Just Say NOvember 2013!!!

PiggyBankShaker

Quick update as OH did some shopping, so adding £21.11 to the grocery budget. He also spent £6.60 on flowers for me and my Mam.

Also updating the extra income as I accepted 3 more mystery shops today which will bring in and extra £26. And £16 cashback earned last month has become payable.

Petrol £24.43/£67.50
Groceries £96.92/£200
'Outings' 0/£30
Food Bank 0/£3

--

Lunches 9/21
SFD 10/25
Declutter 3/20
Make extra £116.37/£80 :beer:
Not using GCH 3/0

Liliyanna

Advance Warning - This is going to be a long one, feel free to skim....

Downshift Challenge - I've completed the shopping which came in at £41. I'm very impressed with how much I've bought, it will comfortably last till the end of the month. I have spent the last 7 hours batch cooking all our meals for the remainder of the month and all packets are in the bin. OH has no idea and to be fair you can't tell the difference with the food I've cooked (6 servings Lasagne, 4 x Jalfrezi, 10 x Chilli, 16 x Rice.) we already have a few Chicken stew left over in the freezer from the last two weeks so there's lots of variety. I've also noticed an unexpected side effect of batch cooking....very little washing up for the next two weeks:D

Speaking of the psychology of shopping (my last post) I noticed today I felt a bit awkward about buying so much value range goods, I felt as if I was announcing to the supermarket I was poor . The good thing about Mr Cohen's place is the scan and shop, I scanned everything and packed it into my bags straight away and put branded produce (fresh coriander) on top. I did have a bit of a word with myself half way round but I couldn't be persuaded to brazen it out :rotfl:

I split my shop between Mr Cohen's place and Aldee. I'm a bit upset with Aldee, I used mysupermarket to compare all the prices so thought I was getting the best value from Aldee but their 300g mushrooms are dearer than advertised and the mince which is advertised as 1kg for £2.69 is actually 750g. I know it's not going to break the bank but I was still fairly miffed :mad:

Regarding the spreadsheet stalking, I'm probably the biggest offender....my spreadsheet is up to 14 pages and encompasses every possible thing you can spend money on. It totally takes the spontaneity out of life but I feel I have such a good grip on our finances it's worth it, I am determined we will be debt free by Jan 2015 and this is what it takes to do it. My colleagues at work have picked up on it and know that if I've been staring at my computer for more than 5 minutes without moving then I'm looking at my spreadsheet and planning/juggling where all the money is going for the most cost effective outcome ! That said a few of them are benefiting from it, I'm something of an evangelist for the MSE website and shout out all the best deals and advice as I read it. One of my colleagues was able to get her disabled brother a new boiler system purchased and fitted for free not so long ago thanks to MSE and she hadn't even heard of it before I got on my soap box, needless to say she is now preaching the good word as ardently as I am

@ Mrs GSR, I'm so sorry your feeling so bad, OH's are generally rubbish at offering tea and sympathy. I think it's because they don't know how rather than they're being mean, they rely on us for that sort of thing and don't know what to do when the shoe is on the other foot. That's certainly the case with my OH Just a thought but have you turned your mattress recently? If it's a positional thing it may be worth considering?

@ Autumn Leaf, be on your guard, when your feeling lousy all you want to do is find comfort in nice things (for me chocolate, wine, chocolate and chocolate!). Don't give up, have a lovely hot bath and put fresh jammies on, watch one of your fav films (mine always result in tissues and a bit of a blub) and go to bed with a hot water bottle. If you cave in now it'll make you feel worse, don't give up :grouphug:

Geocaching...where to start! It's probably best to describe it as a global treasure hunt! There are well over a 1.5 million caches worldwide, over all five continents. You can plan it out before hand or take along your smart phone / GPS and go hunting. They are generally set over lovely country walks etc and the little people have so much fun doing it. Basically someone will hide a container (big / tupperware-ammo box, small / camera film cannister - small magnetic receptical no bigger than your thumb nail and anywhere in between) in a certain place and post the co-ordinates on the geocaching website (also available as an app on iPhone and android) it's up to you to go and find them. There's generally a log book to sign to say you've found it and something to swap for the little people. There is a lot more to it than that and you can make it as easy or complicated as you like, google Geocaching and see what's around your area (no I'm not getting paid to promote it )

It is a good way of getting exercise, involving the little ones, passing time, making friends, having free fun and learning the history of your local area, or further afield !

@ NSK - My Gm-I-L died last year 3 weeks short of her 103 birthday. She was an epic lady who had so much history to tell, truth be told I was so in awe of her I was always a little tongue tied in her presence. She loved to read so when her eyes started to go a bit we bought her a large rectangular magnifier, it came on a stand and fitted over the book so she could still read, just a thought.


Anyhoo, I've probably bored you all to death by now so I'll toddle off . Take care all....:D

Lily x x

angelicious

Just checking in with a quick update, yesterday was a spend day but came in under £10 and don't intend any more spends til at least the weekend, today was a SFD, so that's 8 now. Not much else happening in angelicious land at the minute thankfully.

Oh actually we have some-one coming tomorrow to pump insulation in our walls, has anyone had this done? Does it make a difference to the warmth in your home?

fyggy

A short check in for me, in part to prove that I am capable of them and impart cause I did a 10k essay post to my DFW diary earlier (
"Diary of plans, lists, goals and challenges")

SFDs- 11/25

TiptoesDB

Happy Wednesday all! I’ve been a bit glum today, tired I think and a bit overwhelmed at work, but trying to plough through… catching up here is cheering me up. I went to the gym after work as planned but just sat in the steam room and Jacuzzi for half an hour whilst DH gymmed. I usually swim, but I couldn’t face it – felt too tired and blurgh.

SFD tho, but I think one of the things getting to me a bit is I am starting to see all the things we are going to need soon – I am down to the last set of contact lenses, running shoes are not supporting my arches like they should and if I leave them I end up with knee injuries, my work suits are looking VERY shabby… the list goes on. I am going to hold off and hold off (except on the contact lenses cos I need those!) but I know some big spends are looming. Bah.

I’ve was grappling with the presents issue PheoniX, but I have decided we are going to use gift cards that people have bought us in the last year to buy presents for other people this Christmas. I finally decided it was ok by rationalising that if I buy someone a gift card or give them money, I don’t mind what they choose to do with it… it’s for them, so it’s up to them.

Right, off to look at this month’s spreadsheet even though nothing has changed! I agree staring at them regularly is necessary and helpful, but I don’t know why…!

MagicLily

I haven't logged in for ages, because of the new job.
I'm getting use to working 6 Days, just have to be organised.
A bit of a shock going from 20 hours to 45. :eek:
Looking forward to the money. As I'm working so much I can't spend any money.
I can pop home for lunch.
Added bonus is my new company provide, tea, coffee, milk, squash and biscuits, amazing.


I have also managed to sell old clothes on ebay. Made £20.
Haven't sold on there since last xmas. :T

Will update my spends a bit later.

stewby

Hey all... it seems everyone is still in the no-mans land between happiness and sadness just now. Just feeling meh...

... and I am no exception.
:undecided

Have attempted to pack for disneyland but then had a "fat" moment so didn't pack anything.
:embarasse

This evening I weighed myself on the wiifit and am starting the diet now instead of after disneyland. My plan is to just eat whatever I want at disneyland and I am hoping the constant walking, etc will help me keep the weight off.


In money terms... I have had spend-free day number TEN!!!! I am thrilled about this as it is double figures.
:j

I think I am going to make the 25 spend-free days but only because for five of those days, I will be spending like mad on holiday (all budgetted for. hopefully). Otherwise, I imagine I would have only made it 22 (which would have annoyed me a lot).


Hope everyone has a lovely night.
Hugs.

Maisie_M

Food £289.59/350
Petrol £106/250
Local food bank 6/6 (missed last month so will double up today)
SFD 8/25
Lunch to work 9/21
emergency lunch fund 0/£10 (two of us)
Declutter 0/20
Extra money earned/made 0/£80
Christmas shopping £13/£250
Outing 0/£20
Coffee shops etc 0/0
Beauty £8.73/£10

Not checked in for a few days but have been keeping my tallies up. Hoping for NSD's tomorrow and the weekend which will take me into double figures.

apple_muncher

Yesterday was a nsd and today is my shopping day - woohoo!:j It won't be a big shop as I've managed to 'catch' RSI rather severely in my right wrist and to a lesser degree in my left. So packing the shopping into bags will be a slow job, then hoisting them on to my shoulders and finally getting the bus means I have to keep them as light as poss. This may mean that I have to do an extra shop in a few days, but I've accepted that, because I physically cannot do what I woukd normally do. Oh well - it's only temporary. I hope!

Am loving the cold but sunny days, crunching through the leaves. Hope to do one last mow whrre the tufts of grass grew round the climbing frames legs before we moved it for fireworks.

Have a happy day!:)

cottage_retreatist

I let my MSE guard down yesterday and got a takeaway!!!!! but it wasn't soooo bad - got 20% off!

I've just been working extra hours quite a lot recently and when I get home I'm too lazy to do anything let alone cook!!! So caved in yesterday - but maybe I can salvage it and say that was our date night meal? Not very fancy though - we both gorged and then fell asleep on the sofa! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: who said romance was dead?!!! :D:D

so don't think I'll make 25 NSDs but I will be pushing for as many as I can now manage - got our 100 budget for the 'holiday' we're having this weekend with OH's parents so planning not to go over that.

Hope everyone has a good day?
I also love this time of the year! Crunchy leaves and brisk winds - oh, I'm going to enjoy going to the coast and getting out of the city for a few days! yay!!!! :j:j:j

xx