Chica's gonna get a house! (hopefully)...

ChicaBonita

Few updates today -
-Found a course that my work will fund me for - not the big one I want but there was no way that was gonna happen. Found a good one in the budget so that should go through soon. Going to put the big one on the back burner until I've done this one, then see if I feel the need to do it. It isn't going anywhere!
-Went to the SM to pick up a few bits (mainly cat food and treats lol). In desperate need of some beige/brown flats as I had to throw my last pair away, found some in there for £16 so I picked those up and have added them to my clothes challenge. Had to get a size smaller than my usual as I was swimming in them, will try them in the house to make sure they are ok. So in the SM I spent a total of £19.40.
- My long awaited Tony Robbins book has arrived, so once I finish my current book (which will happen tonight) I will dig in. Hoping it will give me some clarity in things that need addressing in my life, and give me an updated mindset! Once I've finished it I will be giving it to the bf as he also doesn't believe in himself and it holds him back.

ChicaBonita

I realised last night that I was only a few coins away from cashing out on Receipthog - so I asked my mum if she had any receipts, and she did cashed out £5 to paypal, so hoping that will come through soon. Still waiting for my latest SB giftcard, bit worried as I've never had to wait this long before! I want to use it to buy a new book

ChicaBonita

Yesterday was NSD9, today will be NSD10 as long as I don't have any unexpected spends.
One of my colleagues at work has bought the sims4, and I remembered how much I loved it....I had a copy of sims3 that I had bought through origin, so checked last night and I could redownload it to my new(er) laptop. Ended up playing it for almost 2 hours without realising :eek: will definitely have to be strict with myself if I'm going to start playing it again, it is like a time vortex :rotfl:

I didn't run last night as was worried about the wind. It wasn't as bad here as in other parts of the UK, and it had died down by the evening, but didn't want to take any chances. There were trees that had come down in roads in my area and flying trampolines though.

I have started a free-trial of the new course that my work are paying for. It is a subscription-based one that they upload new content to every month. I already think it is a million times better than the last travesty of a course I was on, and am excited to finally learn about digital marketing properly.

I'm seeing my nephew tonight which is exciting, he is growing so fast that even seeing him every week it seems like he is changing every time I see him (which I know he probably is, children change at a rate of knots).

Tomorrow I need to do 10 miles in the morning, will need to buy some food for me and the bf, and then Sunday I am planning to go into town with my mum to get glasses. As she wears glasses as well I value her opinion on what looks good and what lenses etc I need, so I don't get pushed over by sales assistants!

ChicaBonita

Happy Sunday Evening!

Been fairly busy this weekend.

Did my 10 mile run on Saturday, killed me towards the end but I did it. After showering and making myself look a bit more human I went into the small town near me and got a Greggs breakfast (£3.05) and bought chicken for dinner and food for work lunches next week (£11.58).

I also had my CC come through. I feel weird talking about a CC when everyone else is trying not to use theirs, but the truth is I know I can manage one and I think it will help my credit score. With that in mind, I have transferred to myself £120 for my skincare products that I bought last week. I will be putting my skin products and treatments on the CC, and other big items that are needed but would usually put my into my OD, and then pay back at least £100 a month. This is well within my budget (feel like I have to justify it even though it's my diary!?)

I then picked my bf up from a station on a different line to our nearest one as the TFL line is still down on the weekends. He's been working so hard on a project for work and he looks really shattered I made us fajitas, we had some m&ms and watched Orange is the new black!

Was up fairly early this morning to go into town with my mum, with a view to get my glasses. I was going to get them from one shop, but when we got there they didn't have the frames I wanted, and there were only 2 staff in the shop and it seemed noone wanted to serve! When I get a bad feeling in a shop like that I don't want to deal with them. So we went to the over shop (begins with S) where my bf and I had found some frames that I liked but they were different to my usual (I currently have dark frames and these are a more beige colour). As it turned out I really liked the beige pair more than last time (and the other frames from the other shop) so decided to go for it. £89 all in as I didn't go for the 2 for 1 so got thinning and the coating for free. I am so happy with that price, was expecting to pay up to £150! I don't even go near designer frames, but lenses are always SO expensive! I also put those on my CC. I have decided also to get new lenses in my old glasses so I've got 2 pairs (dark and light ), will only be £39 so once I've got my new pair I will send my old ones off.


We went into Primarni as I'd wanted to go for a while, I've been fed up with my work clothes. Found some really nice blouses, necklaces and a skirt for £50.50. I've got 3 work blouses, and 2 going out blouses, so happy with that haul I also spent £6.99 and £8.57 in boots (bought some cheapo moisturiser to keep at my bf's, an eyebrow powder and some exfoliating gloves, and had to go to another shop for my eyeliner as they don't seem to have any in stock in certain branches), and £11.35 in Sainsbos. I did also get a white coffee in McD while waiting for my mum, so that was £1.49 All that was within the money I had left in my account, but will need a NSD tomorrow before payday Tuesday!

It has been a spendy weekend but it was all planned for.

I've just done some yoga, and I will spend the rest of the evening relaxing my muscles in the bath, then with red wine and my kindle. I've been busy but I will feel recharged for Monday

ChicaBonita

Oooooo it's payday!!!

Yesterday was NSD11, today will be 12 as long as I don't spend (which I don't plan to).
My @mazon giftcard finally came through on SB, so I applied it to my account and bought a book that I've wanted for ages. I will try to only buy books using giftcards where possible. I'm close-ish to another giftcard anyway.

I've moved all my money around, including £100 extra into my fixed outgoings to do a cc payment later in the month. Not sure what my minimum payment is yet as it's not showing up, but thought £100 is a good amount to pay off a month.

Moved £300 into my deposit fund, and have updated my sig. Will try to do PAD again as far as I can, I always get a bit scared towards the end of the month in case I run out of cash lol. I am happy with how my month went though (short as it is!), didn't go into my OD so that is my goal again for this month.

I will do a round up later of the total money I spent on everyday things.

ChicaBonita

Well the 28th wasn't a NSD, ending up in the Coop as I'd run out of snacks for work I spent £4.89.

Yesterday I also did some spending - £20.61 on @mazon for some vitamins (for skin and body!) and on asos I spent £26 on a dress for holiday, and a mug that can be used as a stocking filler for my bf for his bday or xmas, which aren't until December but still! I'm going to try and get my holiday clothes over the next few months, so I don't get stung all in one go like I was last year.

I was able to claim a SB giftcard on Tuesday and it came the same day! So that's already applied to my @mazon account for the next book I want to get.

Today is not likely to be a NSD either as I am going to pizza hut with the bf tonight. I haven't managed any exercise this week as I did a Jillian Michaels "shred it with weights" workout on Monday and I can still barely walk! It really got to my hamstrings, I will have to do it again though because it obviously does something!!
The plan is to run 5 miles tomorrow and 11 on Sunday.

I am planning to get 15 NSD's in this month, will need some planning but I'm hoping I can do it.

Work has been a lot better since I've got this new course - I actually feel like I'm learning something, and it makes me excited to go on it every day and do a module or two.

ChicaBonita

Yesterday wasn't a NSD, I sponsored my colleague's cousin for a marathon-a-day month he did last month for Cancer Research. BF and I went to pizza hut, he paid, so I will buy us a takeaway on Saturday to make up the difference.

Should be a NSD today, want to do a run tonight but my hamstrings are still sore!! So might just do an easy 3 miles.

Bf asked me if I'd done any eb@ying lately, turns out he has some clothes he can give me to sell as he wants to get some new ones. This inspired me to go through my wardrobe at the weekend, to clear our wintery stuff and see if there's some stuff I can sell as well. I need to get back into the swing of it, as although sometimes the profit was only small it all adds up, and helps with the decluttering that I'm still trying to do!

I've managed to do a couple of PAD's the past couple of days, nice to see my total increase even if it's only small

ChicaBonita

Happy Sunday!

Yesterday I got another facial, I'm doing another course of 3 but they're still doing the 3 for 2 treatments so I paid for that on my CC. I'm not tracking my CC amount on here atm as I see it as a separate thing to my spending/saving diary. My skin is very red today lol, it should peel over the next few days. Went to the SM to pick up bits for work lunch next week and bought some coffee for the bf, spent £16-something (annoyingly lost my receipt so won't know exactly how much until it appears on my banking app). I also bought takeaway for me and the bf as he paid for pizza hut in the week, spent £18.30. We then just chilled and watched Orange is the new black, love that show.

Today is NSD2 for this week (can finally claim another one). Was meant to do 11 miles today but I've felt a bit rough the past 2 days, and it's raining on and off here too which I know would make me feel even worse. Don't want to get really ill with 2 weeks until the half marathon!

So I spent the afternoon at home being quite productive - hoovered, did gel on my toes and redid the polish on my nails, and sorted a few other bits out.
The bf has given me some tops to sell for him on eb@y, so will upload those at some point and the profits will go into my savings (or "our" savings as he put it lol).

Not sure what my spending forecast will look like next week. I will need to get petrol at some point, I'm seeing the bf on Tuesday this week as I'm giving blood on Thursday (although if I do get ill that will have to be cancelled) so will go to the SM then. Will try and do all my spending on that day maybe, get it all done in one hit. We don't have any plans next weekend as the bf is working and then is referring his first match on Sunday, so will be a quiet one I think, I'll probably have to go to the SM again for ingredients for dinner. So perhaps I'll try and spend on Tuesday and Saturday only.

Bf and I have an invitiation for one of his friend's birthday's next month. For some reason this guy loves expensive restaurants, says the meal will be "£35 - £60 each food only". With any alcohol at the restaurant and drinks after that means it's going to be at least £100, and if it's in London there's travel on top. He won't even tell us which restaurant it is until we say yes either so no idea what prices are or anything! I do feel bad as we don't see his friends that much, but mainly because it always costs so much money! Bf also has a stag do next month and we both have a wedding in May, it just seems so much. Think it will be have to be a no. Why does socialising have to be so expensive?

Anyway I'm going to spend the rest of the evening chilling with netflix (just me and the cat lol).

Orange_Ena

Sounds like everything is going well CB.

Expensive restaurant :eek: There's no way I'd spend that much so I'm with you. I went out last year and only had a £5 starter but they divided it up and wanted me to pay £23 ish. No way! :eek:

Could you just maybe join them from a drink after and skip the meal?

ChicaBonita

Orange_Ena wrote: »

Sounds like everything is going well CB.

Expensive restaurant :eek: There's no way I'd spend that much so I'm with you. I went out last year and only had a £5 starter but they divided it up and wanted me to pay £23 ish. No way! :eek:

Could you just maybe join them from a drink after and skip the meal?

Hey Ena!

I know it's so crazy, this particular group really p'ed me off at New Years for a similar thing.....when I said something about it they said, "Well CB, it really works out fair because of drinks..." except it didn't because I'd had one cocktail and the rest had loads of wine, and bf and I only had 2 courses when everyone else had 3. My bf told me to drop it but it really ruins nights for me when people do stuff like that!!

I know how these meals go, and they'll be there for hours, so not sure we could join them for a drink after as no idea what time they'd go a drink/where they'd go. They generally only have time for 1 before it's time to head home, and it's a good 45 mins to travel into London for us so barely seems worth it. I feel like a miser sometimes but not everyone has such an easy going attitude with money. We went to a Gordon Ramsay restaurant before, I didn't even enjoy it as it was a set menu and I never like what's on them!!! God how miserable am I :eek::rotfl: