Cloudy's 'bring me some sunshine' diary!

Cloudy456

Well the cheap weekend is going well so far - sitting in on my own with a cup of tea. Oh the joys of a being debt free wannabe weekend! Spent £1.50 at lunchtime on 2 large bottles of squash (on offer) but that's it for today.

I worked out at lunchtime today that at my current rate I am spending over £1000 on interest alone every year. That is quite possibly the most depressing thing I've heard in a while, but gives me even more incentive and also makes me realise I need to be savvy about which order I pay things off. I am quite tied at the moment in terms of what I pay but in 4 months when my loan finishes I will have a choice about where to pay that extra money. Hopefully I can get my main CC a bit lower and then can transfer it onto another (almost) clear card that I have which often has 0% transfer offers (but a slightly lower credit limit). Will look into that next month after this month's payments have gone through and that card is clear.

Well hope everyone has a lovely weekend whatever you're up to!

PS Its a bit sad quite how excited I am about waiting for payday a week on Tuesday when I can finally update my signature with a lower total, I'm turning into such a loser *sigh*

Loomie

Not sad at all! I also am looking forward to the start of the month when I get to update my debt figure!:rotfl:

Cloudy456

Glad its not just me Loomie!

Well today my BF and I went for a lovely long walk and I spent a grand total of £1.20 on a snack halfway round! So am feeling pretty good, for both the exercise and money saving! Tonight I am going to a friend's for dinner so not spending any more today, and we'll see what tomorrow brings. Starting to be a bit shocked by how easily I can cut back on my weekend spending!

Cloudy456

Soooo tired but had a lovely weekend not doing a lot! Spent £13 on some groceries today but got enough for a good Sunday breakfast today (treat!) and for the next couple of days at least. So just one week to get through now on my remaining £55 odd quid...fingers crossed! Early night for me, going to try and get to the gym before work tomorrow to kick the week off well. We'll see!

Cloudy456

Had a really nice meal out with a friend after work, spent £10 though so down to £44 left for the next week *eek* going to be really squeezing out those pennies so trying not to make any plans! Determined to do it but am resigned to not getting under 11k this month, basically that would mean not spending another penny from now until next Tuesday. Not gonna happen!

Cloudy456

Managed to get through another £7 today on groceries, but now I definitely have enough until at least Friday! I've been tracking my spending this month in a spending diary and now that I'm getting near to the end of the month, I am starting to see that so much of my money goes on food! My groceries spending is very reasonable, but I've eaten out a few times over the month and that adds up massively. Seems that most of socialising involves food and drinks - need to try and change that!

Cloudy456

Ok so now that its coming towards the end of my pay cycle month I've been looking at my spending diary which I have kept up religiously for the whole month (its a first, normally I get 2 days in and give up!) to see what's what.

So out of a budget for spending of £370 for the month, it seems I've spent over £200 on food! Around £100 of this was on groceries, which I am fairly OK with although I would like to see it more like £80, but the rest is all meals out and bits and pieces at cafes as well as bar drinks. It seems that food and drink form the basis of my social life (makes me sound like a fatty!) so maybe those spends should be classed as entertainment...my only other entertainment costs were two cinema trips.

But basically I'm quite happy with the diary as although I've identified one major area where most of my spending goes, which I can now hopefully address, I have found that the rest of my spending is very well under control compared to how it used to be. The rest of my spending was on presents and birthday celebrations (I had two big family birthdays) and a few bits of toiletries. Nothing major at all that I could have cut out, and no clothes shopping at all *whoop*

So the challenge for next month will definitely be cutting back on the food and drink-based socialising....hmmm

Anyway in the meantime I have another 5 days to get through on my remaining £35.10! I feel like I might be getting a cold, and (this is seriously wrong!) when I first realised, my first through was 'oooh that'll make it easier to stay in and not spend money over the weekend'! I worry myself sometimes, my mind has been possessed by money saving!!

Cloudy456

Actually, reading the above that works out to £7 a day which doesn't sound so bad! I can't wait until Tuesday when I get paid and can update my signature!! Its not going to be under 11k unfortunately, but am hoping to only be about £40 over that which means that on Wednesday when my payments go out I will be well under (although I'll have to wait a month to show that in my signature due to my system of recording the balance on the last day of the pay month so it shows the balance at its worst)

Choc-addict

Cloudy456 wrote: »

So out of a budget for spending of £370 for the month, it seems I've spent over £200 on food!

Anyway in the meantime I have another 5 days to get through on my remaining £35.10! I feel like I might be getting a cold, and (this is seriously wrong!) when I first realised, my first through was 'oooh that'll make it easier to stay in and not spend money over the weekend'! I worry myself sometimes, my mind has been possessed by money saving!!

:rotfl:Cloudy, you've made giggle - hope you're not getting a cold. Totally understand with the first thought about being easier to stay in:rotfl:

My money is mainly spent on food too, scary just how much it adds up too though isn't it :eek: However, like you, most of my socialising is around food - perhaps it's time to hunt for those restaurant vouchers!!

Cloudy456

Well the cold hasn't hit so far - fingers crossed this hot weather will keep it at bay! Been a manic week at work and been travelling all over so been a bit slack on the diary but haven't gone over budget (yet!)...spent about a tenner today on groceries but got loads of whoopsies and filled my freezer for next weeks dinners which is good, loads of meat and also got household bits including loo rolls and laundry powder. So got about £18 left until Tuesday but as I have enough food and no expensive plans for the weekend that should be ok. Going to meet up with a friend for a long walk tomorrow, will just have to buy lunch which I can get cheaply as she is also always watching money. Then got parents visiting on Sunday so hopefully will get taken out for lunch :-)

Also going to spend some time on a job application this weekend as found a great one with a massive pay rise (don't fancy my chanced but worth a go, if only to see if I get an interview...!)

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend in the sun!