A new chapter, An empty nest, Drama school & Last year of Uni

Spendless

I've just found a further 51p in the same last card holder pocket, must have missed it on Thursday night. 57p short -lol.

Spendless

Annnnnnd I have the full money. Not long after my last post I moved an o/night bag I'd recently had and had been left in the hallway a few inches looking for something. On the floor by it whether that was underneath or actually fallen out of the bag was a £2 coin. This means I don't have to take a penny from elsewhere whoohoo. I've been able to change the money into notes and tomorrow I will bank it ready to pay the rent.

Fortune_Smiles

Well done Spendless!

Fortune x

EssexHebridean

Loving your trawling round the house searching for oddments of change! Well done on finally getting to the amount needed, and also on making the sensible decision not to "knee jerk react" and change the dollars up when they will shortly be needed too - good forward planning. 

Spendless

I've been into the city centre and paid the money in. I drove in as there's still petrol in the car from the other day and found a free a parking spot too.   The full amount is now sat in my bank account. It's to be paid later this week, but we're going to see if we are able to make the payment via CC as we now have a cashback one and then pay it immediately off.

Not  that I would have been buying just yet but I had a quick look to see if there were any shoes or a handbag to go with the dress I already have for DS wedding. I bought that earlier this month when I was with DD. The cost was well under the amount I'd planned so will be spending the rest on the accessories. Dress is blue and white so I was thinking of Navy shoes and bag but they seem to be a bit thin on the ground. 

DD came back for a flying visit. Briefly met up with the date she'd recently had, as she'd left a personal item in his possession by accident and revealed to me, that he'd told her he had 2 convictions for GBH and assault and a 3 yo he isn't allowed to see because of it. She was a bit vague about when he'd told her and said it took her to the day after he'd said it to process it all. Thankfully she has realised this isn't someone to be around. She has got her belongings back safely. My strategy of 'I don't like any of DD's dates until they prove me wrong' seems to be working - one has yet to prove me wrong! 

Spendless

DD's rent is paid for. That debt is now over until as and when she gets a 3 year degree. Paid for by the cashback CC and the equivalent  amount is sat in my savings account gaining interest until the point that it's needed to pay off the CC in just under 2 weeks time, so double whammy woohoo. 

Both me and Mr S get paid tomorrow. Later tonight I will transfer over any leftover wages from us both into savings accounts. There's not as much as last month but we have started to pay another CC bill plus we had DD home for Easter and associated costs with taking her all over. She was due to start her p-time job last weekend and went back early from her flying visit so she could but her training was cancelled due to the weather predicted and anticipated low levels of customers. Fingers crossed it's ok for this weekend.

I've been shopping with my Mum today and got some shoes, a jacket and a fascinator which have turned the dress I'm wearing for DS wedding from 'pretty but not sure it's special enough' to looking fab. I still need to get a handbag, and have already potentially seen one. None of it was particular expensive (I know that's subjective depending on your personal budget!). The fascinator was £12.99  from TK Maxx, shoes have a  small heel and a strap to keep them on and are comfy and were £25 in Deichmann  and the jacket was the dearest in Roman at a reduced price of £40 and I think it's that that transforms the dress. I've already messaged DD for her opinion on what jewellery I should wear and I also need to buy a strapless bra.

My job being advertised as a permanent role has been held up in bureaucracy!  As a result  my temp job with them has been extended till the end of June (as I requested in the 1st place!). This does at least take me past DD being a student for the current academic year.  I shall just use this additional time to make sure I'm trained up on everything so as and when the job gets advertised I'm the strongest candidate. 

Honeysucklelou2

Well done on sorting your outfit out. I’m still in a state of dread about going near a shop for an outfit!! Time is ticking fast though!

Spendless

Honeysucklelou2 said:

Well done on sorting your outfit out. I’m still in a state of dread about going near a shop for an outfit!! Time is ticking fast though!

Thank you. I went when DD was home for Easter because she isn't home again until the summer and then I worried it would be too late to find anything and I didn't want to go dress shopping with DH as I can't trust him to give me an honest opinion. I took my Mum with me for all the bits I bought last week.

I bought a pretty but nice dress well under my original budget with a further £5 knocked off because DD was with me and used her student discount to get it. Then I went through a dilemma of whether it was 'mother of the groom' enough. I kept looking at other outfits on-line and realised it needed making more 'dressy' hence the accessories. With the exception of the fascinator I expect to wear everything separately again whereas I have outfits in my wardrobe that scream 'wedding guest attire' that have only been worn  once.

DD's auditions are finally over, as are the expenses that come with them. She has a few weeks left of her course, then if she has no outcome for the Autumn will need to plan her next step.

I'm swaying between shopping today purely for a strapless bra or making today a NSD and concentrating completely on the house and tidying. I WFH yesterday, we have a summer house we work from. I went in in the morning to find a plug in radiator had been left on, the heat hit me. DH hadn't switched it off from the day before. He also hadn't cancelled a dental appointment that he was meant to, when I did it instead it turns out he'd got the wrong week anyway! He's been travelling about so much with DD this past 6 weeks as she auditions everywhere, plus his workload and last week came down ill with a cough that hasn't shifted which is to do with his acid reflux, so am tempted to get everything straight here so he can have a relaxing BH weekend. The bra is a purchase that will need to be made at some point anyway. 

Spendless

Well Wednesday and yesterday I achieved 2 NDS. This is the first time I remember that I managed 2 consecutive days and definitely the first time ever that I wasn't consciously aware that I'd had one.

I bought myself a pre-loved backpack for my work in the office day as the work issued laptop bag could fit in work stuff fine, no room for anything personal though! The backpack is so much better but my usual purse slightly too big for it, so on Tuesday  removed my cards and change from it to one of my coin purses and took that in the backpack instead. Yesterday morning as I was tidying I came across some loose change and went to put it in my purse, that's when I realised it was empty and that I'd moved everything to the coin purse which was still in my laptop bag and came the realisation that I'd not spent anything on Wednesday and not even noticed. My online banking confirmed this, then as I'd never experienced this before it made me determined to spend nothing yesterday and get 2 NSD together. My coin purses are sooo good at hiding cash - lol.

Today won't be no spend though. To help DD with her budget, I put £20 each week on a Sainsburys 'parent/student card. My bank account doesn't process transactions till the following  working day which means it won't show as going out of my account until Tuesday next week. I may also have petrol to get, but hoping that's it in my expenditure. Quite a fair bit has gone out of the joint account where DH's wages go so may need to juggle round the bank accounts.  

Spendless

Letting my account build up money from my wages whilst I was saving for DD's rent seems to have had a positive effect on my not spending from it. After I paid for the wedding outfit accessories from it (still need to buy a handbag) I used it last week only for my train fare for my work commute, a sausage roll on the way home - a really bad habit I've got into because I have a slight wait before my train arrives, I need to stop it, it's bad for my weight and health as well as the purse, and money for DD last payday, both the Sainsbury's card, I sent £5 more so she can buy snacks she's struggling with food prep too! And also some jeans for her for work. She started her job last weekend, she did initially start there some months ago, but the department they'd initially employed her on, then wasn't open, so she worked elsewhere, didn't enjoy it and postponed it whilst she auditioned and has now been transferred to the department she was initially offered.

She struggled with her first days there which I worried about, but has had a more positive experience since.  She told me that a child with disabilities (child had a badge/lanyard on her that told her this) came in to celebrate her birthday. ordered a meal and then wasn't able to eat it because the wooden cutlery provided caused too much of a sensory issue. Mum approached the line manager explained the problem and asked if they could be provided with something metal and was told No. DD on over-hearing sourced something suitable and took it over to the family, who thanked her profusely. She said line-manager saw her but turned a blind eye. DD said she'd rather get into trouble over it than have the child unable to eat her birthday meal.

I am so proud of this. Though it used to drive me nuts when they were younger that both my kids would question why rather than just compiling (because it would have made my life easier!)  today I am grateful for young adults who aren't afraid to stand up and speak/act out if they spot an injustice. It actually  reminds me of my late Nan, who was left handed and expected lose her  school breaks in order  to practise writing with her right hand. Her Mum (my G-Gran) used to complain about it all the time. Nan telling the story would always finish it with 'and here I am 70/80/90 and still left handed'  Today no-one would  dream of  doing that to a left handed child. Eventually we won't expect children with sensory issues to eat with unsuitable cutlery either. 

Our joint account which DH wages and the bills go out of isn't looking as healthy though, we did eat out on a few occasions last weekend but also some costs from the last of DD's auditions have gone through it so we are going to work them out and if needed, I will send the money over from another account, either mine or the one I have ear-marked for educational expenses.