London Socialite Sees The Light

LondonGirl252

Hey,

All I spent today was £9 on easter eggs and chocolate for the guys who run the yard where I ride - its come from the presents budget. I always try to make sure I contribute on occasions as I pay nothing to ride there and they do look after me I have started riding one of our youngest horses this week, he is all black bar 3 white socks and a crooked white stripe on his face and is soooo sweet! he is quite skittish and a bit scared of everything but has lovely manners and I think he'll grow into a lovely horse once he matures a little...

So looking forward to going home for a few days, getting up for a ride tomorrow then catching the train to be home by lunch. I'd be surprised if I spend much at all over the weekend now which will be nice.

I have just eaten 2 dinners... greedy I know! I had made a cheesy pasta with some leftovers which left much to be desired in the tastiness stakes and then my flatmate offered me her thai takeaway left overs and it'd be rude to refuse.... right??? haha

Day 5 of no drinking complete - despite being invited to the pub and offered a glass of wine when I arrived home! Go me! I have done a couple of hours studying and packed so I'm ready to get up and go tomorrow.... early night me thinks!

LondonGirl252

Hi all,

Hope you've all had a lovely Easter weekend and not eaten too much chocolate unlike me

I'm so pleased I went home for Easter, it was so nice. I got tonnes of work done and I really enjoyed seeing the family. My niece is growing up so fast for her age, she's a really funny character!

Mum gave me £20 towards my train tickets and I didn't spend that over the whole weekend so it turned out v MSE too.

Today was the first time I really didn't want to come back to London, which backed up my thoughts from before that I might be getting over all this now. All I really enjoy about London that I couldn't enjoy elsewhere is riding the horses that I do, but in the midlands I could probably afford my own (debt-free permitting of course!)

I just did the Nationwide mortgage calculator and for a £10k deposit and £40k pa salary they'd lend me just under £190k. Well in my Mum and Dads village that buys you a two bedroomed gaff newly renovated, so I'm sure I could find something for much less. This is all very speculative, and not for at least 18 months but it is nice to know those options just might be available to me when I do decide to move on. Anything could happen between now and then and I might completely change my mind but its nice to muse over it!

Moneys looking OK for the week ahead, though I am due to be out on Friday night for a birthday and Saturday night for a leaving party, however with me not drinking I'm expecting them to be nice and cheap!
Do you remember me saying that girl at work wanted to set me up with her friend? He will be at her birthday on Friday, so it'll be interesting to see what he is like, maybe we'll get on...

3 days in at work, then Friday at college in the day, planning to go into college on Saturday at least. Next week I'm in college Mon-Thurs for the revision course 1, but its the one near work so can still go and get my free meals

LondonGirl252

NSD today fingers crossed, had a lovely ride to start off the day so feeling good.
Got £100 left for the month I worked out today as work aren't paying us back yet for our race entry fees which were £46 so need to be really careful.
Need to get back into these challenges for NSD's as thats all gone to pot a bit recently.

LondonGirl252

Today has started off spendy. We've ran out of handwash in the flat and no one has bothered to buy any so I popped into Boots and their own brand was only 49p each so I bought four.

Going to a free event tonight ran by a different college to mine open to everyone who does CIMA, half the exam is based on pre seen material and they're going to go through it and anaylse what could be asked based on what we've been given so far so I'm hoping that will be useful.

I got really frustrated yesterday, the leaving drinks on Saturday according to the original email were local in the rugby club bar (super cheap) so it was perfect to be able to walk down have a few colas and walk home at a good hour to be up for revision on Sunday.
Anyway, yesterday another email came round and the plan has changed to meet at the club - everyone puts £20 entry in there (for what, I dont know!), then taxi's to Chelsea, Steak restaurant in Chelsea (no meal is less than a tenner) and then to a club on Kings Road which i did use to love but its £15 to just get in! Which is fair enough if thats what they want to do but I emailed back to say I couldn't afford it.
Then my other friend emailed me about it, saying we were miserable not to go and "lets just have the cheapest thing on the menu" So i replied saying that I couldnt even afford that, and anyway it makes no difference as the bill will be split anyway and I dont want to be the awkward "tight" one who makes a fuss. So then she replied "oh dont worry just put it on your overdraft" Even if I had one who is she to tell me that! PLUS this is the friend who I confided in about this right back at the start so she knows that I'm being careful with money. Its OK for her, if she decides she doesn't like the job she's doing she can just leave and her Dad pays her mortgage and pays off her credit card so she's never been taught about being responsibility with money, so she just doesn't get that when I say I have £100 to live off for the rest of the month that that is it. She has no concept that when that £100 runs out, there is no more. And I can't even excuse her on the ground by spending habits have suddenly changed anymore as I've been on the MSE boat for 6 months now. ARGH. Rant over.

The girl who's leaving suggested they come to me for lunch today so I'm meeting them at lunch and will re-iterate the money thing. Im just so FED UP of telling people over and over the same thing about this. I'm also printing off vouchers for places so that they can't suggest somewhere expensive.

miggy

How maddening!

Some people really don't seem to see consequences, and what's more want other people to play along. It really isn't fair.

Anyway good for you for sticking to your guns. The vouchers are a good idea too. Hope you have a lovely lunch!

happihorse

Hey LondonGirl,

I am sorry to hear about the lack of understanding shown by your 'freind'. I think being MSE is such an uphill struggle sometimes. You are going against the grain of today's credit card / debt culture and many people just don't get it (or don't want to understand). Think of the end goal - the house and the horse and moving away from London - all the things you are really working for. Although your freind's lack of understanding and passing up social events now are horrible issues in the here and now, I bet when you look back in a couple of years time they will pale into insignificance. It is always difficult to miss out on fun times but you have such a great attitude to the whole debt free goal. Meeting up for lunch is a good compromise - you will probably get more quality time with your freind than a big evening out anyway!

Chin up and keep smiling. There are lots of positives. Think how far you have come and what you have to look forward to in the future.

Oh, and the youngster you were talking about in a few posts back sounds gorgeous. What sort of breeds are the horses where you ride? I imagine they are some type of warmblood cross TB but I recall that they use to use some Cleveland Bays.

Take care.

happihorse

Shoe_Gal

^^^^^ wise words! :A

LondonGirl252

miggy wrote: »

How maddening!

Some people really don't seem to see consequences, and what's more want other people to play along. It really isn't fair.

Anyway good for you for sticking to your guns. The vouchers are a good idea too. Hope you have a lovely lunch!

Thanks, I know. When I saw then for lunch I was stressed as Id had a row with my flatmate - another story - and so I had a good old moan about everything for 10 minutes then they perked me up and we had a nice lunch, I think they understand now I need some space for the next 6 weeks!

LondonGirl252

happihorse wrote: »

Hey LondonGirl,

I am sorry to hear about the lack of understanding shown by your 'freind'. I think being MSE is such an uphill struggle sometimes. You are going against the grain of today's credit card / debt culture and many people just don't get it (or don't want to understand). Think of the end goal - the house and the horse and moving away from London - all the things you are really working for. Although your freind's lack of understanding and passing up social events now are horrible issues in the here and now, I bet when you look back in a couple of years time they will pale into insignificance. It is always difficult to miss out on fun times but you have such a great attitude to the whole debt free goal. Meeting up for lunch is a good compromise - you will probably get more quality time with your freind than a big evening out anyway!

Chin up and keep smiling. There are lots of positives. Think how far you have come and what you have to look forward to in the future.

Oh, and the youngster you were talking about in a few posts back sounds gorgeous. What sort of breeds are the horses where you ride? I imagine they are some type of warmblood cross TB but I recall that they use to use some Cleveland Bays.

Take care.

happihorse

Hey!

Thanks for the lovely message you're totally right, it was nice to catch up with them over lunch and when they realised how stressed I was I think they understood a bit more.

The horses are mostly irish draught, there are some warmblood TB too and the "drum horses" are Clydesdales - they currently have the biggest horse in europe in training to be a drum horse he's a lovely gentle giant!

Hope you're getting some nice riding in, it was blooming cold this morning!

LG

LondonGirl252

I'll briefly update you on the latest saga, my flatmate text me yesterday telling me that half her family are staying this weekend in her room - next to mine - with an 18 month year old - that is so noisy in the night she got no sleep the last time she went home - yeah thanks!

Anyway, it all got a bit much so I just arranged to go and stay with a friend as i have a mock exam at college this weekend and can really do without the disruption. After exams Im setting myself a mission to find a new flat at hopefully a cheaper price as living there is just one thing after another right now.

Last day at work today before I'm off on college course till next Friday so better crack on!