In the words of Yazz...

please-let-me-be-lucky

Glad you had a successful trip away. Well done for resisting the wine but :eek: to only having one lunch and one dinner in! Make sure you spend some of your £31 on some cheap food like pasta, tinned tomatoes, baked beans and a loaf of bread BEFORE you go out on Friday. Once it's spent it can't be spent again! Xx

Fudgefund

I think this some very sage advice PLMBL, I shall take it. I do have spread, marmite and lemon curd in abundance though, so things are not as bad as they may seem. :rotfl:

Fudgefund

Update time in the £31 until payday challenge - could be better, could be worse.

I did not go out on Friday night, sensibly reasoning that it would cost me £5 just to walk across a threshold, which is completely crazy when you're as poor as I am. DB bought me dinner was very good of him, and even cooked it, which was even better. However, things took a turn for the disastrous on a very sunny Saturday afternoon when I went to the pub with friends and spent £17 on drinking (although I hasten to add I only had three pints of cider, this is what the damage was in rounds ) So after spending about £7 on essentials such as bread/apples/yogurt etc, I am now left with about £8 until I get paid on Saturday. I think I have enough food to see me through so it should be doable, It's just not pleasant flying this close to the financial wind and makes me realise I need to be allocating myself a bit of money to ease times like this.

I did manage a NSD today, and I just need to make it through the next four days on my very little monies. Will probably end up paying roughly £4 for snacks for the cinema on Wednesday (DB will buy tickets) which will leave me with £4 for Friday night. It's going to be wild!

I'm looking forward to finding out how much I'm going to be paid as I think I may be getting a small payrise. Tragically, the majority of this will be offset by my bus ticket, but anything would be a positive. Struggling a bit in the happiness stakes the past couple of weeks for no good reason, and struggling to concentrate at work too, things just seem to keep going wrong in my hands. I'm going to walk to work tomorrow, in the hope it'll blow a few cobwebs out. I was going to this morning but slept terribly last night. Not helping!

*Robin*

Hello Fudgie, :hello:

Nil desperandum Dear Friend, you're doing such a good job of living frugally, except for the :beer: cider blip - which is understandable; a girl needs to have some fun.

Still, when said fun swallows almost half your cash fund it must be a bit alarming.. Just hope you're right when you tell us you've got enough food in to last until pay day.

Wish the Boxes could send parcels, not just words..

Yay to a pay rise, but boo to higher bus fares - shame the UK doesn't use the continental system where you buy so many trips, rather than a timed season ticket. Saves money on days when you choose to walk. :cool:

Fudgefund

Ha, thanks Robin, I'm trying my best. I agree with you about the public transport, it would be much handier to be able to buy blocks of journeys, but such is life. I'm enjoying having a monthly bus pass because it means I no longer have to factor travel into my weekly money.

I am very nearly at payday, I just have to make it through tomorrow and I'm there. I managed a NSD yesterday, and LSD today (a tin of baked beans, beloved by money savers the world over) and I have roughly £3.50 left. I know DB has spaghetti bolognese for me tomorrow and I have food for work, so I think I've made it! Phew. I've obviously budgeted for next month already and things are equally bleak, but onwards and upwards. I know I've wasted an awful lot of money on nothing this month so I'm going to keep a spending diary again to bolt down my pennies. The rot has got to stop.

Frugal Febuary I did well with my weekly spending, neatly depositing monies left over into a jar. Miserly March was just disastrous. Austere April is going to be a return to form.

The FF+DB weekly weigh in started today, it was all bizarrely cloak and dagger in the event. DB toddled off to the bathroom and weighed himself, announced he is 12st10lb, I then toddled off and he said I didn't need to tell him, I could just write it down on the notice board in his room. I bet he was in there like a shot this evening. :rotfl:It'll be mentioned next Thursday morning so perhaps it's a pleasantly gentle introduction to my heft. I managed to keep to eating healthily today, so that is good. :T 15st6lb I've come out at, which is 6 pounds heavier since Christmas. I'm just going to concentrate on losing 2lbs a week and not be stupid about it.

beanielou

2 lbs a week is doable.

please-let-me-be-lucky

Well done for making it to pay day and I agree, 2lbs a week is achievable. Good luck Xx

Fudgefund

Thanks for the vote of confidence kids. I haven't bought a single (or multipack!) bar of chocolate since Wednesday, so I forecast Cadbury's share prices will be plummeting by this time next week. Perhaps they'll start sending me 'We miss you' emails like Monsoon did. :rotfl:

The reeeeeeeally good news though, is that it is finally payday. Obviously this still means I have no money but i'm currently basking in the glow of another chunk of debt being paid off. I'm giving myself a pat on the back this financial month too, because I didn't go over my overdraft limit with bank charges/interest which was extremely tempting, and I didn't incur any new charges outside of interest for payments honoured when I didn't have the money. This is progress.

My Barclaycard is now down to £1100 so I can update my signature, paid off £637, which with my hair this month is going to mean another challenge, but I can do it. I'm going to keep a spending diary of every penny spent this month in the hope it makes my £50 a week go further. Considering I live by myself for food purposes, my travel is already paid for £50 shouldn't be too much trouble. We shall see!

Just paid £41.50 for a train ticket home in June, but this was unavoidable as I'm going to be a God-Mother and the longer I left it the more expensive the tickets would get. Got a few gifts and bits to get this month but I shall muddle through. Two more paydays until I'm credit card free. Seems worth all the worry when I think of it like that.

*Robin*

Hooray, Fudgie you made it to pay day! :j :j
(Knew you would ).

Please can I join in with your weight-loss challenge? Despite having contributed to the possible failure of the chocolate industry recently - not bought any since stocking up on Easter goodies for the kids - my weight seems to be ballooning out of control.

2lb a week - nearly a kilo? Wow. Don't know if I can do that, but am up for having a go.

*Robin*

Hi Fudgie, :hello:

Are you ok?

Thinking of you, sending positive vibes (and waiting to hear how you're doing in the weight loss department - suspect [and hope] you're doing better than I am! ).