Payday

....is tomorrow.  And my new contract - which means more hours working, but also more money paid, and crucially, a regular wage packet, same every month, regardless of whether we're talking term or vacation - means that suddenly there is a lot more money hitting the current account than we are used to having in autumn.

Used to be the case that this time of year I'd have had a couple of months of very low pay followed by no pay at all - but now, all of a sudden, there is a tidy little chunk hitting the account on the 25th each month, and I feel ever so rich. 

But this does beg the question now - what are we going to do with all this extra cash ?  Why, save it, of course :)  The savings account have been scoured clean over the last couple of months, there is no money in the annual expenses kitty, and I am fed up of covering everything from cashflow and hoping for the best.  I wanna put coins into little pots and allocate for our needs, and perhaps even a few small wants.  The house needs some money spent on tarting up ready for sale next year; the home education account is bare;  and Christmas, I am reliably informed, is planning to take place once again on the 25th December of this year, and this really should not be coming as a surprise to any of us who happen to celebrate it.

And with the garden giving it all it's got as we've slipped into autumn, and my squirrel stores leaking runner beans and courgettes from every seam already, it's a pretty good time to pull back from spending on food  a little bit, too.

Which is why I will be attempting to do no spending in October.  Oh, I'd love to say that no money will be spent at all whilst we sit tight and eat from the stores.... But we are a long way from that level of frugality.  Instead, not spending on anything but essentials, and keeping those as low as possible, too, should leave us a nice little sum to bung into various savings accounts at the end of the month, so this is what I'm running with. 

And what are the essentials ?  Food - milk and fresh fruit in particular - petrol, any schooling supplies that I have managed to not get in time (hopefully none), and repairs to anything essential to day-to-day living that might break down over the next month (again, hopefully none). 

Now, this really should not be a problem, as we already live in a pretty frugal manner at all times.... But somehow there seem to be this constant little drip-drip-drip of money leaving through all sorts of leaky taps when you're not watching them.  So, this October I will be watching, and trying to prevent  these drips.  And it had better make a difference, else I shall really not be impressed.

In the meantime, let's all have a laff at my compatriots having a go at mangling some English:

 

And if you are forced to go dry due  to being too jung too drink alchol, you can always visit the fun fun garden.  As opposed to the dull fun garden.  Or indeed the fun dull garden.  Not to mention the dull dull garden.  You'd need plenty of alchol to pull you through that one.