If at first you don't succeed!

inthegreen

Well Thursday and Friday I was in Blackpool and Liverpool for work so managed not to spend much (I can claim most from work). Thursday I spent £3.80 on a magazine and a coke (I had finished my book tut tut me) and 75p on a cashbook for my handbag. Blackpool was sunny and bright for a change (it always rains when I go there)and I considered buying a new pair of work shoes that I desperately need but couldn’t find any to fit that were suitable). The client meeting went better than expected and I headed back to the station. The train was packed to Liverpool due to the easter holidays and the racing. Thursday night we had dinner and drinks at the hotel with clients, it was lovely, I had mussel potage to start and rib eye steak for main. I was too full for pudding sadly. My boss picked up the tab so not only did I not have to pay for dinner I don’t even have to take it off my yearly client budget I have! It was rammed in our hotel though with trainers and racegoers some of whom were well worse for wear! A lot of the talk was about the match at the weekend so I didn’t feel I could contribute much although I had read the sports pages and tried to memorise a few facts before hand.
Friday morning and I managed one sausage with some mushrooms for brekkie before client meetings. I had managed to get a bargain first class ticket for the way home (boss always travels first, he is the only person I know with a first class season ticket for the train). Unfortunately the train was again rammed and they closed my carriage to first class passengers and made it into a standard coach. I managed to find my boss and nab the seat opposite him. This also saved us buying drinks/snacks as they feed you too.
After that I was shattered but I was up early to do my horse on Saturday morning (his field mates mum was away so I had 2 to do) I mucked mine out then got out the sidesaddle for the first time this year. I was wearing the wrong boots so had to ride with only one boot on and a chilly foot. After ½ an hour we went for a short hack but it was bloomin chilly. I cleaned my tack, chucked the boys in the field and mucked the other horse out.

I had to drive to pick up a prescription so spent £7.65. I also bought some new files from wilkos costing £5.10. I then did the food shopping out the joint food budget. I then bought 2 massive builders skip sacks from wickes. I had left over cauli mash for lunch and watched some racing before packing one of the sacks with garden waste. Our neighbours had much laughter with is jumping up and down trying to fit it all in one bag.

OH came down the yard with me to get the boys in from the field and we went to collect my wheelbarrow from my trailer. We got back in time for the grand national. How heartbreaking that 2 were killed and that it had to be a photo finish. Its amazing to finish the national but to lose on a photo must be gutting. I was screaming for Katie Walsh to win. I would like to only see 20 of the best horses run, 40 is too many and causes too many pile ups.

We did some more garden clearing before I cooked lemon herb chicken and wedges for tea.

Yesterday I only had one to muck out officially but I still mucked out his fieldmates stable as his owner was not back from holiday until gone midnight. She arrived and we went for a hack but her horse was not right and seemed lame, we had a long slow walk home.

At home I didn’t go in but then spent an two hours sorting out the garage. I am a neat freak and OH is a messy horder and it was driving me insane treading on nails and not being able to get to anything. We had a quick lunch and then went to try and find the village green waste skip. The noticeboard said it should be there but none of us could find it so we packed the landrover full of cardboard boxes from the garage and drove to the tip. We then picked my horse trailer up on the way home and dragged the garden waste in (much to the amusement of everyone, gold horse trailers and garden waste aren’t usual sights in our village. I drove the waste to OH’s farm and took the trailer back. The landrover randomly beeped its horn OH was convinced I had touched it when I hadn’t.

Back home I started on the filing, I had so much to do as I haven’t filed all the house moving paperwork from October. I got a fair way through whilst OH cooked belly of pork (free from the farm). I did some more filing straight after and then settled down for silent witness with an easter egg. About 9.20 the horn on the landrover suddenly pushed itself on and woke the whole neighbourhood, OH dashed to go and try and fix it. All the neighbours were out on the street staring, whoops!

This morning I am back to work so spent £2.90 on parking out my parking budget and t I bought 2 pints of milk for tea at work and soup for lunch. I am determined to run at lunchtime even though I really don’t feel like it!

Tonight I need to finish the filing, change the towels and the bed.

I hope everyone had a good weekend.

inthegreen

Well I went for a run at lunch time. I set out too fast and paid for it later but I ran at a decent pace and got round in 33 minutes. There were a lot less people this week by the London eye. I always smile at other runners but they never respond, today two of them smiled back. I have always wondered if they usually don’t because they are hard Londoners, think I am a loony or are in so much pain they cant smile. Mind due it’s so rare I spent the rest of the run wondering if they weren’t smiling but were laughing at me!!

I always see so many different types of people and the ones that are elderly, are injured or disabled always make me thankful I can run.

Despite being a country girl there is something great about running over the millennium bridge, past MI6, the skate park, the street performers, on past the aquarium, the London eye, over to the north bank and past the boat tours, the homeless and the coaches and back towards st pauls. The city of London police were out on their horses. Nearly every person who saw them smiled with joy at the sight of them and I bet they weren’t all horsey.

I was bright red and sweaty but a quick shower later and I can go home tonight and not worry about exercising.

inthegreen

Just restarted the PAD challenge and paid £5 off my cc

inthegreen

So last night I achieved quite a lot. I changed the towels and the bed, finished my filing, did a load of washing and caught up on the phone with my mum. OH was already in and had eaten the left over stirfry I got him out the freezer. He was happy watching sport and catching up on Spartacus on sky plus whilst I did my jobs, had a shower and made boiled eggs and soldiers for tea.

This morning I put another load of washing on, took the food recycling out and located some frozen chips for OH to have with left over pork for tea. I spent £3 on parking out of my parking budget. I got to London and couldn’t find my brolly so got drenched on the walk from the tube. I found my brolly on my work bag which I had left at work!! (at least it means I don’t have to spend money on another one)

If this weather continues I will not be running at lunch but will set myself a list of jobs to do over the next few days

Do a PAD
Put some money in the sealed tin
checking OH’s lottery tickets (I will have to go to the newsagent as the lottery site is blocked as it classes as gambling)
I will post the change of address on my V5
Change my address with a riding society by writing to them
Set up online banking for our joint account and work out how much oil money we should be saving
Check pension and healthcare cover have my latest address
Set up online pension access
Send off a petition against a local horse cruelty case
Complain about the state of 2 local byways
Chase council up about refund from a garage I used to rent
Go and ride my horse
Ring 2 friends to catch up
Buy present and card for friends son and my running friend.

My grammar is shocking so I have bought myself a book, Grammar for grownups so I will aim to read a few chapters a day. My boss kept complaining about my grammar too (mind due he does complain about everyone’s grammar!) Also if people are reading this diary please don’t be afraid to point out grammatical mistakes to me, I won’t shout or be offended.

I have a veg pot for lunch and bought in a pear for a snack so apart from postage it should be a cheap day

Have a good day all.

inthegreen

I checked OH lottery tickets at lunch so he won £7.70 which will cheer him up tonight. Whilst I was in the newsagents I bought 6 first class stamps and posted my change of address on my v5 using change from the bottom of my bag. I also bought some aniseed imperials whoops. Went straight back to the office to eat my veg pot and didn’t even buy a newspaper but read some diaries on here on my phone.
It was raining at lunch so I didn’t run. For my running friends birthday I think I will give her wine (which she loves), I have a couple of bottles left at home and possibly a birthday card I can use. I just need to buy something for my friends little boy who will be 7.
Tomorrow is the last day before payday so I must bring something in for lunch from home and try and make my petrol last. I get so excited about payday when more goes off the debt. It’s the other 30 days that are not so exciting!!

Piquant_2

It's funny how the mindset changes about payday once you've decided to clear the debt, you can't wait to spend the money on the credit card still, but clearing instead of adding.

I am completely addicted to the diaries and read them instead of books. Some people have so much on their plates that you wonder how they cope at all it is quite humbling in some cases.

Off to fill in forms...


Piq

inthegreen

Another productive afternoon and evening. I logged onto online banking for our joint account. The good news is we have around £500 saved for oil so far. The bad news is how much we spend on food. There are 2 of us but my OH burns so many calories off I struggle to feed him enough (plus he is becoming snobby about what type of bread/fruit etc I buy) I mainly live off baked potatoes and boiled eggs in the evening and up to 2 weeks ago was buying my lunches out of my personal spends but realised I pay half the food bill so I should at least get my lunches included so now mainly live off cans of soup and cheap crisps for lunch!

Right I am going to tell you how much the bill is, it was £410 for the month!!!! OH brings home meat for one meal a week too. Looking at the past couple of bills, he is eating £16 of fruit alone a week. Last night for pudding he ate a whole angel delight and a magnum type lolly for pud and can easily eat a pasta bake or stir-fry for 4 people in one sitting. Although I now only give him half and get him to fill up on bread etc. The reason I eat potatoes etc is because I refuse to put any more money in the joint and it’s the only way I can try and keep the bills down. I had budgeted £300 a month so I need to start making some serious cuts somewhere. I have moved him onto cheap porridge oats for breakfast 1 instead of oatso as he was using 3 sachets every morning! He then has 2 filled rolls as breakfast 2 and 2 bits of fruit. Lunch is 2-3 rolls, a packet of crisps 2-3 bits of fruit, 2 slices of homemade cake, a cereal bar and a couple of wrapped chocolate biscuits. When I used to work locally I used to go to the market to get cheap veg. I also used to get home first most of the time but now OH gets home first so I have to make up dinners and freeze them so he can heat them up. I must check the boards out for suggestions

Anyway I got home last night and hung up the washing and dashed out to ride. I ended up riding for an hour so by the time I got home I had a shower and rushed downstairs for 9 to watch supersize versus superskinny on 4+1! I had a small can of sweetcorn with some leftover old cheese for tea with 2 soggy biscuits for afters, inspiring dinners are us!! I also put some money in my sealed tin

No running today as I have a client meeting but I aim to go on the exercise bike tonight. OH has got homemade cottage pie (but made with pork mince) and peas for tea. He will have to have another lolly, some fruit and biscuits and chocolate for pud as I didn’t have time to make one last night. I also need to make a cake tonight as he has taken the last of the weekend one with him today. I spent £3 on parking this morning but bought soup from home for lunch and nicked one of OH’s pears (well technically ours but I don’t eat any to try and save money usually)

Have a good day all

inthegreen

I seem to be on one of my manic rolls at the moment. Yesterday I caught up with a friend on the phone whilst walking to a client meeting (she was actually brilliant as she started to try and persuade me to come to horse camp but nicely changed the subject when I begged her not to tempt me to spend money) and did my PAD. I stayed in the office a bit late then headed home. OH had only just got in and was starving and muttering about how long the cottage pie would take to reheat in the oven (I must investigate microwavable tubs to make them in in future) He then complained as I had bought frozen peas and not mixed veg (he only likes one brand of mixed veg and I get bored of it so I bought peas. I didn’t want an argument so got on the exercise bike for an hour and watched a recorded version of obese, a year to save my life. I managed to finish only 3 minutes into his match he wanted to watch (he doesn’t support either team but hey ho!

After a quick shower I raided the fridge and the cupboard and put together a sausage casserole to be done in the slow cooker for today and started making a boiled pineapple cake but didn’t have enough eggs so couldn’t finish it off. I put away the dry clothes, emptied the upstairs bin and made up some very out of date stuffing for my tea, it tasted of nothing but dodgy onion, I ate some and chucked the rest.
This morning I put all the papers in the recycling, put the slow cooker on and set out to fill up with petrol en route to the station. I paid £44 out of my petrol budget (its payday today whoop and I love having a separate petrol budget), £3 for parking as usual (love having a parking budget too) and £2.32 on soup, pears and milk for work.

Today I need to update my money spreadsheet and my signatures where I can. I hope to go running at lunchtime if the rain holds off, which isn’t looking likely at the moment.

Later I need to make the boiled pineapple cake and pick up some shopping, I also want to make a loaf of bread but need to find a cheap HM bread recipe for my Breadmaker. At least OH will be happy that tea is instantly ready when he gets in.

I am playing golf with my boss and colleague next Wednesday and Friday is my friends birthday meal at a mexican so I need to budget for these (I am driving for friends birthday as its 15 miles away with no public transport to get there)

I am ridiculously excited its payday but not because I have money like in the old days where for the last 2 weeks it was a struggle but because my debt will go down today, whoop

Happy Thursday peeps

inthegreen

I went running at lunchtime and all I can say is whatamistakatomakea!! It was bright sunshine at 1pm so I asked 3 colleagues what they thought and they all told me to run. I was a third of the way round when it started to rain. I was hoping it was just a shower but it got heavier and heavier and the wind got stronger and stronger. The tourists disappeared and large puddles appeared. I had a headwind on the way out and an even stronger head wind on the way back. The only upside was the amount of people who smiled at me. Only the hardcore runners were out so smiled or laughed at how drenched we all were. Tourists found a mad English woman running highly funny and I even high fived a homeless chap whom I apologised to for having no changed but who smiled at me.

I was a cause of much hilarity back in my works reception, every inch of me was soaked through including my watch strap! After a thankfully hot shower I am back at my desk with soaking hair. I love running in the rain but its not very professional to sit here with wet hair. I am not seeing clients today so it doesn’t really matter but normally it would.

Payday today so my monthly bills money of £1070 has gone to the joint account. My mums loan money has gone at 141.29. I have also sent her an extra £50 to pay off my zopa loan for me once my payment of £251.57 has cleared with them.

I have sent off £260 of expenses today. I am filling in my cash book daily which is helping me keep on track and have started a food spreadsheet so I can tell where all our food money is going and I can try and cut down.

I am now off to try and get my institute membership paid this year. Last year it took them 3 months to pay!

　

inthegreen

The sausage casserole went down well with OH and will do another 3 meals even with his large portions which is good. He is having another for tea tonight and two will go in the freezer. I finished the cake mix off and put that in the oven then grabbed the breadmaker. All the ingredients were in and ready to go but when I plugged it in no lights came on. OH changed the fuse and it still didn’t work. It was at this point OH worked out I hadn’t turned it on, whoops, I felt particularly thick!!

On the way home I had been shopping and taken a list with me. Showergel was on special offer so I bought 2. I did buy 2 magazines, 1 because my friend was in it and a baking one to get the cutter to use for pressies. I bought these out my weekly spends though and the first magazine I subscribed to and cancelled my subscription. So £20.08 spent and we now have loads of shower gel and washing liquid.

This morning it was the usual £3 for parking and I am really tired today so was craving a starbucks coffee but resisted and came straight to work.

The excitement of payday is now over and I must get on with the other 30 days of debtbusting and being frugal but I will have more updates to do when my loan payment clears.

All the above sounds very boring and the excitement, I will have to be more exciting without spending money over the weekend!

Happy Friday all