Blinded by the LBM...!

banwa

Hello Been, glad to see you back and posting. We've both had setbacks now time to get to work...

Onwards and upwards, Been, onwards and upwards!

Banwa

Beencounting

Thanks for dropping by Banwa - nice to see you

So close now to payday, which for me is Thursday. Wow, it's been a long month . OH and I have managed to stay within the cash limits we set ourselves, but all food and fuel has gone on the CC since the middle of the month, although there have been some unexpected bills, so needs must.

I'm looking forward to a fresh new start for February , and it's a 'short' month where I can budget for five weeks (the usual), but there are only four weeks :D. I won't be pointing this out to OH, let's just see how we go .

I've been plodding away at my 1poll account, and am at £38.25...just £1.75 to go till payout...at last :T. Let's hope it doesn't take another three months to get there .

I'm hoping we can last until Thursday with the fuel we have in the car. It's currently half a tank, so will be very close. Fingers crossed. We're planning to get the train to work from February to delay changing the tyres on the car until March. The car needs taxing for Feb, so that's enough expense for one month .

Aldi shop to do today, so need to get a mealplan sorted before we go so that we only buy what we need. The freezer is quite low now, so we will need to be creative .

Sorry for the ramble...:D

Beencounting

:j Payday...at last! OH has already suggested we should have a takeaway tonight, but I've said 'no' ...we can have it tomorrow :whistle::dance: as it's Friday! Well, we need a little treat now and then .

I'm working at home today, and have been popping into my 1poll account every hour or so and am now up to £39.60, just 40p to go till payout :T. I actually think it might happen for February :rotfl:.

Earlier in the week the car had another mini-breakdown and cost another £130 . We're renaming the car the Six-Million-Dollar car, since we're rapidly rebuilding it .

I've set my budget up for February and am thinking of doing a mealplan for the whole month just as a guide so that I can bulk buy the main ingredients. I've already placed an order to AF which should be here next week. That will cover us for packed lunch snacks, biscuits and most of the breakfast cereal.

Must remember to tax the car tonight too as that's due. Completed and submitted my tax return earlier, no rebate unfortunately , but at least that's out of my hair now!

Hmm, I seem to be rambling again!

Beencounting

Quick 1poll update, as of this morning I needed just 20p to reach payout

Logged on a few moments ago and there were about 5 10p surveys...great I thought . Did the first survey, and was routed back to the homepage, and as if by magic, all the other 10p surveys had disappeared :mad::mad::mad:. I'm just 10p off, I hope 1poll don't mess me about now and keep me hanging on for weeks/months just for 10p. It's taken years to get here .

Beencounting

Still no progress on 1poll . I've been at £39.90 since last Friday and so far have only had three surveys passed my way, and all have screened me out :mad:. <frustrated>

OH and I are back on the train for February - two tickets = £169! Let's hope the weather doesn't deteriorate otherwise we won't be able to get to the station...

Managing ok on the budget so far (I know it's only 5th Feb ), but most of my bills get paid within the first week of the month, so we're just left with the cash spends (fuel, food, pocket money). I've got it well locked down this month, and am updating spends every day.

We did the week's shopping last night, but were over by about £6, but I'll reduce subsequent weeks by about £2 each to balance it out. There were some YS items, so I wanted to get these now to take advantage of the saving. Should result in less being spent next week. Also bought lentils and soya mince to bulk out some of our meals, so hopefully that will mean extra portions to go into the freezer for later in the month too.

Beencounting

Well I've finally reached the payout on 1poll :T, and, amazingly, they've already transferred the money to my (paypal) account :j. I was amazed at how quickly this was done, literally a couple of hours and the money was there. So pleased to have that sorted .

So far this week we've stuck to the mealplan and haven't had to buy any extra groceries. I'm really pleased as it's the first time we've kept to the plan exactly . I've started prepping our mealplan for next week and am hoping to reduce the amount we spend in the SM as I don't think we'll need a lot. Just bread, milk, fruit, squash and perhaps a few little bits just to complete some meals.

We received our AF order this week (eventually after a couple of missed deliveries ) so that should keep us in snacky things until at least the end of the month.

I've been keeping us really tight on the budget for the month, and so far so good. We won £5 on the lottery last night , so that helps a little too. By my estimates I'm about £20-ish short for the month, but I'm hoping to make this up by savings elsewhere.

Had a little falling out with DD last night , she passed her driving test earlier in the week, so now wants a car (yes, we have promised..) but is really put out that she'll have to wait while we get the money together. It made me really sad because it took the 'shine' off her achievement, but also a little annoyed that she doesn't really appreciate that I can't just magic the money up from nowhere . Teenagers...<sigh>....

hillside777

I reached the payout last week and it took about a week for them to transfer the money, although it was hassle free.:)

Well done for reaching the limit. :T :j

Beencounting

Thanks Bonnington - I now need to consider whether it's worth starting again as it takes sooo long to get to payout :think:.

Not a great deal happening at Been Towers otherwise. We're quietly working our way through February with budget intact. This week I'm up just over £14 on the grocery budget, so hoping to be able to rebank some or all of this by the time next shopping day comes around, which is next Monday, so nearly a full week to go.

We're being especially good at using the left overs after every meal at the moment which is definitely having a positive effect. On Sunday we had roast chicken on the mealplan, but there was enough left from Saturday night's leftovers to feed us, so that was a meal saved .

I'm also managing to keep our weekly pocket money spends within budget too, I think this is the first time ever! My only worry is the petrol budget as I'm not sure there's enough to last til the end of the month. I'll just need to keep an eye on that with a view to damage limitation if we need extra cash.