Learning to live within my means

astrocytic_kitten

Spent a bit of time this morning sorting out all the DDs that left the account today. Loan payment won’t come out till the 8th, sitting on my fingers as I want to fiddle and transfer and make overpayments but can’t.

Considering making oat milk this week as a money saving attempt. Online recipes look straightforward but I’m still really nervous about it for some reason. Maybe just because it involves the blender. I don’t use the blender very often, things never seem to go right when it’s involved :rotfl:

astrocytic_kitten

Still haven’t attempted the oat milk!

Haven’t updated on the clothes front - I ended up going through the gym clothes in my drawer and found an old sports bra that would work. Bought a huge jumper and a pair of jeggings online in the H&M sale using a prolific cash out (topped up by about £2), and have decided that will keep me going for a while. H&M will do collections for online shopping returns, so useful when you can’t get to the post office!

Feeling very fatigued this week, just want to lie down all the time and don’t seem to have the energy for anything. I ignored my meal plan and had beans on toast for dinner last night. Tonight I’m going to try an all in one tray bake with salmon, baby potatoes, cherry tomatoes plus spinach...hopefully that will be low effort but not waste the fresh food I bought.

Loan payment comes out on the 8th but they normally add the interest on the night of the 7th so should be able to update my debt figure at the end of the week. Should reach 40% paid off this month!

astrocytic_kitten

Can’t sleep so thought I’d do some money admin, and now I’m just very confused and can’t sleep :rotfl:

I switched energy supplier at the end of last month. It was a dual fuel tariff, a few days after the switch old supplier sent me a gas bill with a credit balance of £80-odd. Then a few days after that they sent an electricity bill showing I owe them £20, based on starting off with the £80 credit balance.

All pretty straightforward until today when they refunded me the £80.... I’m guessing overall they’re going to end up taking £100 from my account because they’ll need to reclaim the £80.

No official final bill yet so I’ll just have to wait and see. On the plus side I’m apparently using less energy than I was this time last year.

astrocytic_kitten

Still no oat milk made. I’m having a bit of a flare (I feel like I’ve been saying that every single week lately, getting a bit fed up of it) and am still in my pjs. Wondering if I should brave a shower and hair washing, or instead get a pot of soup on the go. Should go the cleanliness route but tempted by the soup making instead!

Have spent a while under a blanket getting to grips with the new forum. Spent a while feeling really stupid because I couldn’t work anything out, then realised it wasn’t displaying properly on my iPad mini and I had to have it in landscape mode, at which point things became clearer. Though I am missing the banging head against wall emoji, how will I now illustrate the many stupid and self defeating things I do?   

This week has progressed within budget, the only non-essential spend being £1.49 on chocolate when I was having a terrible day and knew I’d pushed too far. Have had quite an emotionally stressful week but getting back onto more of an even keel now. 

girlatplay

Sometimes when I'm not feeling it I shower but just wash my body. I've finally figured out how to use dry shampoo successfully so I stick some of that in and it actually makes me feel a bit cleaner.  I couldn't use it every day but as a one off now and then if I just physically can't wash it then I use that.

Well done on sticking to the budget this week.  Sometimes we just need chocolate don't we?

astrocytic_kitten

Thanks @girlatplay, embarrassingly it was my weekly hair wash I was talking about. I’m showering most days but hair washing is so exhausting. Building up to twice a week is one of my goals, in the meantime at least it’s winter and I need a hat to go outside anyway 😂

Bright sun here (though very windy and cold based on my attempt to open a window), I’m hoping to get out for some fresh air before the storm hits. Need to do something otherwise I’ll end up back in bed, slept badly and feeling pretty grim.

Have reached 40% of the debt paid though! Was thinking the next milestone would be 50% but in a couple of months I’ll have paid off £10k since I started, which feels pretty unbelievable.

astrocytic_kitten

Well today I showered, worked, went for a short walk in very very cold weather, and then built a nest on the sofa from my heated blanket and every cushion I own and didn’t move from it for quite a while. Just need to start thinking about dinner.

Spending a fortune at the vet at the moment but there’s not really any way round it. Have had an extra layer of fatigue I just can’t shake off over the past week or two and I think a lot of it can be attributed to how worried I am over boy cat. He seems to be on an upswing right now, long may it continue. Not sure how I’d manage without him.

redofromstart

I'm glad it's not just me, it's not easy to wash my hair.  Dry shampoo helps.  

Tiny cat was spayed this week so vet bill here too, but an essential spend.  Have you looked at alternatives to vet medicated feed? Zooplus did some good alternatives for us, but the senile old man ignored them while the young and virulent gingers munched through the dodgy kidney biscuits with enthusiasm and pleasure.

Sarahwithlove

Dry shampoo is the way forward you can get some really nice smelling ones 😍

StartingAgainAt29

I've trained my hair so I only wash it roughly every 5-7 days...I prefer dealing with not-freshly washed hair so works for me, plus my hair takes forever to dry so it's just a chore. Dry shampoo is my best friend, or wax if it needs to go up in a bun