In the words of Yazz...

Fudgefund

I'm back, safe and sound with no mishaps suffered on my travels.

Thanks for your post DFW, I think taking a book to my hairdressers is a really good idea. I'm in a hair free financial month this month so I'm going to research home dyes and see what I come up with. Not having to pay the £90 really does make me feel so much better off.

I had a lovely time in Chicago, my fear of flying was bad, particularly on the way back, but I kept quiet and got on with it. I ate an unholy amount of food, and very few vegetables. The Chicago pizza is amazing! I think I managed to have a Pop Tart for breakfast every morning - I really am terrible. I weighed myself a couple of days ago, and discovered I've gained 5 pounds! DB has gained absolutely nothing. :mad: As soon as I get back to work tomorrow (groan) I'll be back on the diet and hopefully it'll all melt off as quickly as it appeared. We managed to spend all of our $1100 while we were away, and I think I've made another big stride in getting DB to accept it's a lot easier and fairer to just pool our monies so that one person doesn't end up out of pocket. We got lots of things done, a romantic sunset boat trip to look at the skyline, a baseball game, a music festival and a few museums. My feet were killing me while we were there due to all the walking about, it was like working in a shop again. We managed to buy a small collection of rubbish for our nearest and dearest and get two pictures for a new love nest, all within budget. I have to say I didn't feel rich while I was there though, everything was very expensive and eating out was shocking by the time you'd factored in a tip. Obviously this means the Pop Tarts at home were positively saintly. :A

I got paid on the 13th this month, which was good because it means by the time I was back on the 18th I hadn't touched any of it. I've been at my Mum's this weekend and she has fed me, so all I have had a pay for is some alcohol as a token of my esteem, meaning a total £30 spend a week into my pay. :T I have paid off my Barclaycard to £700, which means since the holiday and the wedding I am £100 more in debt than I was, so I'm hoping to pay this off by the time I get paid next. I've got money in my change jar which is a start, and I have extra money in my bank account, so we shall see how I get on. I haven't got much planned this month which is good.

I've still got £340 of DB's money in my account keeping my interest down, and he has offered to let me sit on another £460 to reduce it even further. I'm a bit worried though - is there any chance Barclays could see this money sitting in my account and deduce that I don't need my overdraft anymore and take it away? DB will want the money back in November so I don't want to risk that. I really have no idea.

As of tomorrow I have three weeks until I get paid again, aiming for a tight £50 per week until then. Hm. :rotfl:

debtfreewannabe321

Holiday sounds fab FF so glad you had a great time! Bet you weren't too happy coming home to this miserable weather though :eek:! Great news about pay and if you can stick to your budget will the extra go to the debts?

Please do think about dying your own hair esp if you have an all over colour it's so easy to do! I've never had a hairdresser do mine unless I wanted highlights or lowlights! You can get some really good home colours now in all sorts of brands, one of which i'm sure will be your perfect match for probably £10 a month Good luck xx

beanielou

Glad you enjoyed your hollibobs.

Fudgefund

I think I must have been heavily jet lagged when I wrote my last post. Extra money in my bank account?! When I actually sat down and looked at my figures I realised I was in for another squeaker this month. I paid £350 to Barclaycard, but what I had forgotten was that I had already paid £375 over before from DB's money, which obviously had to be repaid (he gave me £400). So in effect, my repayment for this month is already a respectable £750! This swallowed my small back pay from work and has left me with a limited budget. A sticktoable budget, but there'll be no paying off an extra £100.

I've also had quite a pricey week, for someone who apparently had no plans. I went to a gig with DB on Wednesday where I spent £15 on getting in/food/drink, then Friday I went out with some friends for a catch up (birthday related)- another £18.50, and tonight I'm going to another gig which I've budgeted about £10 for. I've been really tight on my food spending but I've still spent about £65, when my budget was supposed to be £50. The good news is that I don't have any plans this week apart from the cinema on Wednesday, so I'm optimistic I could actually have a £50 week. I have £100 left for the next two weeks which should be fine, I'm going back on the 5:2 tomorrow, so no excess spending on goodies. The really good news is despite eating like a horse since coming back from Chicago I haven't gained any more weight. I can't believe my luck.

The SUPER good news is that I am finally moving house. As of the 15th, I will be moving back in with DB and I'm really excited. I will only have to pay £25 for the first two weeks I'm there too, which is much better than the £120 I had budgeted to pay my current housemates for a half month.

I have been finding a lot of change on the floor recently, and my change jar has exceeded the £20 mark, which I'm very pleased with. I also managed to book a hotel room for my Mum when she visits me next month for £19, and I was pleased that due to my superior financing skills I was able to pay with my debit card, which I wouldn't have done in the past. Paying with a credit card to Travelodge costs £2!

I am growing increasingly Christmassy, so if this causes you to groan my diary will be borderline insufferable within the next few weeks. I bought a white Chocolate Orange for a bargainous 99p today, and I'm on the scout for cheap train tickets home. First time I've used this smiley? :rudolf:

please-let-me-be-lucky

Don't know how I managed to miss your coming home party last week . I thought you had just got back when you posted on my diary yesterday :rotfl:.

Glad you had a good time in Chicago, 2 fingers and a big 'so what!' to holiday weight , and a massive happy new home Xx

Fudgefund

Thanks PLMBL I'm spending my last weekend at my house trying to sort things out, can't wait to go!

The holiday weight is coming off slowly, I've managed to say no to two Krispy Kreme doughnuts at work this week and generally be good, so I've lost two pounds and am back down to 15st3. I'm hoping if I keep going for the next two weeks with just cutting down on treats I'll get rid of the last three. I have been planning to go for a run but the weather keeps putting me off. Think I might go back to walking to work for a bit instead.

Moneywise this week I have been good, but largely propped up by DB so I can't take all the credit. I've discovered that a big pot of reduced fat hummus is cheaper than a smaller pot, and was delighted to walk into a Tesco at just the moment a man with a pricing gun had gone crazy and was marking down Finest Pizzas to 94p! Unfortunately they had mushrooms on them so I wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pole, but I insisted DB buy them for the freezer for when his friends are round. I've got roughly £60 to last me until the 15th, and I think this will be fine. This also includes me paying my overdraft interest without going over my overdraft limit which is always an achievement. I have £800 of DB's money in my bank account at the moment keeping my interest down so I shall be very interested (see what I did there) to see how much the interest is this month. I won't find out until the 15th though. My credit card bill is due Monday so I'll find out then how much interest is due there, I'm really hoping for less than £20, so we shall see, I find it impossible to predict.

I must confess that I have felt a bit down yesterday and today, I don't know why. DB was out with friends today and I just went home and got into bed. I've been in my bedroom since then hiding from the world. Hopefully I'll wake up feeling brighter tomorrow.

Fudgefund

Annnd, I'm back. I haven't updated in the past week or so because I have been very busy, but that doesn't mean I have taken my eye off the money saving ball.

The big news is, I've finally moved house! :jIn the event, the whole thing was much cheaper than I'd envisaged. DB's housemates let me pay £25 towards the household for the two weeks I'm here, so I bought them a bottle of spirits as a thank you (my stuff is everywhere). I had planned to take DB's parents for a meal to thank them for helping me move (I couldn't have done it without them, they were brilliant) but they insisted on paying so I only bought one round of drinks in the event (£17). I'm now ensconced in a nice warm, non-damp flat, with all the television I could possibly want, it's lovely.

I got paid yesterday, the interest on my Barclaycard was a somewhat baffling £10.71 this month (I'm not complaining!) but the estimated interest is over £20 next month. I'm sure they make it up as they go along. I've paid off another £400 to take me down to £300. This is seriously exciting, as it means that all being well, I shall be credit card free for the first time in over 10 years next month! My rent costs are about to shoot up due to my move, so I'm going to need to recalculate long term how much I can pay back. It's so worth it to actually want to go home in the evenings though.

DB and I are collecting the Morrisons vouchers for Christmas, where you spend £40 for 9 out of 10 weeks and you get a £40 at the end of it. This is amusing me already, I'm trying to use the extra spend to stockpile things for Christmas to take to other people's houses, and I'm planning it like a military operation. I'm also planning to really stock up on meat and things like canned tuna - it's going to look like a nuclear fallout bunker by the time I've finished with my kitchen. :rotfl:I'm hoping to have loads of things in with the free £40 to make January a really cheap month. DB is looking on with bemusement.

I've budgeted for the month, I've got roughly £50 per week again which again is going to be tight. I've also got my Mum coming up to see me next week, it will be an expensive affair so I've put aside an extra £50 for that. I've just applied for a new job, which I almost certainly won't get, but a girl can dream.

I also meant to say, it's been a year since I started this diary. It really makes me realise how far I've come and how no situation is hopeless.

*Robin*

Hello Fudgie, :hello:

Lots has happened since the last time I 'visited' you; wow, the best news is of course:

Congratulations on your new home! :j :T

..And yes, haven't you made some great changes to your life in this last year; well done! :T :j :T

(You'll be debt-free long before me, lol :cool:).

Fudgefund

Thanks Robin. I am feeling really positive this week, I don't know what has come over me.

I've had a so-so money week, it's been lovely making my sandwiches in my kitchen and not trying to avoid my weird housemate. This has saved me a lot of money because I haven't been diving out of my house in the mornings. I bought my lunch on Friday because I ran out of bread, but £3 as a one off is not the end of the world.

On Thursday, my favourite person in the world, Morrissey, unleashed his autobiography on the world. Obviously like the saddo I am I rushed to Waterstones to buy my copy, which set me back £8.99 I hadn't budgeted for. Then my left headphone stopped working which was excessively annoying, and I had to buy some new ones which was another £10. All this means my budget has a £20 hole in it, so let's hope my Mum isn't planning on dining at the Radisson on Wednesday. :rotfl:

I have all the food I need for the week so apart from my unbudgetable Wednesday I'm hoping for a few NSDs. I'm going to leave my purse at home when I'm going to work to try and keep me off the chocolate. I really need to lose a bit of weight before I gain it all back at Christmas.

*Robin*

Hi Fudgie, :hello:

Wow. Caught a post of yours while it's still 'fresh' - for some inexplicable reason this has put a on m' fizzog.

Fudgefund wrote: »

Thanks Robin. I am feeling really positive this week, I don't know what has come over me.

Fibber (good about the positivity anyway ).

Fudgefund wrote: »

I've had a so-so money week, it's been lovely making my sandwiches in my kitchen and not trying to avoid my weird housemate. This has saved me a lot of money because I haven't been diving out of my house in the mornings. I bought my lunch on Friday because I ran out of bread, but £3 as a one off is not the end of the world.

Your pleasure in your new home shines out loud and clear! [:D again].

Fudgefund wrote: »

On Thursday, my favourite person in the world, Morrissey, unleashed his autobiography on the world. Obviously like the saddo I am I rushed to Waterstones to buy my copy, which set me back £8.99 I hadn't budgeted for. Then my left headphone stopped working which was excessively annoying, and I had to buy some new ones which was another £10. All this means my budget has a £20 hole in it, so let's hope my Mum isn't planning on dining at the Radisson on Wednesday. :rotfl:

Tbh £8.99 is a pretty good price for a newly released book, not to mention it's very MSE for a treat - hope you enjoy reading it. :cool2:

:think: Why not cook a meal for Mum at home?

Fudgefund wrote: »

I have all the food I need for the week so apart from my unbudgetable Wednesday I'm hoping for a few NSDs. I'm going to leave my purse at home when I'm going to work to try and keep me off the chocolate. I really need to lose a bit of weight before I gain it all back at Christmas.

Hmm; weight, excess of. Same problem here yo-yoing all over the place. Managed to walk past the choccy yesterday - bought a pack of dried apricots instead..

Hope you have a good week and enjoy your Mum's visit.