Another weekend, another update

Things on the blog front are starting to seem a bit predictable right?....

Anyways, this weekend went pretty much as planned and was good on the spending front; I budgeted £20 for drinks out on Friday night, a catchup with old work friends. I really enjoyed the eve and spent just £8.50 as I was so busy chatting away.

Saturday, I worked at Twickenham as there was another rugby game on. I did 10-4 so should get £35 quid (approx.) for this; the game wasn't until five, so we didn't get busy until half two when it went mental. I finished at four, ate my free dinner, abbott ale steak pie, mash, beans and gravy and escaped the madness. I watched some of the Chelsea game with my housemate and snoozed the eve away.

Sunday myself and the BF had the entire day together, which is somewhat of a rarity. We spent it cycling the surrey countryside out in the fresh air which is what I needed. By the time we arrived home it was dinner time; we cooked chicken thighs, drumsticks and wings in a marinade, some rice which was egg fried as the eggs go off tomorrow and home-made guacamole. I've just eaten the left overs at work, which were also yummy! (It's a no-spend day for me today!)

This week will be a little busier and more fun filled than last week, with cinema, dinner and theatre trips planned throughout the week, and a house party this weekend. On Thursday the BF has an interview as such with an air conditioning firm for an apprentice position. It means that if he gets the job he'll be a- working with one of his best friends, b-working normal hours so we'll have a higher quality life together now and in the future, c- once he qualifies he will earn more than what he can if he progresses in retail management d- he'll get a company van which will mean free travel for us too!

On the flip side, for this year he won't earn as much as he would once his promotion goes through at work which means I'll be the one saving- however I had only worked out what I was able to put away anyways, so that isn't too much of a disaster as I hadn'd really banked on help anyways.

He's rediculously excitied, but I can't help but think I shouldn't get my hopes up just in case it crumbles around us again. Tonight I'll be re-writing his CV which he'll need to take along with him on Thursday.

Fingers crossed.

Living on a financial edge

Inspired by this post by Frugal Queen http://frugalincornwall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/froogs-fearlessly-eats-it-all.html, who has become one of my favourite go to inspirational blogs over the last few months, I whipped up a rather unconventional culinary treat last night.

Out came the big box of fishcakes which were £2 for about 12 I think, I popped five into the oven so as to have some for my lunch at work (today). Realising I had no potato-type foods I scavenged in the back of the cupboard for half a packet of couscous I'd pegged down, and rummaged in the freezer for some peas. I was feeling quite hungry so also used up a naan bread that I had frozen before it had gone off. The combination was fairly strange to see and a few people commented on my random assemblement of food but it filled a hole (twice) for almost nothing. I kind of wish I had taken a photo- but I'm sure you can imagine it.

I cooked my dinner and placed the remaining food into a washed out plastic Tupperware container (recycled from a housemates recent take away) to take to work. I think one of the key aspects to saving as much as possible is being organised- from doing a weekly food shop for foods which will a- last the week and b- make enough filling, healthy meals, to making sure the washing is kept on top of so as not to buy any impulse clothing buys, to keeping a constant eye on bank accounts etc, and finally always looking for the best deals from car insurance to washing powder.

Just one week away from payday I feel quite like Astra from http://www.blogger.com/home who looks forward to her monthly bank statements as its the reward for a months worth of hard work saving. I feel the same and can't wait to have a new budget, plus to see my figures increasing on the spreadsheet knowing we are getting closer to our goal.

I have roughly £4 at the moment once all my bills etc are paid, and I'm off out for a few drinks tomorrow night. However, I figure the money I'll get from Saturday's bar shift should be enough to cover this cost. Otherwise I'm just ploughing on with the no-spend days.

And I've also updated the ticker so that the figures are all proper.