OliveOyl's NS June

OliveOyl_2

I plucked up courage and wrote this e-mail:

Good morning Trollop, Are you feeling better.?

The good news is that Sir won’t need his car until this evening, so you don’t have to pick me up from work. The bad news is that it’s still me that’s drinking tonight, because he’ll be taking the car tonight. Can you get your man to write that cheq for £30 or has he mislaid his cheque writing pen again?

Then I erased the last sentence and sent it

OliveOyl_2

Not sure if I have fallen off the NS, I'm trying to argue that it was an accidental overspend on a mystery shop.

The place was fabulous, the food out of this world, it was def. a top end assignment. But my "spend" was allowed at £27.50 (previously highest limit, another chain was £20) but we spent (oh I'm embarrassed) £39.15 So after my £5 fee I still will be £6.65 down.



oh for goodness sake, we had a great time.



but I'm still upset that I overspent.




why oh why did I have the duck? (I didn't have a starter or pudding.....)






regrets, I have a few..... it DID taste nice.

but there again..... I'm supposed to be on a NO SPEND month

(leave me alone while I carry on beating myself up, can't even manage a simple challenge)

oliveoyl

it's hardly a simple challenge, going from spending what you want to spending nothing. i wouldn't be able to do it unless i a) had no money available at all or b) was a castaway on a desert island (in which case i don't think i'd be too concerned about the lack of.readies).

perhaps you'd be better setting yourself an allowance for the week or something. no spending for even a week, let alone a month would be a tall order, one which most people would fail, so why not do something more realistic and that way it would be a proper goal, rather than one you're destined to fail.

so you not only didn't get your £30 back from your friend, you spent your fee and a further few quid on dinner for you both :rotfl: take me next time

wannasavemoney

OliveOyl wrote: »

Today is finally a NS day in my goal for June.:j
Nothing spent. Not even 1p, not even a cup of coffee at my evening class. I came home parched.

OH spent £2.70 on his lunch. I have suggested packed lunches, but if he eats at his desk he doesn't get a break, so I've had to relent.

Have also taken on board Hypnos idea for cleaning a room a day for a while. I don't even have the excuse of children underfoot for my mess. And I should have a Head start as yesterday OH cleared the utulity room, so today? ... Zippo. I see a pattern here, I rise to a challenge and don't start it on Day 1 but Day 3. I think my NS July might start on 28th June so I can get a run at it.

Tell him to take his packed lunch to the park:rotfl: (sorry couldnt resist).

OliveOyl_2

Morning Olive,

I think my NS challenge to me should have been achievable, but I imagine it looks as though it came out of the blue?
The reason for this challenge is that I realised that what we were doing was doing all our buying on credit card with the intention of paying it back the next month (I didn't even think to use a cash back card, that's how well thought out it was!). The result should have been that we were paying for last months spending every month, but because that spending was "not real money" it crept up and up, sometimes needing to be carried forward/rolled over/BT'd and onwards and upwards. I needed to get our spending under control, and we were certainly spending a lot less, but still we were doing it on CC, and if [STRIKE]you[/STRIKE] i go into a supermarket to shop with a credit card then nothing stops itself from leaping into the trolley. There's no brake that says "not this month, you have spent enough already"

So I thought if I'd stop doing it for one month, then for this month I will be paying last months shopping AND this months shopping out of this months money. I will get to the end, but last nights bill is coming out of next months money and that for me is BAD :mad:

So for yesterday, I bunged £30 on a credit card (the first c/c spend in June!)
but otherwise OH is on an expenses beano (he doesn't call it that) and I have no opportunity to spend today.

OliveOyl_2

Wannasavemoney, softly softly catchee monkey I'd say. I've not asked him to, but it has been a very obvious solution. Esp when I've offered to make them anytime he'd rather have homemade......and yesterday that's what he asked me to do. :cool:
But it won't happen until the week after next as he's away on business eating at restaurants (poor thing, on expenses too), and we're at my parents next week.
Thanks for the suggestion though.

OliveOyl_2

Well managed a NS day,

Heard from the shoe company that only one pair of the shoes I ordered was available (and received) so June 1st spend reduced by £39.99. Saw my friend this evening and the debt was for €30 so they paid £20....... Every little helps, but we've made a loss on the exchange rate somehow......

I've decided to exclude the stuff that's reclaimable, as I don't count it as income when it turns up anyway. So not his expenses stuff, and only overspends when mystery shopping.
So my totals for the week now look like this:
1st £39.99
2nd £72.17
3rd £ 1.40
4th £2.70
5th £2.00
6th £0.00
7th £20.00
8th £0.00
Grand total for week 1 = £138.28

Extra income, not yet received:
piggyback £5.70
Mystery shopping £34.00 (excludung expenses)
brainjuice £2.75

Hoping to improve my performance next week. Except that we're staying with my parents, and there will be shopping trips. I'll just pretend that I don't want anything, I certainly don't need anything.:D

OliveOyl_2

Saturday 9th 60p on a newspaper
£1 on a toll

Sunday 10th £1.40 newspaper

Good so far......

Monday 11th
took parents out to lunch £32.50

oops

newleaf

Sorry to hijack, but oliveoyl's signature tip re the HM pot noodle just made me wet myself

OliveOyl_2

I'm not surprised, it's had me laughing ever since I read it.
And I keep quoting it to various foodie friends but am too embarrassed to say where I heard it....