Weekly round up

Happy Friday everyone, just thought I would post quickly on the current financial sitch. My second Barclay's bank card came through in the post yesterday so I am now able to use my sole account for my monthly disposable income. I've decided to do this because at least then I know what will be going where and so on. It also has £0 overdraft, unlike my huuge interest free overdraft in my Santander account which I can dip into now and then- but would obviously rather not, so this new system stops this urge.

I now have £185 disposable income to last the remainder of the month which should be do-able at around £60 per week- anything left over is a bonus. I'm still owed one last £50 payment from the BF for the computer which will then be paid off.

I'm also owed around £23 for a short shift I did at the last minute at the pub, as well as £10 for the mystery shop at the weekend. My Santander account should just about make it through the month, but may go £50 overdrawn due to my standing order joint account payments and the way payday fell, and will fall this month. I should get paid the day after (with any luck) so won't be too bad.

Out for a few drinks with work tonight which is budgeted for, and lunch tomorrow with a friend and then continuing with the no-spend into next week.

Charity shop find and a quick update

A few days ago I was en route to do another mystery shop whereby I go into usually a bank, ask a few questions and fill out a form online and a company deposits £10.00 into my account for my troubles. I usually only accept a mystery shop assignment if it fits into my plans and isn't out of my way otherwise the payment wouldn't be worthwhile.

If anyone fancies becoming a mystery shopper here is the link https://www.grassrootsmysteryshopping.com/.

I was scheduled to go into the bank at 10am, but had gone straight to the shops after my morning zumba class and was a little early. The high street where I was had lots and lots of charity shops so I thought I would kill some time and have a look around while I waited. I usually like looking for bric-a-brac and purses and handbags in charity shops, and (I think?!) struck gold with this little find.

My current purse, which was a present over a year ago from my sister had a broken zip and any cash I had in it would fall out everywhere, and it was made from a hard material and was kind of plastic-y to hold. I found this purse/wallet thing in one of those bins you find in charity shops and was a snip at just 50p! It also says that it is made from cowhide, so I assume its real leather? Either way, I don't think its bad for just 50p.

Anyways, I have just enjoyed some yummy leftovers from last nights dinner at my desk- spaghetti, home made tomato sauce made from tinned tomatoes, garlic, onion and one yellow pepper with some frozen prawns. Sometimes I think people look at me a little strangely for bringing my own lunch in everyday, and not having super exciting plans scheduled for every single night after work, but I just try to stay focused on my end goal. I really don't want to be paying almost £1000 every month to pay for someone elses mortgage when I'm 30 if I can help it, and eating my own home made lunch and avoiding the pub in the week seems like a small price to pay.

Tonight I plan to use up the box of mushrooms sitting in the fridge with some chopped, fried bacon and perhaps some rice in a sort of freestyle oriental type sauce improvised from soy sauce, white vinegar and fish sauce. I'll make double and take the second portion to work with me tomorrow, then will have the microwave lasagna which is in the freezer on Friday lunchtime.

I've worked out my monthly budget which works out at around £60 disposable income for the next three weeks, which I think should be fine and may even have a little extra left. I'll then transfer this into the Barclays account once the card finally arrives, then all we need to do is for the BF to set up his standing order to me to pay back the CC, transfer the money usually used for council tax into our holiday fund and I think we're heading on the straight and narrow financial path...kind of.

In other news I have also had my hair cut asymmetrically, which is another resolution off the list for this year. It's probably the shortest my hair has ever been on one side, literally just above my left ear but think I have finally got used to it. The colour is still annoying me a bit, as its slightly darker and redder a few inches from my roots but I'm determined to grow my natural colour through this year... perseverance is definitely needed!

Hope you're having a happy Wednesday wherever you are. x

Be gone credit card and good riddance!

Yesterday myself and the BF spent the day in London celebrating Chinese New Year with my Mum and Dad. We headed past Trafalgar Square up to China Town in pursuit of dragons, drums and decorations. Things were pretty crowded and quiet in comparison to other years so feeling the cold we went to Carnaby Street for a bite to eat.

Conversation turned to our current living arrangements and how I am increasingly getting fed up with living with other people who bring drunk 18 year olds home who puke in our loo and who don't seem to know how to pick up a hoover. Anyways, after discussing finances and savings etc the conversation turned to my BF's credit card and the extortionate amount of interest he is paying, and what a rip off it is. My mum, (who used to be a personal banker) strongly advised that I pay off the balance of £900 using my savings, and my BF pay me back instead. A monthly repayment of £75 should clear it within the space of a year. So that's what we plan to do, I have just made the transfer and it should hopefully be paid off and sorted out by tomorrow.

They then said that if we (I?) continue to save how we/I am then they may be able to help us with some of the deposit on a flat in around a years time. I almost cried with relief that I won't have to put up with this situation for too much longer and we may even have our own, settled home. It almost seems to good to be true and so far away, but will feel so worth it if it does happen. Though it is a little disheartening transferring almost £1,000 out to pay of the credit card certainly makes financial sense in the long run. If things go to plan I should have around £10,000 by the end of July (if we stay living in the same place we are now- fingers crossed, even though the people aren't great its affordable, is a fairly nice, newly refurbished flat and is also great location wise).

So come July time that leaves ten months to save £500 per month, maybe more if I get a decent pay rise in October and the BF starts saving too. That's at least a total of £15,000 so would probably need to borrow £10,000 off my parents for a deposit. Their mortgage is going down shortly and they have my sister and her BF living at home paying a couple of hundred pounds rent between them so all being well they can help us towards our future. Eep!

Day to day saving seems so hard, but I just keep thinking every thing I buy means our own home is just a bit further out of reach. I've resisted the daily diet coke, and have a weeks worth of meals planned so won't need to do a shop until the weekend when I plan on going home as my BF is working nearly the whole weekend and I want a couple of uninterpreted good nights sleep (as well as some free food as well of course hehe!).

I'll keep my little turtle tracker at the same amount as I will be recouping the money over the next year and want to know where I am in relation to my overall goals.

Does anyone have any inspirational quotes to keep me focused? and does anyone else struggle with just keeping going? Please feel free to share your tips.

Hope you've all had a Happy Monday and may the frugal feeling stay with you.

Payday!

Payday ticker update- £60 straight into the ISA. Hoping to get my £100 for the Wii at the weekend, and I have acquired a days holiday at my bar job somehow, though not sure how as it isn't a regular occurrance, but I'm not complaining. This is due to arrive on Friday.

It's someones birthday today in the office (another one, there's been about three here in just a couple of weeks) but I had to eat my pre-prepared cheese pasta lunch I made a few days ago so gave it a miss. My freestyle recipe most definatley needs some work. I was tempted to go for something yummy at the pub but I'm going out for dinner for dim-sum Friday evening with a friend so I'll save it for then instead.

Oh I have also completed one of my New Year resolutions too; yesterday I had my hair cut asymmetrically and I'm feeling pretty bald on the left side of my head at the moment. It's really short so will take some getting used to. 

Lost funds

I have a budgeting app on my phone where I record what I spend on a daily basis, and this month I seem to have lost about £70 somewhere. I've gone through my bank statement and from what I can see it matches my spending on my phone so I'm going to have to go through with a fine tooth comb exactly what has happened.
Any advice? 

Pensions

Just a quick post to say that today I set up my pension scheme through work. Though the company no longer contribute to employees pensions I will get tax relief. This means that when I pay in £50 per month around £30 I would have paid in tax anyway will be put towards my retirement fund. Not huge amounts but better than nothing.

I also had news today that the BF's sister will be buying my Wii off me which will be paid in two installments of £50, one tomorrow and one at the end of the month so should be able to squirrel most of this away. 

Financial update

Last night I asked my BF to put some body lotion on this very small patch of dry skin at the bottom of my back. I handed him a tube of body lotion which I had cut the top off to get to the lotion which just will not squeeze out the tube no matter how hard you try. And he says to me 'Are you on some kind of super-saving spree?' So I replied, 'I just don't like waste' hehe. He's only just noticed.

On another note at the weekend my mum gave me cash for my Bluewater Christmas vouchers, despite protesting slightly. I have also re-ordered a new card and pin number for my personal Barclays account which I haven't used in years. When it arrives, and payday is finally here I plan to work out my disposable income for the month after putting any money into my ISA and putting the spare money into the account so I know exactly how much I have to play with. I have been having to account for the weekly direct debits which leave and go into our joint account as well as taking into account the regular standing orders which are going out such as rent and mobile phone bill. This way should be much easier. I am also intending to start my pension plan through work but am a little concerned that people have lost thier money when companies go bust...what to doo? I have to decide by the end of the week.

I have also set up a saving account which £20 per month goes into from our joint account. Its flexible so if there is more fundage available I/we? can just transfer this in as and when to put some money aside for our holiday towards the end of the year (hopefully!).

Finally, I was reading a blog earlier and saw that one blogger recommended placing a dishwasher tablet into the toilet cistern so that every time you flush it cleans the loo. Does anyone else do this? After sitting on our downstairs loo seat and cracking it in half (eek! didn't realise they were sooo flimsy and yet so expensive to replace!) I don't want to break anything else in the house that I would have to replace if I were to damage it. We have a whole bag of dishwasher tablets sitting underneath our sink not doing anything as our last flat had a dishwasher, and this one sadly doesn't.

Oh, while we are on the subject I have been reading everywhere that landlords are not renewing rental contracts in the months running up to the Olympics and are planning on doubling rents in some parts to cash in on the games. Our contract is up for renewal at the end of May, and so the seed of worry has started growing in my mind that we may have to move yet again....*sign*.

Besides the financial cost of having to cough up yet more money to cover estate agent fees our furniture has tripled in the space of a year and the location is so good for me, just a three minute walk from the station with a direct link taking 35 minutes into London Waterloo. I'm seriously hoping we can stay put, even if the rent does go up just a little bit.

 In an ideal world myself and my BF would just move back to my parents to save for our own place, but this would involve some major disruption to our lives as he would have to transfer his place of work and I have no idea where all our furniture would go as I have fitted wardrobes in my bedroom and no place for a double bed. I seriously hope it doesn't come to that. Watch this space folks.

Slowly but surely the tortoise wins the race....

The season ticket loan has finally come through, a few weeks late damn the finance department. It was a good job I had some funds saved to fall back on. Anyways, I've put the whole amount back into the ISA making up an extra £240, meaning the little turtle that lives on my ticker has inched along a little further.

Making food go further

Yesterday evening I made a lovley little pasta dish inspired by watching a Nigel Slater TV programme called 'Making food go further' (is on BBC iPlayer). It involved using very few ingredients, all of which I already had in the cupboard/fridge/freezer.

Ingredients

1. Pasta shells
2. Frozen peas
3. Margarine/butter
4. Cheese
5. Fresh basil

Method


1. Cook pasta and drain
2. Cook peas in microwave for a few minutes
3. Put a generous scoop of butter in frying pan and heat until melted
4. Take butter off the heat when begins to bubble. Pour in peas and torn basil
5. Pour butter mixture into pasta, sprinkle over grated cheese and serve

What I loved about this recipe, besides its simplicity is how the peas sit inside the pasta shells. This week I also want to give a Jamie Oliver pasta recipe a go; red onion, sun dried tomatoes and balsamic vinegar. Though I don't have these store cupboard ingredients at home at the moment.

I also plan to treat myself to some earplugs as these are a necessity at my house which seems to be a bit like Charing Cross station at times with two shift workers living there (silent grr!) and living on top of shops this morning a lorry driver seemed to be revving his engine for ten minutes interrupting my sleep- and I love my sleep! Rant over.

January blues

I think I, like most people am experiencing the post-Christmas January blues. You know the feeling when payday seems sooo far away, and there's less going into your savings at the end of the month because of the festive period.

Rather than getting on with it like I have been doing for the last year and enjoying the little things I keep getting preoccupied with buying stuff, stuff I don't really need and that I know won't make me happy. Stuff like Kindles and touch screen e-readers, iPads and getting my hair cut and coloured even though I only had it cut in late December. It's not that I'm feeling particularly unhappy as such, it just seems that because of buying the computer which ate up £440.00 and having to pay out for some of my annual season ticket (just over a couple of hundred) and the BF still owes me £200 it kind of seems at the back of my mind its like to hell with it this month, in for a dollar in for a pound.

Then Miss Sensible comes along and explains that its silly to think like that, and once the £200 is repaid to me, I get my season ticket loan from work and my sister gives me cash for my vouchers things will probably be ok and I can stash away a couple of hundred into the ISA at the end of the month- eeking me nearer to a total of £7,000. Not a huge sum of money but I'm kind of pleased that its making progress, slowly but surely.

Whats making me feel a bit better is that most people seem to be in the same boat with many of my co-workers discussing plans for the weekend involving nothing too exciting, complaining that they're broke. Last night one of my best friends came over and I cooked home made nachos with cheese and salsa to start and then home made, from scratch chicken and sweetcorn pizza. We chatted on the sofa eating away, and even though my dough didn't rise for some reason, making the pizza extra thin and crispy we ended up feeling sleepy, stuffed and happy.

Today I had plans to get up bright and early to go to a Zumba class at my gym, but yesterday I forgot to book and it was full at 8am this morning. Instead, I started a lethally addictive game of Simms 3 (borrowed) which I sat glued to for the whole morning. I forced myself to switch it off as the bedroom needed sorting out, and other house bits needed doing.

When everything was done I made another big batch of soup, which made five portions. Considering the whole bag of carrots cost 75p I think that's pretty good going.  All I needed extra was a couple of sweet potatoes, a stock cube, half an onion and one roasted pepper (from the jars). So that's lunch sorted for the next week. I also picked up some pretty good bargains (I think anyways) in the Sainsburys local opposite my work. The big Christmas boxes of Jacobs crackers were reduced to £1.20 so I bought two, the carrots, four or five apples which were pretty nice for £1 and a six pack of McCoys crisps a snip at 94p.

At the moment I feel a bit like that fish from the Disney film Finding Nemo who is told 'just keep swimming... just keep swimming..just keep swimming...' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmyUkm2qlhA

If anyone else feels the same feel free to let me know.....xx

Mission accomplished

Today I managed to buy my season ticket for the year as I refuse to line TFL's pockets any more than I have to. I am a little concerned as to why my loan hasn't come through from work though, but my manager said it was easier to do it another way to the way I was told it would happen where the money is put in your account in one go so maybe that has happened instead and it isn't because I haven't passed my probation period.- eek! fingers crossed. 

My finances are a little up the wall at the moment....

Hello to the people who read this blog and I hope you all had a very enjoyable Christmas- with a not too bad financial aftermath to deal with in the coming weeks. This year Christmas seemed to pass by in a blur and I can't believe it is almost New Years Eve already.

I last posted before my work Christmas party just over a week ago, which was a very enjoyable night and surprisingly I actually tried to alternate my alcoholic drinks with soda water and lime and even drank a bottle of water in the cab home and took some painkillers too- I was very proud of myself as usually I never know my limits and end up in a bit of a pickle :S. The next day I was one of the first in the office at 8.30am and was feeling pretty good- just really hungry as I hadn't had much for dinner the previous evening, only some canapes. 

The past week I seem to have fallen a little off the frugal bandwagon, and whereas before I would have carefully thought about what I was buying there hasn't been much of that going on. Nothing too reckless, but there has been food bought which has gone mouldy and unused which has ended up in the bin which I usually try to avoid at all costs, clothes and make up bought that I wanted and didn't exactly need and meals out in close succession with the reasoning that hey-ho its Christmas. 

Also, what has really thrown me into the red is the all-in-one computer I bought outright with built in freeview television. It was a planned purchase, but as the BF gets paid weekly he still owes me £200.00 which I'll probably get in four £50.00 installments. It has a nice big screen, which is such a luxury compared to the crappy cracked screen laptop I've been using the past few months, and is perfect for photoshopping my photos and watching TV in our room. 

And on top of that my annual season ticket loan money still isn't in my account, despite the finance department saying it would be there the week before Christmas. Therefore, I have had to transfer money from my ISA into my current account to pay for all £1,880.00 of it. Eek! I tried to buy my season ticket today to start in the first of January so I pay for this years train fares and consequently avoid the ridiculous 5.8% increases but the ticket office was closed at 1pm. I'm hoping I can buy it easily tomorrow instead without too much hassle, but my sister said they make the process so over-complicated it took her three attempts to try and buy hers. Fingers crossed. 

All being well I will be able to buy the season ticket tomorrow and that will be my travel costs paid for the next year. Once that's all paid for I will have around £165.00 in my account plus £55.00 cash which I need to pay in  tomorrow whilst carrying out my mystery shop at Santander (£10.00 payment for asking a few silly questions and filling out a form-more on that later!) totaling £220.00, I'm hoping to get around £60.00 next Friday for the bar work I've done this week taking that up to £280.00, plus the £200.00 I'm owed from the BF £480.00 and I should be selling my Wii for £100.00 making that a grand total of £580.00 to last another 25 days. Most of this will go on bills; £220.00 rent, £150.00 into the joint account, £42.00 gym membership and then £33.00 phone bill= £445.00, leaving £135.00 to spare. 

It feels good to finally work all this out as for the last week or so its been a bit of a head in the sand situation. I think my head cold has knocked the stuffing out of me a bit and I'm almost (I said almost!) looking forward to getting back into the usual routine- hoping to shake the cold before returning to work. 

I hope you all have a great evening tomorrow, whatever you have planned and hope next year is a happy and successful one for all!

PS. Does anyone have any resolutions yet? I haven't given too much thought to it yet I must say.  

I've just shifted some money around in my accounts so that I wouldn't be tempted to spend it anymore and now have the grand total of £6,662.00in my savings account so the little turtle has made some progress. This last few days I've been itching to shop for myself as I recently cleared out my wardrobe and draws of items which had seen better days and think I needed to replace a few bits.

I managed to resist popping down Oxford Street at lunch (mainly due to it being so cold) but last night after having my hair cut in Wimbledon I was left waiting for the BF, so naturally headed to the shopping centre to keep warm. I caught the last 15 minutes of H&M being open, hit their sale section and found a set of black fur trimmed mittens and black bobble hat for a fiver. This purchase I do feel was actually pretty necessary as my one pair of mittens were beige and falling apart (they'll go in the bin today) and my one bobble hat was a cream bear hat with pom-pom ears which were starting to come off- neither of which went with my new elegant black coat. My hands were also getting really chapped from the cold spell we are experiencing at  the moment, and the hat will help to keep my body heat in.

However, I also spotted a sparkly silver jumper I had eyed on a colleague at work that had caught my eye (the human-magpie effect!) which was priced £15.00 so I gave in and took it to the till- I thought it would be nice to wear on Christmas day.

Then, I was really hungry by this point and needed something to eat. All the available options didn't seem to appealing; the usual fast food outlets, supermarket pre-packaged sandwiches etc. so I opted for quite a bad choice on reflection- a Gregs steak bake. However, you had to spend a minimum of £3.00 to pay by card so I wound up walking away with a steak bake, festive bake and a mince pie...hmmm. Fairly annoying as I had already preprepared my dinner of steamed fish and green veg which was at sitting at home in the fridge-but such is life.

Myself and the BF went for a few drinks, but the pubs were crowded there was nowhere to sit/stand without being in someones way so around eleven made our way home. I thought that as our joint account is back in the black this week we would use that but we shared the cost between our personal accounts, so that was another £9.00 I hadn't planned on spending- think it might have been nicer to share a bottle of wine at home!

So the excess money is in my savings account, there is £100 left in there at the moment and half of my recent purchases haven't yet come out. I've also just remembered I need to buy another weekly travel card at £47.00 for the week- eek.

Left to pay
47.00-travel card
£25.00-hair cut
£20.00- H&M clothes (jumper is going back as looks awful on!)
£20.00- National Geographic subscription
£9.00- drinks out
£10.00- dinner out today
£3.00- Gregs

That's £15.00 (well it was if I was keeping the jumper!) over my budget which is what I originally anticipated so that's fine. I've also got a few shifts lined up at the pub over the week I'm off including New Year's Eve which I was umming and ahhing what to do, whether to work or go out. However, tickets to where I was meant to be going was about £20-£25, plus all the travel and drinks on top, plus I didn't fancy having to wait for two night buses in the cold. So I should have a little extra in January to cover these little overdraft inducing treats.

Right that's enough of me going on, does anyone have anything nice planned for this weekend? x

Weekly round up

Today was a mini payday for me, a little sum of £32.00 was deposited into my account from the three and a half hours bar work I did a few weeks a go- not too bad. I deposited that, and a little extra to round it up to £50 which I tucked into the savings account to make the little turtles journey a tiny bit shorter.

It's payday a little earlier this month due to Christmas, four days early so just eleven days away. I've worked out that after taking my rent and joint account money away from the sum in my current account I should be left with around £475.00. I'm going to give myself £75.00 to play with up until then (including a small token Christmas present for the BF- were keeping it small this year as we're planning on buying a decent desktop computer in January. I'm tired of trying to read around the crack in the screen on my laptop, and the keyboard is definably on its wayy out too (what a fabulous excuse for the typos!) I've also almost sold my WII with some games for £100.00 too, which will be going towards the computer, so all round a fairl good week- though after last week I'm not catching my chickens before they've hatched!

Today everyone made a trip to Gregs the bakers and the chip shop for Friday chips, I was a little envious sitting there with my mozzarella and tomato home-made sandwich and a couple of satsumas, but was quite glad come 3pm when a box of beautiful cupcakes from a bakery in Primrose hill arrived. I had a red velvet glittery cupcake (it didn't taste any different from a normal cake- I was left wondering what all the hype was about. After 20 mins I had sugar overload and had to prop my sleepy eyes open until I was able to nod off on the train. I'm cooking a chicken breast which needed using before tomorrow, sliced in half and seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic along with some pan fried potatoes, Brussels sprouts and peas which were left overs that were frozen a few weeks ago- some gravy will complete my thrifty dinner. xx


 

A small surprise windfall...

This lunchtime I braved the chilly London winds and the Oxford Street rabble to go to the bank to try to sort my debit card out once and for all. After discussing my ongoing problems with the cashier she shows me that I was meant to receive a new debit card in the post as well as a pin number. Well, the pin number turned up a few weeks ago but no card.

She shows me that my new card was sent to my old address, yet they managed to send the pin to the right address....I know go figure, where is the sense in that? She hands me a leaflet with a phone number to call 'stage two' complaints, great I thought.

Returning to my desk I rang the number and after explaining all my hassles over the last six weeks and threatening to move to another bank (calmly and politely of course)I'm put on hold to wait for my second apologetic gesture.

 After some time listening to 'Greensleeves' he says that he will credit my account with £100.00! Whoooo!! Tonight it has gone straight into the savings account, along with an extra £14.00 to make the amount nice and even, rounding the total up to £6,200- the ticker is moving along slowly I'm pleased to say and I'm planning on stashing away a little extra when I next get paid too. This week's spend £0 (Not much choice with no bank-card!) TTFN x

I'm trying out a ticker....

To help keep me on track during the silly season I've installed a savings ticker both on here and on my iGoogle desktop to help keep my end goal in sight. It should be possible to save this amount over the next year and a half all being well. I chose a little house motif as this is what the cash will one day go towards....


 

Dealing with 'The urge to shop'...

This week, sans payday and with most of my Christmas shopping done (go me!) - which never usually happens The urge to shop came over me. On my morning commute a girl stood in front of me who seemed to be wearing the exact same blazer I had lost last week (sob!) and after logging onto the H&M website I realised that a) my bank card STILL isn't working as it should, and b) I had left the joint account card at home, preventing it from taking another battering (which it really doesn't need!). I had a few quid in my purse to buy food shopping at lunchtime, so said clothes shopping was put on hold (phew!). However, after a turn of events in the office someone piped up that they had my little black blazer at home, after picking it up at the end of the night, and this morning I was reunited with one of my wardrobe staples- happy days!

This week, so far has been fairly frugal (didn't really have much of a choice!) I have only spent money on food for lunch supplies from Sainsburys across the road including;

1. A mini loaf of bread (will keep in the freezer and take out as and when) 
2. Six pack of McCoys crisps (on special offer £1, two down, four to go- around 16p per bag!)
3. A packet of crackers (nom..nom)
4. A punnet of plums (loads left- will take to Centre Parcs this weekend)
5. A packet of cherry tomatoes (again, loads left but should last in the fridge until next week)
6. A bag of satsumas (two left, which will be eaten today)
7. A bag of spinach (last handfuls will be wilted in pasta tonight)
8. A budget ball of mozzarella (finished; made four sandwiches 11p per sarnie)
9. Six pack of diet coke (also on special offer £2.50, 41p per can opposed to 65p two left for the picnic) 
10. Two sausage rolls (52p) 
11. One mini french stick baguette (50p)

All of this came to around £11.00, which really is the equivalent to a couple of lunches from a posh coffee shop, and this should do me for lunches for the rest of the week.

 Last night we were also taken out on another media night, this time to Byron a very posh burger chain which has just opened up around the corner from the office near Centre Point- all expenses paid of course. I tend to be like a kid in a candy shop at these events, and last night was no exception. I ordered the Byron burger with blue cheese and bacon, accompanied by courgette fries (yummy!) and a HUGE Oreo ice cream milkshake- delicious, but somewhat of a bad idea, followed by a full fat coke. I had been sooo hungry all day I had eaten loads, and by the time I had made it to the tube station I was feeling more than a little sick.....

Anyways, enough of that, this weekend I'm off to Centre Parcs for four days with the BF and the family which should be nice, and relatively low cost too (M&D paid as a VERY late part 21st present for me, and part 21st present for my sister) We've both always wanted to go since we were little, I think mainly due to their clever advertising campaigns, so looking forward to it. M&D want to keep the cost down as I think it set them back a fair bit, so it will be a weekend of relaxing in the spa, being forced to do Zumba and cycling about, spending the evenings having a few drinks (probably non-alcoholic as I think alcohol makes my skin worse!)......

Is anyone up to anything nice this weekend? .. x

Budgeting

So payday has finally arrived, and due to the car repairs putting me back in my overdraft I now (sadly!) have a very similar budget to work with as last month- around £1100.00. I put the odd £13.00 into my ISA to make the number nice and even to remember and this is how I reckon next months finances should (hopefully- fingers crossed!) pan out:

£220.00 rent
£200.00 into the joint account to pay for bills and food
£33.00 phone bill (am thinking of downgrading at the end of next year to save the £££)
£42.00 gym membership (again I think I will be cancelling my membership when my year is up at the beginning of March)
£94.00 x2 weekly travel cards (due to my week off over Christmas)
=£589.00
+30.00 approx. additional money from working at Twickenham rugby match today
Leaving £541.00 disposable income

This weekend I have spent/plan on spending very little. Last night I was tired and feeling a little worse for wear from the night before so I went for a swim and steam session before zonking out on the sofa. And tonight a friend was holding a house warming gathering, so I took round some soft drinks and posh crisps to share as me and my other friend were both driving and generally had a little natter and discussed the reality tv show strictly come dancing.

Tomorrow, the BF is off work so I plan on sorting out the mess which has accumulated on top of our wardrobes which has started to annoy me, finishing off my Christmas shopping online (hello Amazon!) going to the gym and finishing off the day with a cosy evening in watching a film and eating a nice dinner.