Onion carbonara and other stories

the_mollusk

gosh, just posting my soa has made me think about my finances so much more than i expected.

i was thinking there was no way i could possibly cut down on anything as i already keep a rigourous spending diary and have got our weekly food shop down to £30... but having slept on the soa and browsed the forum a load more i've realised we should be able to get the shopping bill down even more, and there are a LOAD of things i need to sort out, like finding out how the heck much tax i'm meant to be paying very soon, or at least saving for some sort of contingency.

i'm getting pretty obsessed with this whole thing, and i spent most of my day at work(!) trying to get to grips with oh's debts too as he's terrifyingly useless at keeping track of them himself. amazingly though, something must be rubbing off on him, as he still hasn't claimed the chicken and chips i promised him a few days ago (which he was desperate for) and today he confessed "i can't help thinking it's a waste of money" :shocked:

meanwhile my mum's scarf is still a ball of wool

the_mollusk

today's ticked-off jobs:

1) cancelled card protection plan (only £22 a year but doesn't cover me in france anyway). payment was due to come out next month so caught it just in time will put that amount into my credit card after payday.

2) ordered pay-as-you-go card for my o2 phone which i've been paying £25 a month for and not using, ouch. (forgot to put that on my soa, edited that now).

3) scoured the hm revenue website for details about reclaiming overpaid tax as i didn't work a full tax year in the uk. need to find my p45/p60...

4) OH applied for 5 jobs in the last 2 days!

yay for getting stuff done!

life_in_termoil

wow you have been busy!!!

I myself havent been lol x

the_mollusk

i think i got inspiration from you. about time you had a break! :P

the_mollusk

more ticked off jobs:

1) emailed all my london friends arranging when to meet them when i come and visit next month (and a few others who will come from wiltshire and nottingham specially to see me... i love my friends...) no copy-paste or group-email jobs here like i would normally do, all personal catching-up emails!

2) went to market and got a fish bargain (no idea what they were apart from tasty - all the names are in french...), and made a mental note which veggies were cheaper at the market than the (already cheap) supermarket maybe i can make more savings in my grocery shopping after all!

3) phoned specsavers to tell them to stop sending me letters cos i've moved to france...

4) did loads of washing

5) cleaned the flat from head to toe

6) applied for an extra little (one-off) job

7) made my nerdy graph of electricity usage

8) gave mr mollusk a haircut for his first job centre meeting tomorrow! (ok "haircut" sounds advanced - i buzzed it with some very blunt hair clippers)

(also phoned O2 to change my contract to pay-as-you-go but they said i have to do it from the uk, so that'll have to wait till i visit. frustrating, wanted to tick it off my to-do list...)

AND we managed to squeeze in a cheap drink with friends, meet their kittens, and barbecued our market-fresh fish and market-fresh aubergine with market-fresh salad, the most nutrituous meal we've had in weeks (mr mollusk has lost an alarming amount of weight while we've been struggling not to use any credit cards...)

in other news, bordeaux is in a heatwave at the moment, reached 37 degrees today!!

one thing i didn't manage to do is go to bed early enough to get a full night's sleep (8 hours for me... only getting 6 tonight!) ... oh well, maybe tomorrow.

hope everyone had a good weekend

Hovel_lady

Just wanted to give my apologies for not posting in your diary but I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment (as you know) and finding it hard to concentrate on things.
I am thinking about you xx

the_mollusk

aw don't be silly! of course i don't expect you to comment on my silly diary when you've got so many serious things on your mind. (to be honest i don't really expect anyone to read my drivel, just using it as a diary for myself really, to note down any useful things for later!)

thinking of you too. glad you're finding a little comfort from the people on here. xx

the_mollusk

the_mollusk wrote: »

6) applied for an extra little (one-off) job

got the job! stroke of luck. started on it today, should take a week of evenings, here's hoping i do get paid on completion... <crosses fingers for an honest employer>

the_mollusk

just checked my accounts (for the thousandth time this month) and they STILL balance with just a few days till payday!! i can't believe it, it's the third month in a row, after 11 years of trying and failing!

Hovel_lady

the_mollusk wrote: »

got the job! stroke of luck. started on it today, should take a week of evenings, here's hoping i do get paid on completion... <crosses fingers for an honest employer>

That's great, really pleased for you :T