New life, new me......

WelshWoofer

Hello everyone - getting quite overwhelmed by the support! Thanks for dropping in!

A bit of a set back today - the house alarm has decided to go on the blink and beep intermittantly all flipping day and night. Have spoken to an engineer and he can come and fix it tomorrow but it will cost a minimum of £75 plus VAT:mad:
He offered to come tonight but it costs £150 for the out of hours call out so I'll suffer another night (with ear plugs) if necessary. Luckily you can't hear it in the garden so its not disturbing the neighbours but its drivng me to distraction. Almost took a hammer to it at 4am:(

Oh well, these things are sent to try us.

On the positive side I haven't spent anything at all today, not been near a shop, and I took a packed lunch to work to stop me eating rubbish and spending dosh when I didn't need to.

I also got a bank statement from a savings account that I never touch and there's £50 more in it than I thought there was - so there's around £3000 in the emergency not to be touched fund. I'd like a bigger cushion to fall back on so will work on boosting that up.

I'm so tired that there's been no extra exercise other than dog walking today and Mondays are my worst day in work of the week so at least that's over with now.
Think an early night is in order - will not be a happy teacher otherwise.:p

Heffi1

Well done WW it is all moving in the right direction

*subscribes*

WelshWoofer

Just a normal day at work today - busy and hectic but enjoyable and productive. I actually slept for about 6 hours (good for me) last night so woke up feeling a lot better.
The alarm company rang as promised and we've agreed on an off contract visit to sort things out on Thursday. I managed to resist the hard sell on a new contract too, so a little victory.:)
The engineer coming later in the week is a good thing really as it means that I'll get paid as the bill is being paid so it can come out of next month's wages. Gutted that it has to be paid at all but later is better than sooner.

Done a few little things towards saving money too...

• Took lunch to work
• Only spent £5 today (better than I thought it would be)
• Found a birthday card for a friend in my card stash
• Tea from fridge using up bits
• Walked dog locally
• Checked banks
• Read library book rather than buying new
• Been around the house making sure unused plugs are turned off

I joined another meet up group last night too - a walking group that does mid week shorter walks as well as the all day ones on weekends. I can take the dog on the shorter ones so killing two birds with one stone - and its only £1 a walk to cover admin costs so it won't break the bank and will get me out and about exercising and meeting new people. The first one is on Thursday after work.

Right off for a bath and a bit of a relax.....

WelshWoofer

Had a good day moneywise - not spent a single penny:T
Done a few little things to help cut back - it all counts

• Took lunch to work
• Done quite a bit of free exercise - walking and jogging
• Made tea from bits in the fridge
• Reading library book
• Renewed library books to avoid a fine

The alarm engineer is coming tomorrow so big money will be on the way out

I have to go to a family birthday party in a pub in South Wales (where I'm from) next weekend so will have a look through the wardrobe to see if I can find something suitable to wear.
I really don't want to buy something new for it as I have to spend at least £50 on petrol to get there and back (I don't even want to go but my mum is guilt tripping me into it).

Nearly payday........

WelshWoofer

The alarm man has been and advised disabling it altogether is I didn't use it much. As the alternative was £250 ish to service the whole thing and replace the broken parts (apparently more than one) I took his advice and coughed up £90 instead - not bad work if you can get it, he was here for precisely 10 mins!:eek:
Could have been worse I suppose?
Put it on the CC and will hopefully pay most of it off when I know what this month's salary is. Pay day tomorrow :j

Off on a walk tonight with a meet up group - only a shortish one as its getting dark earlier now but its a chance to get out and about, take the dog with me and meet some new people. All for the princely sum of £1.:)

I have managed to stay within my self imposed budget of no more than £10 spent since Sunday. The new budget starts tomorrow with the new payday so will have a think about how I'm going to manage the spending money and whether to do a shop in Mr S using a £6 off a £30 voucher or to try to do a very frugal shop and just get what I really need in B&M and Aldi and attempt to spend around £15 instead. Hmmmmm.....can't decide. Will do a list later of the absolute essentials (dog food, washing liquid, fruit etc) and see if it adds up to nearer £20 ish - it would be worth getting more in and using the voucher instead then. Life in the fast lane eh?

Will be glad to get this week out of the way - its been quite a long working week and I could do with a bit of time to relax.

WelshWoofer

Just back from the new meetup group walk and had a lovely time - although we did finish it off in the dark.
Met some great new people - men and women - and chatted the whole way round. The dog is a real icebreaker so glad he came with me.
Will definitely go with that group again.

Celebrating my new venture with a bag of crisps - counted in the cal allowance of course!:)

Put £20 worth of petrol in on the way back as the light came on. Won't come out of the bank until I've been paid so will be out of next month's pay. Also withdrew £20 from the cashpoint - will see how long that lasts me!

Have also booked a comedy night on Saturday with the Spice group - £11 so not too bad and that will be my entertainment/socialising event for the week, I'll try to keep it within my £30 allowance or if necessary economise a bit on the food shopping to balance it out.
Right off for a bath and then to watch a bit of telly before bed.

WelshWoofer

Its PayDay!:j
Got paid pretty much what I thought I would so the budgets are quite close to what I thought they'd be.

I have just transferred £250 straight out of the current account - £150 towards the CC bill when it comes and £100 for savings.
I'm budgeting £120 for food for the month, £50 for petrol for the trip to Wales and another £20 for more petrol for the month (put £20 in last night). There's also £30 a week for spending money - £20 for this week was taken out last night and £11 spent on a comedy night outing tomorrow evening (taking me £1 over - ooops!).

That leaves a little bit of contingency cash and has paid all the usual bills and the small overdraft I'd managed to create over the summer hols.
Lets hope I can stick to it with no more surprises like the alarm needing fixing, fingers crossed.

I've decided to do the shopping at Sainsburys tomorrow to use the £6 off voucher - will write a list in a minute and take a calculator to make sure I don't go over the £30 limit (which will take the bill to £24ish).

Have spent £6 today at the corner shop leaving £14 in my purse that will have to last as long as possible this week.

I'm also trying to keep the heating off too - its only September and I refuse to put it on yet. It is getting colder though - noticeably yesterday and today:(.

Am shattered after a long week and so I'm going to have a bit of relax, watch some telly and have an early night with my library book that I'll take back tomorrow if I get it finished.

pixiechick99

You're doing really well WW:T

I'm so impressed with your confidence to go and meet new people in the walking groups:cool: I'm such a big chicken that I don't do anything new, I just do things with my girls. I don't even like going shopping my own, I love their company. I am meant to be meeting a chap I vaguely knew from school (so 25+ yrs ago as I'm 40 like you;)) but I'm absolutely terrified! Haven't been on a date since the firs one with the ex in 1994:eek: I am very close to chickening out...I wish I had your attitude

Luckily I haven't thought about the heating - I'm still feeling warm, sat here in a tshirt, so hoping I can keep the heating off for a while:p

WelshWoofer

Pixie - I'm ok as long as I'm with a mixed group or there's no pressure to meet men - the thought of dating:eek::eek::eek: Think I'd have to fall over a man in Tescos before I find a new one - definitely not actively looking for one.:rotfl:

Taking of supermarkets, just back from doing the shopping, spent £24.50 after using the £6 off voucher, so quite pleased with that as it included dog food and laundry washing liquid (what a price that is these days!). Also remembered to redeem the carpark voucher so another 50p off the shop. I did the shopping clutching a calculator and list and didn't feel embarrasssed about it - I even saw a few other people doing the same.

Took the dog for a nice 45min walk around the waterpark on the way so some free exercise and saving petrol combining the two trips - it did mean I virtually ran around Sainsburys though as I didn't want to leave him in the car for too long. More exercise!

Going to hoover and dust the house and go for a run later if I have any energy left and then its the comedy night later. Will have tea before I go and park in a free spot so hopefully will only spend a pound or two on a soft drink (if at all).

Right time for lunch - managed to lose another lb last week so I'm only 1 lb off my 20lb target now, no slacking allowed!

WelshWoofer

Changed my mind about a run as the weather forecast is really bad for tomorrow and its been nice today so I decided to take the dog to a National Trust property to have a good long walk around the grounds to make the most of the weather - managed about 90 mins of walking so a good bit of alternative exercise.
Parked in a sneaky little place about 5 mins away to avoid the extortionate parking fee (£6!!!:eek:) and managed to resist the homemade icecreams. I did give in and buy a packet of crisps and some cans of pop for work at B&M but it was only a couple of pounds and will stop me popping in to shops during the week.

Having a sit down and some tea before going out, actually feel quite tired after all that fresh air!