LonelyRat's (not so lonely) Road to Riches

lonelyrat

Feeling a bit bleugh today and the last couple of days. I've been finding work unnecessarily stressful and just feeling a bit crummy in general. Think it's coming up to my time of the month so may be related, hmm.

Also feeling very, very skint - £13 in my purse to last till payday (should be 15th or 16th Feb). I do have food in, have my rail ticket paid for and have cut the booze so technically shouldn't really need to spend any money until payday. OH does owe me £15 which I'll get on the 7th - I was going to put to the Copenhagen savings but I may end up using it. We'll see where I stand.

I really, really want a glass (bottle) of wine :eek: I was feeling pretty good until today when OH mentioned he wanted to buy a bottle and now it's all I can think of really which is making me feel quite ashamed In work at 7 am for overtime all week so being hangover free has been really good. Need to just try and cling on to how good I feel when I'm not drinking.

It's been really snowy here again. Fingers crossed it starts to warm up soon as I'm far too cold all the time.

Booked a hotel for the 12th of Feb (already paid for it out of my spending money for this month so don't need to worry about saving for that... This is why I only have £13 ). Plan is to go after work on Monday and have a relaxing evening with OH then have a big (free) breakfast the next day then have a day out. It's in the West End and there's a nice art gallery and a park and other free stuff we can do which will be fun. Looking forward to an evening away from OH's parents house. It's great living with them but I feel like we haven't have any proper 'alone' :cool: time for a while. The room has a massive claw foot bath as well which I can't wait to be soaking in. Our old flat had a bath and I used to have more than one a week Will be bringing my book and might get a bath bomb from Lush if I'm feeling generous to myself.

Managed to find OH's passport so that's a small win.

Off work Friday and Saturday this week so plans are to NOT spend the last of my money on a bottle of wine, call the bank as they've mucked something up, wash and sort laundry and research psoriasis as I feel I may have it on my scalp. Fun!

lonelyrat

Oh I forgot - had some good news with OH's debt. He sold his Xbox :eek: (I didn't even ask him to... He just did it?!) and some games. So yesterday I paid off one of his cc's fully and when he gets his student finance on the 7th he'll be able to full pay off his smallest one as well. After that he's just got one more at about £700 then he's debt free!

I'm feeling very proud. We've managed to get into quite a good system where I work out what he needs to pay and he just transfers it to the joint account and I sort it but it was slow work as he didn't have much money left each month to service his debts. This has been quite a big chunk of what he owes and I think it's motivating for him too to see his balance drop down to zero.

lonelyrat

Also 168 days until I'm debt free. Chin up.

lonelyrat

Just had a nosey at Topcashback and turns out I have £8.47 there that I can withdraw. It took so long to 'clear' that I totally forgot about it. Also had a really good day with Prolific yesterday.... Usually I find surveys come really infrequently but I had about 6 yesterday. I'm up at £19.77 - so close to the £20! Fingers crossed for one in the next few days that'll take me over. Going to put £25 of it to Copenhagen savings then add the remainder to my Monzo for spends :cool:

Silver_Queen

Keep the momentum up lonelyrat! I read your diary but I never comment since I feel like I have nothing to add! Well done Mr Loneyrat for selling his xbox. I'm pretty sure my OH would rather sell a body part before he parted with his PS4.

dustydigger

Hi lonelyrat,its been mayhem lately what with my birthday etc,so I never had a chance to check in here,but I can see you are still making great progress. Well done.
You seem a bit depressed,but the time of year doesnt help.Cold dark and miserable does NOT help to boost our moods.Just keep on plodding,chin up,and look back to your first post last year to see how far you have come.

lonelyrat

Thanks Silver Queen - I'm the same on here. I do have a nosey around though and have been keeping up with your diary. I feel I don't have much to contribute to anyone either! I know about the Xbox right?! I was so caught off guard... Very proud of him though Saw your pay rise is in March - happy days! I should get a wee one in March as well. Definitely not as significant as yours, but should see my wage rise by £60 a month. Can't complain!

Dusty, I'm glad you've been off enjoying your birthday! You are right, I can get a bit down sometimes. Doing my best to keep positive but every now and again I do end up feeling a bit overwhelmed. Hey ho! It'll pass.

lonelyrat

Still have £13 in my purse which is good Also had a spare £6 in my direct debit account after everything has left so I transferred £5 of that to the Santander cc - just for something to do really. I just feel like I need to keep making progress, no matter how small.

Had another prolific study so that's me over the £20. Just need to wait for it to be approved then thats £20 straight to Copenhagen savings.

New month and feeling happy it's a short one. Sorted my planned outgoings on my spending app so keen to record a full months spending and see how awful it truly is... I am really loving the app - it's called 'Moneyboard'. There's an option to email yourself a pdf of all your transactions as well which is pretty handy. I plan on doing that at the end of the month and keeping a record of everything. I think I'm finding it useful because I have a few different accounts all for different things and usually just keep a note of my rough plans on my Excel sheet. Having it on the app, all consolidated together is really useful.

I am still toying with the idea of Slimming World. I keep thinking it's too expensive but then on the other hand I do feel like a big lump at the moment. I'm not going for it this month for sure, but we'll see next month how the financials stack up. Got a meeting with my manager next week to discuss End of Year ratings so we shall see how I've performed and what sort of bonus I can expect in March.

On that note there's no overtime posted at work, frustratingly. I did 9 hours this week but that's all I've managed to be approved for all last month. I really hope they start advertising some again as I'm needing about 25 - 30 hours a month. Having said that this month hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be moneywise. I've made all the debt payments I had planned and haven't felt like I've been cutting back too much. We'll see how I feel when I get to a few days before payday though! That's when the desperation will start to kick in

167 days until I'm debt free

Silver_Queen

I hope you have fun in Copenhagen! That's on my list of places to go too. You'll have to report back on whether it's good!

Yay to the pay rise - nothing I like better than getting paid more for the same work...

As to Slimming World, I have the same dilemma as you about feeling like a lump...the cheapskate in me hates the idea of paying to be told I'm fat (I already know I'm fat, I don't need to be told!) but I've heard you can get some pretty great results.

My plan for now has been to try to do it on my own one last time. If it doesn't work then Slimming World here I come. Have you considered doing a free online programme similar to Slimming World? I'm sure there's one somewhere.

One blog that I find really inspiring is fatgirlphd. She's really funny and engaging and I'm pretty sure she has a free diet/exercise plan on her blog.

lonelyrat

Thanks Silver Queen! I'm really excited... Me and OH used to go on holiday a fair bit after we first got together but then pesky finances started to get in the way :rotfl:I actually can't wait. I'm feeling super organised for it as well which is good. As of payday this month we'll have a decent bit of spending money saved away. Plan is not to spend it all but I'd rather have more than we need than less and have to rely on a credit card :eek: I'll let you know how what it's like I've always fancied going and I had a look on Kayak for cheapest places to fly to and it and Oslo came up. Oslo looks really lovely as well but accommodation was a bit pricier. Hopefully manage to get away later in the year as well... Would love somewhere sunny. I saw you went to the Algarve? Some uni friends and I went to Albufeira for a cheap holiday a while back and it was great. So sunny

Slimming World has me in such a dilemma haha! I think I will try again myself for a wee bit too. I'm going to have a look tomorrow and see if I can find some recipes and plan for when I get paid. This should reduce my food shop spend as well, ideally! If I find any good sites I'll keep you posted If I don't see results though I think I will bite the bullet and just join. It does seem so pricey but everyone I know who's managed to lose weight and keep it off has done Slimming World so does seem to work (watch me fork out all that cash and then be the exception :rotfl:)

Good news moneywise today! I have a jar for loose change and I've just sat down and totted it up. £37.65! So that coupled with the Prolific and Topcashback money I'm waiting on brings me over £65. Going to pay it to the Santander Card. I'll nip into the bank when I'm in work on Monday and deposit it :cool:

Also cancelled my curent gadget insurance policy (don't need to cover the Xbox anymore, so it will be £1 cheaper per month) and will take out a new one. It's not massive savings but everything helps. I think I can go through Topcashback again which is ideal as I got £9.97 last time.

Nothing else to report today really - had a bit of an uneventful day today BUT am off tomorrow as well so can catch up on stuff that needs doing then. Realised I had some episodes of Grey's Anatomy I hadn't caught up on... It's such a guilty pleasure of mine. I swear I cry at every episode it's ridiculous but I love it.

OH currently making us dinner. Some chicken carbonarra pasta dish then I think we'll watch a film and just veg out. Not an NSD today as OH's mum went to do her shop and she picked us up a chicken so need to pay her back for that. Can do that with the change I have in my purse though Aiming for an NSD tomorrow but I do need new tights... I've somehow managed to only have 2 pairs left?! I swear I had a hundred just a few months ago. I don't know where they've wandered off to... One of my pairs does have a hole in it but it's quite high up the thigh so isn't noticeable and hasn't laddered thankfully. I may see if I can push it till payday

166 days