Blinded by the LBM...!

satchmo1

Hi

You are making great progress, well done!

It could be worth putting a few cans of soup in your drawer in work, and maybe some Ryvita in a plastic box (to keep them fresh). That way, if you don't manage to take a packed lunch, you have something quick, easy and MSE. That presumes that you have access to a microwave to heat the soup up?

Satchmo x

Beencounting

satchmo1 wrote: »

Hi

You are making great progress, well done!

It could be worth putting a few cans of soup in your drawer in work, and maybe some Ryvita in a plastic box (to keep them fresh). That way, if you don't manage to take a packed lunch, you have something quick, easy and MSE. That presumes that you have access to a microwave to heat the soup up?

Satchmo x

Hi Satchmo, thanks for posting .

I've taken your advise and have taken a few soups/ready meals into work in case of an emergency! I've also told OH to do the same, so hopefully we won't waste money on shop-bought sandwiches again .

Beencounting

Things have gone a bit pear-shaped in the last few days on the MSE front , but rather than hide my head in the sand, I'm going to report my naughty spends...

meal out and drinks with OH and DDs - £65
McDs for DS - £5
coffee out with DM - £5

:eek::eek: that's £75 that wasn't in the budget .

So, to make amends, I have some stuff that I can return to the shops, so will be doing this. It's a bit of a pain, but needs must, as I'm determined not to use the CC this month.

Been

hillside777

Glad you've been able to take some soup and ready meals to work. It's not really practical where I work. We have one microwave and 1,500 people work there. There is a restaurant facility but would never pay their prices.

I know what you mean about not using the credit card, it's not always easy, especially if something unexpected happens.

You may have had a meal out but you have to do something different sometimes and just relax and enjoy being with the family.

Beencounting

Thanks Bonnington. It was lovely to get out with my DDs, especially as one of them is living away from home and I miss her sooo much .

Another spend to report - a box of R0ses last night while watching tv - £4 . I haven't drawn my 'pocket money' for this week out of the bank yet, so will cover it from that (OH paid last night, but he'll want it back!).

Good news on the gym membership, looks like I cancelled the DD in time, so that's £20 still in my account . This will be very useful as we're now in financial limbo land til the end of the month .

I've made some changes to my spreadsheet for next month and have separated my minimum CC payments and overpayments into two lines. The plan is to make weekly overpayments if possible rather than doing it all in one go. This way gives me the option not to make the overpayment if I think we're going to run out of money before the end of the month. Hope it works!

Been

turfy6

Hi BC nice to have a night out now and again and I love choc too which is my downfall. You could try and open an online savings account then you can t'fer money each week and if you find yourself short t'fer it back to the current account. I do this and feel its a bit of a safety net which stops you using the cc.

banwa

Beencounting wrote: »

Things have gone a bit pear-shaped in the last few days on the MSE front , but rather than hide my head in the sand, I'm going to report my naughty spends...

meal out and drinks with OH and DDs - £65
McDs for DS - £5
coffee out with DM - £5

:eek::eek: that's £75 that wasn't in the budget .

So, to make amends, I have some stuff that I can return to the shops, so will be doing this. It's a bit of a pain, but needs must, as I'm determined not to use the CC this month.

Been

Well done for posting it all though Been. Did you get the stuff returned?

Beencounting

turfy6 wrote: »

Hi BC nice to have a night out now and again and I love choc too which is my downfall. You could try and open an online savings account then you can t'fer money each week and if you find yourself short t'fer it back to the current account. I do this and feel its a bit of a safety net which stops you using the cc.

Thanks Turfy I have one of those saver accounts where you can have 'pots'. One of my pots is the emergency fund, but alas, that was already demolished this month, although I can't remember on what now . But you're right, knowing there's some kind of safety net is reassuring .

Been

Beencounting

banwa wrote: »

Well done for posting it all though Been. Did you get the stuff returned?

Hi Banwa, nice to see you posting again .

It was hard to admit my downfall, but in the end, it's only me that I'd be cheating by ignoring it . I haven't returned the stuff yet as I've been poorly for a few days and only returned to work yesterday. Will be doing this in the next few days though, promise!

Well yesterday was a NSD , but today won't be . I need to call into B00ts to get some hair conditioner as we've totally run out and my hair feels like straw today :mad:. I'm going to try to use my points for this, although not sure how many I've got. I also need to buy a birthday card, but that will need to be cash.

That's not too bad, but OH has just relieved me of the CC as he says something needs doing to the car..tyre-related, but I'm not interested enough to ask for further details . I hope it doesn't cost too much :undecided, well in fact I hope it's completely free, but I guess that's highly unlikely .

Some other things to do that are running around my head are:

• check bank account - haven't done this for a few days and am now suffering from ostrich-syndrome
• book an appointment with our works pension advisor - I've been looking online at my pension fund and it looks like I could increase my contributions quite a bit, but at very little cost to me due to the tax advantages. If this is correct, then it's a no-brainer .

Been

hillside777

Sorry to hear that the car needs some work.
I hope it doesn't cost too much.

I occasionally have to use the CC as well. At least hardly ever compared to at least every week before the LBM.