If at first you don't succeed!

inthegreen

Well whoop whoop we now have a joint bank account. Oh looked distinctly nervous as if I was about to run off with his money which I would never do. He is also frustrated he cant save £1000 a month anymore. Whilst we were in there I suggested he set up his standing order now for the joint account but then complained when I suggested £1000 each. Actual bills are £850 each and I suggested £150 each for food/savings emergency fund. He is worried that I will spend more than £300 on food (I don’t charge him for my food at the mo as he complains about the high food bills but he needs to eat so much with a manual job) He has also become a brand snob.
To give you an idea he eats breakfast 1 at home at 6.00 which will be 3 portions of porridge or 3 portions of cereal. He will only eat the pre-measured packets of oats not the cheap 78p huge bag I buy for myself. He then takes in 2 rounds of sarnies for breakfast 2, lunch is then 2 more rounds of sarnies (with premium beef etc) a packet of crisps, 4 pieces of fruit again hates market fruit, a cereal bar, 3 chocolate biscuits and 2 slices of cake (I hand make all the cakes) In the evening he will eat a 4 person portion of pasta bake, a quarter of a homemade apple pie with loads of ice cream and then 2-3 bits of fruit and some chocolate. At this time of year he struggles to maintain 11 stone as he burns so many calories. I in return desperately try to stick to 1500 calories and try and keep as low as 11 stone!! I worked out one week he ate £18 in fruit alone. Anything for dinner has to be ready almost instantly which doesn’t help as I often finish work at the same time as him or am travelling so he has to have stuff he can heat up. I think he and I are going to have to have a discussion about what brands we do and don’t buy and show him that he is costing most of the food bill, I have to pay half the food bill and do all the shopping and yet I get complained at.
God I sound like a moaning Minnie, ignore me
I sent him off to clear the garage out and told him it would save him £18 a month if he finished it.
He has paid me £350 towards this month bill on 1st, he just needs to pay the other £500 before next Thursday so I don’t get bank charges having to cover it myself.

inthegreen

I chased up my expenses today and they are finally being paid, the accounts department always fail to appreciate we have to pay out the full amount and if they hold the expenses payments for 2 weeks its us that are funding the company.I have another expense claim waiting for my oyster card history and my bosses return from Holiday to authorise it.
Posted another item at lunch time and after postage/fees etc I made £21.36 so I have put £16.37 of it towards tickets to visit the tower of London next week and 4.99 went off the cc (now I have got their payment details)
Out of my savings I have bought train ticket for Sunday £8.00 and £13.80 on wrapping presents and loads of Christmas cards (all to be written this weekend and sent second class)
I have also got to pay for parking on Sunday (£1 I think), lunch (have suggested GBK or Pizza express so can use a voucher) , ticket for event (39.50, will be coming out of savings), parking next Wednesday for day trip to London (£5.50) and tube tickets (£30) some of this can come out of my weekly allowance. I must not add to my debt that’s the plan, get to January when I have nothing booked and get going on the serious debt busting
OH bought me a sealed pot today for 99p (you have to open it with a can opener I think he was a bit embarrassed by my sellotaped up smash tin!)
I have also just found £4 of bagged coppers I had forgotten to pay in to my bank account in my drawer.

inthegreen

Feel a little bit frustrated today, I forgot to bring the garage keys with me and today is the last chance to hand them and the form in as next week I am away with work. I even remembered the cancellation form
I also couldn’t find the Christmas cards I bought yesterday that OH brought home but felt too guilty to wake OH up (last day of his week off, he gets up at 6am every morning usually and this week has been up at 7.00 so thought he deserved a lay in)I was going to spend my lunch hour writing some out.
On a positive my expenses are finally en route (4 working days until I receive them)

LAM2011

Morning,

does that mean you cant hand back the garage then?

I also have a tin (that needs opening with tin opener) for my SPC

Enjoy Sunday and try not think of the expense

inthegreen

Its says on the form that you cant give the 2 weeks notice without the keys but I may try handing the form in and giving the keys over later. I will also text other half and ask if he is coming this way at all today.

Just found out the train ticket I prebooked is useless as its all bus replacement so may have lost £8 not the most in the world but still annoying, pah trains.

Thanks I will enjoy it (my other friend has gone today) I hope you have a good weekend and thanks for answering, I know people read diaries but dont comment but sometimes it feels like you are talking to yourself!

inthegreen

Went out at lunchtime and posted my friend’s item that she is sending me something in return for. I also paid in £4.00 of coins I found bagged and got some more bags. I really struggled not to nip into Mr T and buy some squash for work and a packet of crisps but managed to resist. I have enough squash for one more glass and can borrow a colleagues if I am desperate (she frequently borrows mine) There are also biscuits in the team tub (I am not really a biscuit eater) or apples in the staff kitchen so if I am truly hungry there are options later. I also thought that will wipe out my PAD amount if I spend it.
I also remembered that I now get 15% off a dim sum chain in London and a free cocktail for ordering off the Christmas menu so my Friend and I will go there on Sunday before the Spanish Riding School; I just need to remember my work pass for my discount.
I paid £2.28 off my Virgin credit card which is the £4.00 minus the £1.72 postage and am just about to go and update my pad total.
Tomorrow needs to be a no spend day but I can cycle to the yard and will be decorating and writing Crimbo cards so it should be achievable. If I haven’t sold any more items I need to list them on ebay, they won’t sell sat on the floor of the lounge. New weekly Budget starts on Sunday, Sunday will be a spending day and Tuesday night I have a dinner with my running friends but its Mexican so I hope it’s cheap. Wednesday is my OH’s birthday treat day, so still have to pay parking, tube fees and lunch (vouchers will be used or maybe more dim sum!)
It’s my other friends birthday the following Sunday but she is doing Family things and her joint birthday/Christmas present was bought a while ago so I just need a stamp to post her card and pressie (riding voucher)
Thought it might help to list potential spend until Christmas?
Sunday – Parking £1?, Tube 15 ? Lunch £12 ? Ticket for riding school £39.50
Mon, Tues, Thurs and Fri in London with work so potential tea spends but must take breakfast and lunch from home
Tuesday – dinner with the running girls £20? Can’t drink as driving
Wednesday – Parking 35.50, tube £30 for 2, lunch £17 pizzas?
Sunday 4th – friends Birthday – stamp
Fri 9th – Sun 11th – weekend in Ireland, (half saved) horse hire, cap, takeaway and booked dinner, parking all to pay
Saturday 17th – ride out £30
Sunday 18th meet up and exchange pressies with horsey friends so £5 for breakfast (pressies all purchased) Evening Olympia Horse Show but that’s my birthday treat day so OH will pay and I hope to resist the shopping.
Monday 19th – payday and team lunch – may drive to station so can’t drink but they may still want to split bill, cheap restaurant so not too bad
Wednesday 21st Company xmas do, borrowing dress, using current shoes. Hotel cost £50 but money saved already
Friday 23rd – pay for rest of veg box for Christmas, picky bits for work (consider making)
We don’t celebrate New Year as OH works on New Year’s Day I have nothing booked for the New Year in terms of going out or so can hopefully make it quite cheap
I have 2 kids Xmas presents left to buy, 2 adult birthday presents and My mum and OH presents. Mum wants money towards a Kindle, OH would love an xbox but it’s a lot of money, I might ring his parents and ask if they want to split it. I have £45 of clubcard vouchers too so need to use them cleverly.

inthegreen

Lovely OH drove the keys over so I have handed notice in on the garage, whoop, it should terminate Sunday and we will be £18 better off each a month.

LAM2011

Good to hear the garage is now sorted - one less thing to pay for.

You are very organised budgeting and listing all your spend for the month - I am too scared to think too far in advance but you have made me write down a list now so thank you.

How was yesterday ?

inthegreen

Well the weekend is over.

I didn’t manager to cycle up the yard but I didn’t spend anything, I went straight home and spent the rest of the day decorating. Electrician came but OH paid (£100) for the moment (he owes me £179 so I might just take my share out of there)and we now have more than one socket in every room which is great as I was scared we were overloading the sockets.
I did a food shop and went to m’s I spent more than planned but I did get more than a weeks worth of shopping (cereal, fray bentos pies, rice, custard all on special offer)
In the end I spent £1 parking, £8.00 tube ticket (had to rebuy as bus replacement would have taken forever for friend), £40 ticket and £1.50 for a cup of tea as the person who had the tickets got lost and only turned up 5 minutes before the start so we all had to stand in the cold. I have covered the parking, tea and tube ticket out of this weeks allowance so I just need to check savings for the ticket and lunch. It was good, the best bit for me was the Lee pearson/Carl Hestor demo. The classical music for the actual riding school gets a bit hypnotic at times and I felt myself going into a trance. I didn’t know whether to be inspired or depressed at the end!
We exchanged Christmas pressies so saved postage which was one bonus. So far today I have spent £1.30 on tea and 49p on milk (I go a different route past Mr T now as milk from there is 10p cheaper than the usual shop) I also have made a salad for lunch.
I sold an item for £7 and am expecting another £15 today. I need to take the postage out of both. I didn’t do a Pad either day this weekend so I must catch up today and I start my sealed tin on Thursday.
Lam I write everything down now so I realise I can’t just blindly put stuff on the cc and must find the money from somewhere as not only is the aim to pay off debt but the primary aim must be not to get in any more. This makes me a bit more focused. Girls texted about tomorrow and the restaurant we were going to is closed so I have suggested a voucher restaurant instead which should help.
OH has told me he doesn’t actually want an xbox but really wants a shed! There must be somewhere on this site a place that recommends how to get the best deal on a shed!

LAM2011

I heard similar feedback re the Spanish Horses from someone else I know that went but sounds like you still had a good day out.

Are you a member of Top cash back or one of those - if you are buying a shed have a look through one of them and maybe get some money back too Even if you buy on ebay you can still log on through Top Cash Back. I have been with Quidco but now changing to them as they are free.