and have someone teach me? dont know how far £25 will go though....
4. Something else?

Answers on a post card please :-P

Nottoobadyet

Just spent £54 on theater tickets for when my mum comes to visit this weekend:eek:. Far more than I usually pay for theater (£5 is usually enough to get me through the evening!) but she really wanted to see "Gandalf" in Waiting for Godot, so off to the west end we go...

Nottoobadyet

Had a lovely weekend - though generally we dont do V day, OH made a lovely brunch for me yesterday (awww) and we went to check out a new (for us!) pub in the evening for a pint.

I also went running, having forgotten how out of shape I am after the winter and am now very sore indeed! Im wondering if I could start running to work, just not sure how I would carry things, surely no one runs with a big backpack with laptop and spare clothes? Suggestions, anyone?

Swinstie73

Hi NTBY, sorry not been on for a while, got so many diaries that I read and try and post on. What did you end up spending your voucher on? Has your mum visited yet or has that weekend still to come?

Nottoobadyet

Mum arrives on Friday! And if its not !!!!ing down at lunch time I'll run to John Lewis and spend the first £3 or so on yarn to finish a present for her (twirly scarf, wheee!). Suggestions for the last £22 still welcome... presuming they dont have any fab yarn on sale which eats it.

Nottoobadyet

So it turns out that when you pay with a gift card in store, they just give you the change in cash! Amazing! I bought £3 worth of yarn and got £22 back! Thats awesome!

Its a testament to my new MSE ways - in my old life I would have popped it in my pocket and seen it dissapear without a trace. Instead, I'll be putting it towards the weekend with mum budget and transfering £20 to my ISA.

Da dum!

Nottoobadyet

Working at home today, which gave me some time to make another vat of potato and leek soup. Im substituting nights out for nights in, and two friends are coming by for dinner tonight. They're even bringing salad, Im just offering rissotto and any remaining wine that that hasnt been put in the food!

Had lots of NSDs this month, I didnt keep track but I've been doing really well. Writing down everything in my budget has been helping, hopefully this tool can keep me in line!

I keep re-snowballing my debt, and I think I can realisticaly see a DFD (for me, not OH) in December. However, thats with my monthly DDs staying at £700, and saving an average of another £50 p/m. Its also assuming that my entire bonus is eaten by my visa renewal, so theres a possibility that there might be some of that left, but Im not putting money on it!