Paid off the £31,000! BUT - still scrimping!

Seasidegal58

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

Is that the cafe that sells fat rascals?

Inod – it is indeed the very cafe! Fat Rascals are the yummiest (and hence my weight gain!)!!!!

Sun_Addict wrote: »

Glad you had such a lovely time. Ooh Giorgio Moroder, that brings back happy memories of my disco days, I didn't realise he was still going strong.

Never mind about the 2lb gain, it was all in a good cause and you'll soon shed it when you're back to normal.

SA – Giorgio is still going strong at 78! Apparently it's the first tour he's ever done! At his age I hope it's not going to the be the last!

Apart from £5.10 on coffees, no other Ad Hoc spends since I posted last.

This weekend will be rather quieter than last. There's nothing on at the cinema, but I hope to catch up with some friends at the weekend. I've got my monthly pedicure tomorrow morning and I've a couple of bits to take to the charity shop, together with the weekly purchases for the food bank.



Putting my feet up tonight and catching up with the new series of "Line of Duty!"

Sun_Addict

78 :eek:

Have a fab weekend xx

HairyHandofDartmoor

I'd love to go to Harrogate as I've heard it's nice. I like York too. It sounds like you've had a rather fabulous time .

I hope going back into work isn't too painful. At least the long bank holiday weekend is coming up fairly soon .

Seasidegal58

Thank you both!:)

END OF SCRIMPY WEEK 2 – APRIL

Since Friday, Ad Hoc Spends have been £9.60 for a takeaway with my pal on Saturday night, £5.00 for coffees yesterday and £1.78 on two Itunes downloads.

My friend and I went for coffee at lunchtime earlier (this is the usual day this week that I pay) and Pret let me off with them for free! So we can go back tomorrow and payment will be taken out of next week's spends!

Budgeted spends were pedicure and 3 for £1 deal on sale in our local card shop yesterday.

So money left over from Ad Hoc Spends this week was a rather lowly £4.55 to go to the savings pot. Other money in to go over the Ad Hoc Savings was £20.11 from monthly Santander interest/cashback.

Good news was that on Friday I received an email from HR at work to confirm that I was getting an additional bonus for a project that had to be completed by the end of last year. This actually went to the Boss but he asked that I receive half so after tax I will be getting c.£600 with the April pay packet along with my other yearly bonus!:j

With the extra money I'm getting, I've ordered a cordless Shark vacuum. My current vacuum is a Shark, but it's quite old and it's a bit big for my flat compared to the cordless versions. DD bought a cordless Shark for the Scottish house and it's very good and light. My Shark was £199, but reduced from £359. Plus I've got 5% cashback through Topcashback so a result all round!:j

I also need a new fan for the summer – I want one of the thin black tower fans so I'm going to do some research on them this week and get it ordered before we get a summer heatwave and everything sells out!

The final thing I'm buying is a new extra-large suitcase as my current one is quite old and looks a bit tatty now. It'll be nice to have a new, shiny one for the cruise!

Weight-wise – I lost half a pound this morning which I was pleased with. I'm on the 500 cal day today so boiled eggs, apple, coffee and soup!:j

Munchin

Well done on the bonus and I'm sure well deserved.

I would love to have your willpower on 500 calorie fast day but I'm struggling when I drop my calories to 1500

HairyHandofDartmoor

Excellent news on the bonus and nice to be able to use it to make some things that make your life easier and more pleasant .

Well done on the weight loss too.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Your EF is very impressive SSG . Do you mind me asking whether you keep it all in one place or have you spread it between several different savings accounts?

milann

Well done on the bonus - I’ve heard the shark cordless are really good. Enjoy
Well done on the weight loss too. You must have shed a fair bit altogether with all the losses you’re getting....it seems to be working for you :beer:

Seasidegal58

Hi Hairy - I actually keep all my cash in my Santander 123 account as I'm getting 1.5% interest, and I use YNAB to separate all my outgoings and savings pots so that I know exactly where I am with it all.

You do have to pay £5 per month for the account but I get monthly Cashback on certain direct debits, as well as the monthly interest. I could probably get a little more if a used a fixed account with withdrawal penalties, but I want everything easy access. The way I look at the EF is the Dave Ramsey way. He says your EF is an insurance rather than a pure savings fund and you expect to pay for insurance - so basically you lose a little interest for the facility of being able to draw your cash out straight away if needed.

You do have to have so much in the Santander account to make it worthwhile (sorry I can't remember what it is offhand, but Martin writes about it on the savings bit of the MSE saving website). Santander do have a 'lite' version of the account I think for smaller balances, though the interest isn't as much.

Seasidegal58

milann wrote: »

Well done on the bonus - I’ve heard the shark cordless are really good. Enjoy
Well done on the weight loss too. You must have shed a fair bit altogether with all the losses you’re getting....it seems to be working for you :beer:

Thanks milann - I'm always looking for ways where I can cut down on bulky items in my small flat - I really liked the Shark when I had a go of DD's. The Dyson Cyclone cordless seems to come top of the all the reviews but it's so expensive. Plus I had a Dyson vacuum years ago and tbh didn't think that much of it.