Progress

Okay so progress does not mean I have been perfect, my challenge not to buy anymore clothes until an existing item is relegated to the bin or the charity shop has not quite been met this month.  I confess I spent money on not quite essential items.  I did only spend £10 though! Yes I know I'm trying to justify it to myself, but I have some nice new running shorts and a vest, two things for £10 is a bargain right?
Other than that minor slip I think I've been quite good and as a result I have money left with only a week to go until payday.  Hubby and I are still amazed that we are more than surviving on a severely reduced income compared to the when we were skint on two fulltime incomes.
The puppy has also curbed his spending, he's healing well and has resisted the urge to scratch at the wound, for that reason he has been rewarded by not having to wear his silly plastic collar for the past few days and he can now play frisbee again.
The exam marking is finally over, having spent every evening, every weekend and the days inbetween when I wasn't teaching, attached to the computer I am glad its over.  It was however incredibly satisfying to see the extra money appear in my bank account and beable to transfer it straight away to the credit card account therefore paying off the vets bill, the two new car tyres and the flights to France in one fell swoop.  Don't worry I haven't forgotten about the laptop and the puppy didn't manage to spend every penny I earnt, I am still owed another payment, hopefully at the end of this week.  Now I have to decide whether to buy a laptop or something else, I have already treated myself to tickets to see Dirty Dancing at the theatre (something I've been longing to see) but that still leaves a nice amount to play with.  Hubby has recently upgraded his laptop however and mine has not died yet so I'm thinking the new laptop can wait and hopefully prices will continue to fall over the next few months as they tend to do with technology, in which case I may buy one for the exam marking in June.
I am still in search of another lodger, but supply appears to have dried up, that and I think I'm being quite fussy, one because I have to live with the person and two because we are not desperate for the money, to be honest the extra money would either be saved for a rainy day or spent on treats so I'd rather wait for the right person.
There are other downsides to lodgers besides living with a practical stranger.  Having just read the electricity meter, prompted by one of those little cards through the door, it would appear that our electricity usage is considerably increased.  Not suprising I suppose when at the point of having two lodgers that meant 3 televisions, 4 laptops, a minimum of 4 showers a day, 2 extra lightbulbs left on, not to mention the lights accidentally left on in the kitchen, hallway etc. over night because they are not paying the bills so are not a conscientious about energy saving as a billpayer is.  Happily I get to keep control of the thermostat (I have lots of warm socks and jumpers) and the weather has assisted in reducing the gas bill a little compared to last winter.
My employer has thrown a complication into my endeavours however by deciding that maybe I should have been made redundant back in September! Funny that considering I had a fulltime permenant contract and they couldn't provide fulltime hours! Trust me I did argue for several months before taking the cut to part time and many people would question why I didn't continue to fight, the answer to that is that for a few hundred quid (I had only worked there 3 years and it was statutory redudancy pay, about £400 for each year) it wasn't worth the stress and misery caused by the uncertainty, and the threat of making working life difficult.  Now however after so many grievance procedures against them (I was not one of them) they have been forced to investigate their actions, I'll let you know how that one progresses, but I do feel like its opened up a can of worms that I thought I had neatly packed away.