Diary of a spendy cow

mooomin

girlatplay wrote: »

Three words: Global. Test. Market.

Do you have a referral link/general link you can send me for that?

girlatplay

mooomin wrote: »

Do you have a referral link/general link you can send me for that?

I will have a wee look and get back to you shortly. Just to make you aware though, when I said that yesterday I meant that, like you with Nec, sometimes I lose the will and end a survey half way through. I do get loads of survey opportunities though and the rewards are quite good if you can bear the boredom :cool:

mooomin

I shouldn't have complained about the surveys - I earned 100 points this morning quite quickly

mooomin

Morning all

Hope you're all well and that the MSE life is ticking along nicely for you all

Things here in Mooo Towers are going ok I suppose. Adjusting to my new smaller salary is tricky and there have been some learning points along the way. I'm trying to budget better, and that's been difficult, but the YNAB software has been very helpful, and I'm logging every spend with it now whereas I have never been good at spending diaries in the past. Having a mobile app that links to my budget is really useful.

The Nectar balance is up over £42 now, so my new goal is to get up to £50 by Christmas.

This week my main spend has been a new washing machine. £209 including delivery, fitting of the new one and removal of the old. Can't really complain about that - especially as it was £340 before the sales :money: Next month's plan is to build up my emergency fund again...

mooomin

Plan for this week:

• Meal plan for the rest of the week
• Write a comprehensive shopping list and use only the last of what's left in the grocery budget for stocking up
• Continue decluttering
• Clean the fridge
• Earn at least 75 Nectar points
• Complete budgeting for September as wages arrive on Thursday
• Withdraw funds from Paypal

mooomin

mooomin wrote: »

Plan for this week:

• [STRIKE]Meal plan for the rest of the week[/STRIKE]
• Write a comprehensive shopping list and use only the last of what's left in the grocery budget for stocking up
• Continue decluttering
• Clean the fridge
• [STRIKE]Earn at least 75 Nectar points[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Complete budgeting for September as wages arrive on Thursday[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Withdraw funds from Paypal[/STRIKE]

84 Nectar points earned so far (That does include last weeks Adpoints though!)

Meal plan:

Today: Chicken and potato hash
Thursday: Tortellini and sauce
Friday: Freezer surprise (It'll be either spaghetti sauce or chilli, they're the same colour!)
Saturday: Spanish omelette
Sunday: Roast chicken

I've started my shopping list, but won't be at the shops until Saturday or Sunday. I have a couple of things to get tonight but nothing too exciting.

mooomin

MSE grocery shopping is go!

Peppers @ 89p. Should get 20p cashback from an app, actual cost 69p.

Bought bread and a set of toothbrushes at Tesco for £2.49 in total. Used a 99p pricematch voucher and a voucher for a free loaf of bread (only up to £1.40 sadly!), actual cost 10p :j In addition, I should get £1 cashback on the toothbrushes and 30p on the loaf from another app, so I'll be in profit by £1.20 :rotfl:

Edit: Superdrug have their hair colours on BOGOF, so I bought six boxes That works out at £2.75 per box instead of £5.49. I won't have to buy any more until 2015 now

mooomin

Payday :j

It doesn't make a huge amount of difference really, just adds money to my existing budget pots. The ones that matter are:

Spending Money: £162.22 (Vast increase on last month's budget, mainly due to selling stuff, TCB income and whatnot)
Food: £199.87 (Leftover from this month plus budget of £175 for September)
Entertainment: £97.15 (Most of my entertainment costs last month came from my Fringe budget!)

I have a hen night and the subsequent wedding by the end of September, so the last budget will likely take a hit. I've decided to up my food budget a little, to try and buy slightly nicer food. I'll still be shopping for YS items, but I like having nice fruit and veg and lunchtime sandwiches are more pleasant when the ham I buy isn't cheap

I'm going to have to take my car to the hospital sometime soon as it sounds like one of the wheel bearings is loose. Hopefully that'll be all it is and it'll be a cheap/quick fix...

girlatplay

mooomin wrote: »

I've decided to up my food budget a little, to try and buy slightly nicer food. I'll still be shopping for YS items, but I like having nice fruit and veg and lunchtime sandwiches are more pleasant when the ham I buy isn't cheap

I understand. I did this too. Also, I cleaned out the fridge (have you done it yet?) and that seemed to make a difference too. I like putting nicer food in my lovely clean fridge

mooomin

I haven't cleaned the fridge out yet.

I have a really helpful delivery window of 7am to 7pm on Saturday for my new washing machine, so I have a lot of time to get caught up on housework then I'll get the fridge/kitchen cleaned and tidied and then do my shopping on Sunday.