Weekly Spend Challenge W/C 15th April 2012

EverTheOptimist

A couple of no spend days for me so far this week, still have the £14 in my purse, although as i type i am thinking of potting £1 in my sealed pot, so i dont have it in my purse to spend.

Yep, done, so down to £13 now.

Hope everyone is well.

elsiepac

Hi guys, thanks for all the welcome backs! :beer:

Apart from the wedding, one of the MASSIVE highlights of the holiday was getting to play with 12 week old lion cubs - I'll see if I can manage to post a pic!! Sooo cute, and a once in a lifetime experience!:D

Spent £5.67 since yesterday so not doing so well...

Plan is a possible pub trip after work tomorrow as have a kind of pool tournament going with my friend...

Weds film night with mum so no spends although actually think I need to get a bottle of wine... doh! That'll send me over!

Thurs nothing planned...sleep after work probably!

Fri work night out bowling - unsure on cost at the mo but I have £12 in my entertainment budget set aside and I have to drive as no-one to stay with so absolute max 2 small drinks over the whole evening, so hopefully won't be too bad. Don't think I'll stick to my £10 though!!!

Also have my friend coming back from London this weekend and he's booked a hotel in Bristol for Saturday, I'm not sure what we're doing but drinks will be involved and we are long overdue for a catch up as I haven't seen him since he moved, so could be a long and expensive night! :beer: Can't wait to see him though!

Then I'll have to be a hermit until payday on the 30th as there's just nowhere to squeeze any more money from this month and I reckon Saturday will just about finish me off spending-wise (not petrol or food thank goodness!), and also hurrah for duty free cigs! Didn't bring tons back as there's a limit of 200, but I'm hoping mine should see me through to the end of the month. Then I have a big decision on whether to quit or not as the prices are so astronomical now. Plus it's very bad for me. Hmm, don't have to worry yet!

Hope everyone had a good Monday!

PS, just wanted to clarify, I am feeling better than I have in months, much more like myself and actually occasionally feeling happy when I'm on my own now, which I never was before! So I think a combination of new tablets (3rd time lucky!) and holiday and time off is paying off! Am trying to use this good time to think positively and start planning and looking forward again. First thing is, definitely moving out of parents around end of July with my friend. Which is a fab start :T

Sorry for long post!

Night all

LC x

pointypenguin

Evening all

Another sunny but raining day here in wonderous Scotland.

No spends to report for this challenge today. I have been good and been taking in lunch every day and I am all set for tomorrow already.

LC glad to hear things are looking brighter at your end.

Nothing planned at all this week other than Friday as I am going to London to visit the family:D

It is nearly hump day:j enjoy your evening.

EverTheOptimist

I potted £2 yesterday and also had to pay £1 towards some plants. Dont ask.

So down to £10 but dont feel too bad as i have actually saved £3 of it.

abundant1972

Hey all...

Mid week confession time! I have a week off this week - which in some ways has been great - just what I needed.

Am starting to look after myself a bit more and have been doing things to change my lifestyle to one that supports that. I have always wanted to live more ecologically and try and cut down on the rubbish I put into me - and this week I decided to make the crunch.

Have used up all my old stuff and replaced with eco-friendly stuff (why is this stuff so much more expensive??? You would think the government would want people to support the environment and therefore make it cheaper??!)... On top of that I decided to replace my kettle that had broken too.

Maybe I am just trying to justify my HUGE overspend again... I have been on a bit of a swipe now worry later frame of mind all month... but I forced myself to keep the receipts and this is my confession - forcing me to sit down and take note of what I am doing.

I had pledged £30...

£3.50 Coffee with a mate
£33.33 Eco shop + £10.31 + £0.90 + £11.00
£23.15 - Kettle plus a few other items
£1.00 Scratchcard (zero win)
£15.94 - de-fleeing my house :-(

= £99.13!!!

Even if I justify spending the money on a kettle/de-fleeing I have still spent £65.19 and still have a date on Thursday to go to... Ok - so I now feel better in myself for migrating over to a different way of living that suits me but still - my spending is out of control.

Ultimately am just not very happy at the moment :-( and if i am brutally honest - spending makes me feel better initially - until I get home and work out how much overspent I am. Have lost my financial mojo and need to get it back somehow!!!



Edit: Decided I need to also focus on the good - Checked my savings and have £400 in there! £250 of that is for car servicing - but am proud I have planned ahead and been able to put some aside each month for things like that. Whilst the money I overspent on could have gone off my debts - I haven't been dipping into funds for other things - so not a total write off.

Am back on my St Johns Wort after been off it for a few months - so hoping my mood will pick up a little fairly soon. Have got final exams soon and stressed out about that - so am giving myself a little slack - and perhaps a bottle of wine to look forward to!!! Any motivational tips right now would be much appreciated! How do you all get yourselves out of a rut when you fall in one?!?!

Thanks all <hug>

pointypenguin

Evening all

Abundant I know it is hard when you feel like you are constantly going over budget but you need to think how much worse it would be if you were not keeping track. Also as you say you are managing to save for things and not dipping into money set aside for thing which is really good. Just remember this budgetting lark doesn't just happen over night. It takes time to build up pots of money for various items and sometimes life has a habit of getting in the way and sending you back to square one. So my tip is focus on the good things and just keep trying with the rest you will get there in the end. Good luck:beer:

I have kept up my pledge of taking lunch with me each day (tomorrow's is done and ready). Nothing purchased except groceries so nothing to report. If only every week was like this one.:p

I hope everyone else is having a good week. Thursday nearly there:j

abundant1972

Thanks for the advice!!! Wise words indeed!!! <hug>

Pinkpenguin

Hi all,

Just reporting a spend yesterday of £8.55 on cinema tickets. 241 though so very MSE :money:

That leaves me with the grand total of £1.05 to last me until Sunday though! Should be do-able as I have no plans for the weekend

Hope everyone is keeping on track - its nearly Friday!!!! :beer:

PP xx

abundant1972

Am officially writing this week off!

Car in for repairs - had put aside £250, but the service was £220 alone!... and have repairs and MOT next month of £295 to find!!! Fortunately I did some overtime this month so I should be ok.

Bought some shoes for work for £15 - Bargain - and can claim that back.

Am not including either of those as they are sort of essentials.

Other spends today (whilst in town waiting for my car to be repaired and after hearing how much it was going to cost!!! Comfort spend or what?!?!):

Vitamin supply for next few months £25.13
A hoodie and 2 t-shirts £17.00
Lunch £4.59

Am shamefully bringing my end of week total in at:

£30/£145.85!!! So kind of a great big RED week for me!!!

Am going to re-organise my Budget to include a 'Medications' section as I take a fair few supplements and they help to keep me in good shape. Am also going to include a clothing budget in there somewhere too, as can't remember when I last bought any and they are kind of falling to pieces!!!

OK. <Takes deep breath> For my last week of April's Budget, am pledging £30 again. No more excuses from here on out. I still have 9 NSD to do - which I could make if I really lived off what I have in, which is plenty. I will do better next month!!!

:A

EverTheOptimist

Afternoon all

I had a bit of a spendy day yesterday, all on essentials but things that werent budgeted so had to come out of my weekly budget.

Not sure what i have left but i am still just about green, by £1 and a bit i think. I really should stop having days off.

NSD for today though. Estimating a small spend tomorrow on a newspaper.

Out for tea tonight for my dad's 60th birthday. But from a different budget.