Nagme's Diary - getting it under control in 2013

Nagme

Quite a productive day today, although not a NSD - organised my shift problems with work, had the predicted argument with DS about clothes shopping, went clothes shopping - tried the new Primark (spent £9) then went to Asda (£24). Not too bad, the only unnecessaries were a £1 bag of marshmallows placed strategically at the till point, a £2 pack of socks (guitars and skulls, very cool) and £8 for a Cars storage box to replace the cardboard box his action men live in (I'm sure they don't mind but I do)

Got a 15 month 0% balance transfer card with quite a low fee via MBNA for sorting the Capital One card out faster, currently over £40 interest a month.

It was such a lovely day today - did some gardening for an hour and it felt really good to be outside, it's very satisfying to fill our green wheelie bin, although I think that's the last time I climb so high in our ancient lilac tree!

And then I discovered that DS is Mad for Iron Maiden music - eh?! Being a Depeche Mode fan I can't quite come to terms with that, I shall blame DH and Planet Rock.

Nagme

Had a quiet weekend with not a lot going on - just essentials. living off storecupboard food and frozen batch meals until Friday, then Tesco's will deliver, budget is £50 for the week. Made a birthday card yesterday for my uncle's 70th this weekend and a robot with DS from our arts and crafts stash - sheer bliss for him! Unfortunately the birthday lunch is 3hr's drive away, so a lot of fuel .

Offset account is better than it was on 8th January according to my spreadsheet, so sent £100 to Amex.

I feel like I should be able to see huge improvements from living frugally but I don't see any difference yet!

Nagme

Well, I'm pleased to confirm that the Tesco own brand stock pots have safety glass in the lids - this was discovered yesterday when DS launched ours across the kitchen courtesy of slippery wet floor and batman slippers. Oh the joys of tiled kitchen floors.
I use ours so much for batch cooking and making laundry gloop, so I went back and bought another, but this time the smaller one for £12. I also spent £15 in Claire's on a pair of earrings to repierce my ears (one had half closed) The last studs I bought were about £2 but I think that was about 1986. Finished off in Boots, I just bought 3 for 2 multivitamins, half price body lotion, and shampoo for DS. No extras this time, however I did buy 2 cars in Tesco for DS to go in the present stash box - some Monster Jam trucks that he is completely obsessed with. Oh and I also ordered a book online for DS; we did have a copy previously and he gave it to the charity shop last week, then spent the last two nights in tears wishing he could have it back! (I know, I'm a softie)

Spent 15 minutes on hold with HMRC trying to get off the basic tax rate. Gave up in the end. Very frustrating.
Got tax renewal for DH's MPV - only £135 for the year That car is good!
Told window cleaners we'd miss a go this time round, saving £12, and spent £35 on haircut; I've grown it long again so it only needs an occasional trim. I reckon i'll leave it till the summer for my next visit. I'm working tomorrow, so free lunch, free Mochas, and no shopping.

I think I may have made a minor improvement with the compulsive shopping.

Nagme

Well, I've not been posting much this last week, back at work and school - the days have flown. However, I transferred most of the Cap1 balance to a new 0% card. This means I can concentrate on paying the balance of Capital One first, then make a start on Barclaycard, as the 0% deal on that ends this summer.

We've had a spate of burglaries in our town over the last few months, so we bought two PIR lights for the house, and then we had to turn off the back garden one as the steam from the boiler flue keeps triggering the light. I predict much thoughtful chin scratching this weekend. Unfortunately the cat's trip to the vet yesterday cost £61, and DH has just had to buy some glasses - £120 :eek: told him it would cost more than that as I will have to start wearing makeup now :rotfl:

When I'm at home, despite keeping busy, I often get very low. Which is a shame, as I do enjoy being at home. I think I just need to accept there is nothing I can do about that.

please-let-me-be-lucky

:mad: to unexpected expenses but :j to 0%!

Sorry to hear you are still feeling low while at home, especially as you are keeping busy. Can you set up some kind of coffee morning circle or something with your friends so you can all take turns going to each others houses? It means you get out for pretty much free and talking to others may lift your mood Xx

Nagme

Thanks PLMBL

I don't actively suggest coffee mornings, perhaps that's something I could look at doing. I guess it's getting the confidence together.

Nagme

Well it's just me and the cat at home today, so I've turned the heating from constant back to automatic so it doesn't come on till the end of the schoolday. I'm wearing my biggest jumper that my sister gave me, and some snuggly slipperboots that a friend gave me. I did have grand ideas of clearing the path outside our house but I think my back would not thank me for it, so I found the camera and took photos of the gorgeous Fieldfares in the garden eating berries instead. DH worked from home yesterday and looked after DS as the school was shut as I was working, but that also saved us £10 diesel for his commute.

DFW To do list for today/tomorrow;
Renew car insurance, renewal with existing would be £362.47
List at least one item on ebay
Find photo of friend to use for making a hm birthday card for him.
Start garden planner
Find receipt to return PIR light for front of house - can't replace the existing one as the backplate is stuck in place behind the wisteria!

Nagme

Did an extra shift today, at work plus got a free lunch Checked charity shops on way home for new pair of work trousers (we have 3 in our town) but no luck this time. I think our tumble dryer shrinks jeans!

Signed DH up to Liftshare to see if we can reduce his commute costs, and got him to download the foursquare app as there's a deal at the moment that gets you £15 a £50 spend at fuel with it. I'll download it too, so that will make us £30 just for buying fuel.

Car insurance renewed for DH - £275, not bad for someone who drives 29k miles a year :j - must remember to claim the 2000 nectar points.
Listed DS's snowboots on ebay (good timing, I thought)

To Do:
See if I can set up direct debits to the credit cards
find photo to make birthday card
find receipt for light
investigate whether it will be possible to claim money sitting in an old Paypal account.

quite a good day!

Nagme

What a crashed week I've had. However, my head is now back above water and I don't feel so low today.

Snowboots went for the BIN price, posted them today
Made one of DH's faves for tea and stretched it into 2 meals - chicken tarragon dauphinoise minus the gruyere cheese . As I have no room in the freezer we'll eat the second one tomorrow.
Remembered I have a sim card with £15 credit on it, must use it once a month to keep it active until I leave Vodafone.
Found receipt for light to be returned this weekend, and a large can of de-icer I'd forgotten about. Handy!

To Do:
Set up DD's - I'll do that tomorrow as I'm doing the banking
Find photo of friend to make card (I'll get fed up of writing that)
Paypal....
Research apple tree to buy; apparently buying a whip is cheaper. Ooh which one, could I find a braeburn?

Paydays tomorrow, looking forward to reducing those debt figures :cool:

Nagme

Got through to HMRC (another 15 minutes on hold) , new code and tax refund should be next month :j
Made payments to the cards, balance is down, just need to keep it there. Feels good!
Avoided shopping for new work trousers, old ones have a hole in! Instead, I am using some trousers I already have but haven't worn much, but they fit just fine now!
Made a new batch of laundry gloop today and added some geranium oil - the household should be nice and calm this month - also started my research on the apple tree.
Got £10 evoucher from the supermarket that used a muppet to do my online shopping. It was so bad it was actually funny.
We had a NSD today and a very low spend day yesterday, which is brilliant as we can really lead each other astray at the weekend sometimes!

To Do:
Card.
Sort out minor problem of the new ink cartridge which our printer has rejected, I'm sure the retailer will replace but DH did a strange thing and tidied up the paperwork today and shredded the delivery note. He said he'll never tidy the house again. I believe him.