A Year of Living Frugabulously

RosaBernicia

Lula-Hula wrote: »

Looking forward to work tomorrow as I'll be the only one n the office from mid morning onwards . I shall indulge in my secret crush

The Orlando-alike? Or is that not really secret?

R xx

Lula-Hula

Good afternoon,

seems a while since I last popped in. I really need to do some de-dusting.

It's been a busy week again, no one particular thing has occupied me, rather that I seem to have been flitting about & having to do lots of communicating.

I admit that one of these communications is to do with my addiction to playing iphone scrabble with Grumpy :whistle:. It's fair to say that we are highly competitive & both determined to win. The difference is I know I'm playing fair, not sure that he isn't getting a bit of help.

I pole-axed him with a 69 score word yesterday & my accompanying message was 'eat that' :rotfl:. He replied with 'F you" which was even funnier - he's reaaaaaaly mad now.

I was struck down with mystery body malfunction for 2 days. Got up & went to work as normal, then mid morning my head started shifting. Not literally, but every so often it just felt as though my entire being swung to the side. Very odd & rather disconcerting. I had the same symptons a few months ago & again I was overcome with this bizarre urge to just lie down & sleep, wherever I was.

I managed to eat something which seemed to steady it a bit & I nearly dozed off while resting my chin on my hand. Gropey sent me home but I actually didnt' feel stable enough to drive straight away. Admittedly his offer to drive me in my car with Goblin following to take him back to work, speeded up my survival instinct & I managed it, got in, lay down on bed & fell asleep for 2 hours.

Felt much better yesterday, very tired still, but no headshifting Dropped DD off & was in Waitrose by 8.30. I've decide that to be in their fruit & veg department when there are hardly any other customers is one of life's pleasures . It's so clean & just rammed with such delicious, colourful & also curious looking things that are all good for you. I felt refreshed & healed just being there.

It was a lovely hour of my time & I stocked up on store cupboard items too & finally emerged with 5 bags of lush food & £59.55 lighter. A few household bits, a couple of treats & the groceries were £47.16p.

Petstore is nearby so I whizzed in there to grab 2 months worth of dried food at half price & a new fancy black collar with phosphorous stars on it so he shows up in the dark, being all black he does need to wear something luminous & he just refuses to wear one of those hi-vis vests :rotfl:

Anyway, the spend in there was £18.08 & then I drove straight home to unpack & get started on the tasks I decided to do.

3 loads of washing done & whilst I'm adding to the 20p (launderette tumble drier fund) pot I've not yet had to dip in to it. Just one more load to do & then that's done for another week.

I'd been rather ashamed after Laidback Dude stayed here last week when I realised just how dusty the living room [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] was & that there [STRIKE]are [/STRIKE] were cobwebs in the bathroom .

All dealt with now & realised I couldn't actually remember when I had last done it so it was probably due. Shame that I still have a dismantled table behind the sofa & the other dining table is masquerading as a filing tray ...

I did some intensive hoovering, a bit of tidying & also topped up DDs lunch card £15.

All the shopping went on the CC as the scary vodafone bill was due yesterday & essentially wiped out my funds so the CC bill is now at £115 but I'll be clearing that next week as it's payday on Wednesday :j.

Rather annoyingly, I've had to swap my day off next week as the school are having to close due to strike action. I'm not going to start preaching about it, but from the view point of the working parent; I don't have a workplace pension, I don't get 12 weeks holiday a year, I get 5 & if I wasn't in a situation where I can swap my days around, that day would have cost me money in childcare. It will be costing some people in extra childcare & no one needs that so close to christmas .

We have a staff meeting on Wednesday so I'll still have to go in for that as can leave DD for a couple of hours but still, not cool .

I've not done a single bit of Christmas shopping but have been treating myself again :rotfl:. I have 5 cds on their way to me - all paid for with amazon vouchers & I have another new dress, but that was only £6.50 via ebay. Lovely colour, perfect fit & suitable for work or home as can be accessorised in many ways. I feel no guilt .

I also need to buy some more woolly tights so a trip to M&S with that remaining £5 voucher will probably happen soon.

I'm really glad that I haven't bought more boots this year, as I'm now over that feeling that I need separate pairs for each outfit. I tend to keep my long black ones for smarter wear as the style & heel height is in keeping with that & my lower heeled grey & brown ones are fine for everyday wear.

I know I won't need any shoes next year so will instead save up for a pair of fabby new boots. I might just use the £2 coins savings for that very purpose .

One side effect of the weird head-shifting bug is that I appear to have lost 4lbs no doubt they will find me again on monday as I had a lush big cooked brekkie/brunch today & am due a tasty roast tomorrow as DD1 is visiting.

I'm concerned about my festive booze supplies so need to stock up on those - very important not to run dry.

Started this post hours ago, when it was still light. I was distracted by cups of tea & getting laundry in.

Had another wardrobe cull & it seems my spirit is lighter with each item I evict. Very aware of need to clear home before chrimstmas & also that thanks to strike I now only have day left to myself. Just one friday :eek:.

I'm not really feeling it for presents this year, I'm looking forward to decorating home & tree to decorate; I love all the twinkly & sparkliness of it. I'm looking forward to having some real down time from work & relaxing, the feasting will be fun too, but presents ? Nope, really not feeling it.

Maybe I'm feeling a bit irked at yet more spending which I've not saved for, maybe I just want to start seriously saving for the ERF & I'm disappointed that it's being delayed but I'm feeling a bit humbug ish right now .

Feeling queasy again, so going to snooze for a bit :shhh:

ZTD

Lula-Hula wrote: »

I was struck down with mystery body malfunction for 2 days. Got up & went to work as normal, then mid morning my head started shifting. Not literally, but every so often it just felt as though my entire being swung to the side. Very odd & rather disconcerting. I had the same symptons a few months ago & again I was overcome with this bizarre urge to just lie down & sleep, wherever I was.

I managed to eat something which seemed to steady it a bit & I nearly dozed off while resting my chin on my hand. Gropey sent me home but I actually didnt' feel stable enough to drive straight away. Admittedly his offer to drive me in my car with Goblin following to take him back to work, speeded up my survival instinct & I managed it, got in, lay down on bed & fell asleep for 2 hours.

Look up labyrinthitis and see if that's anything like you've got.

Cheery_Daff

I was just going to say exactly the same thing Z!

RosaBernicia

Z is right - suspect something viral is going round with a middle-ear effect as a friend had something very similar to you and the cold going round work has made me rather ill when combined with a train journey.

Can see your point about strike - I am not joining in and am getting increasingly irritated with the vaguely threatening rhetoric in the union rep emails. So far resisting explaining to them the concepts of selection bias and correct representation of evidence but my exit from the union may not be far off :rotfl:

Hope your queasiness is better soon

Rosa xx

taxi73

I had exactly the same thing yesterday so suspect it's something going around

Lula-Hula

Back again,

thank for the labyrynthia tip :A, I checked that out but I have none of the other symptoms thankfully. I've learned that both Goblin & Grumpy had the same thing last week & while it was very short lived & after Taxi's post, I'm fairly sure it's either viral or we're being tested on by aliens.

The scrabble saga continues; Grumpy got a 30 point word but still lagged behind & his message said that he wasn't enjoying himself at all. I hit him with 'citizen' scoring myself 80 points & replied to his message with " I am ! " :rotfl:.

His reply was a 30 point score & the message " win this & you're fired " :rotfl::rotfl:

There are 3 letters left, we've used the 'z', 'q', 'x' & 'j' & I am now 90 points ahead .. my response was another 20 score word & the message " I'll start packing up now then".

This could well out-sin the time I booked him in to the dodgy 'hotel' a few months back. Actually looking forward to Monday now .

Talking of hotels, I think I forgot to mention that I scored myself another £6 in Quidco berries by doing another work booking . Quite right too as it was for Highly Annoying who has been rather quiet the last week since his declaration on the booze-up event.

I also earned another £3 in paypal berries .

I've decided not to attempt any repayments to the Buffer Fund until all christmas expenditure is done. I only have another 2 weeks of school lunches to pay & if I limit the grocery shopping to just £30 a week - it CAN be done - then I should have about £150 - £200 to spare. I also have about £80 in the presents fund & if in dire need, there's always the holiday fund :eek:

I won't take money from the Buffer Fund or any of my other funds that exist to pay future bills. They are sacred, whereas a holiday fund can be shrunk slightly without any devastating consequences.

I love that I am learning to properly manage my money :j. It was a long & expensive lesson, about 6 years & £12,000 I estimate :

original debt at maximum was £7,880,
+ first & failed co op transfer at £1,100,
+ about £400 unbudgeted for car expenses,
+ about £400 worth of dental work,
+ 3 x laptops in a year at about £2,000 (warning -if you don't know why, please don't ask)
+ 1 x cooker about £450
+ 1 x holiday cottage £830 ish I think, can't remember)
+ 1 x i-phone £170

I usually do a count up of my financial status at the end of December & it'll be the first time ever that I have a credit balance

I know how to save up for stuff - make sure I never come into contact with it :rotfl:- ie holiday is funded by child benefit & quidco, both of which go directly into a bank account that I can only access in the branch or by cashpoint card.

I know how to juggle my accounts to make sure I can cover unexpected payments, I know how to earn treats by doing surveys. I know how to get the best prices & cashback for the things I do want to buy & I have been indoctrinated to such an extent that I shamelessly cleared the shelf of half price boxes of washing powder :rotfl:.

So why, oh why, can I not manage to stick to a general living expenses budget :huh:

Answers on a post card please

Karmacat

Lula! How :j:j:j

Am totally envious of the fact that you've mastered/mistressed the politics of how to place words on the scrabble board - even tho I know lots of words, I *never* win scrabble, I'm rubbish at placement :rotfl:

And what an amazing roundup to the year :T:T:T

Lula-Hula

Morning KC,

lovely to see you :wave:

I used to loathe scrabble as a child, I remember my parents buying it for me one christmas & feeling very disappointed as it was clearly an 'educational' gift. They immediately started playing though, & in the end I remember having a hissy fit & saying they could keep it as they clearly only bought it for themselves .

What an ungrateful madam I was. Funnily enough, I now have that same game on top of my bookcase, but DD has never shown an interest until I started this game on the phone with Grumpy, the ability to send little messages is brilliant . You can get paired up with random strangers too so I might have a go at that too.

Yeh, I know how to partaayy :rotfl:


Another NSD yesterday & it shoud be one today too.

A small task list is also required :


- [STRIKE]ironing[/STRIKE] DONE

- paperwork :whistle:

- [STRIKE]hair colouring [/STRIKE] DONE

- [STRIKE]making soup[/STRIKE] DONE

- [STRIKE]making cheesy potato corn bake[/STRIKE] DONE

- raking up leaves :whistle:

- compile christmas card list :rotfl:

- compile christmas gifts list - IN PROGRESS

- [STRIKE]resolve to rejoin sealed pot challenge with vigour as from January [/STRIKE]DONE

Lula-Hula

PS - Coooooooeeeeeee Bad Weather -

we're over here now & project campervan is now housed under the umbrella fund for various plans aka the Escape Reality Fund- currently ticking over until all christmas expenditure done & £300 repaid to Buffer fund...

Coming soon in glorious technicolour ...