13 Moons part 2 - Freebird & Frugabulous

Karmacat

I love both your posts! Don't love the flea tho how annoying! I used to use frontline back in the day, tho money was no object then. Hope you can get it sorted ....

Lula-Hula

Souk08 wrote: »

Annoying indeed love, and just be aware that glam, sorted types MAY be paddling away frantically to look that way. Not saying how I know mind X

I know that lovely, just wish I had known earlier so could have stepped up the sisterly care a bit.

I have the leisure suit and specs on today too and also smell a bit. I have no intention of washing!
Well, tomorrow is another day, just don't let this saving water go another 24 hours eh :rotfl:

Well, the cat's got his cross face on now. He didn't take kindly to be sprayed from his @rse to his neck & did his best to rip my hands off then skulked off looking fierce & furious.

I'm not overjoyed either, decided to head to nearby garden centre with pet shop attached so I could get a bag of compost too as the poor pansies are looking a bit neglected.

It was a sound plan, but it went awry. I got the cat spray as can also spray the rugs with it to make sure no jumping beasts survive. Then thought I might as well get enough spot on treatments for the next 3 months, & also the de worming stuff too - he's going to kill me & eat me while I sleep - grand total of £31.67 :eek:

Then picked up bags of compost - buy 2 get one free & they'll always be used, not as if they go off discovered onion sets & garlic bulbs for planting out, then had to buy a dibber thingy to plant bulbs, then saw bogof on decent water & thorn proof gardening gloves - they were PURPLE, who in their right mind would turn them away ?- next thing you know I'm at the till & another £27.44 has escaped .

The shameful bit is that no way was I going to spend my pocket money on flea & worm treatments so that went on the CC & then it sort of just appeared again when I paid for the gardeny bits.

This has obliterated the extra £50 I paid off on last week :mad:, but it's done so I just have repay as soon as possible.


My poor car is very low on fuel, I'm hoping to get to school & work for the next 4 days with what's left, then it'll be payday :j.

Yes, I could have gone into my overdraft rather than use the CC, but the overdraft will cost me & the CC is still interest free, but not for long so I seriously need to get a proper budget drawn up that allows for cat treatments & garden & homey bits too.

However, the pansies are now settled in to their new bowl & cheer the front up & I've removed the dead stuff from hanging basket by front door & replaced with more pansies, swept steps & it all looks very clean & cheery


DDs birthday a week today & then after that I'll have some headspace to deal with such budgetty things & other plans & challenges.

I'm now going to get on with packing away my summer wardrobe ( half of it unworn due to weather & size issues ) & sorting through & listing autumn & winter stuff.


Later on will be the regular sunday night grooming routine ready for the week ahead.

No cooking or soup making has taken place just yet

Karmacat

Oops! Credit cards are very bouncy for hard plastic things, aren't they? They just seem to bounce into our hands at the most inconvenient times ... tho absolutely, no point using the overdraft when this one is 0%.... and on a regular basis, *when* you're df, you can still use it, just as long as you pay it off every month!

Lula-Hula

Yes, Auntie Karma, I shall indeed pay it off every month & will definitely use for fuel, just not sure I can trust myself with using it for the grocery shopping yet .

And today's news is :

I have finally managed another NSD , number 11 no less . Clearly I've run out of days in order to achieve target of 16, but never mind as I can try again next month.

Work-job was quite chilled today, had a chat with Gropey first thing, he does love a good chinwag, then Gumpy arrived bearing his usual dose of smutterings & rudeness. Told me how good I was looking today ... for a woman in her 60 s :eek: :rotfl:.

I was very relieved to come home to find only 3 hours of home-job work so go that done before we had our meal then DD & I watched tv & decided that we're going to find out where Lorraine Pascall lives & then move next door so we can pop in each time she cooks. I real do like her simple laid back & non gimmicky approach.

Despatched DD to bed, had a half hour yoga session & a soak in the bath with a book. I really do need to learn to focus on the poses & not let lists pop in to my head, or use the time to mull over things, that's not relaxing at all .

I've paid more off the Custard Coloured one & it now has a balance of £400 & there are 5 weeks to go. Current account is as low as the fuel gauge & I'm driving as though wearing a tweed cap on a sunday in order to maximise fuel efficiency, it does chill me out more too.

Very tired so that's it for tonight, must update Clothes Challenge spends tomorrow, must update Clothes Challenge ... etc ...

G'night
xx

Karmacat

My word, Lula, it really puts it into perspective when you say you *only* had 3 hours of home job! Thats enormous! No wonder you want to give it up....

I'm glad you had a bit of relaxation time at the end of the day. I'll have to catch up with Lorraine Pascal on iplayer - I like her approach too, tho I do remember her saying in her first series that she knew her stuff wasn't quick and easy. Just *delicious* :j:D:j:D:j:D

Lula-Hula

Uncle Richard & I have fallen out, he is not my friend & he is not my fellow DJ .

Got a cheeky text today saying that as my Direct Debit payment had bounced would I please make arrangements to pay my bill another way :mad:.

Leapt on the phone & requested to close my account immediately. Young man on the other end said that was fine as soon as I had cleared the balance. Grappling with my patience & explained that I had already paid. He admitted that yes I had, but in fact there was a £12 charge for non payment of Direct Debit :eek::mad:.

Explained in simple terms that I was not ( in a hell freezing over kinda way) about to accept a charge for a failed payment that I didn't owe :mad:. We discussed the stupidity of a system that doesn't recognise a payment unless it wants to & sends out requests for direct debits a month before they are due.

I appreciated all this & he apologised & assured me that my account would be closed with credit refernce agencies & no defaults would appear. I said thank you & assured him that if they di, I'd be ringing him back again.

He replied that I may get telemarketing calls, blah blah blah ... let them try, we have a new system at home now, We answer the phone when it calls, but don't speak & just leave it on the side for a half hour or so .

Uncle Richard's CC duly drawn & quartered ( probably a good thing this happend, or I may not have got around to actually closing the account & returning car otherwise ...

Must dash, am off to a meeting at the library about volunteering myself, have put my Velma specs on so I look the part :rotfl:

xx

Karmacat

Good grief! If people pay up, that must help their profits considerably Barstewards ....

And hmmm, speaking to them on the phone - tell me you used saynoto0870?

Good for you for getting straight onto it :j:j:j

Lula-Hula

Soon it's the last day of September & never have the months gone by so quick as during the last year.

It's been a tough week at work-job, not with tasks or projects, but the resurgence of the evil Goblins mood swings & grumpiness, mainly take out on me. It tires me out, I am trapped & know that there is nothing I can do except keep my head down.

Sometimes it's difficult though; this week Gropey has been 'working' in another department. He readily admitted that he was avoiding Grumpy & the Goblin as both have been in vile moods this week. When she is in a mood, Grumpy tends to cosy up to her so I feel even more awkward in the office.

I've been getting in 20 minutes early each day & whereas previousl i would have noted them down & then asked for extra hours to be added to my wages, I dread having to ask Goblin for an overtime form _pale_. She'll sigh in an exasperated manner & then make a big show of stomping ( in her oversized mules) to the locked drawer in her filing cabinet.

Oh yes, the most feared crime in Surrey is the theft of overtime forms.

She then extracts a form & grudgingly releases it from her claw, reminding me that one of the bosses has to sign it.

So, the amtosphere can be sliced open & used as drain unblocker - it's that toxic & I am counting the minutes until I can leave. My new tactic is to leave the exact same number of minutes earlier than usual as the ones I arrived earlier.

The first day I tried this ( a bit scared I admit) by getting up & announcing that I was leaving for the day, Grumpy looked at the clock & said " aren't you a bit early ? ". I replied "not when I had arrived the same number of minutes earlier this morning" .

He just grunted & I left, feeling almost victorious. The second day was easier, & today wild elephants couldn't have stopped me. I just don't care anymore. Over a month, it adds up to another day worked I don't see why I should do that for free.


Apologies for the rant, it's why I've not posted much this week, it brings me down. I need to find a way out of that office, Highly Annoying is away for 2 weeks soon & I am dreading it, he's looking for another job, I think I should do the same.

To money matters;

I've secured 14 NSDs this month which is ok & my grocery spends are the lowest they have been since January last year :rotfl:. I'm quite pleased about that & DD still has about £15 in her lunch account so a succesful start to new methods & food budgeting.

I had a much less stressful home-job week & it looks like I may get to drop Mondays sooner than I thought, although I have said that I need to earn enough on the other 2 days to not notice too much .

I topped up the funds & balances are as follows :

Childcare £60
Presents £20
Entertain £40
Cash Emergency Fund £10 - not much, but it's a start.

Tomorrow is payday & hopefully I'll get my wages on time ... I need to head to Tatco as the car is running on willpower alone & very dirty so time for a good scrub & fuel up.

I also need to get some household & grocery bits as part of my massive stocking up project which will mean I just need to buy food for the months immediately after the Great Midwinter Feast.

There will also be shuffling around of CC payment, topping up DDs lunch account, transferring money to savings funds etc etc *yawns*.

I think some time spent enjoying the sun in the garden will help lift my spirits & I can plan where to plant the onions & garlic.

Exercise has been minimal this week, there have been quantities of Disaronno sipped near bed time, helps me unwind.

Will report all spends tomorrow.

G'night
x

Karmacat

Good for you for leaving early! Sorry the atmosphere is making you feel so down tho - it sounds awful, actually.

NSDs are great! And new methods & food budgetting? Is that partly cos of DD's new school? It sounds excellent, as does stocking up (you *know* I'm a great believer in stocking up for winter - did you cop to the number of bottles of toilet cleaner I bought yesterday? :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: I have 2 toilets now, thats my story and I'm sticking to it).

Planting! I'll be able to plant garlic this year, for sure, I'm really looking forward to it :j

Lula-Hula

It's been a rather expensive day today. Dropped DD off & was parking outside Tatco by 8.30.

Gave nice car cleaning man £6 from my pocket money to make my car look all shiny again. It's so worth it, I detest cleaning my car.

Shot into M&S first & foudn some cute skinnies & even cuter top for DD, used my £5 off childrenswear voucher but forgot to use my free gift tokens :doh:so ended up paying £23

Chatty lady at the till told me about the M&S CC which earns a person points & is currently offering 0% for 15 months ... :think: I do like a 0% CC & mine is about to run out & although the Halifax 0% CC is a fab shade of pink, there is no offer of points to go with it.

I'll think about it for a week or two & read all the T&Cs very thoroughly.

Then it was time to brave the place of my nightmares ...

Had to get all sorts of things & was ready to grab bargains to swell my store cupboard. I had to get some birthday ish stuff like candles, wrapping paper etc & that cost about £6.50. I needed to get some stationery for DD for school & saw some fab little project notebooks with dividers so had to have those & the whole bundle came to about £7.30. Next it was toiletries, vitamins & medicines, clocking up another £27 ( bogofs & bargains aplenty) then another £26 on household items ( more bargains & bogofs) then finally the groceries which came to £42.70 including a weeny bouteille de vin rose for me .

And if you think spending £110 in Tatco was scary, by the time I'd refuelled I was petrified; £51.55 :eek:. I know lots of people spend that every week, but it's the first time I've gone over £50 to fill up & it sucks .

It took ages to pack all the stuff away & I have now created my stock list & put it inside the cupboard so I can easily check up on what we need & what we have plenty of. Sad, but very useful.

I spent most of the afternoon wrapping the books for DDs birthday inside the laptop box, & the laptop in some bubble wrap. Hee hee :rotfl:.

I've transferred £150 to my linked savings account so the funds are building nicely:

Energy bills - £300
Car Tax - £ 50
Car Insurance - £ 260
Car maintenance - £ 60

I've topped up DDs phone, the rent, council tax & water rates go out of my account tomorrow, the St. Johns donation goes out on Monday, along with contact lenses & Virgin direct debits. I've written a cheque for £20 for the technology department donation & need to top up DDs lunch fund, that will be £40 this month as we have half term.

Yes Karma, I think the reduced grocery spending is due to DD having lunch at school, rather than my budgeting & cooking prowess

I'm pretty much skint already this month & forsee me relying heavily on home-job wages to get the groceries each week. However, I don't have any more major expenses due for a while so can just coast along putting every available pound towards clearing the last of the CC. (well, when I say no major expenses, I'm not counting the looming orthodontist appointment for now)

Never mind though, On the last day of next month, I shall be debt free .

The nasty work atmosphere dissipates from my mind by Thursday evening & is all forgotten by Friday so as it's really not many hours a week, I am going to try to stick with it for the next 6 months & just hope the new project kicks off soon so that I'm busy.

I'm off for a soak with a book,

G'night
x