13 Moons ... ( *** Off, I'm Fabulous )

Karmacat

I prefer the stock up thing - and you keep a tight eye on your budgets, counting up each time you go, you'll be fine.

I love DD keeping you in check so you can get out of there quicker! She's a character, right enough!

Lula-Hula

Back again & with good news too.

I've done the evil weights workout & my legs did ache a lot but then a neighbour popped in with the yoga dvd s so after a nice soak in the bath with a book I just had to try one out. Tucked inside is an eating plan & very sensible guide to losing weight & keeping it off.

It has compounded my decision to just get the stock shopping done asap as we dont have any of the items on the plan. Absolutely not a single one . My feelings about Tatco havent changed but for the next few months I do need to keep my spending as low as possible & there is no doubt that it is the cheapest store locally for all the household items I need to stock up on. Next month I will be investigating Sainsbugs.

Anyway, the yoga dvd I tried was great. It is broken down into 10 minute sections so easily manageable for anyone to fit into their life. I do get a bit addicted though & after completing the 3rd lot I had to drag myself away. The aim is to learn as many as possible so I can then do them regularly & whenever I have half an hour or so. I cant wait to get to the end of the dvd so I can discover the 7 secrets that are apparently waiting there for me ...

taxi73

The DVDs sound wonderful and complete with a diet sheet sounds good.

Know what you mean about Tesco...Sainsbugs seem cheaper than they used to be looking at the adverts.I do love Waitrose quality and especially it's organic range..though have never been in one of their stores as they don't have them here but order from Ocado instead..though I've been good recently and not ordered from them..

se999

Is the yoga one of the 10 minute solutions ones, I like their target toning and blast off belly fat ones.

museumworker

OOOh, I'd love a 3.5L slow cooker (ours is 6.5L :eek:!) but don't think OH would approve - I could just say it was the other one which shrunk? :rotfl:. They do work best when nearly full, when ours is semi full it can dry out a bit. We filled it the other day for beef and ale stew, which was gorgeous, but we did have 14 portions of it by the end!

Can you share the 7 secrets with us too? I second the target toning - it is not too hard but quite effective. When I started exercising I loved it, now I've done the shred I use target toning for my more 'relaxing' workouts :rotfl: - I need my head examined quite clearly! Have the blast off belly fat but not done for a while, and am currently liking their exercises on the ball one - although me and Cindy have been good friends the last month . Agree it is good to have different ones to mix and match, it can get quite repetitive otherwise.

Souk08

Lula you know I love my SC...but use whatever suits you two! X

Lula-Hula

Souk08 wrote: »

Lula you know I love my SC...but use whatever suits you two! X

I am loving the new SC, it's actually the one I originally wanted but they had sold out before crimbo so I panic bought the biggie with my Argos vouchers instead.

Of course I will share the 7 secrets with you all. I could even create a list of my own 7 secrets if you like; they'd probably be far naughtier though

I have so much finance news it's blowing my mind. Will probably have to split into separate posts

First off let's do cash funds ...

Not enough to top them all up so had a think & decided on the following

PGL Trip + £10 ( want this gone asap) so now = £ 130
Presents + £10 ( need to stick with this one) = £ 40
DDs clubs + £0 (nothing due so not urgent) = £ 0
Treats + £0 ( not essential as enough for now) = £ 40
Clothes + £10 ( DD being slowly strangled by neck of school shirts) = £40
Laptop + £10 ( I will be strangled if she doesnt have one by October) = £143.11

I gave DD the cheque for the PGL instalment along with stern instructions to hand it in. I whizzed to post office on my way home after work to pay cash in to ensure it's there to cover the cheque. I also paid in the laptop cash.

She forgot to hand the cheque in :doh:

Rubbish child, but she does make me laugh. She's watching tv & an advert for a certain loo roll just came on & she snorted that it sounds like a chavvy girls name & then did a fab nasal impersonation of a mother calling her children in off the street " Cushelle, Charmin, get in 'ere nah, yer chikin nuggets are ready" :rotfl:

Never mind, I only have another £90 to pay & already have £80 of it so next week will be the final payment to that fund :j.

More news to follow shortly ...

Lula-Hula

*limps in*

Owww I am suffering from a disco related injury whilst I am fast becoming a diva on the wii dance floor I overdid it tonight while strutting along to Hot Stuff :rotfl: I am relentless in my quest for perfection of the moves. I am even considering an afro & flares for authenticity

I've twisted my ankle & pulled a muscle somewhere in my thigh so have had a bath to try to relax but am too hyped up now so will try to calm myself with some more money matters.

Another quietish day at work; Grumpy & Gropey out & about leaving myself & Goblin alone in the office. I made her coffee, defended her from all incoming calls & have offered to spend an hour at the allotment on saturday ... I was determined that the wages would be in the bank by tomorrow. I asked her advice about where to shop for good basic foods & sighed about what a long month January was & what a pain it would be to have to go shopping after work on monday . She was terrified that the new accountants might make the payment too late & couldnt face the thought of wages being late again so said she would get them to do it tomorrow & that it wouldnt matter if they were a day early ...

Having done the stop at the post office to pay in cash, I legged it home for a cup of tea & a naughty hobnob & then checked online banking. My wages were already in :j:j:j

I am so chuffed as I can now legitimately go shopping tomorrow without feeling I have cheated. We had the last of the nice food tonight & have just the quiche & quorn left. Obviously I will be using them up now that I am a reformed character but there is no bread & just a dribble of milk for DDs breakfast in the morning.

I checked all my emails & discovered that the gas & electricity bills were in *gulps*. I went to do my own readings & then opened the bills; gas is £197 ( pence rounded up to nearest £) & the electricity is £83. Hurray for saving funds & I had just £25 left in the gas one & £143 in the electricity one. Their estimate was very close to the real one for the gas ( just 3 units out) although the electricity was 30 units lower than their estimate.

Not to worry though, the bills are paid, earning me the discount on my next bill paid & they will be due just as I aim to make my final CC payment so any surplus in the funds will be going towards that.

I had my money head on so as soon as that was done I transferred Januarys savings into the funds account. All nicely topped us as afollows :

Car Tax = £80
Car Insurance = £ 100
Spares/Service = £ 120
Gas = £ 75
Electricity = £ 193

I seem to have lost some of my wages & cant quite work out why, but will question it on monday. Have a suspicion it might be the 2 days I had off before crimbo when DD was ill.

I've also been a complete donut & miscalculated outgoings by over £100. I forgot about the tv licence, insurance, Club Penguin membership & RAC due out at the beginning of Feb :doh:

The only way these expenses can be accommodated is by keeping the grocery budget low. Again .

So, plans for the mahoosive restocking have been shelved. I reckon that I have between £120 & £130 to spend until the next payday. That may well have to include petrol too if I want to stick to the £125 a week CC payments. To be DF by 1st May I have to do that. I am so close now ( cant believe it can be counted in months rather than years ) that I'm not letting go of the reins now.

I'd rather eat my own liver than go to Tatco every week, but I may just have to, well at least eat my own pride & ethics by shopping there for the next 3 months :eek:. Perhaps I should just avoid my beloved Waitrose altogether unless I go there on foot.

Bearing in mind that on top of the regular weekly payment, I still need to locate an extra £850 I cant afford to be snooty. Dammit, I like my snooty :rotfl:

makeup

Lula-Hula wrote: »

*

The only way these expenses can be accommodated is by keeping the grocery budget low. Again .

You can do it though, you did it this month and you can do it again.

And soon we have a four week month!! :j

You are doing so well on the exercise front, I've been seriously carp and I need to get my butt into gear next month, quite literally!!

Back to spinning, boxercise, pilates, whatever it takes!!!

Souk08

Lula sometimes a weekly shop is the way forward I'm afraid. I use to do a big online storecupboard shop every few months and then just top it up weekly and then I did a smaller weekly shop only and actually found that to be a bit cheaper. (Just so you know I am not talking about this particular month!)

Do you have a Somerfield/Co-op anywhere near you? They usually have really good offers on and if you do it might be worth going for them alone. Off the top of the my head they usually seem to alternate deals on loo roll and great big blocks of cheese, neither of which you can go wrong with!!! I hate Tatco too but needs must eh and you are so close.

Have you seen Weezl's site for cheap recipes? I personally couldn't be faffed to do the whole thing but some of the recipes are brilliant and uber cheap and as it would be something different maybe it wouldn't seem like so much of a hardship IYSWIM.

We all soooo want you to do this lady. XXX