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

Becks81

Hi, I have really enjoyed reading your diary and love your writing style!

I too work in admin, so can relate in that sense.I think you need sarcasm to get through it!!

Have you thought about joining the grocery challenge over on the OS board, it has helped me somewhat this month and I love a good challenge.

Hope the day goes quickly for you.

LaFolie

Becks81 wrote: »

Hi, I have really enjoyed reading your diary and love your writing style!

I too work in admin, so can relate in that sense.I think you need sarcasm to get through it!!

Have you thought about joining the grocery challenge over on the OS board, it has helped me somewhat this month and I love a good challenge.

Hope the day goes quickly for you.

Thanks! I never assume that people actually read this diary, preferring instead to name it in my head 'rantings of a twentysomething poor girl'

I think what annoys me most about my job is that the people I 'support' think of admin as being stupid (I can see why, given their current lot). They're getting more respect for me now that they see that a) they can't !!!! me about and / or treat me like a servant b) I'm just as, if not more, intelligent than them, and c) I'm damn good at what I do.

The other people I work with in admin, I will name as Flapper, Faffer, Chatter, and B. Needless to say, I get on with the B the best (hence she gets the honour of being initialed ), Chatter is also fun to work with, just doesn't shut up! Flapper and Faffer, even though they are my supervisor and boss respectively, I seem to spend most of the time telling them how to do things.

Another reason why B tops my books is that she actually wants to take on board what I'm trying to pass on, she's a proactive worker, rather than passive, much like me.

Training this pm was rubbish and had nothing to do with my role, found myself nodding off during parts of it I'm terrible for this...

Right, time to crack open the Chateauneuf du Pape, and analyse this past week's spending

LaFolie

Right, I've done some totting up of the spreadsheet, and this past week's spending looks like this:


Bills £432.65
Groceries £27.44
Travel £5.70
Social £15.98
Stuff £4.89
Gifts £31.20
Savings £25.00
Toiletries £19.35


Not too shabby, but room for improvement! I still can't believe that there is over a week until the next payday, it seems like forever since I last got paid! Still, there's not too much to still come out of my account this month, so I'm on target to reduce my OD by at least £60 per month.

Right, I'm off to spend my Friday night alternatively looking at pictures of puppies and job hunting (both are equally important)
x

LaFolie

Oh Crikey, this cold just keeps getting worse! Not only am I completely full of snot (sorry if TMI), but now I have a cough, too! I'm going out for a friend's birthday tonight - let's see just how long I last, as I'm determined to have a boogie! I'm budgeting £20 for the night, this should be easily do-able, given that I won't be drinking too much, and, even if I do a cinderella act and leave early, the taxi home won't cost more than £10. If I'm lucky, I can meet Monsieur after he's finished work (probably about 1am) and he can pay for the taxi home (he owes me £5, and he would be getting a taxi anyway )

Definitely not going to the gym today - that's just asking for me to crash and burn at like, 10pm. Instead am going to potter and faff about the flat, cleaning and such. This means I can have an afternoon nap if I feel I need it, before heading out for the night

I've decided that I really need to stop eating so much carp. It's only been recently that my chocolate & biscuit consumption has rocketted, and funnily enough, my skin isn't looking its fine self. Will get some more fruit and healthy snacks in when I go to Mr S later (meant to go last night, but that just didn't happen, got in late from that stupid training and just crashed).

On the MSE front, I've just rung Sc0ttish P0wer after last week's billing debacle, and they've confirmed that my direct debit will be staying at £41 per month, which is a relief!

In other news, I'm finding it so empowering keeping note of everything on my spreadsheet - I know exactly how much I've spent, and feel in control of my spending and of my bank account. I know exactly how much is left to come out bills wise, and can therefore estimate my balance at the end of the month (subject to grocery purchases). This is a far cry even from a month ago!

Ok, off to crack on with my to do list. Should also probably wake Monsieur, who needs to be in work by noon...

LaFolie

I am too old and too civilised for establishments that sell non-branded vodka at 60p a shot! Granted, it seems very MSE, but by gods it's terrible!

I stayed out later than I thought I would last night, got in at about half 1, but unfortunately, somewhere between Wetherspoons and the club's dancefloor, I seem to have lost my voice. I'm sqeakier than a guinea pig today, and had to communicate via the art of mime last night! Now, normally this isn't too much of an issue, as I don't particularly WANT to talk to the people I work with, but a lot of my day is spent on the phone to people who are very hard of hearing and softly spoken, which will be fun tomorrow, and also I have a freakin' SPEAKING assessment due in on Wednesday for my OU course!! Bad timing much?!

Lets focus on the positive:

• I had a FAB night out last night, with friends I haven't seen for a long while. Much dancing was done, much alcohol was consumed.
• Many plans were made with these friends for some very MSE frivolities in the coming months, such as a b'day weekend camping trip. This pleases me
• I only spent £14 last night, so can put £10 into the Alton Towers fund, and still have £20 left over from this week's spending money :T

I have a CRAZY busy week ahead of me, both socially and work wise. There are 4 job applications to get in, an OU assessment to get done, at least 2 cinema outings (one of which will cost me £4 as I'm a student, the other will cost me £0 as I have enough points on my Odeon card), a gig, and a PJs and wine evening with friends.


Off to search for my voice, before the people in the shop downstairs start thinking there's a mouse problem

LaFolie

I've just done some calculations, and if I am successful in one of the two internal vacancies I'm currently applying for, I will be £50 per month better off, for having a lot more responsibility and stress.

FML!

PiggyBankShaker

Good luck, hope you get it

LaFolie

Thanks!

Having been exceptionally bored at work today, I did the sums properly: I'd be £15 per month better off from the £1,800 pay rise that would come with either of these two jobs: I'd be paying around £15 in student loan repayments per month, and it would cost me £20 to get to and from work (currently I can walk).

On the other hand, both of these positions are temporary, so after they ended, I'd be able to say 'look, I'm supervisor material' etc to any future employers.

Have decided that I don't like being a grown up; too much responsibility and too many choices to make

LaFolie

Stressed out of my pretty little skull, what with uni work, job hunting, and the black hole of intelligence that is my work. Unfortunately, this led to me going a bit mad in A5da after work... Fortunately by 'a bit mad' a mean 'yellow stickered luxury goods' and yummy fruits. Still, how damn cliched: a woman is stressed, so she shops.

I left work early today (on flexi time) as my mind was so all over the place it was giving me a headache. I'd written up two meetings today, one of which spouted more figures than Martin Lewis on acid.

The jobs I still need to apply for don't close until 8th May, so I'm going to take it easier over the next week or so, chill out, and catch up on my uni work, whilst trying to be MSE. I'm going to practice what I preach though, and not beat myself up too much if I slip. Tomorrow, for example, I am GOING to have a scrummy salad for lunch. I haven't been eating well at all recently, and I can tell that it's affecting my energy, my mood, and my skin. Health kick a-go-go from now.

On a :mad: note, I've been trying to submit my OU assessment for the past 2 hours, and it just WON'T upload!! Infuriating! Have emailed the files to my tutor, explaining the problem and promising that I'll keep trying to get them sent properly.

On a note, it's 19:45 and I am in bed with a hot water bottle. Rock on!

LaFolie

Well thank chuff it's the weekend!

I've finally gotten over that hideous cold (seems to be going around quite a bit up here - there's been loads of people off work this week at my place), and more importantly, it's payday on Monday!!!:j.

Given that I have no intention of spending on my debit card between now and Monday, I can report my month's debt-busting figures as a lovely £99.54 knocked off my credit card, and £54 knocked off my overdraft :T

I haven't done as well as I would have liked with NSDs, due to stress and generally feeling carpy resulting in food purchases, but I'm not going to beat myself up about that; I'll simply try harder next month.

I have a lovely weekend planned of chillaxing with friends chez moi this evening, and a cinema date with Monsieur tomorrow. Only thing I'll need to buy for both of these is maybe some pop for tonight, and supplies for making Brownies, and bus fare to and from town tomorow (my Odeon reward card has enough points for my cinema ticket tomorrow).

Have tallied up last week's spends (Friday 20th - Thursday 26th), and they look like this:

Bills: £63.09

Groceries: £50.60

Travel: £13.10

Stuff: £4.48

Savings: £15.95

Social: £21


As always, there's room for improvement here (for example, if I had been in a better mood on Tuesday night and waited for a bus, instead of getting a taxi home...) , but this gives me something to work on!