Enjoying the journey to becoming debt free - paying back the credit cards

fedupandskint

A good day off today.

Car had its job done and all went well. Had a nice chat with the mechanic too about life and stuff. Nice reminder about friendly chats with people I don't know too well!

Lots of walking which was today's exercise
Soup made and frozen - 8 portions of leek and potato for next week
Cake baked - first time for a spiced olive oil cake - a liitle strange but nice

Me - relaxed in the bath, with a facemask on!

Tomorrow is finishing of the cleaning, ironing, exercise then study - looking forward to a quiet day at home!

fedupandskint

A lot done today!

Shred done which I am very pleased with how it's going
Long weekend walk in deep snow this morning with Mr Dog
Washing all sorted for tomorrow
Windows all washed inside and mirrors
Mouldy bits scrubbed off
Windows opened at long last for fresh air!
Kitchen wiped down
Ironing done
Hair pre treatment done and hair mask too
Veggie shepherds pie started for later on

Just leaves the floors to mop which I think I 'll do tomorrow and the hoovering. Which means there will be plenty of time to do some studying tomorrow just before my meeting on Monday.

NSD 16 today - target extended to 18 for Jan

I took a deep breath and took my measurements this morning - an inch off my waist and thighs taking me nearly back to where I was before I regained those 5lbs. Ther's no much further to go with all of this before its back to maintaining again. I'm looking forward to starting Level 2 Extreme Shred soon and getting to grips with that as its looks like another step up.

I also need to have alook for a suitable outfit for next weekend's nught out and I'm going to have a look in the wardrobe to try out a couple from what I already own - must stay strong! I have enough clothes - remember!

fedupandskint

A nice day today starting off with Extreme Shred L2 - quite hard work!

Then listened to a bit of the tennis while getting ready to meet my friend for a coffee and a walk around town and also prepped some lunch before setting off. Then back for lunch and a chat before back out with hte dog for a very cold walk in a stiff breeze.

Updated meter readings and felt very glad I made a payment last month and will do the same again this month once its payday again at long last. Decided to do this for at least the next 3mths to ease off some of the big bill pressure for once.

Budgeting going ok so far - car service budget; car tax budget; gas and elec budget; also need to work out a budget for insurance at some stage too.

A low spend day today on a birthday card for mum, and some salad and an onion for lunch today and also this week and work late night next week so it worked out a low cost for these thankfully!

Mum decided she would rather us have a nice day out together rather than a birthday present for the sake of it - will budget for that too over the couple of months too. We're going out for a lunch at the weekend and due to all our healthy eating plans I'm making a small birthday cake - the smallest one ever! I'll have a look this week for a nice recipe to bake on Friday.

This week is going to be pretty busy with uni tutor meeting tomorrow, haircut wed, careers meeting wed, late work night thurs, baking friday and, oh yes, work of course! Then sat is off to visit mum, then off out on a leaving do and sunday a rest! All along with the ubiquitous shedding and shredding this week too!

fedupandskint

Found a good birthday cake recipe which looks like it can halved easily and then topped with melted chocolate and some decorations. All I need to get in is a bar of choc and maybe some smarties to decorate.

Decided on the Leaving Do outfit yesterday and planning to wear my thin knit black v neck and back jumper with my snakeskin jeggings and heels with black jacket and some sparkly jewellery. Just about stayed strong to not buy anything new!

Will also make the effort to look nice when I meet mum on Sat. Now this looks like a very treaty day so I will try very hard to not overspend by buying things I don't need. Set a budget of £20 for lunch and then a top budget of a tenner for my night out as I'm driving. Don't think £30 is too bad for a birthday lunch and a night out afterall. Let me see how close I get to that on Sat - will report back with the figures on Sunday next week.

I'll also keep an eye out for a good bunch of flowers for mum as Mr T near me often has perfectly good flowers reduced.

I realise I sound tight here but this year is the one where I make the biggest inroads into the cc debt - meaning when my money is my own again, I'll be able to spend how I want and all being well this time next year I should be in a better position financially.

I've written my budget for my day out with mum for the next couple of months, the gas and elec budget to pay at the end of the next 3mths. I received my bill today after submitting the meter readings which is the same as I got earlier today so thats good meaning there are no more extra charges due there.

Also discovered today I got the 0% BT deal as most of the bal of Bank of Hell card has been transferred. Will aim to pay off the remainder of B of H asap as well as the 0% which is for 9mths. Will have to make a note of when it expires.

fedupandskint

I have a cracking headache today - no idea why as I've had plenty of water to drink. Certainly put my in a bad mood this afternoon at work. Decided to have a day off exercise as I can feel my arm and shoulder muscles aching after yesterdays move onto L2 Extreme Shred - hoping to feel better tomorrow and I'm having an early night to sleep it off and wake up in a better mood then!

NSD 17/18 today - ace and did not spend on payday!
Did pay the gas and elec bill but not counting this in the NSD - for me its about real cash in my purse and online shopping for anything bar bills.

Meeting with my tutor today went really well and I'm almost ready to submit bar the final changes. Decided to go for it and meet again next week and set an immenent deadline which works well for me after how much I got done last week in a short space of time.

Hoping to say strong tomorrow and get another NSD tomorrow to reach target then its spend day on Wed for petrol, and food shop maybe?

fedupandskint

Ok no NSD today. Had to fill up with petrol as needed so decided to do a little top up shop for the week ahead leaving only a little to get at the weekend

Shred done - boy that L2 was hard work today. Sadly eaten quite a lot of chocolate today. Oh well, never mind, tomorrow is another day!

Tomorrow will be a NSD as have already drawn out the money needed for the haircut tomorrow. Also at lunchtime bought a couple of gift sets for presents next year that were £1.99 in the sale from £4.99 to tuck away. Then finally got the buy one get 2 free hair dyes in the right colours. Now have enough dye to last all year now - not bad for £6.34 for 5 packs.

fedupandskint

No exercise today as it turned out. Felt quite sore in some places after yesterday so decided to have a little rest for a couple of days to recover.

Haircut had today - not too sure now as its very layered. Will be
able to tell tomorrow when I dry it. Hope its ok.

Reached NSD target today - 18/18 yipee!

fedupandskint

Pleased to report haircut looked ok when I washed and dried it this morning. Also got the final NSD today making it 19 and exceeding my 2nd target of 18 - a very good result for Jan - Feb's target is 20.

Came home from work to find my duvet cover had blown off the line, over the fence and probably onto the main road and someone kindly hung it onto my gatepost -whoops, how embarassing! No matter how many pegs were used this morning it still blew away. Now being washed again to see if those marks will come out, hope so.

Made porridge for tomorrow's breakfast to reheat, Tomorrow I can finish early and then have a lot to do once back home - cleaning, hair colouring, nails tidy up, finish shopping, exercise for an hour, dog walk then bake a cake for mum's birthday and make a curry for tea. Still if I get all that done it frees up the weekend a lot on Sunday to do some uni work

fedupandskint

My skin is all over the place atm and certanly not sparkling like it used to - hoping it improves over the next 4 week cycle - not sure what it's down too - Christmas food or premenstrual?

A very busy day yesterday after work - did half the cleaning, dyed hair, tidied nails up, shopping, birthday cake baked and decorated and also an hour of exercise.

Off to see mum today as its her birthday this weekend. We are having a day out together later in the spring as a present. Bought a nice bunch of flowers to take over along with a little cake as requested. Looking to fab myself up today in a nice outfit then off out on a leaving do tonight - aiming to be ultra frugal for this. Not buying anything new and driving too!

fedupandskint

Had a lovely day out with mum - a nice chat about life, lovely lunch and she bought some lovely earrings as her present and also liked the flowers I took over.

I bought a really nice spring bag for £3.50 reduced from £12 and a top for £9 reduced from £25 which mm kindly put a fiver towards.

Lunch cost £16.95, coffee cost £2.10, flowers cost £8 - total = £27.05
Bag and top cost = £7.50

As I got back fairly late and tired made a decision to listen to myself and not drag myself out on this cold night and have a bath instead. Sent my apologies for not going and I wasn't the only one but those big boozy nights out just aren't my thing these days. Anyway, certainly feel better for a quiet night on after a very busy week.

Tomorrow need to do some work for uni and for jobs too plus the usuals and the rugby of course, most of which I listened to today