My lose lbs save £'s diary

missylaney

Oh dear. Succumbed to the party food in a big way, starting with swizzell lollies and chocolate cornflake cakes on friday night and finishing with a big plate of my sister-in-laws thai noodles about 10pm last night via loads of crisps, cake and chocolate fingers. Still got loads of cakes and stuff left too, am going to have to be extra-good today and resist it all.

Didn't spend anything yesterday but £146 in Tesco on Friday mainly on party food, wine etc and stuff for party bags.

Was a great day though and both parties went really well :j:j:j

I am glad its over though, need to focus on getting the ironing up-to-date (its more of a mountain that a pile at the moment) and getting our tax returns, VAT return and tax credit review sorted over the next few weeks.

missylaney

Oh dear again. I have zero willpower when it comes to chocolate and sweet things. Sins yesterday:

1 yorkshire pudding 4
Gravy 2
Horseradish sauce 1

Should have left it at that, but went on to have:

Half a pack of choc fingers
2 choc rice crispie cakes
1 piece birthday cake
1 Fab lolly
1 pack swizzell sweets

I will be paying for this on the scales today. Looking on the bright side though, I don't have any other parties/events between now and my birthday so should be able to get back on track and still get to my target on time. There's still quite a bit of "bad" food left so I'm going to have to give it away/get my kids to eat it asap.


Business Account Balance 12
Business Account Outgoings pending 226
Personal Account Balance -609
Personal Account Outgoings pending 861
Personal Account incoming pending 145
Invoices Pending 1640
Invoices Overdue 180
Total Incoming 1368 (1010 paid waiting for cheques to clear)
Total Outgoing 1087
Leftover 281

Money owed that we'll get eventually £320 (they paid their overdue invoice only 2 weeks late this time, so only 1 o/s for them now)


Had NSD no. 6 yesterday so pleased with that, plus made another £24 on Ebay. Haven't been able to add to my cash savings for a while so they're slipping off track but hopefully DH will have a few more cash jobs this week & I'll be able to catch them up.

missylaney

Up ridiculously early this morning - DD2 woke at 4.45am and once I'd settled her I couldn't get back to sleep. Still, am going to use the time to finish DH's VAT return (when I can drag myself away from here) so as always, there's a positive to be had

Unsuprisingly I put on 1lb at yesterdays weigh-in. That means I'll have to lose 2 this week to stay on track for my target. The plan is:

Eat soup for lunch (made a big batch yesterday)
Drink more water
Fit in another couple of long walks this week - usually only manage one a week, did one yesterday and going to try for Thurs & Fri too
Er, what was the last one, oh yes that's right - stop pigging out on cake and chocolate!!

Sins yesterday:

12 green olives added to homemade pasta sauce
Very, very small piece of birthday cake
6 chocolate fingers - these have all gone now so I'm safe from them

Spends yesterday:

£13.23 in Morrisons, all necessary

Money not too bad at the moment, just waiting for some cheques to clear then should be able to but the first £250 into my "squirrel fund".

OK, off to do that VAT return :hello:

missylaney

Finished the VAT return yesterday morning :j- this now means the self-assessment will be a doddle because I've already got all the relevant figures up-to-date.

Have realised I added my figures up wrong last time (accounted for one of our invoices twice ) so lucky I didn't go out and spend the money I thought would be left over!

The real figures are:

Business Account Balance 719
Business Account Outgoings pending 716
Personal Account Balance -734
Personal Account Outgoings pending 749
Personal Account incoming pending 300
Invoices Pending 1190
Invoices Overdue 60
Total Incoming 1535
Total Outgoing 1465
Leftover 70

Money owed that we'll get eventually £320

DH came home with quite a bit of cash yesterday so have been able to bump up all the savings pots

Behaved myself a bit better yesterday sins-wise, had 2 fab lollies but there only 4 sins each so that's fine. Made everyone else eat birthday cake but didn't succumb myself (sick of the sight of it actually)

Work today, and hopefully another NSD. When I've got a bit more time I need to re-read my previous posts (the ones that escaped the gremlin!) and check all the targets I've set myself along the way to make sure I'm meeting them all.

missylaney

Yesterday was quite a day! DH and I have been talking about how my job affects our time as a family (I work every Friday & Saturday) and we've decided that I should give it up :j It's not great money, and I never include it in our budget so although it's come in handy I don't think we'll feel much pain from losing it. I've given notice and will be finishing sometime next month once they've got a replacement for me. I will have to find something full time in the winter once DH's work quietens down, but if I only do a month full time it will compensate for 3 months part-time so I'd much rather do that. I'll still get paid for May and June so will have to make sure that whatever I get is put straight to one side for debt-reduction or savings.

Also, started gathering the figures for my self-assessment and realised that my redundancy pay from my last employer fell in the 2009-10 tax year, so I have paid about £1000 tax. I've worked out all my income/expenses etc and this means that I should get a rebate of about £850 :jI'm waiting for my password to arrive so I can submit the return online and get the actual figure - which can go straight off the CC debt! Need to get cracking on DH's self-assessment too, I'm hoping I over-estimated our income and have been underpaid child tax credits but I think that might be pushing my luck.

Crikey just seen the time, must wake the kids up. Sins yesterday - one minimagnum & 1 fab lolly. An NSD so no spends.

missylaney

Went from :j to :eek: quite quickly yesterday. I know giving the job up was the right thing to do family/quality of life wise but obviously money-wise I should have stuck with it until winter.

It didn't help that DH rang me mid-morning to stress about his tractor not running properly and not being able to finish one of his biggest mowing jobs - we've had to book it in for emergency surgery so that won't be cheap.

Also I was conveniently forgetting that although I'm due a rebate, DH is going to have a tax bill to pay that's not in the plan - he's only been self-employed for 2 years and we haven't had to pay any tax so far because of our startup expenses and initial low income but there will be a bill this year. I need to pull my finger out and get the self-assessments done so I know exactly where we are.

The good thing (I do love to put a positive spin on things ) is that if it weren't for this diary and the efforts I've made to save money & get ourselves straight I wouldn't have even been able to contemplate giving up the job, our outgoings & our debt would be much higher and we wouldn't have any savings out aside at all.

Anyway, on to yesterdays confession:

Sins - 6 chocolate fingers, 1 fab lolly, 12 green olives in my pasta sauce - probably a bit over the allowance must do better today

Spends - £8 groceries - all necessary apart from the chocolate fingers!

Was hoping to have an NSD today but have realised that I need a birthday card for a friends daughter so will need to get that. Might as well get the fresh stuff I need for the weekend as well then Sat & Sun can be NSD's.

Time to go and hang the washing out - its a glorious day!

missylaney

The diet slipped again yesterday, popped round friends for her daughters birthday and ended up having party food instead of dinner then was hungry later when DH ordering his chinese so got him to order me a dish. I really need to get a grip or I'll never get to my target!

Sins:

several mini sausages
several chicken bite things
Crispy chilli beef from the chinese
small piece birthday cake
small pack maltesers
fruit pastille lolly

Will have to be really good all weekend to make up for it.

Spends:

£10 in morrisons (fruit, veg + b'day card)
40p library fine

DH bought the chinese out of cash he'd earned but not handed over to the kitty so it doesn't count as a spend for me.

Was hoping for an NSD today but need Benadryl for my DS plus a small bottle of red wine for a chilli I'm making tonight so will have to pop to the shops again.

Working today and not got too many parcels so hoping to get a chance to work on the self-assessments this afternoon

missylaney

A very quick update today as the sun is shining and the garden beckons.

Sins yesterday - bacon bits on my risotto and 1 fab lolly

Spends - loads!

£15 Avon
£10 friends birthday
£3.50 wine
£5.25 benadryl
Smart Trike for DD2 £58 (whoops - £50 was money she'd been given for her birthday and we "owed" her though so not too bad really)

Finished both tax returns & renewed tax credits claim so very productive day. I got a rebate but DH has a bill, and the shortfall is £990 to be found by Jan 2011. I have a plan (of course!): I'll be getting paid for May and June, probably around £500ish that can go straight in the tax fund. Also, we are always up £1-200 when we do the quarterly VAT return so will add that money to the tax fund end-July and end-Oct. We also should have a bit to come back from tax credits because we earnt less than our estimate for the last tax year - anything we get from them can go in the fund. Hopefully that, should do it - will have to review in a few months to make sure we're on track.

I'm off to enjoy the sun - in case we don't get any more this year!!

missylaney

We had a lovely, lazy day in the garden yesterday. I really hope we do get the hot summer they're predicting this year. We've holidayed in the UK for the last 5 years and haven't had decent weather yet! This years' hoilday will be the cheapest we've ever had (as well as the first we've ever saved spending money for!) and if we get nice weather it'll be the best.

Apparently my boss is interviewing 6 people for my job this week, so I really hope they get somebody to start asap. I'm working this Friday and Saturday then Tuesday to Saturday of the half-term week and it would be good if I could finish after that.

Sins yesterday:

1 yorkshire pud (4)
Gravy (2)
Apple sauce (1)
2 glasses wine (8)
Fab lolly (4)

Weigh-in this morning and I haven't been brilliant, didn't do any walking at all so i'm not looking forward to it.

Yesterday was an NSD but today I'm going to Tesco for my weekly shop and seem to have run out of everything at once so its going to be a big one.

I've decided (after reading up on here, of course)

Business Account Balance 512
Business Account Outgoings pending 370
Personal Account Balance -155
Personal Account Outgoings pending 469
Personal Account incoming pending 0
Invoices Pending 480
Invoices Overdue 60
Total Incoming 897
Total Outgoing 839
Leftover 58

Money owed that we'll get eventually £320 (come to think of it will whack this straight into the tax shortfall savings)

missylaney

I've just logged on to my bank account to find I've been charged £25 for no apparent reason :eek: I'm well within my o/d limit even when the pending debits come out so I can't understand this at all. I'll have to worry about it now until the customer service desk opens :mad:

Managed to lose the 1lb that I'd put on last week, despite my little slip on Friday. Went a bit over on the sins again yesterday though, so I really need to kick myself up the backside if I'm going to get to my target EVER, let alone in time for my birthday:

1 mini mars bar
1 mini pack maltesers (the house is now chocolate free!)
1 mini calippo lolly
1 fab lolly
Light salad cream
12 marinated olives

Also had a bit of a splurge, albeit a planned one, got some summer clothes for the kids and a few bits for me also bought some plant pots and some kitcheny bits - total £72.14. SW was £4.85 and I filled up on petrol too, £49. Didn't even do the weekly shop - have ordered that to come today (£106). Also forgot to pay the papers, must pop in today to do that.

Feel a bit disgruntled & negative today & couldn't work out why but have just realised I felt exactly the same this time last month... oh the joys of being a woman