Keeping up appearances.......

HappyNow

natdjay wrote: »

:wave:Hi Happy

I've just sat with a few cups of tea (i'm tea mad too!) reading your diary from the start. Your doing SO well, really focused, and with a plan too, well done! :TNDJ x

Hi natdjay, thanks for popping by and I'm glad you're enjoying my diary . It's what's keeping me focussed right now. I see you have one too and I will sit down and read it this evening over a cup of tea or (more likely!) a glass of wine.

HappyNow

Shelski wrote: »

Thanks,

Had some wonderful (not) news this morning. DH's car needs a service to keep it within warranty and it comes to over £300!!! And he decides to drop it on me today!!! That will eat up all the money I've put away so far for the fridge freezer and some more. Thank goodness this month is council tax free month.
Best laid plans, heh.

Argh, sorry to hear that, though on the plus side it means you must have quite a new car, not like my old wreck! I've had car-related misery today too so I truly sympathise. One of the warning lights came on just as I got to work. Took it into the garage and it cost £86 to put right. A friend at work said the mechanic will have just just removed the bulb, but I don't believe that!! Due to lack of other options it went straight on my credit card. Not as bad as your £300, but still...... Grrr.

Shelski wrote: »

Hello

Am going to take your advice and start my own diary. Can anyone tell me how please?
Thank you x

Yay! Good idea - go for it! I will subscribe as soon as you've got it set up - I love diaries. If you open up the Debt Free Diaries page, there's a blue, oblong button on the left-hand side about half way down, entitled 'New Thread'. Just click on that and it opens up a new page. Think of a snappy title and off you go!

HappyNow

poohbear59 wrote: »

I didn't find where the loo roll was mentioned so forgive me if this is a repeat. Somewhere on MSE I learned to squash the loo roll flat and then it is more difficult to pull the sheets off saving squares, and saving money

Does anyone else have the image of MSE members frantically taking a hammer to their loo roll ??

HappyNow

Ooh, I love coming home from work to find that people have been keeping my diary lovely and warm while I've been away! Thanks! Got to dash now to create something magnificent for tea using only my bare hands, a tin of chopped tomatoes, one onion, four bendy carrots and an awful lot of spaghetti. Back soon x

PinotGrigio41

HappyNow wrote: »

Ooh, I love coming home from work to find that people have been keeping my diary lovely and warm while I've been away! Thanks! Got to dash now to create something magnificent for tea using only my bare hands, a tin of chopped tomatoes, one onion, four bendy carrots and an awful lot of spaghetti. Back soon x

Ooh Mr Pinot does a mean bowl of pasta with similar ingredients to those you have, he adds a dash of balsamic and a spoonful of sugar , some basil and I think thats about it ! I think the bendy carrots will well and truly add to the flavour and presentation of said dinner ! Enjoy !!

Shelski_2

YaY! Diary set up and started. Thanks Happy :j

HappyNow

Update time. Just a boring re-cap of where I'm at.

Still a week to go to payday and we're really feeling the pinch. I'd hoped we would manage the month without hitting the credit card, but sadly that hasn't happened. We've done better than I originally thought though, and I knew from the outset that this would be a terrible month.

My grocery budget of £100 was completely unrealistic. It was set so low through necessity, but try as I might I couldn't manage it and had to use a credit card. That was disheartening and I want to avoid it happening again, so from next payday I am going to allow £200 per month, which will include all food (including cats and dog), all toiletries and all cleaning products; anything supermarket bought. Hopefully I might have some left at the end of each month, which I can put towards other stuff, but as this is such a long-term journey for me I want to avoid setting myself up to fail if possible.

The car broke down and cost £86 to repair - credit card again!

The letting agent messed up our first payment and over-charged us, so hopefully £50 or so to come back from there, but it will take a couple of weeks.

Still, there are lots of positives! I have learnt so much this month about the cost of everything, where we can make savings and where we have a tendency to be wasteful. That will make shopping quicker and cheaper in the future.

Went to Tesco last night at 8 pm and again managed to pick up a load of bread at 11p per loaf which is now in my freezer, plus a large carton of ready-made Tomato and Mascarpone pasta sauce reduced from £2 to 30p - that and the cheap bread will make tea for the next two nights at a cost of approx 10p per portion, and be very easy too!

Whilst in Tesco I noticed that their 3.3 litre slow cookers have been reduced even further and are now just £10. I don't know why I didn't buy one, at that price I really should have, and I've decided to make another trip down tonight to get one before they sell out. It will be credit card again, but I think it will earn its own money back in no time.

Shelski_2

Hi Happy

Just seen your post on PG's diary about %.

To find the percentage you do

amount paid off divided by amount originally, then multiply by 100.

Have fun x

PinotGrigio41

Shelski wrote: »

Hi Happy

Just seen your post on PG's diary about %.

To find the percentage you do

amount paid off divided by amount originally, then multiply by 100.

Have fun x

Ha Ha you beat me too it, I have just posted on my wall how to do it, my way seems more long winded than yours though :rotfl:, and was just dropping in to let Happy know ! Thankyou Shelski

HappyNow

Thanks Pinot and Shelski. It's actually quite easy now I've seen it written down. I think the ridiculously large numbers just sent my brain into a panic! Can't wait until payday on Wednesday to see if I can finally get a number on the other side of that decimal point !

And in other news...... erm..... nothing. Been working from home today and I'd intended to nip down to Mr T's to pick up one of the £10 slow cookers, and treat myself to some carrots and coriander to try out Domino's soup recipe. Then the freezing rain started and I've never seen anything like it. It fell as rain but landed as ice - weird. I tried to take the dog for a walk and there was much falling over and very little walking, and I decided it would be too risky to try and drive anywhere. So I will wait until tomorrow for Mr T, though I'd bet good money (if I had any) that either they will have sold out of the slow cookers or the offer has ended. Grrr to the weather.