Getting there...slowly.

girlatplay

Quiet days at work at the moment. I am spending an awful lot of time organising everyone else's lives. People splitting up with partners and people getting married. It's funny, the two extremes. Funniest thing of all is I am single. I choose to be single. Yet I am the one everyone comes to for advice.

£1 to bestie's fund.

91p to sealed pot.

Big weddingy-stuff-filled weekend ahead. If I wasn't keen on marriage before, I will be dead set against it by Monday :cool:

girlatplay

The weekend wasn't too bad. Spent some money on lunch out on Saturday and bus fares on Sunday (from pocket money - budgetted) but didn't spend another penny the whole weekend! Mum bought coffee on Sunday and sis bought us a glass of fizz each.

£4 in bestie's pot. We now have prices for that and it is going to be A LOT. I have to work out how to split the cost as different people are going for different numbers of nights but at least I have a rough goal to aim for. I am looking at around £120 for the accommodation only. That is £40 per night. Not too bad for an executive lodge with all the trimmings I suppose. At least I started saving already. I can afford one night

Mortgage payment of £192.88 made to round down the balance to an even number (after interest added). Balance now at: £94,450

girlatplay

Not much to report today (thank goodness as this is my third attempt at this post - computer crashed, then MSE logged me out!)

12p into sealed pot. £5 reward from current account transferred over to house buyout holding account. That is up to £16.76 out of £40.

Must do a meal plan and shopping list for tomorrow. I really must do it today or I will end up walking aimlessly around the supermarket and not buy enough food for meals for the week. I just hate doing it, it bores me.

Parent's night at the school tonight. I have planned my route around the school. The school do their parents night over 4 floors (9 floors in the school altogether) and LMG has managed to get me running up and down the stairs in between each meeting. Luckily I came up with the idea of her only getting times that ended in either 0 or 5 (not both). She chose 0 and got me 5.10, 5.20 etc, until 5.50. The next teacher didn't have 6.00 so next one is 6.05 but LMG kept the same pattern and got 6.15 and 6.25 after that. Well done LMG! :T

Right, lunch time nearly over. Better do that shopping list.

in_need_of_direction

Posts like yours remind me to be grateful that school days for my two are a distant memory. Yay

Things_To_Do

Hi GAP, did you get that shopping list done?
I quite enjoy doing my shopping list and a meal plan, it just usually ends up not going to plan. Like this week I bought a chicken for Sunday dinner and still not used it yet and as my daughter is out the next 2 nights it's still probably not going to be used. I am happy to just have toast or something if it's just me eating.


FANTASTIC news on LMG's maths test


Hope parents evening went well

clippy_girl

hello :wave:

i can remember reading your debt free diary so well done on clearing it :T

girlatplay wrote: »

So I have made a start on saving and I have a little over £12k saved (see sig).

that is a fantastic start, well done :beer:

your dd sounds like a total sweetie

girlatplay

INOD I'm lucky I only have the one. I don't think I could have coped with any more children. Only 4 more parents' nights to go and then she'll be grown up

TTD I got most of the shopping list done. Still working on the rest but hopefully it shouldn't be too bad. I am jotting things down in between bank reconciliations (work). It is easier for me to make meals just for me as I eat pretty much anything. LMG is a bit more fussy. When she was wee and we had no money and lots of debt she used to eat whatever I gave her. There literally was nothing else. If she didn't eat it she went without and she knew that. Other parents used to look on in wonderment at the stuff she ate. Since we got a bit better off and she got more of a choice she became a bit fussier :mad: She's not bad and she usually does eat what I give her but she turns her nose up at the suggestion of some stuff now. Parents' evening was great.

Clippy Hi! Lovely to hear from you. Yes, seems like years ago I cleared the debt. It's just over 2 years now and it still feels good. It has made me seriously OCD about money though and whilst that is a good thing for the finances, it is not so good for my mental health :cool: I got £6k given to me when my beautiful grandad passed away so don't be too impressed with my savings skills, I didn't save it all from scratch. LMG is lovely. I know all parents think their children are lovely but because it is just the two of us she is like my wee best friend. We have such a laugh together. She is my world. Although see the next paragraph to prove that she is not perfect!


£2.87 put across to the house buyout holding account. It is usually just £1.87 but LMG got £1 docked from her pocket money for not helping out.

News from the CSA is that I am due a payment on Friday this week and they have confirmed the amount. They have another payment in ready for next week too but can't confirm the amount until it has cleared. I don't actually need his money but it is the principle. He was more than happy to plan her with me but not so happy to take responsibility after we split up.

I really need to get my boiler serviced. I had a service plan with British Gas but they screwed up at the start of the new year, stopped taking payments, blamed me for that, said they would call me and then didn't. I called them and they said they couldn't deal with it with me calling them, they had to call me. I give up. I will just find someone who will do the service for me and that will be it for another year.

My various money pots are looking reasonably healthy at the moment.

girlatplay

Yesterday afternoon was spent at a wedding dress shop. Good news is that my sis got her dress though, thank goodness. That is one less wedding dress shopper I have to accompany. It is beautiful and totally her. Not allowed to say anything to anyone though, not even allowed to say that she has got it. I'm glad I can come here and say it. Next Wednesday afternoon will also be spent in a wedding dress shop, one that I have already been to as well! Bestie doesn't have a sister though so I have to step up.

£1 to go in hen weekend pot. 42p to sealed pot. Will do those when I get home.

The grocery shop yesterday came to less than I expected (although I couldn't get a whole chicken - well, I could but, like, HOW MUCH??? No danger! Can get a cheaper one than that) and I got plenty food for us. I have things to make, e.g. the quiche for tea tonight, but it's no hardship if I don't think about it. When I think, I start procrastinating

Saw a recipe for butternut squash soup where I don't have to chop the BNSq. Perfect.

Got a night out on Saturday. I say out, it is really in. Bestie is having us round for tea (us being me and the other 2 besties). I will only need the obligatory bottle of wine and some nice flowers. Won't cost much

girlatplay

The CSA came good! Money in today so popped it across to the various pots that benefit LMG. Some to her pension (I started that in April last year. Figured you can never start it too early) and some to her cats' account (for their medical stuff - I don't have insurance for them).

I took a wee £21 for me towards the cc stuff that I paid out. That took the house buyout holding account to just over £40 so I transferred the £40 to actual buyout account which takes me up to £12,240 :T

The rest of the CSA money is staying put in an account where I can use it for anything LMG needs. She desperately needs new leggings. She had a pair on this morning with a ladder up the back :eek: She got annoyed when I told her to change :eek::eek: I don't know what she has done with the rest of the pairs she had.

Bestie's fund is up to £49. Popping the odd £1 in here and there is a great way of saving. I am really not noticing the money going into this.

Golden Meal with LMG this evening. When she was younger we used to have Golden Time (name founded by the school for their reward system) on a Sunday afternoon. That was time we spent together, just the two of us, so that we could do stuff together and have quality time. Once she got to about 10/11 we decided to change it to golden meal. Once a month we go out together, just the two of us, to catch up with what has happened over the past month, to chat about what is planned for the next month and to have a good blether with some nice food (I get a night off cooking too). Each year in January I mark on the calendar on the first Friday of every month :beer:

Gone are the days when I was scrabbling down the back of the sofa for 8p for a packet of shop's own noodles for us to share

The sun is shining and it makes me feel happy

girlatplay

The sun is shining again. I could get used to this. (Everyone who knows me IRL knows that I hate the cold. I was born in the wrong country weather-wise).

Over the weekend: 2 new pairs of leggings bought for LMG.

Golden Meal was great. We had such a laugh. We were home and in our pj's ready for Corrie at 7.30pm with no dishes to wash! Bliss.

Some money spent on a bottle of wine and some flowers for bestie. The meal was delicious and it was so good to catch up with the girlies.

Other stuff: Another £2 coin in bestie's pot. That's £51 now, yay :j

28p to sealed pot.

CC bill due in on Wednesday. I have the money there ready to pay it.

Petty cash at work owes me £1.50 for some milk I bought this morning but I will need to wait until there is change in the box.

CSA confirmed the amount I am to get this week. Looks like it will be paid on Wednesday this week rather than Thursday. That is fine. There is nothing I need to worry about this week and there is still some left over from last week.

Going to sis's for tea tonight. We usually go to parents' on a Tuesday night for tea but they are away for a week with their friends and tonight suits sis better.

It's only Monday though :cool: