Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat and my overdraft needs to go on a diet!

allybee101

Ooh I am pleased it's Friday!

Lots of singing this week at various Christmassy events and more tonight so I'm hoping my voice will hold out!
A friend is having a tough time at the moment with various family crises and work issues, so I made her a little de-stress bag of her favourite chocolate, a hot chocolate drink (same flavour) and Lemon and Ginger teabags. She's got so much going on she needs 5 mins to herself to chill out. I had to buy the chocolate but I had tea and a little cupcake postcard already. I feel it was a worthwhile spend, even if it was outside my planned budget.

Today I had an order of christmas presents delivered to work. It's great that they let us do this so we don't have to worry about missing a deliery at home.
Unfortunately the gift - Whiskey scented shower gel - was damaged. The lid had cracked and poured most of its contents all over the box :eek:. Thankfully the other gift is unharmed, apart from being a bit whiffy right now .
Rang up the company and they're shipping a replacement immediately (double wrapped!). At least the bottle hadn't smashed so it wasn't glass everywhere. I hope the next one doesn't explode all over the parcel room as well..

However my colleagues probably think I'm an alcoholic with the whiff of whiskey everywhere!

Nothing like a bit of drama to liven up the day!

allybee101

A busy day of baking, making and entertainment!
I tried to do some work on a crochet project I've had going for the past 6 months or more and something was not working so I ended up unravelling the three rows I'd done so far and will seek guidance and video tutorials online!

This afternoon I went to see Arthur Christmas with a friend which left me feeling very festive. It's a Aardman Animation so the usual puns and jokes for adults as well as kids!

Finally I wrote Christmas cards and baked dark chocolate brownie cupcakes. These are delicious! Quite dense and very chocolatey. I got the recipe from a friend and it's always a hit. I baked a batch of standard sized ones for a christmas concert I'm performing in tomorrow, normal sized, and then a second batch of mini cakes which are for work.
There's always chocolates and biscuits in our office and I haven't brought anything in for a while so I decided to go with these. I've made them smaller so they'll go further, hopefully. So there are 34 mini cupcakes to be decorated tomorrow night (most likely just a swirl of buttercream and some sprinkles left over from the concert ones)

Now I have to sort out 250 copies of a quiz that are waiting to be sold to raise funds for my choir so I'd better get them finished or I'll be yawning mid-song!

Happy weekend all!

allybee101

Well several computer hiccups put paid to my diary. I wrote several long entries and laptop froze on IE every time. Hmph. I have learnt my lesson and am doing this in Word.:o

So new year and new habits I hope.
Christmas is still coming. Ok it’s not the same one, but I’m not starting a new diary and give it 11 months or so and the title will be back in fashion!

-I have fashioned a rather spangly budget spreadsheet. I'm quite proud of my efforts. Each area of spending is colour coordinated (house, car, food etc) and there are lots of formulas scattered in it to transfer monthly spends to a summary tab.
-The budget is looking promising. I’m hoping to trim around £220 of my overdraft each month which would give me a zero overdraft by Christmas 2012. Well £220 and 65 pence actually.
-LondonGirl252 has given me inspiration to try a £10 a day budget. Which is working rather well. Spending the cash in my purse is harder than sticking it all on the card.
-I also activated the debit card on my savings account. It’s been lying around for 3 months waiting for me to find my card reader and the pin number. The plan is to use this card for my monthly budget. Rather than take out all the cash at once I can do it weekly and take out less if I still have some left over from the previous week. On the off-chance that there’s money left over I don’t have to schlep over to the bank to pay it back in/ end up spending it en-route.
-Sealed Pot Challenge is underway and slowly piling up!
- Healthy eating is semi started – more healthy food and more walking. Still a few snacks and naughty foods but improvements are being made.
- Getting up earlier isn’t quite sorted. We have flexible working hours. The office is open 7-7 and core hours are 10-3 when you must be in the office. I invariably end up doing 10-6 because my brain seems to think that 10 am is work time therefore I can snooze til 8.45. I need to get rid of this habit. I am going to have some seriously early nights this weekend to sort it out so I can be at work for 8.45 and leave at 4.45.
-Find myself a Mr Bee.

So just a few resolutions to be getting on with!
Happy New Year one and all, hope 2012 is a great one! :beer:

allybee101

Scored £3.13 in Asda vouchers from the price guarantee check this afternoon :beer:

I don't need to go shopping til the end of next week now but it's nice knowing they're in my purse.

No luck with the Morrisons' prize draw receipt thing or the work prize draw.

A quiet night in tonight, I'm soooo rock n' roll :cool:.

I will find my knitting needles and try to unravel the mysteries of Can-Can wool (the stuff that makes frilly scarves), of whch I have had a ball hanging around for several months now.

allybee101

Well this weekend has not worked out quite as I'd planned, budget wise but it has been very nice.

Yesterday I was at a coaching day with my chorus which was fabulous. We were coached by an American director whose chorus has won gold medals in our international competition!

Today was a day of spending, although I managed to stop myself on several occasions using the 'Do I NEED it?' trick.

My mobile phone (my only means of communication as I don't have a land line) was due for an upgrade. The previous handset had given up the ghost competely so I was using an old phone that is tempermental.

So I have moved into the realm of smart-phone ownership. I just have to work out how to use it! I have a Sony Ericsson Experia Ray which is currently charging itself.
Best of all it was a free handset and I'm not paying any more than my previous contract.

I also bought a new frying pan - my old one is starting to lose the non-stick so it was due a replacement. I am very proud that I did not get swayed by all the other pretty things in Lakeland and only presented the pan at the till! I also had a £10 voucher so it came to £12.99. Still quite a bit but I figure that it's better to buy a decent pan than a cheap one that will need replacing in half the time.

My swimming costume also needed replacing, it was at least 6 years old and the lycra was starting to bobble so there were see through patches appearing. I didn't want to frighten anyone at the pool! :eek:
Although I've discovered that trying to buy a swimming costume in January is like finding an ice-cream van in the Arctic!
I found one in Monsoon that was reduced from £38.00 to £11.40. :T I ususally only go in Monsoon to ogle the clothes and wish I could afford to buy there! The sales rack turned up trumps this time though.

I nearly wandered into New Look and dragged myself away from the door just in time. Alas I was not strong walking past Hotel Chocolat. Must try harder, or walk a different route.

allybee101

I added up my purchases from yesterday and it's not quite as bad I thought it would be. But still a lot of room for improvement!
If I can keep on track for the next 11 days then I think that I will be able to reduce my overdraft by about £180.
My mum is coming over to visit on Saturday which will be nice – I only saw her two weeks ago but I love spending time with her. We normally go shopping and have lunch but this time we’ve decided to go to a museum or something similar instead.
I’ve been scouring the internet for things to do and planned a day that will should be quite cheap – there’s a museum that I’ve been meaning to go to for ages and is £5 each for entry. There’s a bistro in the city centre that does a really good deal on a lunch time menu (£9.95 for two courses) and is delicious.

There is a new (ish) art gallery but the art can be rather hit and miss. When they first opened they had a Hockney exhibition which was really good, but a lot of the things in-between have been just plain odd!
There might be one or two pieces that are interesting, but the rest of it has you thinking !!!!!!!
Maybe I’m just not cultured enough to see how a black crayon square is art.

Today's tasks

Chilli con carne to make tonight- that should produce enough lunches for several days as I have plenty of tomatoes and beans to stretch the mince with.

Sort out recipe file - I rip recipes out of magazines and throw them all in a box file to look at later and decide if I'll keep them (I'm trying to reduce the clutter and get rid of the rest of the magazine!).
The box file is now overflowing and when I looked at some of the recipes I realised that I'd never make the dish. It's too much faff, or completely impractical unless you're hosting a cordon bleu dinner for 20 people. So it needs a bit of a cull and sort. I am going to try and pick two or three to try each week to make.

That should keep me busy for some time!

allybee101

Well this week has been a bit crazy - 2 evening meetings for the choir I sing with and a rehearsal so I am looking forward to an early night tonight!

I was meant to be in Birmingham for a meeting today. My boss hasn't been in the office since before Christmas due to meetings and working from another office so we'd arranged to meet on the same train at Derby to have a catch up.
So I was up bright and early (far earlier than normal ) to walk to the station at 8.10 am :eek:. I am not a morning person.

Once I was on the train, about halfway to Derby I thought I'd better get my work mobile close to hand in case of any calls and found a text message cancelling the meeting, doh!
I really need to switch my brain on earlier!

I bought myself a cake at work to make up for it - not good for the wallet or the hips!
On the plus side I can leave work early as I started early!

allybee101

I have been busy updating my budget and adding in more formulas to give me particular stats. The latest is a NSD counter, my inner Excel geek is trying to escape!
So far there have been 8, although that includes Christmas when I didn’t go near any shops for several days! Pay day is the 20th so I’ve done my budget from the 20th-19th rather than do it by calendar month.
I also need to try and plan my outgoings a little better , ok a lot better, for the next month. I’ve got a week to get it straight!
There's a few trips out that I need to take into consideration and allow for such as the panto. Tickets are free and you give a donation. I'm think of about £8? They’re all amateurs from the local hospital and the money goes to charity.
We're going for a curry afterwards. I’ve already checked out the place we’re going to and I reckon I could budget £15 for this. I think I am going to drive so that there is no temptation to drink. These girls like a few pints and I get carried away - at our Christmas party we moved onto Martinis…:cool:
So back to my calculator and hopefully the damage won’t be too bad!

allybee101

Time for sleep in a moment!
Good weekend with a small expenditure - despite a glass or two of wine!

Went to a Lowry exhibition which was fabulous, and free!
Had a lovely lunch with my mum, she insisted on paying which was lovely of her. I got the coffees in the afternoon and we barely spent a thing.
We both had our eyebrows shaped (by threading - makes your eyes water at the best of times! ) and mum bought a plant for a gift. Feeling quite virtuous!

I have also resolved to join Slimming World :eek: need a good kick up the bum!

allybee101

Not managed any NSD this week yet.
Pay day on Friday and I think I will have made a £70 dent in the overdraft. Not as much as I was hoping for, but better than zero, or an increase!
This is the first month I've started budgeting really carefully - every last penny is now recorded on my spreadsheet. I wll put the remaining cash from my purse into my Sealed Pot and on Friday I will start on the £10 a day budget.
The cash will be transferred into a separate basic account and I will withdraw the cash from there. Always less easy to spend the hard cash than hand over the card.

I'm quite enjoying it now. This month has been a real eye opener. I used to try and record my expenditures in my diary but would forget. As everything goes directly onto the spreadsheet I can instantly see how much I've spent. Yikes. It's made me see where I'm spending more than I should be.

Also shocked the office today by getting to work at 8 am. Normally I sleep til after that and schlep in for 10 am! 4 pm home time for me today!