Aajohn’s Weblog

With Mum and The Brother safely back the night previous they brought with them some take-away / fast food. I had some even though I wasn’t hungry.

The morning involved a pick-up at the station for a colleague as we were having a team meeting in town at (new) premises. We were gifted lunch by our Leader but thoughts of going to the gym after the afternoon business planning sessions were pushed to the back of my mind.

I didn’t spend any cash!

The Son was playing up again throughout the whole trip to Bradford. He’s better than I at expressing his feelings but I’m not good at coping with that. The Fiancee did well but I think it wore her out too. I’ve read somewhere that only The Son can control how he feels or should I say only we can control how we feel. We may be upset by other people but its up to us how we react.

Unplanned spending was £9.29 for flowers and chocolates. I had just enough diesel to get up there and back so delayed filling at the station until Monday.

Took my youngest brother to the Odeon – for him to see Quantum of Solace with another brother.

Lent my telly to The Fiancee. Told her not to rush to return it. The Son sees this as me pushing him away – the children like to play in my bedroom.

Weighed in at a svelte (for me these days) 212lbs. Must be water loss though so be interesting to see how much goes back on over the weekend. We had an early start so as to get The Son’s hair cut (£5) and for me to do my marriage course homework with The Fiancee. The Son was in a mood early doors as he wanted to play on his Xbox but had to be woken from his slumber leaving him no time before we were out the door. Mercifully there wasn’t a queue at Mr T’s so we were done there for 0920. I’d seen an offer for Gears of War 2 for the Xbox at Morrisons (£29.99) and I wanted to get some fireworks which were to have been gotten from The Chinese Fireworks place but at half-price (£24.50) they missed out on our business. I made The Son give me £20 for the game. The bonfire party was excellent – the lovely hosts said we needn’t have brought any fireworks years of parental training mean this is hard to do – turn up empty-handed. These expenses were again not planned. Got a stroppy bill from npower (former gas supplier) for £84.01 so paid that online. Now the debt snowball amounts have been set I paid the amount planned to Amex this month.  

Yesterday I as inspired by a lady blogger to really start journaling my battle towards debt freedom. It’s obviously possible to have a positive net worth and debt – in my case on credit cards. Anyway unplanned expenses were: £1.95 on lunch, £5 for a mobile phone top up for my son and £45 for two tickets for the “Witches of Eastwick”. My son usually gets £2.50 per week pocket money. He’ll forfeit that for the mobile phone credit.

Cycled to/from work. Found it hard-ish on the way back but did both journeys in roughly my usual time. My left knee hurt a bit. Could also feel my back on that side. Later had a chat with The Son and his friend on the way to football practice about cardio. We concluded that the heart can get very efficient reasonably quickly which meant that your weight stopped going down. The Son doesn’t think I take losing weight seriously. He was right as I blew one clean eat stuffing my face with cakes!

Shame about the food. The day started with creatine then a banana. Had lots of cups of coffee. I had a salmon salad for lunch, another banana but then got home and The Mother had been shopping. I was good just eating some chicken but then more chicken ’til it was all gone and then the rest as above.

The Daughter was at her friend’s house after school. She had a nice time.

My youngest brother who’s been at my house since Monday seemed okay and thanked me for letting him play with one of our laptops.

I don’t remember spending any ‘new’ money?

Managed 10 press-ups then fell asleep.

Cardio: Cycled to/from work

Weights: Fly m/c 3×12x50k; chest press m/c 3×10x50kg; pulldown 3×12x25kg; Lat m/c 3×10x60kg; Lats2 3×10x55kg; Shoulders 3×10x30kg

Food: Oats & milk, Coffee (4), cheese, apple, satsuma (2), Combination singapore noodles, beer, diet coke, chocolate, cranberries and macadamias, cakes

Upstairs Christmas Party – £0 (Tomato and Mozzarella Salad , Salmon Calzogne (Veg option), Christmas Pudding); Night out £30 for two.

What does being frugal mean to me? Sticking to a list when shopping. It means saving up for big purchases rather than buying something on credit and repaying it later. It means actually going to the supermarket instead of having the groceries delivered – we do, at Aldi. It means actually comparing prices and buying the lower end items instead of going for the most convenient or all the bells and whistles. It means not buying items at all when it’s truly a want instead of a need. And it’s also a learning process for me. I’ve never been very good at being frugal. If I wanted something, I went out and bought it. I did little, if any, price comparisons between stores and I often purchased items with more options even if I didn’t need the upgrade. For me, for now, I’m making these baby step changes in my purchasing behavior and I’m seeing the results.

One thing I’ve been trying to do is write more lists. I need to have one that if it’s not on it it doesn’t get purchased. I’m lucky in that if I stuck to it the £240 I give my Mum a month for food would be seen as good? I don’t meal plan so I ‘eat out’ when at work – creaping expense!

I’ve been reading lots of blogs about personal finance. I’ve been inspired by what I’ve read. I’m looking for ways to decrease my expenses. Can I increase my income?