PennyGrabber's Path to Pecuniary Positiveness!!

PennyGrabber

Ooh, Suffolk Lass - hope you had a good time!!
I've been counting get-ups this week too - I think it's essential during the last week, sometimes two, of term!
Of course the marking is after school - why would they be given extra time to do it?! People just don't realise how hard it is being a teacher, unless they know someone who does the job. My mum told me off when I told her I was going to be a teacher "What do you want to do a part time job like that for?". I lived with her during my NQT year, when I worked from 7am til 11pm Monday to Friday, and then at least six hours over the weekend. She took it all back!!

Pixie Chick - glad the sewing machine idea helped. I have just realised, unfortunately, that my hoover is broken. :sad: So, my new plan is to see if I can mend it, and if I can, to buy a sewing machine, and if I can't I get to buy a hoover instead! At least I have the money available this month to do that.

Had quite a productive day today; got some displays down, and new ones started, did some baking with the class, and some other stuff, plus we had a meeting after school, and I was in the head's group - some of the other people were really bigging me up - thanks guys! It all helps when you're after a job!

Positives for the day
- no sms, in fact no money left my purse at all
- less food in the house than there was this morning (except for apples!)
- child benefit paid into account
- brought home 10 apples from work - they're in the fridge waiting for some jam jars to appear so I can make more chutney!
- during the meeting today, the headteacher talked about my expertise in various areas, and how it would be good to utilise that. Hopefully this means she definitely wants to give me a job!
- did jacket spuds with beans for the children and salad for me for dinner. Was supposed to be leftovers, but I didn't fancy it. I'll have some of it for lunch tomorrow. Children never used to like jackets, which was rubbish as they're so easy, so they are a welcome addition to our list of meals. And cheap!!

Can't believe the news that stamps are going to go up by so much! A 14p increase!! I'm going to buy loads of second class stamps this month now, as I use them for entering competitions. Pretty soon, there will no postal service if they want to charge that much!

My dinner tomorrow will be a packup as we're out at a music festival, think we'll have corned beef hash on Thursday and sausages waffles and beans on Friday. Or something like that. Won't need to buy anything for those meals, and then we'll have picnicky stuff Sat and Sun lunch, maybe fish pie one of the days and chicken risotto the other. It's the start of a very shaky plan, but it's still a plan!

I'm feeling fairly whacked, so I'm taking myself off to bed with a cuppa and a book, so I'll be fit for working tomorrow. I must also remember to hand in my supply form - three days' worth, cha-ching!!

Night all, and thanks for the continued support; it really means a lot.

PG x

Lovethenight

PennyGrabber wrote: »

TMI alert!!
It cost £350 :eek::eek::eek: BUT, I figure the amount I spend on razors, creams, etc and the time as well... Plus, it really has made that much of a difference. It's the b00ts smoothskin one. You do 12 sessions, one a week, then you're good to go. I have done four on one leg, just to compare the before and after, and it's truly amazing. Plus, I'm raving about it so much to all my mates that they want to borrow it, and I'll ask for a small contribution towards it, say £20 or £30. That way, they get the same feeling at little cost, and I recoup some of the money!

Hey,
Thanks so much for letting me know and sorry I've been MIA lately! I got promoted at work which is great, but my workload has exploded! Got home at 9:20pm today which is pretty typical of the last week and a half!

Am definitely going to do a bit of research and save up to invest in one of these - love the idea of loaning it to friends for a small contribution!!:T:rotfl:
Right - am off to catch up on the rest of your thread and the April GC!

Suffolk_lass

Last day of term for you today, methinks!
Not for me though. I normally work from home Friday but today I must go to London for a meeting. I am going to purposely be ten minutes late though as this means I can get the cheap day return from my local station and drive there whereas the alternative is to drive a 70 mile round trip to a different station. I'm happy to justify ten minutes late!
Filled up one car (as we do each week) on the evening of the silly ministerial advice, before most had heard the news. Last night was ridiculous though with maybe twenty cars queuing in the road for the same forecourt. DH has to visit his Mum tonight after school and I suggested he take the Defender - bit rich for fuel but it is 3p/litre cheaper near his Mum than we can get here. It means I don't have to fret about whether the car fits under the car park height restriction and he will pay maybe £90 instead of £95 to fill it up and it gets a nice run which definitely helps with consumption. We are off to the Highlands next week and the fuel situation is a bit of a worry re getting back (1.5 tanks each way and another .5-1 driving around up there). The locals must have concerns about whether food deliveries will even get through if it really happens. Ooh, must get ready...

PennyGrabber

Wow, I've been knackered this week! Sorry for having been mia for a few days.

Yes, it was the last day of term yesterday, which meant we all had to stay and tidy up, ready for the new term. Great, but rubbish at the same time!

Unfortunately, having been so tired, it's made me spend unnecessarily... I spent £18 in tesc0 on weds night, only should have been £8, as I needed to get flowers for the ladies who helped out at choir. Got loads of whoopsies though, which I am yet to add up. Also got some carp, which I've already eaten most of!!! Oops... However, realised today that it's the totm again, so that might explain that. Please tell me on day one that I need to ring up for a smear!! I am 4 months overdue, because I ring up too late in the cycle. I'm not regular enough to book in to much in advance, but never remember on day one!! Thanks.

I bought myself the sewing machine today, and some material, and mcdonalds lunch for the three of us, and cinema tickets for tom am, and and and and and and... GRRRR!!! :mad::mad:

Moving on...

I am in the gc for £100 this month, and I have already paid up my car account. I have the purses ready, so come tomorrow, I will put £50 into my Christmas pot, another £20 into the petrol purse (already been using April's petrol for a week!!!), £50 into the holiday pot, £50 to presents, £70 to entertainment (hols!) and £50 to misc. The misc will include a long-overdue haircut, as I haven't had mine done since August last year! The children need them too, but their dad may do them. Who knows with him! I need to check the children's school shoes too.

From my £100 gc purse, I only need some limescale remover at the moment, as my friend gave me a ma-hoo-sive chutney-making pan yesterday. She got it from her work, as they were going to chuck them. Got quite a layer of scale on the bottom, but once that's gone, it's a really heavy duty pan, and I'm looking forward to filling it up with all sorts of concoctions!

I got just over 2 litres of milk from school yesterday, and a carrier bag full of fruit; a large pineapple, a dozen clementines, some pears, some apples, 10 bananas, and a dozen carrots. Result!!

The whoopsie haul I got on Weds was;
-broccoli, was £1.25, I paid 12p
-mini carrots, were £1.50, I paid 15p
- cauli, was 89p, I paid 9p
- clems, marked as 50p?, I paid 5p
mushrooms, were £1.25, I paid 12p
- cous cous meal thing, was £2.50, I paid 25p
-two lots of prepped spud chip things, were £1.50 each, I paid 15p each
-two packs of root veg, were £1 each, I paid 10p each
- a casserole veg pack, was £1.50, I paid 15p each
-a red cabbage, was 92p, I paid 15p

All in all, £15.31 worth of stuff for £1.58!!

We had cauliflower cheese with the carrots and spuds on Thursday. tomorrow, I'll be having the casserole veg with chicken stock as the children will be having today's leftovers.

I'll work through the rest of it next week. The children are with their dad from Monday morning until Friday evening/dinnertime, so I will just be feeding myself. A great excuse to use up lots of ood things/the whoopsie mountain that I didn't really need!! I did enjoy that cauliflower cheese, mind! Haven't had it for a while, as the children told me they didn't like it. That may have been true before, but they ate it all up, so they must like it now! DS not so keen, but he still ate it, especially after we had a conversation about variety, and mummy choosing too.

Will need to give some thought to this week's food buying. I want to buy some bread mixes (with the 80p vouchers), but that voucher lasts for ages, so I don't need to do that now. I also don't need to get the limescale remover now, as I don't have any jamjars to put anything in, so won't be making anything for a while!! I can do without bread for myself, as I can have crackers/soups/ood pasta and sauces, salad, etc. I have wraps in the freezer, and potato cakes, so got some stuff. The only thing I may actually NEED, is a box of tissues, as my nose is trying to escape rather quickly! Whatever I eat, I'll try and not have too much cheese as well, as that's on its way out.

My aim for when the children get back is that there will be some sort of order to the food in the house... I do this about every six months, and it's well due for a re-shuffle. I will write a new inventory, and use it better this time. Trouble is, it'll take up about six a4 pages!

Advice - what's a sensible list of things to have in your storecupboard/fridge/freezer/baking cupboard? This is what I'm striving towards, but don't really have any idea at the moment of what this is!!

PG x

PennyGrabber

Positives for today:
- bought my sewing machine, half price! Really looking forward to having a play - dd has requested that I make her dress first, so I'll do that tom if I feel up to it, and make my bag while the children are with their dad.
- spent a lovely day with the children
- bought cinema tickets for tomorrow; we wanted to go today, but it was all sold out! That means, rather sneakily, that I won't be using any of April's ents budget for it, as I bought it today!! There's a pot of money that's being used at the moment, and i'm not sure where from. I think it's the solicitor cheque which I've not yet paid in. I must make sure I only spend the money once...
- used up a pack of bacon from the freezer and a packet mix from the pantry today
- made the decision to cancel studio cards - they keep sending me catalogues, and I didn't buy anything from them last year, so I can do without now. If I look in them, I just want to buy lots of kitchen stuff, and I've nowhere to put it!
- money is fairly sorted for this month, just need to put the right amounts into the right purses. Looking forward to trying the system for the first time properly, with lots of different purses. That should hopefully make it that much clearer where my money is going, and how much is left...

What was up with my children today?! They are late sleepers, and I always have to wake them up at half seven, but today ds was up at half 6!! Dd up at ten to 8, when normally she'll sleep as late as half 10 in the hols! I guess they just wanted to spend as much time as possible with me before they go to their dad's four five days!

And, what's up with being ill now? I'm always ill on the last day of term, it's a teacher's life - your body winds down, and that's when all the bugs attack! This time it's a sore throat and cold, so not the worst, but annoying when I plan on doing so much this holiday!

Night all, chat tom!

PG x

Suffolk_lass

Just a quick post to suggest white vinegar instead of limescale remover. It works brilliantly and is a fraction of the cost - and you can put it through a coffee filter paper in a funnel back in the bottle to use again and again.

Happy holiday

PennyGrabber

Thanks for that tip - I got some white vinegar today, and it's soaking away nicely. I'll leave it overnight to do its magic!!

Had quite a good day today, got lots of things done.

Positives for the day:
- sent off the passports, got them checked and sent. It cost £200.01, but I got more than that from the solicitor, so they were effectively paid for.
- paid in the solicitor cheque!!
- went to a$da to get vinegar, came out with vinegar, nothing else!
- had a major sort out of my food supplies. I am ashamed to say I threw loads away, but I now have a better handle of where everything is, and what the dates are. I got rid of anything that was too far ood, so anything from 2010, and early 2011. Feel good about the stock situation now, and it's more organised (in terms of date and category). Found loads of things I'd forgotten I'd bought, and another 8 tins of tuna!!
- had a major tidy in the kitchen, looks much better.
- got out the rest of the cash from the bank, and got the lady at a$da to swap a 20 for two 10s, so I could put money into the correct tins.
- £50 went into the holiday fund, and £50 into the Christmas fund.
- Purses are up and running; grocery, misc and presents, petrol and entertainments. Feel quite good about that. Oh, and £100 went into the car account.
- Got my hair cut, and left a tip - I never normally leave tips as I can't really justify the expense of paying someone because they did the job they were paid to do (that's a whole other soapbox-type story!). Anyway, the cut was £13.50, so I gave £15.
- returned my library books, but they will incur a fine, as I forgot they were due back on Friday...
- saw a notice in the post office that tax credits will be paid to me on Thurs, as they were supposed to be paid on the 9th.
- olb checked, and looking good. I will have enough this month to pay off around £200 of my cc bill. Yeah!! I may be able to squeeze more, but not sure. I will pay off £200, then see how much extra I can keep hold of for the month, and pay that at the end. That way, I'll have made a massive payment, and still have enough for an emergency, but possibly able to make a mahoosive payment. Makes sense in my head, anyway!
- went to work and did some display stuff; the head was really grateful that i'd given up some of my time. I made the point that we're a team, and it's not fair on the RE coordinator to do everything, so I would do what I could. (Brown-nose, brown-nose, brown-nose, whatever gets me the job!). In fairness, I would've done that anyway.
- I achieved all bar two of the things on my list for today, and I set myself a REALLY long list. I'm pleased with what I've done, and I'm looking forward to doing more tomorrow. I've cancelled going scrapbooking, as, although I would've enjoyed it, I would rather keep going at home while I've got the inspiration, as I told the children the house would be tidy and clean, and dd's dress would be made, by the time they get back on Friday!! And, I'm out Weds and Thurs with friends.

I am going to head to bad now, as this cold won't shift. Every time I bent over today, which was a lot!, my nose started dripping. So attractive! And I have pmt!! Still, my list of positives outweighs the negatives, so that's good news.

Night all,

PG x

cleggie

Morning PG
I am really impressed with your long list of things you managed to get done yesterday!

I hope you are feeling better today?

Its great that you'll be paying off £200 off your CC, and possibly more. I love that feeling! I never used to, but i think its becoming addictive

Have a great day!

PennyGrabber

Morning! Had a lush lie in, although up earlier to do the bins. I could put them out the night before, like others in our road, but then the foxes get to them an make a right mess. Only trouble is, they come at half six on the dot at my house!!

Anyway, I have made a list of things to do over the next two days. If I can accomplish all of them, I can them spend Thursday cleaning. Woop woop!! Which means that Friday can be a me day, where I watch telly, read a book, go for a walk... until the children come home at dinnertime.

I'm really impressed with myself actually, as normally, I have my me days, then deal with the house later, which means I just give it a lick and a promise, and nothing is ever really done properly. I'm growing up!!

Still feel like poo, but cracking on anyway, as it'll make me feel better to know I can relax in a tidy and clean house.

Forgot to say yesterday in my positives, that I fixed my hoover! Means I don't have to go out and buy a new one now.

Don't need anything from a sm today, so will stay away. Think I'll pop into work though, to print off the wright's bread mix coupon. I need to go out for something else, so will combine journeys. At least then I'll have the coupon ready, in my gc purse!

Just checked olb and realised I don't have as much money as I thought I would have. Somehow, there are more things going out than I realised (this never happens), so I won't be able to pay off as much as I thought. I forgot to account for childcare £64, swimming lessons £120 and football/tap lessons £55. :mad::mad::mad: with myself.

Still, if I can cross lots off my list today, maybe I won't feel so bad about it! And I'll have saved money because I won't have been out. Maybe I'll stay home instead of go to work, and then I'll not be tempted at all.

Have a great day, and be frugaltastic!!

PG x

PennyGrabber

Nope, feel too rubbish. Going to watch a film and eat junk food for a bit, then see how I feel.