Not Sure A Leopard Can Change It's Spots Completely...

Well hello there readers, once again a huge gap between posts!  I am hoping you are all keeping well though and thanks for stopping by today.

So, the last time I posted I was battling my way through snow and sub zero temperatures and watching my money burn away as the heating stayed on (and on and on...) which was rather depressing.  Apparently we have more snow due this weekend/Monday, oh hurrah.  Let's hope it doesn't hang around for long as we used around £75 worth of gas in three weeks! 

Well I am not doing so well on the spending front.  Actually no, I am doing brilliantly well on the spending front if you want to look at it from a different point of view!  I did have a brief spell of being very very good but then it all went out of the window but, meh. 

I am not sure I will ever change to be honest.  I can see that how I spend my money has changed though which is at least a big step in the right direction and I am really pleased with that progress.  I now refuse to buy something if I don't know 100% that it will be used or worn regularly.  I refuse to buy anything without researching it first to see if I can get it cheaper elsewhere or if I can get it through QuidCo.  I refuse to buy something unless it's absolutely perfect for me or the house.  I refuse to buy anything in any of the leading supermarkets if I can get it for less in Aldi.  Where I have to pay or can pay by credit card, I do so and get Avios points.  In about a year's time I will have two free airline tickets to Berlin (on my bucket list) or Eurostar tickets to France or Belgium (either fine by me).   The credit card is paid off in full every month and in over two years I haven't paid a penny in interest.

So, so far this year I have seen some of my friends socially and also been out for the day/seen a film with hubby for his birthday.  All occasions have meant I spent money.  Rooting around the bargain section of the M&S Outlet with one of my best friends for four great tops for £20.  Coffee & lunch and a well needed catch up with her as she's going through a bit of a crisis.  Petrol over to where we met up. 

Yesterday, more petrol then to see another friend 65 miles away who is going through a dreadful separation and also needs support.  What do you do, say no?  Not in my book.  I don't like the thought of my friends gathering at my funeral talking about how great I was at saving a few bob, rather I hope they remember me as a loyal & supportive friend who was there if needed (as they are for me).

Anyway we had a cheap Greggs lunch out and a trawl around 4 charity shops where we both picked up absolute bargains.  For me, a much needed second winter coat for £4 (just need to get it dry cleaned) and an immaculate trench coat for £6 which I have machine washed already.  Assorted other tops for work and weekends plus a fabulous practical but stylish tote bag.  I guess total spend yesterday including petrol, about £40.  Result:  bargains achieved, money saved in the long run and one very much cheered up friend which is priceless.

In other spends, I've flirted again with Ebay and purchased some winter woolies for around the house and also found some of the few personal items I insist on, for significantly less than in shops (sorry High Street) so I got them.  Tried cheaper; bought twice.  No more of that, it's a false economy.  I may as well fork out a bit more for what actually works for me.

Off to see another old school friend in a couple of weeks time but we're staying in and she's cooking Thai food.  I am taking a bottle of Aldi wine and it'll probably cost about £7 in petrol for the return journey.  We'll talk for hours and I am also taking her some clothes which no longer are for me but which I think will really suit her. 

As well as being careful about where the money goes, I also try and get maximum use out of whatever is bought so, old clothes are passed on to friends or family (or charity shop if they don't want them), no food is ever wasted, I do weekly cupboard/freezer inventories and make menus accordingly, all household/cleaning things are used up to the last drop before something else is bought or opened....you get the picture.

I know I could make the decision to stop spending money full stop but the truth is, I don't want to and it's not really achievable unless I never leave the house again.  Truth is I am massively unhappy not seeing my friends (especially when they need help or support) and staring at the same four walls, I am unhappy wearing clothes or shoes that have seen better days or just look crap on me, I feel sh*t using cheap products and make up that don't do anything for my crazy hair or temperamental skin.  Watching life pass me by drives me insane.

For now, I shall continue to make good & more sensible choices where my cash goes and my debts will continue to be paid down at a manageable rate.  I want to see more people and places in 2013 than I have done in the last couple of years.  If I can squirrel away some savings as well I will (one of my days out mentioned above was paid for by some savings I had saved especially by the way) I won't squander it all but I think I am done with self imposed austerity measures for the sake of another few quid saved in the month.  Life's too short frankly, I want to grab some happiness again while I can. 

Cheerio for now!  x

Just Three Words Today

I HATE SNOW

Remember I Said It Would Get Worse Before It Got Better.....

.....hmmm, well I wasn't wrong about that!

January so far has been spend spend spend.  Though happily not on useless rubbish, booze, drugs & rock and roll.  Though saying that I will be spending twenty quid or so at a gig next weekend where there is a cheap bar and I need a taxi home!  Tickets already bought & paid for.  No drugs - unless you count the paracetamol I will undoubtedly need the next day.

It's been the month for the car service, MOT, repairs required to get through MOT, insurance and break down cover.  Ouch.

I have also done an Approved Food shop, a Tesco freezer stock up for vegetarian things which the likes of Aldi don't sell, and other bits and bobs required i.e fresh fruit & veg, bread etc.

I have also had to purchase some new clothes and boots as well.  The boots are Clarks but they were half price online (£25) with free delivery.  I won't buy cheap shoes, not when I have to cover what feels like miles on the hospital site some days; my feet deserve so much better.  And Clarks are comfy and have definitely upped their stakes in the style department recently.

The clothes have been off of EBay or today, in the sales at BHS.  Charity shops are good for a browse and I do love a good rummage but there have been specifics I need to fill gaps in my wardrobe or replace worn out items so I have hunted them out for less money.  I know in a previous post last Autumn or so, I said I shouldn't buy any more clothes but the truth is, there weren't enough practical items for this time of year or work so, shell out again I had to do.  I am pleased with the results though and have one more item on EBay to finish tomorrow then (if I win it) I am done.

It's hubby's birthday early next month so I have got him some nice gifts, luckily what he wanted I could find on Amazon Marketplace (sellers like you & me trying to get rid of old CDs, DVDs, books etc) or on sale online.  I guess that is one plus point about having a birthday in the Winter: you can get the gifts in the post Christmas sales if you're organised!

I have agreed to start going to an exercise class with an old friend and it is £4 a class on a Monday, held in a school hall.  We went for the first time last together last week and it was good.  I had a real laugh, a bit of a boogie (which I love) and got my heart rate up.  £4 a week over a year is much less than joining a gym I won't make the most of and there is no commitment so if I can't make it one week for any reason there is no hassle.  You don't have to pay up front.  I want to go though and get into a routine of it with her (I am really hoping the forecast snow does not make an appearance tomorrow to screw everything up) as exercise/dancing was always a big part of "me" so it will be good to have it back in my life as part of my weekly routine.

Socially, it's been pretty good, I have seen some friends and family whom I haven't seen for years, for the cost of some petrol and I passed on an old PC/monitor to my family member so that was my good deed/doing my bit to keep something out of landfill!  I am off to see another friend next weekend again for the cost of petrol (20 mile round trip) and she is also watching the pennies/trying to budget so I am sure we will have many things to talk about and compare.  I am trying to get another friend crowbarred into my diary as well but already we are mid January (or thereabouts) so it's looking like February to see her but that's OK as long as we get it sorted.

So it's been expensive but there you go.  I hope that February is a lot quieter financially - it *should* be.  The rest of the year needs to be fairly calm as well if I am going to meet my target.  Fingers crossed eh?

Bye for now.

x x x

What's In a Name?

Hi there, how's your first 4 days of a brand new year been so far?

I was thinking recently about my "blogger name".  I Want a Simpler Life.  I wondered what that conjured up for people.  I wondered if folk would imagine me as someone who is crafty and can turn her hand to making new clothes or home soft furnishings, makes everything from scratch, has a sparsely furnished home and hand feeds sparrows in my garden which may be peppered with home grown root veg and herbs.

Sadly none of those are true.

When I started my blog I was in a fairly bad place.  I hated my job; it was in an overwhelming, chaotic place which was poorly managed from the very top down.  Pretty bad for a global organisation you definitely would have heard of.  (I won't name check for fear of reprisals!)

My husband was only just into a permanent but part time job after a period of hit and miss full time work and was embarking on a degree via the OU.  So money was starting to evaporate and so was any fun in my life.  I wasn't exercising as much as I used to and so some weight was also starting to pile on.

My life seemed to have come to a halt and I felt like life itself was just passing me by.  I live in one of the most culture-less and featureless places in the UK.  You can go for a walk sure, but it's as boring as hell.  The beach is at least an hour's drive away.  There's nothing much to look at around here and anything 'fun' is away down the motorway somewhere.  I was completely uninspired by everything.  And to boot, I'd been seeing a counsellor about completely hating what I saw in the mirror. 

My brain seemed cluttered with a lot of....crap, basically.  Life felt complicated. Truly, nothing felt particularly straight forward even getting up in the morning.  Nothing really serious was going on, certainly I know people have it a lot worse.  But I just wasn't happy and was terrified at the prospect of life continuing this way.  I guess this inspired the name of my blog too as I really wondered:  "Is this it?"

What I longed for was better clarity in my mind, an uncomplicated start in the morning where I wasn't wrestling with roller coaster emotions whilst getting ready for work (you generally have to look in the mirror) and driving into the car park of that hateful place of employment.  Also some stability financially wouldn't have gone amiss.

I needed to make more sensible financial choices.  I needed to try and find more joy in life without having to pay through the nose for it.  I needed to leave that job!

I was at times longing to go back to the days when I have just left school aged 16 and brought home around a paltry £200 a month but I know I was happy.  I bought a little moped, I had independence, I didn't have credit cards or loans and an overdraft was unthinkable.  Just being with my friends was enough, we didn't need much else to enjoy ourselves and even a walk around the block together, chatting was nice.

All these things just added up, in my mind, to the word simplicity.  That's what I needed.  More simplicity.

So that's how it started.  I guess I am making progress, yes, I am....but, it's a long process taken day by day.  The main thing definitely though, is I did leave the hateful job!

So tell me, did my name conjure up the description I started with?  Or had you imagined something else entirely?  I'd love to know!  I hope your life isn't complicated...unless you want it to be of course!

Bye for now, take care.

x x x

A Very Happy New Year...Let's Make 2013 a Good Year

Here we are again then, 1st January and a whole new year stretches out before us.  Happy New Year to you all and welcome to my new followers, it's great to hear from you and I wish you well with your own personal journies too.   There will be ups and downs like there are in every year, but I hope we can all learn any necessary lessons as we go, pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and just make this a cracking year.

I didn't go out last night, I didn't even buy anything special to toast at midnight.  However I did have a nice enough evening at home with hubby.  Dinner was healthy, cheap and delicious:  marinated tofu and sliced onions & peppers in an Approved Foods 'Sweet Chilli' wrap kit.  I had some gifted Roses chocolates to get rid of for "dessert" later too.  We watched a comedy DVD I got for Christmas and used up the odd bits of alcohol & mixers we had left over from Christmas. Then we watched "Old Jews Telling Jokes" on BBC4 for an hour which was another well needed laugh.

The TV was switched over with 30 seconds to go before Big Ben chimed in the New Year and the fireworks started.  I *love* fireworks so watching them is a treat.  I'd absolutely love to be there in person but it's just not going to happen for a few years so I'll have to make do with watching on the goggle-box for now.  We went up to bed at about 1.00am, I had already fallen asleep once on the sofa by that time.

I had a big lie in this morning as I had nothing to get up for at all.  I have no children or pets and hubby was happy downstairs playing a Wii game so I enjoyed a cup of tea brought to me in bed (before the Wii was switched on!) then more snooze until 11.00am!  I have not slept that late for a very long time (not counting being ill) and I bloody loved it.

After breakfast and a few chores I indulged in a bit of "free" home pampering i.e. self eyebrow maintenance, deep hair conditioning, a face scrub/mask I already have followed by a hot shower with a gorgeous Weleda rose shower gel followed by matching rose body lotion and a self administered foot rub!

Lunch was using up some fancy cheese I bought in for Christmas, on toast with a couple of spoonfuls of caramelised red onion chutney on top - delicious!

So you probably spotted the theme is making the most of what is already in the house and enjoying the day off!  The start of the year is going to continue with using up and wearing out what is already here.  Everything from slivers of soap to wash hands with to incorporating those left over pickled onions into something I'm sure!  (Suggestions welcome!)

Back to work tomorrow for two days then off on Friday as the car is in the garage for MOT & annual service and I have a couple of odd days of leave to use up.  I don't cycle to work in the winter.  So I intend to catch up on home admin and perhaps another day of home pampering, a wardrobe clear out and re-arrange (teaming existing things together a bit more stylishly) and going through the kitchen cupboards to see what we can cobble together as a meal plan over the next week or so.

I feel positive about it and happy that 2013 is finally here.  This IS the year for change!  This IS the year I start to get my life back on track where I can start enjoying it again for all the right reasons.

Thanks for reading today, thanks for the recent comments too, you know I always appreciate them.

x x x

Seasons Greetings

Hello readers, I am sending you best wishes for this festive period.  I hope you had a peaceful Christmas Day and I hope that your New Year's Eve brings fun, reflection and most importantly no hangover on the 1st of January!

Was 2012 a good year for you or are you glad to see the back of it?
Do you have any resolutions or plans for 2013 or will you just take it as it comes?  

I hope to blog a bit more in the New Year as 2013 has got to be the year I get sorted financially and blogging about it always helps me.  If it is not the year, then I fear I am doomed to repeat the same mistakes for the rest of my life and that is a terrible thought!

For now I wish you all the best and I do hope 2013 brings you happiness.

x x x

It's Going to Get Worse Before It Gets Better!

Good evening my lovely readers, I am hoping you are all well today.

Well the cold snap is finally lifting and my goodness it really has been cold the last few days.  I am looking forward to seeing some sunshine tomorrow and feeling temperatures above freezing and then some!  An exotic 8 or 9 degrees centigrade so I hear! 

So, anyway.  I have had to spend money this week...on petrol, on food, on postage and on the remaining Christmas gifts I was prepared to buy.  However as I type that I literally remember something else I need to buy before I am done...argh! 

Would someone just pinch me and tell me I am not dreaming and that second class postage really *is* that expensive these days??  When did it get this pricey to send a bloody card to a friend?  It's not far off a card in the post being a gift in itself now! 

I bought a £5 Secret Santa gift today as well.  I hope I got good value for money as I bought a bottle of red wine which is a Bordeaux Superieur which makes for good reading.  Luckily I know someone who knows my Secret Santa 'draw' and wine was recommended, so, fingers crossed I made a good choice.  It was £5 I could do without spending but I love Secret Santa and I signed up for it ages ago.  Pulling out of it would have been depressing, disappointing and....like throwing a deckchair off the Titanic to be honest.

Next month brings the majority of my annual car bills.  It also brings the gas & electric bill.  It also brings just over 5 weeks till I get paid again.  And anything else that decides it wants to crop up.

So...without wanting to wish my life away, let's just say, when the next 6 weeks are over, I will be relieved.  It'll still be pretty dismal but I am hoping upon hope, the worst time will be over.

And now for a confession....whilst in Aldi I also treated myself to some rose wine for £2.99 and a bar of chocolate.  Well...I've turned down proper social nights out aplenty for December (including probably not getting to see "The Hobbit")...so a drink and a nibble in front of a TV recorded film is a cheap substitute no?  I refuse to feel guilty.

And my final words on this post, are sad ones.  My heart is breaking for all those affected by the Connecticut school shootings today.  This is utterly heartbreaking, tragic news.  A complete nightmare scenario.  I mentioned recently about keeping things in perspective and this serves as no better example.  My troubles and concerns are zero compared to those affected today.  I hope they find the strength they need to come through this awful time.

Good night readers and take care.

x x

You're Keeping Me On Track

Evening to you all, I do hope you're keeping warm right now.  It's freezing fog where I am - not much fun at all.  I hope everyone is tucked up at home where possible and not having to drive in this.

I was so happy to read all the supportive comments after my recent post, outlining what's going on with me and my plans to get myself sorted.  It really helps and keeps me going down the right path!  So thanks again to everyone and Ilona, you're so right, every penny does count.  I actually get a little thrill everytime I plonk the coppers from my change into a little red tin I have as I know they add up and before too long I can use the useful total towards food or petrol or whatever.  

Thanks for the EBAY suggestion Vicky - I may well look into that in the New Year for any 'better' stuff I have.  I did use EBAY & Amazon Marketplace some years ago when I was paying off two overdrafts (sigh....proof that I just didn't learn!) and you're right the contribution it makes is really helpful.  I am also wondering about a car boot sale in early Spring too.  They can be good cash generators too.  I just need one good "big" item to sell to make my stall booking money back (and more, hopefully!) then everything else will be lovely jingly cash in pocket.

Well I put our humble Christmas decorations up last night and wrapped some gifts in left over from 2011 wrapping paper!  I also wrote out left over from 2011 Christmas cards as well!  It was a nice night in though and finally kicked off a bit of Christmas cheer in the household.  Hubby came home and opened the door to the living room and smiled, saying "It's Christmas!"  I had some scented tealights burning on the coffee table and sat under the glow of the fairy lights strung up high over the sofa....I have even lit up a big houseplant with some battery operated lights as well!  Nice.

Grocery shopping after work today was a bit embarrassing.  I managed to whoops-a-daisy a jar of marmalade as I was lifting it off the shelf in Aldi and it fell and smashed on the floor!  There was no-one around from the store when I did it so I found an old box and covered it up (managed to cut my thumb moving a big shard of glass as well - ouch) then went and found someone.  I apologised and offered to pay for the breakage but I just got a sour look and a "Oh great" but they didn't make me pay for it so I can take that!!  I did apologise again though...I don't smash jars of sticky breakfast food on shop floors for fun, honest.

After that I managed to get all required groceries and leave with about £3 in change.  I had to nip to Sainsburys to get some own brand coriander leaf...74p as opposed to £1.75 for a branded jar.  So I now have just over £2 in my purse.  I think all I have to buy at the weekend is some more mushrooms so I should be ok to get through till next Wednesday when I get paid.  

A friend treated me to a gingerbread hot chocolate in the hospital cafe at lunchtime:  she insisted!  We had a really good chat and it made such a nice change to relax.  Work's been pretty full on recently for both of us.

Well that's about it from me.  Have to go and put some tumble drying on soon but the meter will be on cheap 'leccy very soon!  Hopefully then no more washing till the weekend when it can all go out on the line and dry for free.

Take care - stay warm.

x x x

Colds, Debts & How Have I Saved Money Recently?

Hello & happy weekend everybody, I hope you are all well.

I have been poorly this week - I caught a cold and had to take Thursday & Friday off work.  I was in bed till gone 1pm both days just zonked out.  Luckily we had some Day & Night Nurse capsules left over from hubby's cold so I didn't have to fork out for more medicine.  I started to feel much better yesterday and today, although still blowing my nose for England, I am just about there now.  Back to work tomorrow!

Overdraft

Anyway whilst off this week, when awake, it gave me plenty of time to think about my financial status, study my Excel spreadsheet and generally muse about stuff.  I may go about £650 - £700 overdrawn by Spring, which is really not great.  However some good news is, that total also includes debt payments which will pay off completely the 0% credit card I took out at the beginning of 2012 to pay for much needed new double glazing in three rooms.  So I won't have paid a penny interest on those which was always the plan.  The other 0% card I had was a Virgin card to pay off a previous overdraft.  The plan was to get the overdraft paid off then stick rigidly to a budget to prevent going overdrawn again. 

Well that failed. 

SO...the Virgin card still needs paying off and here I am with another overdraft which is worse than it was before!  Not the plan at all but lesson learned.  I'll pay it off by mid Summer and now I just accept that I will be overdrawn and I just have to claw it down bit by bit. 

I am trying to think more long term rather than panicking short term so now I need to just keep calm when I see my overdraft rising and know that come summer, the credit card balances will be gone and it will start to get better thereafter.  I need to keep my eye on the prize which is "this time next year".  This time next year I WILL be debt free again and this time next year I will be finally on top of my money issues.  I will.

With all this in mind I should now have the motto 'Every Penny Counts' tattooed on my eyelids.  

There is No Spare Money

Every penny I spend now just takes me further into my overdraft so every penny spent is a conscious decision.  So I am trying to be positive about all the ways I can try and keep things as low as I can.

Money Saving Efforts This Week

Being ill meant not going out anyway but even if I had been OK I'd planned not to spend any unnecessary cash.  And I achieved that.   I am making use of www.spendingdiary.com and find it really useful.   I love the reporting tool which shows you how much you've spent say on "social" or "groceries" should you set up those groups.  An eye opener.

This weekend thankfully has been fairly windy and mostly dry so I have managed to get a lot of washing dry on the line or just about dry so that they either finish off on radiator racks, or in the case of some larger items, only took about a third of the time they usually do in the tumble dryer.  The washing I have mostly got done overnight so it's much cheaper electricity.  Some of the tumbling I did later at night too when the meter clicked over to the lower rate.  So that's helped.

Energy

I submitted meter readings on Friday and I do owe Atlantic some money. I recently went over to Direct Debit to get cheaper rates.  We used to pay for what we used quarterly but seeing the difference in the rates it seemed madness not to start a DD again especially as I could choose what monthly rate to set.  However the first payment didn't come out till 1st December and I last paid a bill in September.  So there's a shortfall now and the next bill is due the end of this month.  I can see I will no doubt have to pay an extra bit to cover it all then hope that thereafter, the direct debits will cover future bills.

We have gas central heating and a halogen heater.  There is no fireplace or woodburner and we're not able to install either in this house, so we're stuck with the above.  The only choice we have is to be cold and minimise having the heating on.  Today that's not so bad as the temperature got up to about 8 degrees C outside and the sun was out - and it made such a difference.  With jumpers on, it felt alright.  Heating is completely off and won't come on till it's dark.  It'll stay on till about 9pm then go off till getting up time tomorrow for an hour.  Then it'll be off all day till dark again.  The house is freezing when we get home but we'll just keep the door of the living room shut, put the halogen heater on the first 400w, make sure no gaps in curtains and that room heats up fairly nicely.  It's not feasible to have the heating off all the time otherwise I would!  It's due to get down to sub freezing mid week here and the cold snap will last a few days at least.  We have to do what we have to do when it's like that but needless to say fleece sofa blankets & hot water bottles come out at night!

Food

I bought a big bag of potatoes in Aldi on Tuesday and other fresh vegetables and have managed to make it all stretch through.  I haven't needed to go out for anything else.  Today's lunch was roasting left over red onions cut into fat wedges, three parsnips chopped into fat sticks, half a butternut squash cubed up, four diced potatoes and the remains of a garlic bulb split into peeled cloves, all smothered and mixed up in three tablespoons of sunflower oil mixed with: two tablespoons of water, a tablespoon of white vinegar, half a teaspoon of caster sugar and two teaspoons of various dried herbs.  I roasted these for 35 minutes (stirring once or twice) and roasted a pack of veggie sausages half way through.  Veggie gravy made with the water from cooked frozen peas from Aldi and a twist of black pepper.  It was really tasty and hubby loved it.

We've still got loads of potatoes left which we'll use to make a delicious dish called Egg & Potato Bombay and we'll have that with Approved Foods basmati rice, probably on Wednesday.  We have everything else for evening meals Monday and Tuesday so tomorrow evening, I will do an inventory of what we have in the cupboards and will make a frugal menu plan for the rest of the week/early part of next week and shop accordingly for the fresh items, bread etc in Aldi on Tuesday after work. 

Cash Only

I use a credit card for petrol and some other purchases i.e. online once a month stock up purchases (I am collecting Avios points as one day I am determined to fly abroad again!) but I have made the decision to try and be cash only now for grocery shopping and other necessary spends.  It's obvious what I have been doing thus far has not really worked:  I clearly haven't learned from my own history.  So time for something new.  The last few grocery shops have been cash only and it really focuses your mind.  You're doing mental calculations all the time to make sure you don't go over budget and everything that goes in that trolley or basket is needed and, where possible, the best value you can get.  My utter delight last week in Aldi when I realised three things I needed were in their "Super Six" offer and the week before that the bread had 30% off marked price as did the mushrooms I wanted.  I was so chuffed

Cutting Back

I have changed my mobile phone provider to a SIM only deal now which is saving me about £5 a month (I use data downloading otherwise I could save more).  I have cancelled my LoveFilm subscription which is another £5 a month.  That's £120 over the year.  Worthwhile!

I am not going out once over Christmas.  I have not even bought any Christmas food or nibbles and don't plan to until perhaps the week before and then it won't be much.  I have one night out planned in January (tickets for a local gig already bought last year) and that's it.  For 2013.  Seriously it is the only thing in my diary and I am not going out of my way to add anything else because there just isn't the money.  Over the Winter months I don't think this will be too much of a problem.  But come the Spring I will be bored, depressed and ready to throw the towel in so this is when I will need to be creative and get my social fixes one way or another. 

I will be going through my wardrobe shortly to plan what clothes go together and make myself wear things I have bought but ignored.  (Why do women do this!!?)  I may have to get rid of some bits & bobs which I just don't feel comfortable in as it will give me more space and just help bring other items back into focus.  I do not need to buy any more clothes.  I haven't actually got that many as I am quite good at 'culling' but there are still things I don't make use of when I should.  I have actually customised a couple of tops recently to make them more 'wearable' whereas before I would have just stuck them in a charity sack then probably gone out and bought a replacement.

Perspective

Last but definitely not least, I need to keep a sense of perspective.  I am still 'richer' than so many people.  I have a roof over my head, I have food & clothing, I have a phone I can pick up to call friends & family, I have clean running water at my disposal.  I have a job.  I might day dream about winning the lottery and not having to go to work (not going to happen as not spending money on tickets right now!!) but really I am grateful.  The job will help me dig my way out of this mess.  And it's not even a massive mess.  I have been in a worse financial mess by probably 8 times as much so....I can do this easily can't I?


If you have read all this and got to the end - well done!  And thanks for sticking with my rambles.

Bye for now...I am off to listen to a football match on my cheap little radio which costs less than a penny to run an hour!  Frugal entertainment indeed.

x

Thank You

Hi all.  I wanted to say thank you for the supportive messages after my last blog post.  Your comments mean such a lot and it helps to know others are on your side!  So thanks very very much for taking a moment to drop me a line.

I know I am not the only one and we're pretty much all either paying off what feels like never ending debts, or, fighting to keep our heads above water whilst implementing frugal methods.  I don't wish debt or financial struggle on anyone believe me, but at least there is a camaraderie between 'frugallers' to be enjoyed!

Anyway I have actually had a really nice weekend on a budget!  Months ago I booked a date with an old school friend to go down and chat/stay over and generally catch up as we haven't seen each other for years upon years.  She lived about 40 minutes drive from me.  I had enough petrol in the car so no need to add further fuel.  I did take a bottle of wine (I had budgeted a small amount of money for the weekend) and as a fabulous surprise she took me into our old city and treated me to dinner with her Tesco coupons for a participating restaurant!  All it cost was a contribution to the cost of a bottle of wine (yes another one!).  Her extremely kind and lovely husband dropped us off and picked us up so no travel costs either.  

We stayed up extremely late, chatting and drinking the wine I had brought down and then more chats this morning after breakfast.  Bliss.  

After that I drove 9 miles east to see my sister, brother-in-law & my nieces and dropped off the Christmas gifts I had bought for them (not much but they all have something they will like for about a fiver each).  After an hour and half chit chat and a cuppa I drove home and hubby made us a dinner using up peppers, a pack of tofu and a fajita kit from Approved Foods!  I since fell asleep on the sofa for a while as staying up till crazy o' clock will make you tired!

The heating unfortunately is on higher than I would normally have it plus we're wearing all sorts of layers as it is bloody freezing!  The cars had a thick frost on not long after dark.  Hubby is suffering with the start of a cold and I want to keep him warm and toasty not make him feel worse bless him.

So that has been my weekend and I feel like I needed a bit of a lift.  I did bring some cash back with me as well so that's a bonus!  I can put that towards the grocery shopping on Tuesday.

Anyway thanks again and any time any one wants to drop any encouraging words in....feel free!  Believe me when I say it helps.

x x x