Gap is Back - Time to Knuckle Down

girlatplay

I was out for a work leaving lunch on Friday and made two mistakes. The first was that I took cash out ready but because I never carry cash, when I came to pay my share of the bill I automatically paid by card. D'oh! The second was I ate more than I intended to so my total share of the bill was about £10 more than I planned. Luckily I had money left in the Slush Fund so enough to cover.

I then went to meet friends later on. We had vouchers and had already paid for drinks and nibbles so the (my) plan was to utilise the vouchers then head home. The vouchers we had totalled up to quite a lot of alcohol (more than expected) so when two of us heading home the same way left, I thought it was a great idea for us to have one more drink. I hardly ever drink alcohol so it does tend to affect me when I do. I know this, it's part of the reason I don't drink often. Anyway, luckily for me, one more drink was (more than) enough for both of us so miraculously it still came within the remaining balance of the Slush Fund. I am £2 out somewhere but because I round up the balance when I transfer money from the relevant account to the cc account and because I transferred from two different accounts, I think that is where it's at.

Slush fund is now at £0.00.

Grocery account is at £32 plus I have £14 grocery cash in my purse so £46 left in grocery budget for the rest of the month.

I have meal planned from tomorrow until Saturday and will do that grocery shop tomorrow. I went through Jack Monroe's first book and took most recipes from there. I have a bag of frozen spring greens in the freezer that I got from M&S, YS 12p, ages ago and I've never got round to using it. I've now got a couple of recipes for this week to use them up

Paid one cc off today, first of the three for the month.

Think that's it for today.

beanielou

Hope you enjoyed your night out

girlatplay

Didn't do the grocery shop this afternoon. Came home, had lunch then had a snooze. I'll absolutely have to do it tomorrow.

Going to Boyfriend's for tea. Stinky chicken. Like stinky beef but with chicken instead

LMG has fallen out with me again because I asked her to help me with something. She fell out with me last week because I put the car in for the service early in the morning. These are different fall outs from the one a few weeks back because I know I haven't done anything wrong and she's just being a teenager. It's kind of like a toddler having a tantrum because they don't want their socks on or off, or don't like pasta in their mac cheese. It will blow over.

beanielou

The joys of our offspring :eek:

girlatplay

beanielou wrote: »

The joys of our offspring :eek:

:rotfl:

Last night LMG texted me to tell me she was using the last piece of bread for her tea. I stopped at Asda on the way home to pick up another loaf because I like toast for my breakfast. I picked up a couple of other bits off the list too. Spent just under £9.
This afternoon I went to Morries and picked up the rest of the stuff on the list and it came to just under £17. That takes me to (including) Saturday on the meal plan.

£6 left in the grocery account and £13 left in grocery cash all to last until 31st.

Finally got £25 cashback from the car insurance (after having to put a claim in) so I've split that in half with LMG (she pays her share of the car insurance). £12.50 gone to Challenge account.

girlatplay

Had to pop into the supermarket for 4 items I forgot (how??) to put on the shopping list. Spent just under £7 and used the cash in my purse so £6 left in there (the pence has gone to the Challenge pot) and £6 still left in the grocery account.

Think Boyfriend is coming up for tea but just waiting to hear back from him to confirm.

I've refused a catch up with friends on Friday by truthfully saying that bank account says no. It will be a quiet weekend which is good.

One week to payday!

savingholmes

Great that work are likely to fund a course for you.

girlatplay

savingholmes wrote: »

Great that work are likely to fund a course for you.

Yes, it is. Spoke to my boss this morning about doing the first level. She has said (but needs to obtain final approval) that they would be prepared to pay for my course materials if I pay for my registration and professional fees. That's a difference of about £500-£600 so I only need to find £185. They will also pay for one shot at each exam and if I fail then I would pay for the resit, which is what I was hoping for. I know they pay professional fees for others in the company so I'm sure once I've qualified they will pay mine too. If not it's money I'll be able to get my hands on for the purposes of keeping the qualification. I'm just waiting for confirmation so I can go ahead.

Today was supposed to be a NSD but when I wrote the date this morning I remembered it's my BIL's birthday so popped into the card shop and picked up a card for him and one for another birthday I have next month. Posted BIL's card and sent an apology text. He laughed!

Got £4 left in my purse and £6 in grocery account so £10 in grocery budget. My bus card is due to run out on Monday which means I'll need to top it up using the cc and transfer the funds over when I get paid. It's a wee bit annoying because it's a 4 weekly top up and it means I'll be short again next month date-wise. What it really means is I need to take a holiday from work soon!

I really fancied pasta for lunch today so I made it and have just eaten it. It may have been a mistake as I'm now a bit sweaty mess. Going to sit in the garden for a bit, see if I can cool down :rotfl:

girlatplay

Forgot that I paid off the third cc today too. I had £10.92 left in the cc account (from rounding) so that has gone to the Challenge account and 22p change from the birthday cards has gone to the Challenge pot.

Been thinking, I've put away the weekly tax credits since I thought they were stopping so that I could force myself into living on the new budget. Another couple of weeks and what I have saved will cover the fees for the course for this year.

It's less than a week until payday, I have food in and £10 left in the grocery budget. I'll definitely need milk. This is doable.

beanielou

girlatplay wrote: »

Forgot that I paid off the third cc today too. I had £10.92 left in the cc account (from rounding) so that has gone to the Challenge account and 22p change from the birthday cards has gone to the Challenge pot.

Been thinking, I've put away the weekly tax credits since I thought they were stopping so that I could force myself into living on the new budget. Another couple of weeks and what I have saved will cover the fees for the course for this year.

It's less than a week until payday, I have food in and £10 left in the grocery budget. I'll definitely need milk. This is doable.

It is doable
That's great that you nearly have your fees saved :j