Floozie does Frugal 2010

natsplatnat

Intergalactic_Floozie wrote: »

"But you earn more than we do" they said "Yes, and I pay out a damn sight more too!"

:rotfl:Reminds me of when I felt 'rich' up until I was about 18/19 - money coming in, living at home, no credit anywhere........ oh how its all changed!!!:o

emmie26

I know I couldn't wait to finish uni and get a proper job, but then as soon as I did I brought a house and had children both of which are absolute money pits. Its ever likely that I cleared all my student debts within 6 months, at the time we had no children and a flat that cost us £190 a month how things change, my debt free date is currently a scarily long way off :rolleyes:

Intergalactic_Floozie

Grocery budget: £280.00
Petrol Budget: £110.00
Everything else budget: £147.00
Last Month's leftovers: £107.91

^^ new budget (YIKES). This month I am actually attempting to pay my credit card out of my budget instead of my savings which is how I have been paying it which accounts for it being so low.

CLKG7

Hi,
Just wanted to say you are so organised a real inspiration!

Keep up the excellent work!!:T
Hope you don’t mind me reading it helps me stay organised!

Charlie x

Intergalactic_Floozie

CLKG7 wrote: »

Hi,
Just wanted to say you are so organised a real inspiration!

Keep up the excellent work!!:T
Hope you don’t mind me reading it helps me stay organised!

Charlie x

Awww shucks - thanks, nice to have you on board. Good luck with those no spend days in your signature!

Intergalactic_Floozie

Days to payday: 31 (BAH!!)
Money in bank : £537 + £107.91 (I want to try not touch this latter money)
Money in purse: £0.00
Grand Total: £537 + £107.91

Money spent since last update:.£51.97
£1.80 - bus fare (bought a pass this afternoon but had to pay one way this morning)
£0.17 - £365 in 365 tin
£50.00 - Petrol

Grocery budget: £280.00 / £280 remaining
Petrol Budget: £110.00 / £60.00 remaining
Everything else budget: £147.00 / £147 remaining

DH has dropped on me that he would like to do some sort of computer night course at college in February (might be CISCO or MSCE can't remember) but probably very costly. He has an interview on Tuesday so is going to find out what sort of funding options are available. A quick google reckons it's £250 per module, which isn't that bad, but I don't know how long each module lasts for. I'm supportive of him doing it but have said he might have to accept that it's cheese on toast for tea, regular chilli & chips etc...instead of the 'proper' teas that he likes and he's in agreement. (although I do wonder how we're going to pay the car insurance in March.....)

So - here we are PAYDAY!!! I had a bit of a traumatic experience when I was getting some change from the change machine at work at 6am. I had requested £40 in coins, then put them in my bag, requested another £10 which were dispensed, then put another £10 in but then the machine got stuck (happens regular). So I went and e-mailed the guy who looks after the machines. He came into work at 6:30am, read my e-mail, went to the machine, retrieved my stuck ten pound note, and also picked up the ten pound coins that had been dispensed that I had forgotten to pick up!! I was horrified and mad at myself for being so careless. Especially when I made extra care to ensure I picked up the Metro newspaper I'd left on the top of the machine, yet went without picking up the money - DOH!

Damn credit card bill came today and I was aghast to see the total owing was £2803.75! As Tesco were quite late in delivering one of my orders for Xmas, they hadn't taken the money out at the point of order and thus took it out when the order was dispatched so it's sent me over my limit again (although to be fair I would still have been charged because I was a couple of pounds over anyway). So Minimum Payment is £61. They have stated interest next month will be £39.00 so that will be £2843 so to get it down to £2750 I will need to make a payment of £93.00! YIKES. Oh well, it has to be done!

Money saving exploits:
1. Didn't have a breakfast butty with the gang today (how depressed am I?). I had porridge, chopped up banana and golden syrup instead.
2. Took my lunch into work (although this is by now a regular occurrence). Was a bit disappointed as I was expecting the frozen home-made meal to be chilli, and it wasn't. It was bolognese. With no pasta! Was still nice though.
3. No personal spend day.
4. Ate biscuits at work (from the tea-fund) as was the milk on my porridge.
5. I've also put our chocolate bars at home (kit-kats etc) in a lockable cash tin to stop the DS's helping themselves and have hidden the key on a high shelf, and it's worked in keeping me away from them too because I'm not being bothered to clamber on the work surface looking for the key to get a chocolate bar! Jeez. Not only am I fat but I am also bone idle.

Eldest DS back to footy training tonight but youngest DS's is still cancelled. That's £3 saved.

natsplatnat

Intergalactic_Floozie wrote: »

retrieved my stuck ten pound note, and also picked up the ten pound coins that had been dispensed that I had forgotten to pick up!!

Ooh, I did this once at a cash-point. Tucked my card away safely in my purse and just walked off. Luckily the next lady waas lovely and called after me several times (must be programmed to to react to people calling out "hello! Excuse me miss!") and I went back, red faced and collected my notes!

Intergalactic_Floozie

Days to payday: 30 (BAH!!)
Money in bank : £465.91 + £107.91 (I want to try not touch this latter money)
Money in purse: £47.59
Grand Total: £513.50 + £107.91

Money spent since last update:.£23.50
£7.31 - cards
£0.99 - Laydee items
£13.00 - M&S on groceries.
£5.28 - frozen foods shop on groceries
£2.25 - F&V market on groceries
£1.70 - shaver plug thingie
£4.59 - mystery shopping (reimbursable - I hope!!)*
* I have realised I have put more money than I need in my kids activities so I've taken £42.50 out. I was going to pay school dinners in cash but have decided I cant trust DS2 to get it there safely so I will carry on by cheque.


Grocery budget: £280.00 / £259.50 remaining
Petrol Budget: £110.00 / £60.00 remaining
Everything else budget: £147.00 / £138.50 remaining

Lots of frugalling done today!!!

• Used Boots Points (£14.99) to buy a second Xmas present – probably for FIL or oldest BIL. It’s a Ben Sherman “London Calling” Aftershave / smellies set, which was reduced from £22.99. (I have 15 adults to buy for, and about 7 kids not including my own). Still have 160 Boots Points left.
• Was going to get DH a shaving adaptor plug from Argos at £3.29 but forgot to go to Argos when I was in town, so thought I would see if local DIY store had any. Result – they did at £1.70
• Braved cheapie card shop hell (Cheapest place for cards in town so subsequently it’s always a nightmare, I don’t know if it’s the layout or the lighting but it always makes me want to throw myself on the floor and start foaming at the mouth). Anyway got all cards needed for up to next pay day – a total of nine (gasp) at £7.31. I paid a bit more for some of them as it’s DH and DS2’s birthday, and obviously Valentines Day so they’re priced a premium at the moment. I seem to spend a lot on cards and they’re something I don’t like paying a lot for!
• Did a Mystery Shop for £5 + reimbusement, but it was the shop from hell so I wouldn’t be surprised if there are loads of queries on it. They were only released this morning so I was in the right place at the right time again. I also baggsied another one for next Saturday.
• Went to fruit & veg market and got 20 items of fruit for £2.25 – bargaintastic. Clementines, Pears and bananas.
• Went to frozen discount food shop and spent just over £5 and got 2 x 300g packets of ham for £1 each // 2 x 6 pack of crisps for £1.50 // 2 x 4 packs of WW yoghurts for £0.39 each // and 2 x 4 packs of Bakin Boys cupcakes for £1.00
• Went to M&S and got 3 of their special offer meats at 3 for £10 – chicken, pork and lamb, and 2 bags of veg which was £1.50 each. I was taken in by labelling like I was at Morrisons and thought they were 2 for £1 so it wasn’t very frugal – BAH!!! But it’s not just any veg, it’s M&S veg!
• Got the bus home, which means I have got extra use from my bus pass as I normally only use it during the week.
• Managed to avoid calling into any other shops even the charity shops other than those I had set off to go in.
• Reading another book called “In the Red” by Alexis Hall. It’s just like a long DFW diary without the interaction and to be honest there are posters on here who have written far more entertaining ones.

moo2moo

Why not just pay the £107.91 off your most expensive debt. That way you can't spend the money and if you do find yourself in a hole later on in the month at least you've paid a chunk of the interest on that debt already.

Intergalactic_Floozie

moo2moo wrote: »

Why not just pay the £107.91 off your most expensive debt. That way you can't spend the money and if you do find yourself in a hole later on in the month at least you've paid a chunk of the interest on that debt already.

That most expensive debt would be my Tesco CC. I daredn't pay anything off it though, my priority is putting as much aside as I can to pay the car insurance in March touching as little of my savings as I can.