Balancing not just the budget

RosaBernicia

kerri_gt wrote: »

It sounds like the lunch was worth it Rosa - it's nice to be in a position where sometimes we can put the deb busting on the back burner temporarily for a one off like that. In a way its like a reward for all the hard work debt busting.

Yes, absolutely. I am lucky to be in a reasonably well paid job so although I need to work on clearing the debts, I have flexibility in doing so. Plus I will need to stay over for college in the town she's moving to so will all work out even in the end

It's also a really good feeling to know that there aren't going to be any terrible dramas with nasty surprises. The budget pots have helped a lot with that, but also just getting the totals down so that minimums are smaller if I ever do need to take a break.

Snowballing in the right direction

Rosa xx

RosaBernicia

Just an update to keep on track

The budget is roughly where it should be for this point in the month, and I suddenly realised there are only 10 days left, so am hoping I'll be able to find an extra £50 spare to pay towards the Last Card. I had a record spend in Ald1 :rotfl: as found they had just about exactly the bedspreads I had been looking for, and at £7.99 instead of the £40 on sale I had virtuously ignored in another store next door! Oh, and I found the goat's cheese - what's more, I found manchego!!

Sold one thing on Ebay this weekend and glad of the extra money but a bit disappointed as it went for a full £10 less than the sale when the buyer didn't pay :mad: . Actually had a social life this weekend :eek::jwith both drinks and a meal with friends on Friday night, and a trip into the city for an exhibition on Sunday. Sunday only cost me for lunch as I remembered I'd already bought a multi coach pass when I thought I'd need it for college, so most of the travel was kinda free :T Already have money in the budget for this weekend's plans of cinema and a day out.

Still no news on college fees except that I did decide to delay a module til next year. Basically if it's the low cost then I'm hoping to be DF by the end of June and if high, by the end of the year. I'm not intending to really crank things as I want to feel I have some flexibility and to continue having a social life .

I've noticed that some of the budget pots are building up quite fast (touch wood) so hopefully I will be able to decide when to consider them 'filled'. For example, at present the vet bills one is up to £100 - as the cats are on a regular payment plan for their vaccs and checkups and insured for anything else anyway, I think I might keep this going up to £200 so that it would more than cover any excess payments, and then leave it there unless/ until it needs topping up again. Thoughts welcome...

My to-do list hasn't been getting done very fast as I've wanted to do nothing but curl up and read in the evenings - loving having time again to spend with the Kindle and the cats (plus haven't been feeling great after an unintentional gluten episode last week, but my energy is recovering now).


Rosa xx

vasseur

Boo to the gluten episode (did the same myself last week ) but :T to the ever-filling pots and the continuing social life.

RosaBernicia

vasseur wrote: »

Boo to the gluten episode (did the same myself last week ) but :T to the ever-filling pots and the continuing social life.

Annoying isn't it? But on the other hand I am soooooo glad I know what the problem is now. I can't imagine how I managed when I felt that rotten all the time!

RosaBernicia

Confession to make - went to Sainsbugs and 'accidentally' came home with two rather pretty storage drawers at a total of £35. Thought I'd try them out as could always return them if they weren't what I wanted, but am quite pleased with the result as it means lots of little stuff has been cleared away. I still have a spare £50 in the budget and will probably come in under on a few other things this month, so happy with that - combined with the new Ald1 bedspreads it means my room gets a bit of a facelift for under £50 and for the first time in 3 years.

Besides which I had a look at TopCa5hback - fortunately just before I paid for my contents insurance. I had already picked which company I wanted as they were so good when I had to claim for the car (it's the pink ladies one)... and TCB do £36 cashback for them! So hopefully that will come through and cover the costs anyway :rotfl:. Thanks very much for the tip Vasseur, I was very fed up with Q-co but had assumed the rest weren't much better and wouldn't have bothered without the recommendation :A.

Otherwise all in budget, the only other stuff I got in the supermarket was a few bits and I bought 4 boxes of my favourite gf cereal because it was on offer - 2 for £4 instead of £3.25 each. It's stacked up on the worktop as nowhere else to put it in this flat! :rotfl:Remembered to put in my expenses claim for the last couple of weeks and that also brings in a few quid extra as the mileage more than covers the petrol.

So still pushing that snowball, it's beginning to roll downhill a bit now


Rosa xx

vasseur

Confession to make - went to Sainsbugs and 'accidentally' came home with two rather pretty storage drawers at a total of £35. Thought I'd try them out as could always return them if they weren't what I wanted, but am quite pleased with the result as it means lots of little stuff has been cleared away. I still have a spare £50 in the budget and will probably come in under on a few other things this month, so happy with that - combined with the new Ald1 bedspreads it means my room gets a bit of a facelift for under £50 and for the first time in 3 years.

This is why I have to avoid Sainsbugs. Ours is massive and has a beautiful home section and it's just all so tempting! However, you are on track and it's nice to come home to a neat a tidy home so I think it's justified

Besides which I had a look at TopCa5hback - fortunately just before I paid for my contents insurance. I had already picked which company I wanted as they were so good when I had to claim for the car (it's the pink ladies one)... and TCB do £36 cashback for them! So hopefully that will come through and cover the costs anyway :rotfl:. Thanks very much for the tip Vasseur, I was very fed up with Q-co but had assumed the rest weren't much better and wouldn't have bothered without the recommendation :A.

You're welcome Another tip - the Mirr0r has a voucher today for £5 off a £40 A1di shop

So still pushing that snowball, it's beginning to roll downhill a bit now

Great stuff :T

RosaBernicia

I think buying the bedspreads is the only time I've managed to spend £40 in Aldi :rotfl:

Extra £25 showed up in my paycheque as the last few days of on call money, I'd forgotten all about it so think that can be considered as paying for most of the new furniture .

Raided W/rose today to stock up on frozen things and other bits I can't get elsewhere. Now have a fully restocked house and still about £15 in the food budget. I keep getting a little worried about it and then realising now I am back to cooking lunches to take to work it's fine, I have more stuff than I can possibly need to feed me to the end of the month!


Rosa xx

RosaBernicia

£2,500 and falling :j

It could have been [STRIKE]more[/STRIKE] less but I'm still waiting to find out about college fees, so I've kept back £200 towards that. If I haven't been asked for fees by the end of this month I'll pay it to the Last Card and put college fees on the credit card to be repaid from the next paycheque (so interest free anyway).

Small spend in Wilko's today for household bits, otherwise NSD.

And it's the weeeeekenddd :T and I have a tankful of petrol and plans for a trip out and a movie. And still a bit spare in the budget :cool:


Rosa xx

kerri_gt

I use top cashback rosa they tend to pay a teeny bit more than quidco too, although I always check both.

I keep looking at home items too, must be the time of hear. Got s picture frame in Wilko in the week but was damaged when I took the wrap off so went back.

RosaBernicia

Just checking in to keep myself on the home straight

The spare in the budget has been reduced a bit after my Saturday wander - used a bit more petrol than I thought so topped that up by a tenner, and also bought a power pack for topping up the phone. The phone drained completely after using it as satnav and forgetting to switch off the location updates when I got there, and I don't like to be without a working one in the car in case of emergencies, so have charged the pack and will keep it in the glove box. I figured it was a better bargain than an in-car charger as I can also use it on long train journeys etc

I gave in to temptation with more home stuff and got my annual post Christmas bargain from Sainsbugs - an Oxo slicer thing which will hopefully encourage me to make salads as it means I will be able to make julienned carrots etc. £36 online, £40 originally in store and down to £12 minus my Nect3r voucher so £9.50 - 1/4 the original cost so not bad

No cost for yesterday except the petrol, as I already had membership to get in and didn't buy any food out. Today was just soup when meeting up with my friend and the cinema ticket was on points :T

I've listed another set of stuff on Ebay including some perfume that I found in the week - hardly used so thought worth a try - listed at 99p and oddly it's got bids already, faster than anything else I've ever listed!

Did get more cash today as working at a new site tomorrow and not sure what I'll need, but am hoping I won't need to use it this week and could just reduce February's cash budget when we get there. Oh, and I bought a DVD - £4.75 on Amaz0n and would have been £2 from the library anyway so I don't think that's total extravagance :rotfl:

(mind you, have been here so long I'm not sure I'd know extravagance if it introduced itself and smacked me with a wet fish!)


Rosa xx