C'est La Vie - Living a glitterful life whilst busting the butt of debt

LaFolie

It's quarter to 5 in the morning, and I've already been awake for an hour with a banging headache :mad:.
At least this means I can write the update I didn't get 'round to last night! Sorted things out with Monsieur: his !!! has been well and truly kicked.
Ended up spending last night though - to be fair, wine was always going to be needed after the day I had yesterday, but I only bought a cheap bottle, and bread. Back on the NSD wagon today!

In an attempt to gain some more funds for the Birthday Buffer needed in the summer, I've joined Sw@gbuck5. Going pretty well so far - if I can get £25 by July, and another £25 by Christmas, I'll be happy

Even though I'm 12 hours tardy, here's my Wednesday Glitterful Things:

• I grew a pair and stood up for myself. Proud of myself for this!
• Have started being proactive in the 'changing what I don't like about my life currently' regard
• Cooked a yummy yummy soup for dinner
• Arranged to go for drinks with A, my bestest work friend
• I have a satisfactory amount of bread in the house
  

and my Wednesday Confessions:

• I ate way too much chocolate at work (by that, I mean like, 5 or 6 roses / celebrations)
• Didn't bag a NSD
• Judging myself for the quality of the wine I bought

Today I'm aiming for:

• NO chocolate at work
• NSD
• Do some damn uni work!

Onwards and upwards!

LaFolie

Forgive me MSE for I have sinned. It has been 1 day since my last confession.

Sooo, I forgot to pack myself any lunch today... and my debit card was still in my purse from last night's trek for wine. Yummy salad from Mr M it was, then! Also bought some razors, which are desperately needed - it's getting to sleeveless dress season, people!

on the Glitterful side, however, I logged onto my online banking at lunch to see a surprise (well, forgotten) £15 in my account - cashback from when I took out our electricity contract a few months ago :jThat £15 has gone straight into the Christmas savings. This means I only have to add £5 to this fund next week to be on target, rather than £10 this week and £10 next week.

I REALLY need to get some uni work done tonight! It was a week off last week, so I haven't really done anything for two weeks! Think I'll concentrate on my French tonight, as I don't need to keep flicking back and forth between book and computer for that

I am so, so tired tonight - can't wait for it to be the weekend, actually, I can't wait for it to be an acceptable hour at which to turn in!

LaFolie

Well, I can tell it's Friday the 13th! I've just checked my emails at work to find an email from my electricity provider, declaring that my bill is going up from £41 per month to £100 per month as of 1st May!!! :eek::mad::eek:

The number of 4-letter words that come to mind is unbelievable. That means that I need to find an extra £60 per month to cover this. Will need to seriously look at my spreadsheet this PM, and will get maman & papa's advice this evening.

Ironically, I was just playing with figures this morning with regards to my overdraft, and saw that if I reduced it by £60 per month, it would be gone gone GONE by August 2013.

Looking on the bright side, this has given me the kick up the backside I needed to get my Council Tax on direct debit, to come out in the middle of the month. This means that £100 for electricity will come out on the first of the month, and £100 for Council tax will come out later. The reason why I don't want both of these coming out at the beginning of the month is that I get paid on the 30th, and sometimes it's 'cleared, but not really cleared', and like hell do I have £200 spare in my account at the end of the month at the minute!

Roll on 16:15, when I am OUT of here!

fallenwiccan

LaFolie wrote: »

Well, I can tell it's Friday the 13th! I've just checked my emails at work to find an email from my electricity provider, declaring that my bill is going up from £41 per month to £100 per month as of 1st May!!! :eek::mad::eek:

The number of 4-letter words that come to mind is unbelievable. That means that I need to find an extra £60 per month to cover this. Will need to seriously look at my spreadsheet this PM, and will get maman & papa's advice this evening.

Ironically, I was just playing with figures this morning with regards to my overdraft, and saw that if I reduced it by £60 per month, it would be gone gone GONE by August 2013.

Looking on the bright side, this has given me the kick up the backside I needed to get my Council Tax on direct debit, to come out in the middle of the month. This means that £100 for electricity will come out on the first of the month, and £100 for Council tax will come out later. The reason why I don't want both of these coming out at the beginning of the month is that I get paid on the 30th, and sometimes it's 'cleared, but not really cleared', and like hell do I have £200 spare in my account at the end of the month at the minute!

Roll on 16:15, when I am OUT of here!

Phone them, you don't HAVE to up the DD that much, the computer pumps it out. Ask them how much in debt you are and what a realistic figure would be, explain you've realised why things have been left on too long and this has been dealt with. Fingers crossed you may not need to up it as much as they say.

LaFolie

fallenwiccan wrote: »

Phone them, you don't HAVE to up the DD that much, the computer pumps it out. Ask them how much in debt you are and what a realistic figure would be, explain you've realised why things have been left on too long and this has been dealt with. Fingers crossed you may not need to up it as much as they say.

Thanks for the advice! I'll ring them tomorrow morning and see what I can do about it. In the meantime, and granted this is after the horse has bolted, but the radiators are OFF, as are all the power sockets not being used.

My lunchtime got a bit better after that shocking email revelation, as my boss bought me an eclair :T not the healthiest lunch, but pattiserie was definitely needed today of all days!

I've totted up the week's spends (running Friday-Thursday), which aren't too bad at all:

Bills: £105.63 (this includes bank charges for exceeding my overdraft limit in Feb , Monsieur's mobile phone bill, my credit card payment, and the laundry money I withdrew at the weekend)

Groceries: £15.47 - not bad at all!

Social: £30 - BAD as this was all on one night!

'Stuff': £10.27 - not as bad as last week, but Can Do Better!

Toiletries - £10.05 - all necessart

Travel - £2.60

Gifts: £11.55 (easter gift for Monsieur, and a birthday present for a friend)

I also worked out that I have put £75 into savings accounts / 'pots' during this month. Rather impressed with that, I must say!).

I still have £40 spending money for this week. Some of this will definitely be spent this weekend, as my bff is coming up to stay for the weekend. Aldi pizza and wine tomorrow night, and then a lovely bumbling day on Sunday. I'm aiming to still have £20 left at the end of the weekend.

Haven't had a NSD today, as I spent 50p on bus fare getting to the doctors (maman gave me a lift back): realistically I'm not going to get another NSD until at least Monday, but hey ho!

I live opposite a very large pub (lucky me!) and, right now, am pondering just HOW people can go out on a Friday night?! I like a drink and a partay as much as the next person, but I for one need my Friday night recouperation to restore my energy for the aforementioned. Crikey, I'm sounding older than my 23 years I'm off to put curlers in my hair and starch my petticoats (confession, I have no idea whether petticoats traditionally get starched or not).

:heart2:

LaFolie

So so SO glad i rang Sc0ttish P0wer this morning. The lovely lady I spoke to couldn't have been more helpful She reckons that I've entered the wrong figures from the meter, so I've got to take 2 meter readings tomorrow: one at 10am and one at 5pm, and she'll ring me on Monday to help me sort it out.
I love it when people are like this. I'm on the phone to customers / clients 50% of the time at work, and often go out of my way to help them, so I'm thinking that this is karma coming back 'round.

However, taking these meter readings means that I have to go and ask the guy who owns the shop downstairs to borrow the key for tomorrow. I find it ridiculous that I don't have immediate access to my electricity meter, but hey ho, my rent is ridiculously cheap and my flat is lovely, so I'll count my blessings!

With the aid of a to-do list, I've been ridiculously productive today: I have already been to the gym, done 2 loads of laundry in the laundrette, phoned Sc0ttish P0wer, and done a load of errands. One of these errands involved B00ts (I had to pick up my prescription), and I spent more than I bargained for in there... I ALWAYS get sucked in by their 3 for 2 offers! To be fair, I am now stocked up on face powder and hair dye for the next 3 months... On the other hand, my spending log is telling me that I have spent nearly THIRTY POUNDS on toiletries this month. What the ACTUAL chuff?! It's scary how these things add up!

Off to collect the bff from the train station at 19:30, so I reckon I have time to do my uni work and do some job hunting in between now and then. Bring it!

Til tomorrow

:heart2:

LaFolie

Does anyone want to explain to me just how it's Monday again already? And it's a 5-day week this week; I am severely unimressed!

Had an awesome weekend, full of things I shouldn't eat and drink, lots of fun, and fantastic company. Sum total for the social part of the weekend: £10. BFF and I stayed in on Saturday night, putting the world to rights with wine, pizza, and BBC iPlayer, then headed off late Sunday morning for a lovely walk in the local park, which just so happens to have an awesome animal farm, which naturally got visited. BFF and I were debating whether it was feasible for her to steal one of the miniature highland cattle and take it back to London; SO SO cute! That cost all of £1 for the animal feed I bought, then we headed into town for some 'grown up' culture at the art galleries, fueled by delicious cupcakes. I say delicious: whilst I can't fault their frosting, I can definitely bake better cakes than them

Unfortunately I seem to have spent quite a lot this weekend, though (most of) it is justifiable! There was a swagbucks special offer on the Body Shop yesterday, so I bought 4 x birthday presents for £31, and got loads of SBs for it, too.

Today's not going to be a NSD, as I have to pay tea money at work, do I'll go to Mr S after the gym tonight to do a top-up shop, therefore hopefully bagging some NSDs later this week. At least, that's the plan...

Have to be in work early today (not that I get paid enough to do this...). There simply isn't enough time to do all the work required of us in office hours at the minute; usually I'm of the mindset of 'that's management's problem, I can only do what I can do in the time given to me', but this is a one-off, plus I'm going to print off some job specs for vacancies I've seen whilst there's no-one else in the office

LaFolie

Right, that's IT. I am hereby making a pledge: I, LaFolie, will be in a new job by the end of June. Now, we women of my family are known for our stubborness, so I refuse to fail on this! Until this recent change at work, I didn't realise just how stressful being so frightfully bored could be!

I'd be a hypocrite if I were to just moan on and on about it on this little forum, and trudge into work every day nonetheless, and I completely fail to have sympathy for those who have the power to change what they're unhappy with but don't (only to moan on about it anyway), so there. DECISION MADE!

I have 3 jobs to apply for this week, at least one of which I shall do tonight. I haven't gone to the gym tonight (feel all bunged up and have the startings of a sore throat), so need to use my time productively!

I've been fueled by a glass of good French wine (I've drunk too much terrible wine recently: I have better standards than that and I know it!), and shall do my nails at the same time. Thus it was writ.

The Lovely Lady from Sc0ttish P0wer rang me back at lunch, so I got that sorted - they had my initial readings wrong, so need to re-invoice me (for less, thankfully!).

I took pity on Monsieur when doing the top-up shop, and bought all the terrible terrible things he loves so much (frozen bolegnaise calzone, anyone?!). I'm getting slightly concerned at the grocery spending for the month - it's up to £96 and there's still 2 weeks until payday! Oh well, I'll just see how much I end up spending, and try to lower that next month

Today's Glitterful addition is that it is 19:15 and I am already in my pyjamas; indeed I have been for an hour and 15 minutes. Sometimes its just necessary!

LaFolie

I've finally managed a NSD! May it be the first of many!

I have a horrible cold right now, completely bunged up (I must sound sooo professional and enthusiastic to clients when I'm on the phone!), with ear ache in one ear and something swollen in the other. Boooo. Nevertheless, I must soldier on if I want a new job: I already have 4 days sickness in the last year (norovirus, ewww) and refuse to let that figure grow!

I got a rejection from the job I applied to on Monday (their loss, obviously ), but have 4 more jobs to apply for in the next week. Deadline for 2 of them is Friday, and the other 2 next Wednesday. I know full well that I can do all of the jobs I'm applying to, so feel confident in that respect, which is good.

I redeemed my second swagbucks voucher today :jso that's £10 in amazon vouchers for me to use - will come in v. handy in the summer birthday blitz! Speaking of which, I remembered last night that it's Monsieur and my anniversary in the middle of Birthday Season. I think I'm going to suggest just having a lovely meal out (groupon if possible ) instead of meal and gifts. We'll both be skint at that time anyway, so it might come down to Asda Smartprice steak and Vin du table *shudder* Right, a cup of tea, and then cracking on with the job applications pour moi!

:heart2:

LaFolie

Gods dammit! I wrote a huuuugge post and then my computer crashed :mad:. Thankfully this happens very rarely (I have a macbook), but I think this means my little beauty is getting on, and may need to be replaced in the next year or so.

It will take a LOT of soul searching to decide whether or not to get another macbook; on the one hand, they cost £1,000, but on the other hand, I've had this one for 4 years and never had any problems with it at all. Any windows laptops I've had have given up the ghost within 2 years, tops. Oh the hardships of 1st world living!

My £25 payout from Pure Profile was in my bank account today, so that's been paid straight off my CC, bringing that down to £143.55 :beer:, and I had another NSD yesterday.

I get the feeling that today is going to be a 'hungry' day - you know those days when you're just ALWAYS hungry, no matter how much you eat? Thankfully I'm on a training course this afternoon, so won't have access to the office's biscuit tin, only my own carrot sticks!

Cannot wait for this day to be over, and it's not even begun yet, how very tragic!