A Year of Living Frugabulously

lizzie_dripping

Good to see you back Lula.

vasseur

Glad to hear you are feeling a little better. There seem to be so many more people feeling like this, this year. More so than I remember before. You're not alone.

Take care xx

Lula-Hula

The home is a tip following yesterday's assault on shops & decorating tree & home, I mean seriously a proper tip, boxes, wrappings & bags everywhere , there's hair colouring to be done, cards to be written, delivered & posted & rellies to be visited.

I'm ignoring all that for the moment though. The foremost task for today is that I NEED to get a grip on the CC spending frenzy. I've been going through receipts with my trusty calculator at my side & I do admit to feeling a little bit green at the final amount.

£645odd :eek:_pale_:eek:

No, not a typo, I've racked up £645 worth of spends on the Custard Coloured one in the last 7 days.

A brief (figures rounded up) run through follows :

Amazon = £ 30
Co Op = £27
Marks & Spencer = £ 69
Boom Box repair = £65
Primarni = £ 30
TK Maxx = £100
Sainsbugs = £130
Tatco fuel = £44
Garden Centre = £64
Boots = £ 85


Now the cause, purpose, justification etc ...

- Amazon was on gifts + books & CDs for me

- Co Op was food & wine

- M&S was clothes/gift for DD + gift for sis who no longer deserves it

- Boom Box repair was way cheaper than buying a new one ( & essential bearing in mind the amount of cds I've bought in the last week )

- Primarni was cheap gifts for DD friends & stocking bits

- TK Maxx was gift vouchers

- Sainsbugs was about £100 on groceries & booze ( mainly crimbo stuff) & £30 on gifts.

- Tatco fuel is essential for travel, mental health & my freedom.

- Garden centre was completely unnecessary exterior twinkly lights one set unused as yet & I may return them ...

- Boots; hmm well actually I blame MSE for that one . I logged in & saw the news about the Soap & Glory bargainous gift set, dashed to Quidco, & the next thing I know I'm at the checkout with not only the soap & Glory gift set, but some Benefit face powder & a bottle of Chloe in my basket :whistle:.

Thankfully I got the £15 off the £100 spend ( by a mere 50p ) + free delivery & £4.50 casback. And, d'you know what, I hate being all pale & pasty so the face powder was to boost my self esteem & I'm (still ) single so I have to buy my own perfume.

I've done all my crimbo gift shopping & have definitely 'self-gifted' plenty for both crimbo & my birthday & now it STOPS.



That lot was weighing my conscience down so I now feel a bit lighter & will return later on with some ideas on how to clear that balance within the next 2 weeks so I start 2012 as I mean to go on; in credit

Karmacat

Lula, I'm sorry you went that far down - and very, very glad you've come back to post.

I really recognise that feeling of wanting to drive away and start again - when I worked in London, I was near Paddington Station at one stage, and when things got really bad, I'd walk there at lunchtime and stare at the departure boards. Managed not to get on a train, but it was a near thing sometimes.

And I recognise what you said about the early glasses of wine too - its not the same as a drinking binge, but a couple, out of your usual context, really does seem to help. Unusually for me, I did that last month too - it really is like taking it for shock, I think, and it really helps.

Rosa's champagne truffles might also be very yummy ... keep posting, sweetie, we're here for you.



ETA - crossposted on the last bit, so I came back on and added to this. That *does* sound like some of it was shopping from feeling bad - it might be a good idea to take the garden centre stuff back if you can, yes, thats a good idea. You have lots of pots of savings, Lula, is any of that covered by savings? And of course, yes, you still need food and petrol and whatnot ...

Plans to clear sound very good. Just look after yourself - you sound like you're back on track quite a bit, but you can still share when you feel bad, you know ...

xxx

vasseur

Well £100 at Sainsbugs for crimbo stuff sounds fairly restrained if you ask me I'd take the lights back - if you really feel you need them for next year buy them back in the sale on boxing day

As for having to buy your own perfume - at least you get one you like . Last year among my pile of mainly carp presents from my ex was a baking sheet :mad:. Really. !!!!!! the warning signs were there even then. No carp presents for polesalot this year :T

Lula-Hula

polesalot wrote: »

As for having to buy your own perfume - at least you get one you like . Last year among my pile of mainly carp presents from my ex was a baking sheet :mad:. Really. !!!!!! the warning signs were there even then. No carp presents for polesalot this year :T

That is appalling :mad: , what a nerve :eek: Never again poles, never again, you are far too fabulous for that :A.

Shoe_Gal

a baking sheet :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Glad to see you back sweetie, and with your sense of humour intact!

Nothing I can add to what everybody else has said, but just remember you always have friends here as well as in the 'real world' and we will always listen and support you :A

Cherryjack

lol at the baking sheet... im still seething about the ''Woofer Speakers'' i got for mothersday of my 5 year old son?! lol..

RosaBernicia

polesalot wrote: »

As for having to buy your own perfume - at least you get one you like . Last year among my pile of mainly carp presents from my ex was a baking sheet :mad:. Really. !!!!!! the warning signs were there even then. No carp presents for polesalot this year :T

:rotfl::rotfl: oh Polesalot thank you :A, you've just put my empathy ache at

Lula-Hula wrote: »

I'm (still ) single

firmly back in context!

2012 - defeat debt, find fabulous men (with enough sense and taste to pick better pressies for Christmas 2012)!

Rosa xx

Amishwannabee

fedupandskint wrote: »

I wonderd where you had gone as it'd been so very quiet.

As for this time of year, I understand exactly how you feel. Christmas Day sounds very hard work for you and coping with all sorts of moods and emotions. I Hope you get through it alright and then the next day you wake up bright and breezy as its all over and done with for another year.

We don't all have perfect families as depicted on TV and adverts sitting in a big house with hundreds of presents. What we have is real life, our life and we make it the best we can for ourselves. I'm doing quite a few HM presents this year and have branched out into some bath products. Am I bothered if they don't go down well? Not really. I'm doing them because I think they'll like them, if not I will! Plus when you don't really need anything whats the point of buying tat from the shop for the sake of it? At least these will get used and they are super natural and cheap. I'm mega skint at the moment and very glad I bought most things earlier this year. I'll be parceling them up next week to make them look beautiful and then lets see how they go down!

A big hug for you coping with the stresses and strains of 'this wonderful time of year' - its only films and media that tells us that!

Take care my dear and hopefully your sharp wit will feel like putting an appearance is again soon as its much missed. What will I do without the crazy clothes 2012? I can't even think about that!

You are so right - it all looks so perfect on tv ads but life isn't like that and only sets people up to feel sad when it doesn't match up in real time. I had a chat with a lovely lady selling BIg Issue today who told me that she will spend Christmas day on her own as her children no longer live with her. However, she was very excited as she is going to see them this next week where they live with their dad and her Big Issue money is how she will afford to get there. Made me feel quite humble stood there with all my bags of stuff. I can tell you.