Banishing the black cloud

monz

She sounds live ex tennant from hell!!xx

maggiecon

Bit of a disaster with the lasagne last night, forgot to take it out of the freezer yesterday morning, thought I could cook it from frozen... an hour in the oven burnt on top and frozen in the centre. Then had to rush to M&S at 8pm last night to get something easy to throw in the oven. At least lasagne is now defrosted and I will attempt to rescue it and cook it tonight.

I still have not managed to sort out broadband and phone for my mum, but took the time to research more possibilities and have found EE to be even cheaper than TalkTalk and PlusNet. reading reviews of each company they all seem to be pretty crap for customer service so it doesn't matter which one I go with. I know what to expect.

The MSE deal for £100 amazon vouchers looks good but then Quidco are offering £130 cashback. for the same deal. I don't know which one to go with as I read that loads of people were having trouble getting their vouchers / cashback. Its still a good deal as she pays for line rental up from for the year £132, and then £7.50 a month for 6 months then £14.99 for the next 6 months. this gives her anytime landline and mobile calls and up to 17mb of broadband which I think is a good deal. Going to get it sorted today as her birthday is this weekend. :eek: :eek:

I also just purchased tickets for hubbys graduation, its at 11am and I assume it wont be over to around 2pm. I tried several restaurants in the area and they all close at 2.30pm after lunch and don't open until 5pm for dinner. You would think they would make an effort to do a graduation promotion. So I have no idea what to do for a celebration. I was thinking we could hang about for a couple of hours and wait for the restaurants to open. Graduation is on the 18th December and I am sure his mum will want to go into the shops as it is in the city centre.

maggiecon

The super expensive birthday weekend is now over and we had a great time and more importantly mum had a great time. She said she never slept on Saturday night because she had such a wonderful day and couldn't stop thinking about it.

We took her to a spa, then booked her in to get her hair and makeup done. Then we took her out for lunch, dropped her off at home to get changed. Then we took her out to dinner with her close friends and family and then onto the pub for a few drinks.

The total damage for the weekend
Present £90
Spa Weekend £70
Dinner and Drinks £175
Total £335 :eek: :eek:

As for Christmas shopping I found a 20% voucher code for River Island and bought £190 worth of clothes for DS for his present. I am quite please because I managed to get him
A coat
2 shirts
4 dressy t-shirts
1 jumper
1 hoodie
2 pairs of shoes.

I also bought him a pair of Nike trainers for £45 using a 20% voucher on Sportsshoes . com

So Christmas shopping nearly done.

monz

Ouch! At least you had a good weekend !

Wow for you DS! He will love that x

maggiecon

Feeling a bit tired today as I went running last night. Managed 4 miles this time and felt like I could have done more but my leg is still really sore.

Sorted my landlord insurance yesterday and paid for the blinds for the house so all my bills are now sorted. Unfortunatley I am totally broke and actually had beans and toast for dinner last night LOL. Thankfully it is pay day tomorrow.

Financial situation currently stands at.
Weekly budget £4 left
Utilities account £8 left
Rent income £4
Emergency Fund £312

Update on Novembers bills

Tax 2 cars £99 each (PAID total cost £218)
Blinds for house £265 PAID
Accountant £384 PAID
Car Insurance £350 (PAID £369 but hope to get £41 back from Quidco)
Brothers bday £40 PAID
Mums Bday (60th) £335 PAID
Speeding Fine £60 (PAID)
House Insurance £135 (PAID)

That's a total of £1806 paid out this month in bills !!!!! Is it any wonder I am broke.

Well at least it is all over now. I have ordered all my Christmas stuff online and put it on the credit card. Total cost £280 however I have done a lot of purchases via Quidco this week (car insurance, broadband, Christmas presents) and have £180 tracked in my account. I am therefore not worried about paying cc back as this should cover most of it. But will still like to clear it this side of Christmas.

On top of all those bills I also managed to fork out £75 for tickets to hubbys graduation. So just need to get him a nice present.

monz

All I have to say is OUCH!!!!!x

maggiecon

My sister phoned me on Tuesday night asking if I ordered any oil heating, she came home from work to find a delivery docket and her oil tank full. When she rang the company they said it had been paid for from an address on my street. I definetly hadn't ordered it as I couldn't afford to

Got home from work last night to find an invoice for oil in my house too. So rang my sister and after much investigation we have discovered that mummy filled our oil tanks with 500litres each!!!! She obviously felt guilty because of the money that was spent on her at the weekend. The woman really does not know how to accept a present and now I fell really guilty because she has spent that kind of money on us.

I got paid today, and have a full budget still of £175. I have an appointment tonight for a sports rub, which will probably cost about £20 and then need to get some groceries.

I plan to hire a kangoo this weekend and try and find the chimney opening in my living room, as I would really love an open fire in time for Christmas.

Need to sit down and do a weekly meal planner for this week.

Puzzcat

maggiecon wrote: »

My sister phoned me on Tuesday night asking if I ordered any oil heating, she came home from work to find a delivery docket and her oil tank full. When she rang the company they said it had been paid for from an address on my street. I definetly hadn't ordered it as I couldn't afford to

Got home from work last night to find an invoice for oil in my house too. So rang my sister and after much investigation we have discovered that mummy filled our oil tanks with 500litres each!!!! She obviously felt guilty because of the money that was spent on her at the weekend. The woman really does not know how to accept a present and now I fell really guilty because she has spent that kind of money on us.

I got paid today, and have a full budget still of £175. I have an appointment tonight for a sports rub, which will probably cost about £20 and then need to get some groceries.

I plan to hire a kangoo this weekend and try and find the chimney opening in my living room, as I would really love an open fire in time for Christmas.

Need to sit down and do a weekly meal planner for this week.

Love what your mum did, she sounds like an absolute darling. I have a lovely mum too, we are lucky.
Puzz.x

maggiecon

2 more days of budget left and I am in the Red by £10. I have had a horrible cold all weekend and the oil burner has packed in. Got a man out to fix it last night and it cost £50 for half an hours work!!

I still cant use the oil that mum bought me because the oil tank and burner and not connected up yet. So I have to keep refilling the 5 gallon drum I have which is costing about £15+ each time and only lasts for 3 days.

Its been a crap weekend and I went to bed early last night because the house was so cold. Anyway no more negativity, onwards and upwards.

I haven't meal planned in over a week and my eating has gone to the dogs so need to get this back on track ASAP. I have a pile of leftover roast beef in the fridge and I will make lots of sandwiches for freezing and then toast them for my lunch at work. I also have about 18 chicken breasts in the freezer so will make something nice with them tomorrow. I just need to think of something cheap for tonight to get me through to payday on Thursday. I just need to go and fill up the oil drum to get the house heated

maggiecon

Its been a while since my last update, been quite a busy week work wise. I have been in work early every day and home late every night. Money wise everything is still really tight. I haven't spoke to OH in over a week!! and he hasn't give me any wages and I know he is holding on to them to make me ask him for them but I wont.

Christmas shopping is coming on well. I have bought the following
Nieces *4 all bought for but1
Nephews *2 all bought for
Daughter - iPhone/ Holister jumper/beauty Hamper
Son - Clothes from River Island/6 months gym membership/trainers
Secret Santa - I got my hubby in the secret santa!! he wanted new trainers, ordered them online last night.

Items left to buy
Phone cover for DD
Need to go to leisure centre and sort out gym membership for DS
Need to return some of DS clothes as they are too big and order more
Jumper for niece


My Christmas decorations are still at my mums and I need to go and get them as I want to put the Christmas tree up this weekend.

Financials are not too bad
Rental pot £445
Emergency £312
Weekly Budget £97

I have spent £343 on Christmas presents on the cc which I will pay back with Christmas bonus which I get next Thursday. Fingers crossed. If not I will use the money from the rental pot, either way it will be paid off BEFORE Christmas.

Finally meal planning has completely gone out the window this last two weeks so need to get back on track. I got some groceries yesterday and have the following meals planned for this week

Mon - Bacon and courgette pasta with garlic bread
Tues - Chicken curry and rice
Wed - Quesadilla and salad
Thurs - Meatballs and sauce from freezer.