Floozie does Frugal 2010

missylaney

Welcome back Floozie. Come and sit next to me on the wagon and show me what you've bought

Intergalactic_Floozie

Right - have been doing all of my banking, which has really confused me, so as usual it could change dramatically over the next week or so whilst I wait for things to debit that I haven't noted (I can see Cubs subs and footy subs haven't debited yet). I hope it's not too awful because I now have no money to save myself with. Due to the fact I am a wee bit confused I have not actually paid the large amount off to the CC just yet, and then whatever is leftover on the day before payday is what I will send to Tesco, so my balance in current account is unusually large!

I actually had a letter from Tesco CC informing me that they would be putting my APR up from 14.9% to 18.9% which I think is rotten of them, so I will be glad to pay that off. I'm thinking that the balance could well be around £1900. ANother debt I had (now paid off) was £35.25 to Next Directory.

Days to payday: 19
Money in bank: £1790.33 (but £80 of this is DH's)
Money in Purse: £26.65
Grand Total: £1736.98 (with DH's £80 deducted)

Grocery Budget: £182.40
Petrol Budget: £82.50
Entertainment Budget: £60.00 (wedding on 8th May)
Money leftover for debt repayments: £1412.08

I think I really confused myself having so many savings accounts and purses for different things, so I am keeping it simple this time and just having a bills account and a spends account.

I know for a fact that DH is going to spend his remaining £80 in record time because he wasn't very pleased about my shopping spree yesterday, so I will just have to take it on the chin.

He is in line for a payrise though, he's asked his boss, and his boss has said yes in theory so he's going to be making an offer sometime soon. No idea how much it will be but £1k after tax per year, is worth £55 extra in real money each month so it's all welcome.

I'm possibly being seconded to another department for six months (it's meant to start 5th May but no one has told me anything about it yet so it's not definite). If so, this could save me quite a bit of money as I will be able to walk (or get a lift from DH) so I wont have to pay £57 bus pass money, and as it's not in the centre of town I shouldn't have any temptation to impulse buy. But - like I said - nothing has been confirmed yet. I'm not too bothered if I don't go, but the above are the positives as far as I am concerned.

I've also had a 30p per hour increment, which works out around £28 per month extra. I got a wee bit of overtime in my last wage so I am not entirely sure how much extra.

Have made two loan payments now, so 58 left to go.

Mortgage discounted fixed rate period has now finished and mortgage will go up just short of £25. I did ring them a few months ago, and they did have a 2 year fixed rate deal at around 2.5%, so I don't know whether to ring them and take them up on it, meaning I know what the payments will be, or whether to just continue tracking the base rate, and then fix (at an obviously higher rate) once the BOE base rate goes up? Any thoughts? I know it's a gamble but surely as the base rate has been 0.5% for 13 months now, they must be due to go up soon?

I'm glad to be back on the wagon! Feel a lot calmer already and in control. Loadsa overtime due next payday also!

Intergalactic_Floozie

Days to payday: 17
Money in bank: £1566.38
Money in Purse: £25.30
Grand Total: £1591.68

Spends: (gulp) - this is what has come out of my account during my mad spending spree.

+ £29.00 (returned some stuff to New Look)
£80.00 - made DH take out his cash to stop confusing me.
£17.22 - Morrisons
£32.00 (Dorothy Perkins - gladiator sandals and some vest tops)
£20.00 (Select - some more vest tops and a nice summer top)
£103.73 (Morrisons - included some postage stamps)
£3.30 - tea fund (wont have to pay this after this week)
£1.00 - Oldest DS (drink at football)

Grocery Budget: £83.59 (yeah, right)
Petrol Budget: £82.50
Entertainment Budget: £60.00 (wedding on 8th May)
Money leftover for debt repayments: £1365.59

Still no news on DH's payrise.

I'm really going to have to get my act together and get myself down the freeer discount shop on a Saturday once again as I am appalled at this week's shopping being £98+ (£5 of which was 2 x tubs of Ben & Jerry's nomnomnom)

Had an e-mail yesterday to say secondment is going ahead as of next Wednesday. I don't really want to go but I am going to see it as six months away from spending temptation and perhaps even kick loss my weight loss / healthy eating? (I actually have a bit of a phobia about eating in front of people I dont know very well).

Also need to start decluttering again (never kept up to that)

moo2moo

Just how many vest tops does a gal need? I haven't dared wear them since almost popping out on my boss last year. I do far too much bending over to make them suitable for work.

maman

You're doing really well floozie and sounding really positive, well done. Perhaps you could start taking a walk in your lunchbreak (in the opposite direction to shops of course!) and having a healthy snack(HM) when you're out .

Intergalactic_Floozie

I do wear vest tops a lot, mainly under things. They're in an array of colours so I now have several different looks all for less than £20.....and wont need to buy any more til Doomsday.

Maman - more walking in my lunch hour. So that'd be 1.5m to work, 1.5m back home and whatever I can fit in at lunchtime - I'm going to be well slim!

sparkleisshopping

Well done on getting back on the wagon Floozie I'd fallen off a bit along the way but I'm gonna give it another try too. I seem to have spent all mine on camping equipment rather than clothes but hey, at least it'll come in useful and most of it was needed.

Intergalactic_Floozie

Gawd, I need to start this diary again dont I?!

I'm terribly excited because I have bought a chest freezer today. Only a smallish one (2 cubic foot) but I didn't have to pay delivery as it fit on the back seat, so it was £110. So, I'll be able to go to Farmfoods once a month and stock up on frozen goodies and not have to worry about being able to fit stuff in.

Also ended up taking out a new contract for DS1 whilst his old phone is still under contract until August. 3 weren't playing ball (currently paying £12 for 200 minutes and 50 texts) and I wanted to swap him onto a price plan for less talktime and more texts but they were having none of it. £19 was cheapest upgrade they were prepared to do over two years. In the end I went online through a store and got £15 per month for 18 months, 100 minutes, unlimited texts and internet etc..along with free insurance for three months (need to remember to cancel it in August). However it means we are still paying the £12 to 3 for the next three months.

Started new job a couple of weeks ago and I am a bit bored as things haven't got started. Also I am not walking to work, as I get dropped off on the school run by DH, but I am mostly walking home (1.6 miles). Only re-started my diet this Thursday so haven't lost any weight yet. Good thing is there are lots of little grocers shops on the way home where veg is considerably cheaper. I got a pepper and onion for 52p other day whereas it would have been double in Morrisons. Also no sandwich shops nearby so am having to take my own lunch in.

DH got a £2k payrise which works out at £110 per month extra, and will be paid in his end of June pay packet.

Got Mortgage letter, it has gone up to £386 which is £25 more than currently paying. Am still toying with idea of switching to fixed rate. Am slightly put off by reports I read that say interest rates are likely to stay low for a few more months at least.

Havent paid off the money off the CCs like I was going to do (dont shout at me). I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It's still sat in my account though. I want to wait a few months to see what the end of this review I am carrying out brings as a recurring theme seems to be our department is too big and needs slimming down.

Days to payday: 32 (and a five week month to boot)
Groceries: £350 (hope not to spend this much but it is a 5 weekend month)
Petrol: £130
Everything else: £336.73 (got some overtime, so a couple of hundred quid more this month).

nice talking to you again.

emmie26

well its been a while but nice to see you back, we had two contracts going for a while earlier this year because we wanted a free ps3 and got a good deal for the new contract so it has worked out quite well, sometimes you have to spend more just to get a better deal.
Good luck with budgeting for a five week month!

Intergalactic_Floozie

Dear All

*****THIS HAS TURNED OUT TO BE A REALLY LONG MOAN******

Am still well and truly off the rails spending wise. Unfortunately my ebay account is linked to my credit card so I have been buying off e-bay and it doesn't feel like I am spending any money because I don't see it leave my current account. I am spending uncontrollably at the moment because I am bored even though I have enough clothes and make-up to last, food makes me fat, I can get free books from the library, magazines and newspapers all have the same articles in them.

I just feel completely out of control. Weight has shot right up again and I am now heavier than I have ever been before. I spend and eat when I am bored, and I seem to be bored a heck of a lot lately. However I don't know how to stop being bored. I feel completely stuck in a rut and the only things that cheer me up are eating and spending money.

I hate my new temporary job. I was on annual leave last week and all I could think about was "I don't want to go back to that place on Monday". Old line-manager has been working behind the scenes all week to bring me back to old work place. Unfortunately he went behind old big bosses back, so when new big boss agreed to do a swap with one of my colleagues, old big boss put a stop to it. Old line manager told her how unhappy I was, but old big boss didn't care and said I had to stay put. I feel so frustrated because I don't want to be there. I have been looking for another job however I don't see why I should, because I have an old job to go back to in November that I enjoy. However I cannot bear the thought of being stuck up there for another five months. I've cried lots. I feel so isolated and abandoned in new job. I have, for the last 13 years, had a job where I have managed my own workload (I like to be busy) but on this project it's just a lot of sitting about waiting for other people to make decisions / do stuff / give me stuff to do. The last Friday before my annual leave, I was sat in the office all day doing nothing except answering the occasional work-related question and make two phone calls. We're not allowed on the internet so there's absolutely nothing I can do to kill time. I hate being sat in meetings and this is all it is - meeting upon meeting upon meeting.

The only reasons I was looking forward to the new job was to a ) save money as I am away from the temptations of shopping and b) to lose weight as I wouldn't be able to eat as much as I do in the old job, plus I have no choice but to walk home. The novelty of walking home has long worn off and I'm resentful of the fact I can't claim any mileage or travelling time, yet the other people in the office can because I live closer to new work than I do old work even though it's not as convenient for me to get to.

So I shop and I eat to cheer myself up. I've always been a bit on the lazy side when it comes to housework, but now it takes me all my time to do the daily jobs.

I don't have a lot of friends because I enjoy my own company and don't like people 'living in my pockets' but I did have a few acquaintances whom I enjoyed seeing on a daily basis, but now my hours have changed I no longer see them, and I am missing them. I am in touch with them by text but don't really know them well enough to invite myself round. I'm also phone phobic so dont like phone calls. Apart from one colleague (funnily enough - the office nutter who I couldn't wait to get away from) none of my old workmates are bothering to keep in touch with me. Even if they did, I don't always have access to a computer at work because there aren't enough to go round (there are 2 computers between the 4 of us in my team, and as I am the one who arrives later, the computers have been spoken for by then).

I'm just so fed up, but there's nothing I can do about it.