Bang...and the debt is gone! (Hopefully!)

MissShoes

Back from hols. Got zero money til payday (well, around £7) to last until Thursday. Big expenses have entered my life. Been diagnosed with condition which will be costly to treat. I'm looking at £100 a month for treatment products, supplements, prescribed meds etc. Not entirely useful but really it impacts my ability to snowball. My loan to family finishes this month £240- so instead of using that to tackle other things, the first £100 will go to treatment.

So August is set to be an expensive month. OH's birthday. He desperately needs a new shaver and I've got other bits to get for him. I need work clothes, right down to basics such as bras and pants! Luckily quite a few bras in my size (quite specialist), brand new and relatively cheap on ebay and good brands too (wonderbra, panache, gossard). OH wants to buy me a couple and I'll buy myself a few. There's not too expensive but add on undies, tights, a few tops, a couple of pairs of trousers, etc etc and this is how to render yourself skint very quickly!

I know I need to do my August budget but I am seriously lacking in motivation. Luckily I'm by myself this weekend. So...here is my epic list of things to do (including all cleaning as cleaner away this week):

1) change bed linen
2) laundry mountain (at least 5 loads to do of linen, holiday clothes etc)
3) washing up
4) kitchen- clean, tidy, make it sparkle and shine incl. floor
5) bathroom- clean, tidy, make it sparkle and shine incl. floor
6) hallway- hoover, clean mirror, dust shoe cabinet/console unit
7) lounge- make sofa, dust, hoover, tidy, clean big table
8) bedroom- dust, tidy, hoover, get all clothes in wardrobes!
9) August budget
10) shopping list/meal plan
11) marking
12) essay
13) get up to date with meds
14) do a 'plan/timeline/checklist' up to xmas
15) pamper myself!

Sigh- that is a lot!

Emzilla

Hi

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis . Do you have to take a lot of prescribed medication? If so then it would be wise to get a prescription 'season ticket'. I take a lot of medication, so it would cost me an absolute fortune if I were to buy it all every month without my pre-payment card. It costs £104 a year, but I pay mine monthly by direct debit. Here's the link: https://www.ppa.org.uk/ppa/ppcdd/patient.do

Good luck with your list.

Emz xx

miggy

Sorry to hear you're not well, and that it's going to be expensive. Good that you are at the end of paying back the family, though.

That's a huge list. How's it going?

MissShoes

Emzilla wrote: »

Hi

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis . Do you have to take a lot of prescribed medication? If so then it would be wise to get a prescription 'season ticket'. I take a lot of medication, so it would cost me an absolute fortune if I were to buy it all every month without my pre-payment card. It costs £104 a year, but I pay mine monthly by direct debit. Here's the link: https://www.ppa.org.uk/ppa/ppcdd/patient.do

Good luck with your list.

Emz xx

Thanks for this- I'll investigate. My meds are £60 a month- I'm researching how to bring the cost down so will give this a read. x

MissShoes

miggy wrote: »

Sorry to hear you're not well, and that it's going to be expensive. Good that you are at the end of paying back the family, though.

That's a huge list. How's it going?

I'm ok- just need to get organised- it's completely painless and injury-less and I can stop it getting worse but it'll be expensive until I find a way to MSE it!

The list...what list...(denial much?!)...

miggy

Good you aren't in pain . I'm not sure what to suggest to MSE it though!

I discovered if you leave a list alone long enough it ceases to be relevant.

MissShoes

Ok so not much achieved since Friday at all. No excuse- I just wanted to do nothing for a few days. It's been great!

I have managed (despite the laziness and apathy) to:

1) complete voting/electoral register forms (OH can vote, he always thought he couldn't as he has EU passport- lucky he's got a savvy gf)- still need to post
2) changed bed linen
3) 2 loads of laundry- sheets, holiday clothes down, a few to go
4) have got OH 3 shirts from ebay, 2 have arrived so they're ironed and hanging up waiting for him to come home- hope he likes them
5) tidied the bathroom
6) taken rubbish out
7) got a loads of plates and bowls soaking
8) 90% decided on OHs birthday presents
9) cancelled cleaner on Friday as it's just me here til later, saving £25- she will resume this week
10) arranged for some test results to be given to me over the phone next week saving me going to my hospital appointment- this is only because they rescheduled the appointment for September when I'm working
11) small shopping trip to Mr Ts- cheddar, feta, butter, houmous, oreos, tortilla chips= £6 ish spend. Used £2.50 that I had in pennies and 5ps then £4.50 of my remaining £7 til payday= £2.50 left til Thursday. Mostly junk food but this is all I spent from Friday to now so 2 NSDs

I am watching so much rubbish on sky

MissShoes

So my month runs from the end of each month to the next. This month is going to be very tough!

Currently crunching the figures but I think it's do able. More to come on this.

Another NSD. Used OHs card to make an approved food order for £50, my first from them. Will see how we get on. I have an asda order too which will come to around £90. That leaves £60 left for the month for top ups so we need to be careful.

Achieved today:

laundry
rubbish taken out
sold an item for £50- cash in hand tomorrow!
all meals from storecupboard
started my budget


Still need to find extra pennies for this month. I'm due a £60 refund so hope that comes.

Sigh.

Shoes x

MissShoes

So my Approved food order came this morning, less than 24 hours after it was placed and delivery was only £2.85.

I got:
4 bottles coke
3 bottles 7up zero
6 bottles oasis
6 bottles diet cherry coke
12 packets straight to wok noodles (2 portions in each pack)
48 poppadoms
18 naan breads
24 puddings (chocolate sponge, toffee sponge, syrup sponge)
21 packs of cous cous
4 packs sunbites
2 packs gravy granules
36 marmite cereal bars
3 jars seasoning
21 foxs classic bars
9 small packs of shortbread
4 jars thai/curry/speciality spices
5 packs of popcorn
3 bags rowntree randoms
4 cadburys flakes
6 snickers
6 twix
1 chocolate orange
2 bags starburst
3 packs stock cubes
20 packs starburst
18 packs of extra chewing gum
4 mini bottles dettol on the go surface cleanser

for the grand total of £51.11. A lot of snacks for OH, lots of naans and poppadoms for curry nights, plenty of cous cous lunches for me, snacks for cinema trips and movie nights and a few drinks. Well over 200 items so I'm happy. Particularly pleased with the 24 puddings. Nice 'extra special' puddings that normally retail for £2 each- if I'd paid full price they should've been £48, I paid £6. Just need tins of smartprice custard and OHs winter desserts are sorted! He loves pudding!

Not tried approved food before, saw someone on here post about it so will work through the products and see how we get on. It's a nice way of still having treats or brands.

So my food budget (excluding OH lunches now- he might take drinks or snacks but still spends on the actual lunch out of his money- I know, I know he won't listen) of £200 for 25th August to 24th September now stands at £149.89. Big asda shop then the rest out in cash for top-ups. Will update on figures once paid tomorrow so can process asda order.

Hoping some of my 4 designer bras come today! OH treated me- well let me choose what I want and use his card. I went for one black, one blue, one red floral and black and one black and white ish. All gossard so all expensive full price but not for MSE MissShoes!

I will treat myself to 4 a month this month and next month and then they should tide me over for a while.

Still workwear ( a few tops and trousers, pants and tights) to figure out- I think a primarni trip is in order. I might be able to squeeze it in Friday afternoon after hair appointment. I have a busy Thursday and Friday but today will be quiet.

Today:

wipe down kitchen
clean out kitchen cupboards and pack away AF order
AF order packaging flatpacked and stored under bed to reuse
get OH to put his dry laundry away
3 loads of laundry incl. towels
tidy bedroom
finalise August budget and pots/purses system
wipedown bathroom
get item picked up and paid for £50!
look around for home ins quotes via quidco

I'm sure there's more to do. Will update later.

Shoes

MissShoes

Just registered on a couple of tutoring websites. It's a good second job and I charge between £20-25ph. 4-5 tutees a week would be ideal. It's just a lot to manage: work, MA, tutoring, gym, me time, me and OH time, life in general!