Thursday 29 December 2011

2012.... back on it!!!!!

It's been a while, but I'm still here and still sharing my spending but this time for a different reason. I am proud to say that I am now a store card down and about to take a complete leap of faith.

Since my last post back in April I have passed my driving test, paid off my epic debt on my store card and have completely curbed my shopping addiction to a reasonable amount, meaning I now only buy exactly what I need. I am however, sitting with a brand new MacBook Air on my knee and am about to buy my very first car. What money used to be spent on clothes, shoes and handbags is now spent on necessities - or what I think of as such!

What is the reason for my sudden change? Well, next year I would like to set myself up for a complete and utter change - I'm finally going to do something that I have been longing to do since uni. I want to move move out and possibly to Leicester. Much as I love Market Harborough and my life here it's time to move into a place of my own, somewhere I would like to live.

As many of you know, I absolutely love my job and my friends too, so I will need to be somewhere commutable to Market Harborough but the prospect of city life excites me!

Why am I telling you this? Because I have realised that once again I need an outlet where I can out all of my spending again as I need to save money. Now that I no longer spend more than I earn I actually need to learn how to save!

I know how to live within my means but have come to realise that it is not my need to shop that now costs me the earth. It is my ridiculously busy life! There a few habits (like thinking I'm the richest person in the world whilst drunk, spending stupid amounts on gig and concert tickets and going out all the time) that I need to break. For that reason, I'm hoping that my blog will help me to do that. I am not saying that I am going to become boring or a hermit but I do realise that my lifestyle is ever so slightly extreme.

Take today for example. I am currently off work for the Christmas holidays and woke up ridiculously early for reasons unknown. Hoping to make it to Body Combat this morning at about 9am I got up and started to get ready, until I realised that I was so so tired from being awake at 6am that I went straight back to bed and fell asleep til noon! What a waste of a morning?!

I met my Jenny for lunch in Enigma where I spent £6.50 on lunch and a coke. I also paid Jen back the £3 that I had borrowed on 'Jager Friday: The Festive Edition' otherwise known as the girls Christmas meal when we couldn't get any dollars out from the cashpoint. This was for the champagne (read Cava) which contributed in part to my memory loss of the weekend!

Anyway, we were later joined by Sarah for lunch and unfortunately Jen had to go back to work so Saz and I had a lovely afternoon in Starbucks. Although this also meant that spent £3.50 on a Toffee Nut Latte, £1.55 on a caramel slice (that I really did not need) and £1.55 on a peppermint tea. So that's the good part of £20 gone in a day.... but so worth it as I had a fab impromptu afternoon!

So anyway, to counteract the spend today I am now sat watching Notting Hill with a box of After Eights next to me.... good times!

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Guess who's back.... show week!!!!!

Ok so we're back to the blog with the latest update on my life and spending. I am happy to report that in the past few months I have been able to stabilise my finances - one store card has been paid off and I am no longer dipping into my overdraft way beyond it's means at the end of the month. This has meant that I am a whole £400 richer per month which is amazing!

So now that I am better off financially I now need to learn how to make it go further and save.... hense starting on the blog again. I will hopefully find the time to write it up as the last few months have been mental! I think we've pretty much had something on every weekend and then when I think I'm not doing anything (a la last weekend) they end up being the most manic of them all!!!!!

April so far has been super duper fun but uber expensive what with our trip to see Kylie, Barbs' birthday trip to Hooters and a few bits of general spending. I seem to think that I am rich when I am really not.... this especially happens when I have had a little bit too much to drink, £6.50 cocktail anyone?! This week is Jesus Christ Superstar show week and I've been looking forward to it for weeks.... especially to my lovely week off! Just my luck that on the opening night I come down with a dose of ladyflu.... vunderbar! It might sound like I'm being dramatic but it takes quite a lot to take me down - I'm the girl that lived with appendicitus for a fortnight - I feel lousy!

In an attempt to beat the yukiness of my ladyflu I have pretty much vedged out all day watching E4 and Steel Magnolias in my jim jams. I usually spend my days off on show week baking (Betty Crocker special) cakes and cookies for the cast but I don't want to pass on my germs to them. However, I did make it into town to purchase an industrial pack of tissues (68p) and cold + flu tablets (£1) from Wilkinson and some cough syrup from Boots (£4.07). I am very tempted to down the cough syrup to stop me from barking like a dog.... possibly not my best idea though!

So anyway.... that is all that I have done today. Now I plan to make myself a cup of tea and watch some more trash TV for an hour before I get ready for another round of Jesus Christ Superstar. Need to pay for the aftershow meal on Friday tonight - we are going to Pizza Express, yummy - so that'll be another £14.75 spent but I'm hoping not to spend anymore!

For anyone who is coming to see the show tonight (or last night for that matter) my high notes are just not coming out - I am a saprano - so at points I may be miming or taking it down to alto.... very sorry I can't help it!

Tuesday 4 January 2011

Day 12 part 2: Back to reality....

So, here I sit at the end of my first working day of 2011. I'm in my PJs, as I usually am when I'm at home, 90210 is on the TV and as soon as I have updated this I will be drying my hair and going straight to bed. I am so so tired today!

I found it really hard to sleep last night, probably because I knew that as soon as 7.15am hit I'd have to leap out of bed after nearly two weeks of rolling out of bed at 11am. I'm very much a night owl, I can stay awake all night but I find mornings really difficult!

Today I don't let myself snooze, because I know if I do then I really won't get out of bed at all. Instead I let myself adjust a bit and watch One Tree Hill in bed for about 20 minutes before I get up to have a shower. My new years resolution is to actually make an effort with my appearance all the time and not just when I go out in the evening, so I style my hair so I can wear it down (bedhead straight from the shower is not the best look in the world) and pick out my Fullcircle grey studded dress and some leggings which I love. For far too long I have been rocking up at work hair in a mad whirlwind style and no makeup so in 2011 I will look and feel fab all the time, even if I am just wearing band t-shirt, jeans, connies and a cardy!

I had aimed to leave the house at about 8.30am, but by the time that I'm actually ready, having sat down to watch a little bit of TV mid-hair and makeup, it's actually 8.55am. I run out of the door and trot on down to work. The iPhone is full of tunage today. As I walk some of my favourite songs are playing like 23 by Jimmy Eat World, Hummer by Foals and Love is Noise by The Verve. I love it when this happens, usually means that it's going to be a good day.

I stop by Tesco on the way, as it was Tamara's birthday I want to get her a present and I already know what I want to get her. I pick up Now 77 as it has all of our favourite songs that we have been singing in the office recently - Katy Perry, Usher, Nelly, Rihanna, JLS.... all the ones we love! While I'm there I realise that I have forgotten to eat any breakfast so pick up a pack of chocolate coissants, then 2 pots of soup, a loaf of wholemeal bread and a pack of four Galaxy bars which will last me for the rest of the week. I'm really trying to cut down on my spending so if I can make my lunches as cheap as possible then that's brilliant! Today my total cost comes to £20.34 but including the CD I don't think that's bad - Tamara loved it!

At lunchtime I always have to get out of the office, as we are in town there's nothing really to do but go for a wander around the shops. In the past week I have become quite a pro at window shopping and browsing the sales without making a purchase! I went into Monsoon today and my handbag is still there - I have decided that I do not need it now! I was a little annoyed to see that my earrings have now been reduced to £2.40.... oh well! I also had a quick look in New Look and go to say hi to the Altered Egos girls without buying a single thing.... this is a big achievement for me! On my way back to the office I pick up some milk and sugar which came to £1.58 and that is all of my spend for the day.

The rest of my day isn't all that exciting, I have been to the gym, come home and that is the end of my adventures for the day. I now have achy joints and muscles - oh the joys of living the spot-free dream of Roaccutane! Like I said now I'm off to bed before this all starts all over again!

Monday 3 January 2011

Day 11 part 2: A rundown of the last few days....

Right, first and foremost.... Happy New Year! Personally I am hoping that this one is going to be life changingly fun and happy, so I wish the same for everybody else! I haven't updated this since Wednesday, so here is what has been going down over the past few days in the world of Miss Em!

Thursday I woke up feeling horrid. I hadn't been feeling particularly great all week but I woke up with pretty much no voice and a pounding head. Due to having a driving lesson, I debate whether or not to spend the day in bed, deciding to actually go on my lesson in the end as I a) have not had one for a few weeks because of work/the weather/Christmas and b) my driving test is fast approaching so I need the practice. Considering I haven't driven for a few weeks I quickly ease back into it which was quite a relief. I can't wait to be able to drive, it's going to make such a difference with work and being able to jump in the car to see the girls in Fleckney and Leicester will be brilliant!

After my lesson I'm dropped off in town where I meet Sarah for a coffee. I am supposed to be meeting her in Starbucks but it's absolutely rammed with mums, screaming kids and pushchairs, all of which wouldn't normally bother me but today I'm feeling under the weather so I call Saz and we arrange to meet at Nero instead.

I had every intention of my diet and healthy new regime starting on Thursday.... this however was not the case as instead of the peppermint tea that I was supposed to buy I get a large hot chocolate (Nero's are the best) and a piece of chocolate cheesecake to go with it costing £4.40 instead of the intended £1.50. Like I said, I wasn't feeling well so I needed something to cheer me up! We sit and talk plans for 2011, weddings, hen dos and the like until we both realise that it's about time for us both to be heading to Sainos for our provisions for new year.

My friend Danusia is holding a 'fuddle' (apparently a Nottingham word for buffet that appears to mean something completely different in the Urban Dictionary) for new year at her brand new pad in West Bridgeford and I am in charge of providing nibbles. So I head for the party food section and pick up some sausage rolls and cocktail sausages on offer two for £3.... bargain. I'm slightly worried that we won't have enough carbs to stock up on before drinking coupious amounts of wine so I also pic up two quiches for £3, some coleslaw for 67p and some olives for Jessica as she is vegan for 99p. We then head to the wine aisle as I'm very limited with what I can drink then just the one bottle will do. I pick up a bargain bottle of rose which is half price at £3.99.... score. Nush has asked me to buy peanuts too (which I hate) so on Sarah's recommendation I buy a pack of Smoked Applewood coated roasted peanuts for £1.39. My total shop comes to just over £10 and then I get £40 cash back to make sure that my spending money is sorted. After a huge hunt for cream coconut that takes us to Co-op for the curry that Sarah is making for her and Andy, we wish each other a happy new year and head off home.

That evening I pop over to see Lauren to catch up on her Christmas and everything that has happened since. So much happens in the space of a few days with us lot that obviously it warrants a whole evening of tea drinking and chocolate eating to catch up. We wanted to watch Sliding Doors but Lauren's DVD player is messing around so we spend the night chatting which is fab. Lauren is my friend who keeps me most grounded and helps me to reason things when I'm getting upset over nothing so she's a great person to talk things through with.

Friday I wake up feeling really poorly yet again.... which is rubbish! It's new years eve and I have an evening of fun planned with the girls in Nottingham to look forward to. After being told by Kate that I won't need to be ready until 5pm I decide to spend the day in bed watching DVDs to make myself feel better. As I didn't get to watch Sliding Doors with Lauren this seems like the perfect opportunity, I had forgotten just how good it is. I also prepare some rice to take to the fuddle, still slightly worried that we are not going to have enough carbs and savories to eat. I could not have been more wrong though as there's so much food it's unbelieveable!

Kate and I arrive in Bridgeford to pick Chloe up at about 6pm and head off to Nush's to start our new years debarcle. We arrive around the same time as Jess who has come down from Yorkshire and the eating/drinking debauchery starts almost straight away. Chloe has been raiding the offer section ASDA and has found tomato bread, chicken and chorizo on sticks amongst other delights for 25p. There's pizza, wedges, quiche, cheesecake (that Chloe didn't make in the end as she ate the biscuits and cream cheese) homemade brownies, sausages, peanuts, sausage rolls, mince pies, coleslaw, rice, chilli, nachos, pringles, dips and coleslaw. We sit feasting until we all feel like we're about to burst!

We have already made our way through at least three bottles of wine before Kate pulls out drinking Jenga.... things are about to get very messy as Miss Lee has prepared a jug of cocktail for the forfeits using an entire bottle of vodka! It becomes evident that this may not end well.... as I am not supposed to be mixing my drinks whilst on my tablets it is decided that my forfeit will be to drink a finger of wine and I'm quite lucky as I don't get any forfeits until I knock the entire stack over and have to down a full glass..... whoops!

We're quite happy at Nush's and decide that we won't head into Nottingham city centre to see the fireworks, but it would be quite nice to head to a bar round the corner for a drink to see in the new year. After a quick change into a glitzier outfit we're on the High Street of West Bridgeford hunting for a bar to see in the new year ending up at Copper where I spend £10 on two glasses of rose wine.

At the stroke of midnight all five of us girls are together, singinging our hearts out to Auld Lang Syne and to the accoustic set performed by a local musician which was ace. Favourites from the night include Good Riddance (Time of your life), Mr Brightside and Use Somebody. At about 1pm we head back to Nush's get into our PJs and that seems to be when absolute bedlam breaks out. As Nush and Jess go to bed, Chloe, Kate and I are left to carry on the party which got pretty messy. There was violence (Kate pushed Chloe out of the back door because we were teasing her) chair acrobatics, singing, dancing and more drinking! We finally all climbed into a double bed in the spare room at 7am and didn't even go to sleep then as we were shouting things about keyrings, singing songs from Grease and Mary Poppins and just generally wouldn't shut up!

Saturday is then a complete wash out. We wake up at 11am after 4 hours sleep and spend most of the morning/afternoon munching on pancakes and drinking tea before Kate and I leave to come back to Harborough at about 2.30pm. On the way back we decide to pay a visit to The Highcross shopping centre in Leicester. We finally arrive at around 3pm, park up only to find that no shops are open apart from Debenhams. Before we can even think about shopping, we are hungover and gagging for a MacDonalds. As Kate has driven I buy her food for her along with my own quarter pounder with cheese meal which comes to £6.50.

So we're in Debenhams and I find the most amazing dress in the Topshop area, I try it on and it looks gorgeous. Unfortunately Debenhams don't accept Topshop giftcards so I am forced to leave the store without it. Here is the link to my beautiful dress which I am going to have to be without for the time being:

http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=33057&storeId=12556&productId=2124816&langId=-1&sort_field=Relevance&categoryId=208523&parent_categoryId=203984&sort_field=Relevance&pageSize=200

So we leave sad and empty handed without my beautiful dress and for the priviledge of parking when there were no shops open the parking cost £2.50 which I offered to pay for as petrolium money.

Sunday I had every intention of going to the gym in the morning. I managed to set my alarm, get ready and even walk out of the front door to go, when I realised that I actually still didn't feel 100% so back to bed I went for a few hours until it was time to head over to Kim's for her games party.

Stephen was picking us all up from Jo's to head on over. As Jo lives above Londis I thought I'd take the opportunity to buy some cookies and chocolate fingers as a contribution to the little spread that I knew Kim was putting on, I also needed batteries for my camera so I spent £4.47 in total.

When we got there, Kim had laid out a beautiful spread of chocolates, cupcakes, Christmas cake, sausage rolls, crisps, dips and her world class scones with jam and cream! We spent all afternoon playing Articulate, Outburst and Bedlam while muching our way through the feast that had been put on for us and drinking lots and lots of tea. Very soon the Wii Sing and Dance on Broadway came out and as threatre people our inner exhibitionists came out as we battled against each other in tournaments. We were having such a great time that we didn't even realise that it was nearly 10pm and time to go home. I spent the rest of the evening watching Mary Poppins whilst cleaning my room, putting the washing on and tidying the house.

This brings us on to today which has been incredibly quiet. Again I'd set my alarm for 10am so to wake me to go to the gym. I'd already said to Becci yesterday that I would go and so I couldn't back out now. As this is my last lay in before I go back to work I really want to savour my bed.... so I lay there for another hour watching One Tree Hill, enjoying every single minute before having to leave the house to meet Becci at the gym at 11.30am. We then spend two hours working out to burn our 800 calories, then going on to do what felt like a million crunches before finally leaving at around 1.30pm. I may have bought a Twix on my way out for 70p as I didn't have any breakfast before leaving the house.

The rest of the afternoon has been spent watching Grease, Hollyoaks and Police Academy 2 and I am now off to do yet more cleaning, washing and tidying up the kitchen. I really know how to live! To be honest though, I'm quite happy of the quiet time as it's back to reality tomorrow!