January 2011 spending diet

determined_new_ms

Day 4 and its not going to be a NSD day today as our tv aerial is $uggered and have an engineer here fixing it - I get the impression it won't be cheap but on the other hand he said the guy who initially installed it and we are lucky we haven't had a house fire :eek: so while its unfortunate its money well spent (well actually I'd give up telly and watch things on iplayer and the like but oh & ds do not agree with my way of thinking...)

I guess we all work out what constitutes a NSD for us, and I'm trying for the least amount of days I spend cash on essentials and for this month almost no days on non-essentials. I have £15 pw pocket money (just in case!) so will combine top up shopping/petrol with ay days I think I will spend....

Feeling general very sorry for myself today feeling very poorly so haven't gone to work, haven't slept last night - not sure if this is the cold/flu or not smoking hope it goes away soon.... going through a rough patch with oh :(:(

anyway (please ignore me if ur not already )

determined_new_ms

OMG aerial cost £197.50 :eek::eek::eek::eek: going to have to go and jiggle with figures to see where it will come from....

pixiechick99

Oh my word, what a lot for the aerial:eek: But, if it was dangerous, better to have it sorted.
I'm not ignoring you - poor you, I know not sleeping can get you down...just toadd to other things you must feel poo:(
I'm rubbish if I don't sleep well, and right now I've been waking up every 2hrs at night - it's frustrating and leaves me pathetic too.

Give yourself a quiet, lazy day today - you have to look after yourself too you know:o Feel better soon.

determined_new_ms

Thanks Mils :A feeling v sorry for myself and you've made me feel a bit better, wrong time of the month as well :eek: think I'm gonna crawl back into bed and sleep (hopefully) for a bit and hope to feel better after that....

aw well no point in crying over spilt milk is there hope you're getting at least a tiny bit of the essay done young laydee

pixiechick99

determined_new_ms wrote: »

Thanks Mils :A feeling v sorry for myself and you've made me feel a bit better, wrong time of the month as well :eek: think I'm gonna crawl back into bed and sleep (hopefully) for a bit and hope to feel better after that....

aw well no point in crying over spilt milk is there hope you're getting at least a tiny bit of the essay done young laydee

Hmmm, no essay yet - BUT, I have been ironing for ages...just had a quick peep on here:o Going to finish the ironing now, then lunch, then essay.

You go and rest, no point trying to do anything if you feel rubbish. A bit of sleep will make you feel more human...I know that works for me;)

determined_new_ms

Morning I really should get in the shower and get my act together! So feeling better today after actually getting about 18hrs sleep yesterday & last night :j

So diary insert:

oh did get me choc and crisps last night not sure of what the cost or whether they were free - I will post when I know...

today to be a NSD! I will do the following things to achieve it:

1. leave my purse at home so as not to spend as I am at the office near town today :eek:
2. work incredibly hard to make the day go quickly (I really hate my job right now and am looking for something else, but that's another story!)
3. Go for a run after work
4. go for "free" dinner at a friend's for a much needed catch up, gossip & laugh :T
5. day 4 of not smoking :j

nowpanicking

Hey Determined,

Hope you don't mind me popping in to say hello!

Your diary is a great idea... I'm trying to stop spending on bits and bobs at the moment as well but it can be so difficult! I start each month of really really positively but usually by about 2 weeks after payday I get fed up and start spending on rubbish ... the small things thread def helps so just need to keep posting there.

I noticed that you're allocating £15 pw for spending... do you have any money allocated for any days out / events for the month? I find it really difficult to not spend money at the weekend as I try and do things with the family (oh and ds (who is 4)). I'm going to try for a budget of £90 for 4 weeks (get paid 4 weekly) which is £10 pw and £50 for outings (if not spent goes towards debt).

Your goal of running three times pw is great - I'm def going to get back into running this year. Did a half marathon in September and my knee's been playing up since then... been to physio though and have exercises etc so hoping to get back into it when I go back to work.

Anyway, feel like I'm rambling now!

determined_new_ms

aw thanks for stopping by nowpanicking! Lovely to see you ok this is quite an austere month actually and I'm just trying to claw some funds back after the last couple of expensive months. £15 pw is just a buffer really in an ideal world I would spend nothing, but I fear if I'm that strict I will spend for the sake of it

usually I have £250 for spending money (it was less when I was paying off the debt) and a lot of that went on smoking - between £50-£60pm. I don't do days out as such as my ds is 18 so instead he gets £40 pm for doing some household tasks and other than that he has to rely on his EMA and get a job himself! I do however take him out for meals or to the cinema or even to the pub a couple of times a month.

I obviously go and meet my dd a couple of times a week and take her for something to eat, to the cinema (orange weds get a lot of use in this house ) or for a hot choc (although I'm waiting for her to contact me after standing me up last wed and I haven't heard a dickie bird yet :mad:). I know its different when you have young ones. Can you get your little into going for walks? I wish I had encouraged it more when mine were young because by the time they were teenagers they absolutely refused!

running I'm very new at and as with most things my enthusiam doesn't last very long! I ran for about 5 weeks in the summer and was absolutely loving it and then gave up but I'm trying now to keep at it along with the not smoking :j 4 days and counting!

nowpanicking

Hey,

Yeh... must try and go for more walks. We do go out more in the summer - just not quite as nice at this time of the year. Maybe £90 isn't enough for 4 weeks at this time of year... will give it a try and see how I get on!

Good luck with the non-smoking, my OH smokes... although it is tobacco so not quite as expensive as proper ciggies. He tried to stop a couple of times last year, found it dead easy to stop but then if he got stressed at all he went back on them. Really really hoping he manages to stop this year!!

p.s. both times he stopped he had flu like symptoms for about a week or so as all the badness got out of his system so that's maybe what's up with you? Or it could just be the flu (which I think I've got).

determined_new_ms

oh first "spend" to declare £37 on breakdown cover, so not really a spend strictly speaking.

However I did almost fall at the first furlong and went into town and looked around the sales for 2 hours earlier :eek: luckily its all tat that I don't want to buy but even so it wasn't good. Wasn't so determined there was I??

Came home and looked for my missing items and also found some things that I had bagged up for the CS but have rescued so have some more items :j. Item purchased from ebay on 30.12.10 has arrived which I don't like so I'm going to return for a refund :j

oh told me the yummy things he bought me yesterday were gratis :j so all is rosey again in the DNM house

So total spends this month: £37