Floozie does Frugal 2010

missylaney

Hi Floozie, well done on getting your job situation sorted out!

You've got to admire your DS1 for wanting a taxi sent, I love that - tell him if it happens again you'll fire up the helicopter :rotfl:

Intergalactic_Floozie

Days to payday: 28

Grocery Budget: £300 / £56.56 spent / £234.66 left
Petrol Budget: £130
Everything Else Budget: £174.74 / £1.80 spent / £142.24 left
Grand Total: £604.74 / £546.38 left

Money in purse: £8.38 (I have now paid back my activities tin £1.80 for the bus fare)

Spends today:
£5.73 - on 7 cards (fathers Day & Communion). Between us we do honestly only have two dads, but there are also step-dads and granddad cards in there too.
£24.97 - 3 x Fathers day presents. I picked up 2 x smellies sets from Superdrug for FIL and step-FIL, and some aftershave for my dad (Paul Smith in the green box, my personal fave). It's a dear do!

Tesco CC bill came yesterday and although it is FAR too much, it is slightly LESS than I had thought. I expected it to be maxed at £2750, but it's £2567. Add that to £2039 and thats £4606 in total, which has taken me only a year to run up (beats self over head hard and repeatedly).

Virgin Media bill came today, and I had forgotten I had demanded compensation, which they kindly deducted £30 off this month's bill, so it's £26.28 which has pleased me muchly. When I get onto small computer I will adjust my everything else figure accordingly.

It's this weekend that we hot Oxford for the First Holy Communion. As you've probably gathered we rarely go out anywhere as a family, so after a lot of thought I have decided that we'll hit Legoland, which is 40 miles away from our friends house. I've got 2 lots of 2-for-1 vouchers, so at £38 per person (EEK) that's £76 out of my every day budget which is marginally better than having to pay 2 lots of £28 for the kids on top of that. Will have to be uber frugal when I get back though.

On the MSE front, I DIDN'T buy any new clothes today. I really wanted a Maxi Dress but at 5ft 4in and size 16/18, I have discovered I am NOT built for them. Linen pants and green summery top it is then, for Sunday.

Laterz internets xx

Intergalactic_Floozie

Days to payday: 25

Grocery Budget: £300 / £56.56 spent / £234.66 left
Petrol Budget: £130
Everything Else Budget: £174.74 / £1.80 spent / £123.43 left
Grand Total: £604.74 / £488.09

Whoa - scary spend weekend!!!

Spends:
£20.00 - put this in Godson's card for Holy Communion
£3.00 - car parking at hotel.
£10.00 - DH took kids to pub one day, cant remember when, and he spent £10 on pool, crisps, drink so I re-imbursed him.
£21.20 - meal for 4 at Legoland.
£10.68 - pick and mix at Legoland (4 of us)
£76.00 - entry to Legoland
£20.00 - petrol (taken out of 'everything else budget')
£1.00 - newspaper
£48.50 - Petrol on Saturday to go Darn Sarf (taken out of 'everything else budget')
£1.65 - paper and sweets.
£9.50 - fish & chips for tea Friday night
£221.04

Well we had a lovely weekend down in Oxford but as you can see, it has cost a fortune. I don't think we will be hurrying to do that again. £67 in petrol and £80 for a hotel room (without any meals included). Still, it was all in a good cause and will be a long time before we get invited down again probably another couple of years for the oldest boy's confirmation probably.

Legoland was a great experience, I guess £76 for four people isn't too bad, when you consider I spent £37 on going to the cinema not so long ago! We were there for five hours, queueing wasn't too bad and we still didn't have chance to see everything there was on offer, so well worth the money.

I'm really confused with money though! Decided to add DH's £146 payrise to my 'everything else' money and use that to pay for the weekend, including petrol. I've been looking at my internet banking and counting money in my purse and my tin and have scraps of paper everywhere and after deducting everything, I THINK I have £123.43 remaining. It might change though!! These figures also mean I should have a £0.00 balance the day before payday but I seem to have an inability to calculate my incomings and outgoings accurately!!! At least I have got a starting point though.

Kayleighpea

Hi IF,

Glad to see you are getting back on track. I've just caught up on your thread and you have really helped me! I have been exactly the same recently. I have been going out loads and spending silly money on meals out and drinks etc that I KNOW I can't afford. And then I went on holiday and stuck my head in the sand, and I've now been back for 2 weeks and kept my head under the sand for a bit longer!!

I've totally run out of money, spent all the money I had paid off on my CC and my overdraft and am now back at square one. Or worse actually because my DFD has run away to nearly a year more than when I started!! But hey we all have setbacks!

I like the way you set everything out with your spends for the day etc. Might have to nick the idea off you for my diary! Anyway, enough waffling from me! Well done on getting yourself sorted, I will pop back and give you a kick if your spending starts slipping again!! :rotfl:

Intergalactic_Floozie

Days to payday: 24

Grocery Budget: £300 / £118.29 spent / £181.71 left
Petrol Budget: £130
Everything Else Budget: £317.74 / £211.09 spent / £106.65 left
Grand Total: £747.74 / £418.36

Spends:
£16.78 - meal
£61.73 - groceries


Due to the long trip yesterday and not being able to do any of the householderly type things I normally do at the weekend, I had today off as did DH. Well they say many hands make light work, and my plan of doing all the jobs in 6 hours, meant both of us had done them in 2.5, so as we never hardly go anywhere nice together, we went to a nice foody type pub for lunch. 2 x main meals, and 4 x drinks only set me back £16.78 so in my opinion it was bargainous. It was really nice to get out without the kids too. It's left me short on everything else money but I can justify it* (see below).

Also went grocery shopping as like old Mother Hubbard, my cupboard was bare. I decided just to go and buy enough to see us through until Thursday and then go again for a half shop, see if I could spend any less. Uh-Oh, ended up spending £61+ (56 items, £5.90 in multisaves). £5.60 of the total was on hayfever tablets though.

*Also had to take the decision to stop sending DS2 to breakfast club. There's really no need for him to go, it just saves DH a bit of hanging around in a morning and when I started working at the other place and no longer had to shell out £57 for a bus pass, I said DS2 could go to breakfast club every day instead. Obviously now I am back at the regular place, I need a bus pass, so £30 per month (£1.50) is a lot to be shelling out on top of my usual monthly stuff. I did say he could go now and again when DH wanted to get into work a bit earlier, but he didn't seem that fussed. I've paid for the rest of the week anyway, but then as of next week that'll be £7.50 less I have to shell out. If only he was so open to the idea of taking a packed lunch, but oh no, I think that would be a step too far as he likes his school puds.

Although it may have been a necessary anyway should the budget deprive me of my tax credits and / or child benefit for eldest DS. I'm absolutely petrified as to what it will bring. My (basic) tax credits at £42 per month could be at risk, if VAT rises then that will affect almost all the household bills, petrol will more than likely go up again. I can understand why they are doing it though because of the labour government, if things really are as bad as they say they are.

DH also surprised me today as he pointed out that I am getting too fat. He didn't say it in a nasty way and wasn't telling me anything I didn't know already. He has never ever told me I am fat or need to lose weight and said I am fine as I am however just lately I am exhausted all the time and when I get in from work, I am having a 1.5 hour sleep on the sofa, as well as still going to bed at 9:30pm. I said out loud today that I was fed up of being so tired, and he just came out with: "You need to lose some weight love"! So, I'm going to see if I can shift a couple of stones, although now I need to lose 4st 7lbs to be at the top range of my healthy BMI. I've started by not buying in any 'nice' things (biscuits, cake bars etc). I've bought in loads of crisps (I can stick to one bar) and yoghurts (ditto) so I wont starve. Weighed in today at 14st 12lbs this morning.

Intergalactic_Floozie

Days to payday: 23

Grocery Budget: £300 / £118.29 spent / £181.71 left
Petrol Budget: £130
Everything Else Budget: £317.74 / £211.09 spent / £106.65 left
Grand Total: £747.74 / £418.36

Twas another 'no spend day' today, only achieved by having only a ten pound note in my purse. If I'd have had any change I am pretty sure I would have ran to the vending machine for full sugar coke or chocolate.

We do need petrol tomorrow though (boo!)

Watched the budget on t'internet at work (naughty) and - rather amazingly - I've escaped unscathed. I should still get my increment next year as I am not one of those who earns enough to have their pay frozen, plus I should get £250 (big woo). It looks like I can still keep tax credits (basic) as between us we earn less than £40K, and I'm pleased that Child Benefit has been frozen, I think it's enough anyway and I was expecting them to do away with it for children aged over 13, so phew! I also cannot believe they have left petrol, booze and fags alone! I will obviously be hit by the VAT hike like everyone but I guess that's something you just have to put up with and I read that the increase of the tax-free allowance will go up too, I cant work out how much that will save, but surely that can absorb some of the VAT - so, a good Budget I think and I think the media should be shot at dawn for scaremongering!

Not buying in cakes / chocolates has really helped me today because I know I would have binged when I got in from work. I did have 4 small fairy cakes at work someone had baked, but then again I didn't eat the tinned pineapples I took in, so I guess it evens itself out (give or take a few cals)

Intergalactic_Floozie

Days to payday: 22

Grocery Budget: £300 / £119.29 spent / £180.71 left
Petrol Budget: £130
Everything Else Budget: £317.74 / £221.09 spent / £96.65 left
Grand Total: £747.74 / £407.36

Spends:
£1.00 - cereal bars at Freezer discount place (6 bars) for DS1's packed lunches.
£10.00 - pair of toning flip flops from Avon (very padded so I hope the balls of my feet wont burn after walking, I tried my friend's fit flops on, and they seemed really comfy so I thought I would try the cheap Avon option before shelling out for Fit Flops (would spend my birthday money)

Haven't had any sweet stuff other than a single chocolate digestive which wont break the calorie bank. Kids are going through crisps like there's no tomorrow though! The batteries in my weighing scales have ran out, I don't know whether to leave buying any new ones as I just get upset and obsessed if I put weight on, but then again if I have no way of monitoring it....

Also put petrol in today but DH did it so have no idea how much he spent yet

Intergalactic_Floozie

Days to payday: 21

Grocery Budget: £300 / £119.29 spent / £180.71 left
Petrol Budget: £130
Everything Else Budget: £317.74 / £243.09 spent / £84.65 left
Grand Total: £747.74 / £395.46

Spends
£10.00 - DS2, trip to Chester Zoo with cubs
£12.00 - DS1, Science trip to Hull with the school.

Both ruddy trips are also before next pay day so I'll have to send them off with spending money too - BAH!

Still don't know how much petrol DH put in two days ago, keep forgetting to ask.

I have a small achievement as have got another day out of my grocery budget. I went shopping Monday planning to go again on Thursday, but I don't need to go (yay)

Intergalactic_Floozie

Days to payday: 20

Grocery Budget: £300 / £119.29 spent / £178.52 left
Petrol Budget: £130 / £73.50 left
Everything Else Budget: £317.74 / £243.09 spent / £68.58 left
Grand Total: £747.74 / £323.60


Spends:
£56.50 - petrol, finally pinned him down and got a receipt.
£2.19 - groceries at Lidl (juice, which we needed, and chocolate and waffles that we didn't)
£0.55 - succumbed to the call of the vending machine and bought a Bounty.

I'm crap of this budgeting mallarkey! For some reason when I bought my Father's Day presents at Superdrug, it's taken over a week for it to debit, so I have been hit with an unexpected £24.97. BAH! This leaves me just £22.18 spends in the bank.

Have been through my activities tin and sorted out all the money I need into one pile (£45.50 - saving £13). I've got £46.40 'spare' in there, so it leaves me with £68.58 'everything else' money. Not a right lot left. I think I might be going into debit this month!

DH also informed me he has another dental appointment on 5th July so that'll be waving £46 goodbye as I think it's his final appointment. We cant complain though because the amount of work he has had done has been phenomenal with extractions and fillings.

Will have to stretch my groceries a bit. I have 20 days left and £178.14, which is £8.79 per day. I yet again don't need to go to Morrisons today. DH wants to have a BBQ on Sunday (disposable one), sausages and burgers are cheap enough so I will go shopping for those on Sunday morning. We can have the lamb joint I bought for lunch for Sunday tomorrow instead.

I'm feeling all motivated again money wise. I really want to try and get this credit card debt paid off. It would be nice if I could be debt free before I am 40, and then concentrate on being a MFW (but I doubt it very much). - that's 4 years and 11 months by the way. Don't think I am going to get any extra paid off this month, but it's been a dear month.

Did a Lightspeed survey today for 110 points so my total is now 1375, which is £12 in paypal. Also have another one for DS1 to do when he is around.

I'd like to take a leaf out of flying fresian's book and start entering competitions in the hope I might win big, (or small) and get something I may be able to sell.....

Intergalactic_Floozie

Days to payday: 19

Grocery Budget: £300 / £119.29 spent / £173.64 left
Petrol Budget: £130 / £73.50 left
Everything Else Budget: £317.74 / £243.09 spent / £62.60 left
Grand Total: £747.74 / £309.74

Spends:
£7.20 - prescription for me.
£4.88 - Morrisons (crisps, fizzy pop, superglue)

Bah, I'm a slave to my hayfever today. Been sat at home feeling very sorry for myself.

Dyed my hair this afternoon, feel a lot better now that no one can see my 4" of regrowth and grey hairs. Managed not to make the bathroom look like Texas Chainsaw Massacre either.

Didn't really need anything from Morrisons apart from crisps and a bottle of fizzy pop for myself, but have to go tomorrow for a small shop. Dh has decided he wants a BBQ for the England game (I'll humour him seeing how it's likely to be the last game before they lose to the Germans on penalties) and I will need bread and sandwich stuff. Still have enough food for the main part of three meals so perhaps I can get away with not spending loads in the supermarket for this week. Maybe I will even have some money left out of my grocery budget