February SitRep

Well, I know we're nearly half way through March but, better late than never!

Again I am a happy bunny - we have brought our debts down by £1969.67 in February and I am feeling extremely proud of myself. We managed to pay a whopping £930 off of one of Big Man's credit cards, mainly by using what we would have paid on council tax (if it was April - January) and other bits of additional income (including just under £300 on mystery shopping). February was the first month where I was back on my full-time (to me) wages so I had half as much again. We paid off a house phone bill and a business one that we don't use any more and have now closed. The best news is that, since the start of the year we have reduced our debts by £3530.45. Isn't that great???!!!!

On the minus side we are now going to be laying out an extra £75 a month to pay off a £1500 fine from Companies House for late filing of our accounts. Although it's technically a business debt our business is hibernating for now and because we don't want to wind it up we have to pay this fine somehow. We are also paying out £100 a month to cover a personal guarantee from another business we had that failed. And will be paying for a very long time unless we win the Lotto. We have also had to up our electricity payment to £175 a month from £135 to pay off a big bill caused by EDF not reading our meter properly (and my not reading it myself, apparently). Oh dear, I'm making myself quite depressed now!! It looks almost unsurmountable. But it isn't.

I am expecting to be able to bring in quite a bit of additional income from the end of this month, through April and into May with my Census Collecting job and also the poll clerking I am doing on 5 May. My hope is to make £300 on eBay too in March. I am going to be a busy little bee!!!

January SitRep

Well, one of the main reasons I started this blog was because I'd been so inspired by other frugality blogs that I thought it might help me. And also because I like to write and share things that happen, but that's by-the-by. At the end of my first month of frugal living I want to share how we've got on.

The great news is that we have paid off £1403.86 in January! I am really made up about it. It was a combination of spending more wisely and income maximisation. I made just under £250 through eBaying; an extra £386 through mystery shopping; and as a result of car scrappage and a water rebate we got an additional £329. A couple of things have been paid off altogether - a small overdraft I had on an account, which I then closed; and a business phone line bill...we are getting rid of the line.

Not so good. I budgeted £200 for food for the month to cover me, Big Man, Carb Addict at weekends and Otto our cat. I also had Red and Mr Charming for the first bit of the month. The food came to £259.26 so 25% over what I'd planned. I did menu plan each week and stuck to it but it doesn't help that Big Man buys things he fancies for his lunch that are not budgeted for - Dairylea Cheese Spread..pate..tubs of sandwich filler...cream cakes. I have been including those costs in to the overall spends but I'm wondering whether I should leave them out. He pays from his own money so....hmmm. What does anyone else think?

Overall I am a happy bunny today. The only thing is that now I start to get a feeling that isn't altogether helpful...a feeling like 'oh, we've paid things off now I can be a bit less strict'. I always do that. On diets I'm the same. I've got to be really strong and stay motivated.

You will all help me, won't you?

In Which I Am Shocked To The Core..

Today I had to go to the city centre, on my own, to do a quick mystery shop. The thing about being on your own is that you don't have somebody else yatting in your ear and so as well as people watching you can also people listen. What I heard was NOT very pleasant. Not gory details about folks' lives or stuff like that, but the language. Absolutely dreadful. I feel about 80 just saying it, but all sorts of people were walking along effing and blinding, just in conversation , as naturally as breathing. A lot, but not all, were teenage/20s kinds but some were older. And also, mainly females. Just outside the big shopping centre I stopped to look in a window and I heard a girl's voice say '.....the f****g area has really gone f*****g down since that c*** moved in'. When I looked round she was maybe 23, done up to the nines, clearly lacking any self-awareness, talking to a bloke maybe the same age who was nodding sagely. I heard young mums talking to their babies and toddlers like that and men talking in that way to their wives.
Now, I'm no shrinking violet. I've worked in a lot of pubs; I'm married to an ex-matelot; I've taught teenage boys; and I was born and lived for a good while in a particularly malignant Northern city, so it's not like I don't know what cussing is. But why such an upsurge in it? And why are girls so foul-mouthed? Am I wrong to think that females should be the gentler sex?

I really don't know whether it's a general hardening or coarsening of society. I sure don't know how it can be stopped. But I know I don't *!/?$*!%* like it.

Eat, Drink and Feel Yucky

One of the ways I have of making money is as a Mystery Shopper - or as my mum calls it, 'your spying work'. I've been doing it regularly for about two years now and although it's never gonna make me a millionaire it's steady, can be interesting and keeps my deviousness skills up to scratch. It's ideal work for someone who likes to act.
It isn't always shopping per se - sometimes it's a visit to a travel agency to ask about a holiday, or calling into a bank to check out their customer service. I'd say you're only buying something 50% of the time. One of the companies I work for has a lot of pubs on its books; a specific chain that serves food. Today I went with Big Man and Carb Addict to a local pub..one we'd always avoided if truth be told, on account of it looking a bit unwholesome. Carb Addict was distressed because I had told him that we would be going for a pub lunch straight after he'd seen 'Tangled'. What I should have said was 'cinema, HOME, pub lunch'. When Big Man drove home to collect me instead of going to a pub it all kicked off. You have to be so, SO specific with autists - even after 17 years I don't always get it right.

Anyway, we got to the pub and, well it wasn't exactly like the scene in 'An American Werewolf in London' where they go into The Slaughtered Lamb and everyone stops talking, but not much different. The barmaid was friendly enough and I ordered our food and drinks, which seemed pretty cheap. For this job I am only getting reimbursed for the meals, there's no fee for doing the job as such, and because there were three of us the reimbursement won't cover what we spent.
Our food arrived quickly enough and didn't look TOO bad but I'm sorry to say it was just horrible. I had ordered a Bacon and Cheese Burger and the chef blotted his copy book right from the start by leaving the rind on the bacon (eugh, turns my stomach). The burger I think could have been horse meat and the chips were all those little thin, sharp end bits that don't have any potato in them hardly. Big Man chose the Sunday Roast and the beef (I use the term loosely) was the kind of reconstituted meat that's been pressed into a shape then sliced. The giant Yorkshire Pud it was in was soggy and the veggies had come from freezer to plate via the microwave. Carb Addict had Fish and Chips but it's hard to know what he thought seeing as he doesn't talk. He ate it all up but then he's not known for his discerning palate. Nor is Big Man known as a gourmand but even he labelled it 'gopping'. We decided against coffee and dessert and beat it.

We've eaten at other pubs in this chain before (only on mystery shops though) and have liked the food, even though it's the same menu that's served across the chain. It just goes to show the correlation between how a place looks and the ambiance, and what kind of grub they dish up. This pub was a real regulars place, a sports bar really - no women drinkers; lots of footie memorabilia around, and absolutely dire food. Others that are maybe bigger and rely more on passing trade and less on locals seem to take greater care with their food. They have to try harder and I guess the pub today didn't want to try at all. D- I'm afraid.