Coffee, Cake, Yarn - New Start

CoffeeCakeYarn

Morning Morning.

Groundhogggg dayyyyy! Again! Work is very busy. Meetings all day yesterday and no let up, pretty much the same again today. The project is being planned now so is likely to start soon, but luckily it looks like it will only be one and not two concurrently. It's exciting, just not much down time, I'm having to do actual work!

Dinner last night was lovely and we had pancakes which was a nice surprise. Working hard again today, with a late finish, late gym and even later bedtime. Did manage to get 2 little surveys on qmee this morning before work though, trying to fit it in where I can. Very frustrating though as my actual work can't suffer for the extra earnings, and I don't want to drop the gym to survey. Just struggling to try and fit it all in right now, not enough hours in the day, especially when you're like me and need 9 hours sleep to feel human

Budgets still ticking away, had to spend £2 on frozen fruit yesterday as forgot to top it up last week and had run out completely.

YS Spag bol again for dinner tonight. Last of the most recent batch, and it's basically all I've eaten when I've been at home haha. So need to make another batch probably tomorrow night as I'm not going to be home at the weekend.

Must write a shopping list for tomorrow.

Still no washing machine. An engineer got called yesterday and told the LL I'm not putting big enough loads in, so I've stuck a huge load in this morning to see if it's worked. I don't think it will, I always put a full load in..... LL said if it doesn't he will just replace it. I'm running out of clothes very quickly now, confident he will sort a new one quickly if it doesn't work tonight.

Right, back to it. The one good thing about being this busy is I haven't got chance to think about spending on anything other than the essentials this week, but honestly, those with children, I have no idea how you do it!

Happy Wednesday all xx

joeyjimbles

Good on you for keeping on - I don't suppose the extra hours at work get you any extra money?
Are you prone to headaches after the gym? I know that I am and in tends to be because of dehydration - less the water but more the salts/glucose side of things. My PT friend, works for the Fire service so definitely to be trusted, recommended drinking half a bottle of lucozade type stuff or rehydration salts before doing exercise particularly cardio, and then half after. I hate most of those types of things, they can actually make me feel more ill than not taking them but I found a low cal one that I actually don't hate. Wondered if it might work for you as I have noticed your headaches a bit recently.

Mumoffourkids

And this is why I only work part time as I don't actually have time to work full time and fit all the kids activities in and find maybe ten minutes for myself in a day! :rotfl: As you say it doesn't give me much time to think about spending money which is a good thing!

CoffeeCakeYarn

:D:D don't blame you at all MO4!

Joey - you're like a parent I never had, thank you The headaches are all explainable, I've had a few little colds which have contributed to most of them, and this set is just where I've cold turkey'd on caffeine and processed sugars. It'll go on for about 4 days but then after that I find my energy levels shoot up and I feel a million times better. I'm not sure it's dehydration, I do drink like a fish, but I've got some salts indoors so might try them tonight see if they help.

Just a quick pop in before I finish for the day and head to the Gym. I know I've been rubbish at reading others diaries right now and for that I'm sorry. It's my in the bath tomorrow night job

MSE News.... Two articles.

1. I forgot that the car tax was due this month, it's only £20. I've paid it on the CC and will replace from the emergency fund, or the first car pot payment from March payday. Unsure which ATM. Also forgot that I need breakdown cover, but the car is only 3 years old so will go for a basic policy from March payday also out of the car pot. What it means is that out of the £60 car money, i'll probably have about a tenner left to carry forward, but that's what the car pot is there for.

2. Got an acceptance from the CC with the 0% cash transfer. The limit is sizeable, and will pay off just shy of half of the outstanding balance of the loan. I've crunched the number, three times just to make sure, and I'm better off paying a lump on the loan, which takes the loan repayments down by 50%. Then paying the minimum on the CC (0% for 24 months) and using the difference between the current loan payment now, and the new loan payment and CC payment, to overpay the loan each month. My calculations have show that by doing this I will be saving just under £600.00 on the loan. I can then turn all attention to the CC and will have this paid off within the 24 months so no balance transfer needed. It took a little while to get my head around, but I'm confident and happy that it's the right decision now. I've got the plan in place, the CC will be cut up as soon as it's activated so to me I haven't even got another CC, I've just split the loan. I'm actually quite surprised to find out how much it would save me doing it this way, and I'm glad I took a look as £600 is over a months debt repayment for me saved, so a decent difference! Thanks for everyone's suggestions regarding this xx

Treadingonplaymobil

Great news on the wiggling of the loan, it's so nice to have a real saving over time like that.

I react really badly to caffeine withdrawal too, and as a result just don't drink it at all - decaf tea at home (not much of a coffee drinker, but decaf when I have the odd cup in a coffee shop) and I tend to take decaf tea with me when visiting people for the weekend or longer. Forgot on the weekend when visiting my dad and was wide away half the night both nights, then had horrible withdrawal headaches 36 hours after getting home.

CoffeeCakeYarn

Hey Treadingonplaymobil, thanks for popping in! It's crazy isn't it! I don't know if it's just the caffeine or a combination of that and the sugar for me, probably both, but the headaches are a killer! I caved yesterday and had a diet coke and some biscuits, almost automatically without thinking then was like, doh. Why did I even do that I didn't need it... Grr. Bad Coffee! It'll be fine though just a minor blip. And after having slept on the loan thing, I'm happy. It's an extra payment a month i'll be making, but the total payment will be the same it's just to two different places. So makes me no better or worse off in the short term, but is saving a fair whack in the long term. Surprised at the limit of the card though given how much debt I am already in, it's scary how much people will lend!

So morning morning! Once again, nothing much to report. Little cash out on onepulse, god that took forever! Really good gym last night, and slept really well. Getting back into the routine, finally. Gym again tonight, but just a short one, then off to aldi to do a little shop so I can cook more spag bol Pork for dinner tonight. No meetings at work today so hoping for an easier day, fingers crossed. Bit worn out and looking forward to the weekend... almost there!

Happy Thursday all x

joeyjimbles

CoffeeCakeYarn wrote: »

:D:D don't blame you at all MO4!

Joey - you're like a parent I never had,

I suspect that's code for nagging!

Have been through caffeine withdrawal myself but never willingly, I really enjoy my coffee and despite a few decent decaffs now being available, I much prefer just having one or two fully caffeinated coffees a day. I don't drink fizzy drinks much - certainly not cola or caffeine based ones so the amount I have doesn't bother me too much.

Well done on figuring out your loan and getting your plan in place.

CoffeeCakeYarn

NOOOOO! No no no, not nagging, helping and caring! I'm so sorry that really wasn't meant to be a negative

joeyjimbles

Not remotely offended - I was sort of joking, and hoping that it didn't sound like nagging. I think sometimes when you read people's diaries then you notice patterns that they might not notice themselves - sometimes those are spending things and sometimes it's just things that keep cropping up.
Curious Cat has turned rather dull. I've taken out £11 in a week which is fab but the last £3 has been more because I wanted to give it a week of regular usage. I think the same surveys pay better on e-rewards etc. The downloads are worth doing so I'll hang onto it for a little while longer as that's the only place where I do things like that but not sure it's going to be worth holding onto longterm.

CoffeeCakeYarn

it's not nagging at all! Your input (and everyones) is really helpful. I suffer from tunnel vision and often only see things from one perspective, so it's so good to have others input to help me see the bigger picture, and yes, others notice patterns that sometimes the poster doesn't, so please, keep pointing them out I was reading a diary though where I just wanted to shake OP and say you have pages and pages of repeated advice here and you just haven't listened, and as a result have increased your debt, but many had tried and failed. I think they genuinely didn't see the pattern themselves until it was pointed out about twenty times, then when they finally twigged they just ignored the advice anyway. Sigh.

Still haven't got to curious cat, but I did get an e mail from slice the pie earlier! I'm hoping that I can do an hour tonight, in between gym,aldi, hair wash, and batch cook, eeek! Busy evening coming up :money: