Alleycat's secret diary

Alleycat

Desperate to declutter, I've been having a mini manic clear out today. A couple of bits are being collected by eager freeglers today and tomorrow and have listed another 6 items on Ebay.

Keep messaging hubby to ask him if I can get rid of things! Poor bloke, he's probably expecting to walk in to an empty flat this evening. I've managed to restrain myself and haven't yet put the kids on Ebay. I have to admit that I was quite annoyed when I actually managed to fix the jammed paper shredder as had tried several times before to no avail and had convinced myself that it had to go. I HATE all this clutter and 'stuff' everywhere, it makes my head hurt. At least I've made £15 on Ebay in the last week selling only a couple of bits.

Alleycat

Had a fab evening. Got to talk proper politics with someone who knows their stuff but also doesn't put you down. I actually sounded quite intelligent for the first time in ages. Feel like I've been dumbed down for too long. Hubby doesn't 'do' politics and my dad likes to think that as he's 65 he knows far more than me.

Oh and was sat right next to Jamie Theakston. He kept bobbing off with his mate and whilst I was out having a fag apparently decided to head off with his boy mate for a shag. Oooh!

Alleycat

Aaargh, easter eggs are expensive!! Didn't have time to shop around as hubby has been working and have had the kids with me. So had to do a mad dash to morrison's this morning for groceries and eggs before church at 12. Haven't gone overboard but still. Got a huuuge gammon for sunday lunch which will keep us going for another couple of meals plus in sandwiches for lunch so pleased with that.

Still need to buy easter eggs for my parents and my husband. Also our daughter wants to buy me one so as she's only 7 that will come out of our money.

On the plus side though, hubby wanted takeaway for tea but I pretended I hadn't heard him and put dinner on for us all. He couldn't really say anything when he realised as it was being dished up! Groceries for the next 7 days also sorted as did a massive shop last week, have our ginormous gammon and have some batch cooking in the freezer to get through.

Hoping the weather is nice tomorrow as fancy going and watching the Oxford Cambridge boat race down on the Thames. Although looks like it'll be rubbish but nice on Sunday. Typical!

Alleycat

Had a lovely day on Saturday and in true moneysaving style made us all a packed lunch that we ate on the bridge whilst waiting for the race to start. Was absolutely freezing but was still good fun.

Gammon yesterday (and today!) was really yummy. Cut it in half and wacked one piece in the freezer. The half I cooked managed to last two dinners and there's still a bit left for sandwiches tomorrow. Hurrah!

Not a very good spend day today. The lovely daughter needed new school shoes and despite checking TKMaxx, Marks, Debenhams etc for bargains ended up having to spend £39!! Ouch! She's got quite wide feet so usually struggle. Just got a real bargain in TK Maxx last time - Hush Puppies for £15. Had hoped for another such bargain but none to be had this time. Ah well.

Hoping for a no spend day tomorrow apart from tube fare to the evening drop-in. But will get this back from expenses. Also need to send off my recent opticians and dentist receipts to the work health care. Will get the full amounts back so that's good. Really glad my employers provide health insurance as it makes a trip to the dentist a whole lot less scary!

Alleycat

So not much to update really. Am nearly half way to my target Ebay sales. I so want to get that £100 so I can get paint and storage and start getting the living room and boy's bedroom sorted. It's so depressing having no room and random !!!! everywhere. It's another free listing on Ebay this weekend, so intend to go up the loft later and get some more stuff down to list. Just hope I get some buyers as my current listings are really slow.

Had a bargaintastic supermarket shop today. Spent £28 and managed to get loads to stock up the freezer. Went to a different Morrisons than usual and it seems that saturday mornings are good for yellow stickers. Got a HUUUGE pack of sausages for £3.55, some reduced mince and some curry micro meals that will be good for when we have our take away cravings. Plus the usual bits we needed so very happy. Spent £17 on Thursday as well and again got some fab bargains. Weekly shopping budget for 2 adults, a 7 year old and 2 year old is £60, so still have £15 until Wednesday. I reckon I'll only need to buy a couple of pints of milk and a loaf of bread as have a loaf already stashed in the freezer. Also with all the bargains I've bought this week, the last week of the month should be pain free! Hurrah!

Did treat myself to some new make-up though yesterday. My tinted moisuriser is nearly out so got some of this new BB cream I've heard people raving about. Haven't bought myself any make up for nearly 3 years so decided I deserved it. Well that's my excuse anyway!

Alleycat

I seem to be living in the supermarket reduced sections at the moment. Am a bit worried I may have some sort of compulsion to grocery yellow stickers. I go through this sort of obsessive phase every so often and end up with so much stuff.

Anyway, popped into Tesco this morning to get some bread, clingfilm, rolls and milk and ended up coming out with two big packs of mince and 3 packs of 4 steaks! Total spend for all that was £8.55. The meat was all reduced from £4 to £1/£1.20 and when it scanned it also came up with the price reduction for the original 3 for £10 and 2 for £7. So all in all, 2 big packs mince and 3 big packs of steak came to a grand total of £2.40!!!

My freezer is now well and truly stacked to the gills but am tempted to go back and get some more as there was absolutely shedloads. Would need to borrow a bit of space in my parents freezer though!

Have had quite a busy morning all in. As well as groceries, been up in the loft getting things down to list on Gumtree and Ebay, been to the park with the kids and done a vast amount of washing up. Hubby is on night shift (last night tonight, hurrah!) so it's trying to keep them entertained but quiet so he can actually sleep.

Counted the penny pig yesterday and was a total of £16.32. Not sure whether to put that towards my Ebay sales for doing the DIY or to use it to overpay the little loan. Might wait for a couple of weeks and see how the Ebay sales go. Got a couple of items to list that should make a tenner or so each (I hope).

Blimey I've written loads but I'm really enjoying keeping this up to date and just spewing. Think my husband would prefer it too as it means I don't drown him with my boring tales!

Alleycat

Hmmmm. That's how I feel right now.

Ebay sales - rubbish. 2 out of 7 items sold and both for minimum £1 bid.

Other budgeting - pretty good I think. Had to dip into overdraft last month as moved to new bank and I wasn't totally up to speed. Feeling pretty rubbish and wasn't keeping up with the spending. Plus had to buy school shoes for DD, overspend on hubby's birthday and had the boy's birthday. Still assuming current spending continues re the budget, the overdraft of £340 will be less by about £30. Not to bad considering.

Crazy yellow sticker shopping recently means I've got a serious amount in the freezer. Despite the rubbish weather, we'd be seriously sorted if there was an unexpected barbeque. Think I've been channelling my need to spend into buying reduced meat!

Another rubbish - felt the confusion of depression mist over again yesterday evening. Need to stay focussed on day to day and try not to get caught up in the brain freeze. Didn't help that hubby was doing his last of a run of 5 night shifts and was last day of easter hols. Honestly, I love my kids but school holidays start to drive me mental after a while. Especially with the crazy boy who was off last week with suspected chicken pox.

Oh just remembered a good thing! Checked online banking and the other half's student loan has gone from £126 to £94.91! Lovely stuff.

Oh and another thing....went to log in to new online banking and couldn't remember my username or password. Phoned up for help and was asked my telephone banking details. Couldn't remember them either! I'm sure the bloke on the phone thought I was seriously mad. My husband said I sounded so shocked that I couldn't remember anything. Ah well, not so funny when you write it down but was pretty amusing IRL.

Alleycat

Eurgh - exhausted from very long day at work and long walk home in the rain.

Yay - Saved £1.35 bus fare by doing said walk home in rain which will go in the savings pig in a few minutes.

Yay - would normally have got take away as extra long day and really tired but had micro curry in freezer (yellow sticker shop) so had that.

Parcelled up 3 sold ebay items and have lots of watchers on the 2 things I put on the other day.

Off to bed for some much needed rest.

Alleycat

Ok, so have 3 listings due to finish on Ebay in an hour. One has bids - hurrah! Also just relisted a couple of toys on there and put 3 things onto Gumtree. So fingers crossed! Can't wait to update my Ebay sales signature later.

Will also be able to update the groceries spend as a brand new spending week starts tomorrow! Going to put the remaining money from the week into the pig now. Not too sure how much there is though, maybe a pound if I'm lucky!

Makes a change to have a bit of change left over after the week apart from just dust and a few moth balls.

Alleycat

Ebay is so slooow! One listing finished on £2.20 and the other 2 with no bids. They'd already been round twice so bunged them on Freecycle and still nobody wants them! Ah well, off to the charity shop with them tomorrow.

Have spent £35 of my Ebay money on a second hand shelving unit for the boy's bedroom. Need to go to ikea for a couple more of the boxes to go in it. But ONLY boxes and none of the other random things Ikea sells that always seem to miraculously leap off the shelves into my bag. Think I'd better leave hubby at home when I go so there's less temptation, I'm sure he's worse than me!

Rather impressed that managed to do pretty much the full week's shop so far and only spent just under £40. Would have been less but sent hubby out for garlic bread yesterday afternoon and he came back with about six thousand packets. Apparently they were on special offer. Shame there's no room in the freezer as I've filled it with bargaintastic meat last week! Will make a bit of room tomorrow when I take the joint out.

Sort of NSD today. Only the groceries so not sure they count? Didn't spend on anything else so I'm going to count it! Definitely won't be a NSD tomorrow though as come rain or shine, we're off to the steam fair.

One last ramble - the boy's coat got lost today which is a bummer. It was jammed under the buggy on the home stretch after supermarket shopping but when we got home it wasn't there. Started tipping it down and he needed a nap so retraced our steps on afternoon school run and it had been taken. Marvellous! Oh and he needs new shoes as he keeps telling me his feet hurt.