Less than 4 weeks until Christmas!

So it is now less than 4 weeks until Christmas!!! I have now finally finished my Christmas shopping! I leave for Australia 1 week today, so I guess this is my last full week of my £10 a week challenge until the New Year :)
But don't worry, I won't go crazy and spend loads of money while I'm away....I wouldn't be able to anyway as I only have 20kg of luggage allowance this time instead of my usual 42kg with Emirates :( So I'll only really be spending money on going out to eat, movies etc.

Last week was a busy week, I went home Tuesday because I had a shadow shift at the Spectrum Energy Level Gym, so I was home Tuesday and Wednesday morning. I also spent most of my week in the editing room editing our documentary :) On Thursday we were in there editing for 7 hours!!! It looks pretty awesome though and we're really pleased with it so far :) Hopefully we'll be finished either tomorrow or Friday, so when it's all done I'll put it on here to see what everyone else thinks of it! I really hope we get a good grade and I also hope Nick likes it! We're going to see his 'Kings of the Cage' MMA fight this Saturday up at the Troxy in London, we're so excited!! Luckily he offered to get hold of some tickets for us in return for doing the documentary, because we wouldn't be able to go if we had had to buy them full price, being poor students and all...so a big thank you Nick, and we're all really looking forward to seeing you WIN on Saturday night! Everyone look out for it on Sky Sports this Saturday night, because it's being broadcast live!

Because I didn't need to buy any food last week thanks to my big stock up the week before, I went out for breakfast and Waffles with some friends, treated myself to some tiger bread and also caught the bus after our late night editing sessions :)
My Dad took me to a Thanksgiving Dinner at the Reform Club in London last Friday. I've always wanted to visit the club, as I have heard so much about it from my Dad and Grandma through the years, because my Dad's Godfather was a member when he was alive. It's also been used in loads of films, including James Bond and the newest Sherlock Holmes film. The architecture is truly incredible and I fell in love with the place! So thank you very much to my Dad for treating me to a once in a lifetime experience like that :)
It was a fantastic evening and was a chance for me to meet other young people who belong to London clubs, as I belong to the Royal Overseas League. I really enjoyed it, the food was pretty good too, apart from the Clam Chowder :S I don't like Clams lol...luckily I wasn't the only one though, as the very nice man sitting next to me didn't like it either...so I didn't feel so rude not eating it haha! Now that I think about it, I really wish I had told everyone there about my £10 a week challenge...maybe they would have donated *sigh*. I should have left some of my free business cards lying around lol :P

So far I've raised £123...but with an overall aim of at least £4000, I've still got a loooong way to go, and I really don't want to let the charities down. So please, if you have any spare money at all or would like to do anything to help change people's lives this Christmas, please donate and help these amazing Charities. We all either know someone, or have been directly affected by issues connected to these 4 charities (child poverty, hardship, miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth, Lupus, Hughes Syndrome), so every penny you donate will go to help either you or people you know, either soon or in the future.

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Budget:

Waffles from the Uni canteen - £2.60

Breakfast from the Uni canteen - £1.40

Tiger Bread - Tesco's - £1.30

Bus fare - £2

Bus fare - £2

= £9.30

Diet:

Monday:
Brunch - Waffles from Uni canteen

Dinner - Jacket Potato and Tuna
Snacks - Banana

Tuesday:
Brunch - Cereal - Porridge
Dinner - Was at Home
Snacks - Mince Pie :)

Wednesday:
Breakfast - Was at Home

Lunch - Cheese sandwich

Dinner - Soup
Snacks - Tiger bread and butter lol

Thursday:
Breakfast - Homemade smoothie - 3 bananas, frozen blueberries and natural yoghurt.
Lunch - Tiger bread and butter :P

Dinner - Soup
Snacks - None

Friday:
Breakfast - Crumpets

Lunch - Tiger bread and butter (i don't like anything on/in my tiger bread because it takes away the flavour...so i just have butter with it and it tastes A-mazingg!

Dinner - Reform Club Dinner

Snacks - Mince Pie :P

Re-Stocking

So it's been 2 months today!!! Only 7 more to go :P
Remember if you feel I'm doing well, or you would like to support any deserving charities this Christmas, please please sponsor me to do this by donating to one or more of the charities I have chosen to support! You can find out more information on the charities by clicking on my Just Giving page links, which are just to the right of this page ------->
It really doesn't matter how much you give as I know how difficult it is for everyone what with the recession and Christmas coming up, but every penny counts so please please give anything you can afford to help these amazing charities!


Last week I had to make a trip to Sainsbury's to re-fill my fridge and some cupboard bits etc. Also because I hadn't spent any of the £10 budget from the week before, I used it to treat myself to going out for coffee and breakfast with my friends throughout the week, which was lovely :)
I had a pretty uneventful week to be honest, apart from filming our documentary! On Saturday my production group and I travelled down to Guildford to film our 5 minute documentary, about Nick 'Headhunter' Chapman, a pro MMA fighter. We got so much footage that we're not only planning on doing our 5 minute Uni project, but after Christmas when we have more time, we're going to attempt to make a full length documentary with it all. It's really exciting and this is definitely my favourite module! We started editing today, and even though we were just logging it was still exciting seeing what we'd filmed, even if it was slightly stressful when we thought we'd wiped it all :S 
I'm really looking forward to Wednesday when we start editing properly, and of course seeing the final product in about 2 weeks time. When it's finished I'll put it on here so you can all tell us what you think :)
Special thanks to Nick, Mike, Wayne and of course the Guildford Lido for letting us film at their Workshop Gym! 


I would also like to thank my mum for giving me a bag of bananas and a box of mince pies :)
Now that it's Winter I've been eating a lot of cup a soups and porridge, I'm ashamed to say I haven't had many vegetables this week, but I've been making up for it with fruit and multi-vitamins! And I always have loads of vegies when I'm home at weekends :)
Also, just an interesting fact to throw in, did you know that we're actually supposed to sleep more during the winter because it's cold and dark, and it's something to do with hibernation, that hundreds of years ago we would have slept for most of the day during the winter...I can't remember where I heard that. I'll try and find out because I don't think I've explained it very well lol!

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Budget:

Basics tomato pasta sauce - 35p - Sainsbury's

Basics cheese pasta sauce - £1.29 - Sainsbury's

Basics eggs - 63p - Sainsbury's

Basics bread - 47p - Sainsbury's

Basics digestive biscuits - 23p - Sainsbury's

Crumpets - 56p - Sainsbury's

Basics mozzarella cheese - £1.15 - Sainsbury's

6 pears - £1 - Sainsbury's

4 jacket potatoes - 49p - Sainsbury's

Tomato&Mozzarella  pasta - 99p - Sainsbury's

Milk - 45p - Sainsbury's

Basics mushrooms - 89p - Sainsbury's

Soy Sauce - 89p - Sainsbury's

Basics natural yoghurt - 44p - Sainsbury's

= £9.83

Diet:

Monday:
Breakfast - Banana

Lunch - Crumpets
Dinner - Soup
Snacks - Pear

Tuesday:
Brunch - Cereal - Porridge
Dinner - Jacket Potato with cheese
Snacks - half a pot of blueberries

Wednesday:
Breakfast - Banana and Pear

Lunch - Crumpets

Dinner - Pasta with cheese sauce and mushrooms
Snacks - a mince pie

Thursday:
Breakfast - Crumpets
Lunch - Soup

Dinner - Jacket potato with tuna
Snacks - the other half of the pot of blueberries

Friday:
Breakfast - Banana

Lunch - Baguette with cheese

Dinner - Soup

Snacks - None

Reading Week, Reflecting Week.

I had a reading week last week, so I went home for the week and took advantage of home comforts, and of course extra work shifts at the Lido. I didn't spend any of the £10 budget....so I'm trying to decide whether to put it into fuel for my car...or something else. I just don't know what to spend it on lol!
I'm glad I went back for the week because it gave me a chance to just get away from Uni...and the 'delights' of Uxbridge, and just have a week of rest! I also made the most of being able to go to the gym, and with some of the money I had saved from the previous week (I saved £4.02), I went to the gym twice (it only costs me £1 per session).

Unfortunately the week took a sad turn on Wednesday, when I attended Brenda's funeral. She was a friend of the family from church and unfortunately died quite suddenly. My family and I had been parishioners of St William of York Church in Send since I was 2 years old, and we went almost every Sunday without fail, until Bishop Kieran decided to close us down in 2006. My brother and I were alter servers from a young age, and my dad was a Eucharistic minister and choir member (Brenda was the leader of the choir). Our church community was so small that we were like a big family, I grew up surrounded by the other parishioners and they were there to help us celebrate poignant and special moments in our lives, from myself and my brother receiving the sacraments (from baptism to confirmation), to our parish picnics, bbq's, nativity plays and eventually our final mass as parishioners of St Williams. Wednesday was not only a time to say goodbye to Brenda, but also to reflect on how important a role the members of our church had played in my life. Brenda's brother Joe was especially close to our family, he taught my brother and I everything about alter serving, and when he died shortly after the church closed in 2006, everyone from our church gathered in St Williams for his funeral. It was the first funeral I had ever been to, and the first time anyone I knew had died. That was the last time I ever alter served...I just didn't want to do it without Joe, and I didn't want to do it in any church other than St Williams. I think it was a nice thing for my brother and I to do, to serve one last time after the church closed, for Joe. since Joe died in 2006, 10 more people I know have died, 5 of those were family members, and 4 were under 18. And even though I didn't know some of them very well, it still effects you, especially when some of them were so young, and you see so many people go in such a short space of time.
Ever since St Williams closed I never really enjoyed church again, it was such a huge part of my life, not just the bricks and mortar, but the parishioners, friends and memories. I wanted to get married there and have my children baptised there, unfortunately that will never happen now, and I'm not being stubborn or anything, but I am never getting married in a Church that doesn't feel like home, so in the future, if I can't get married in St Williams, I will get married outside, in the surroundings God created.
Bishop Kieren promised us he wouldn't close us down, and when he broke that promise, it destroyed my faith in God. And each time someone else died, my faith gradually disappeared, until I was questioning everything I had ever believed and been taught. It has only been in the past few months that my faith has been restored, and I am so grateful for that. Since May/June I have realized how privileged I am to of been brought up in the Catholic faith, and to believe in something greater. It has helped me through tough times, and sometimes it has been one of the only things that has kept me going. Brenda's funeral on Wednesday, although sad, made me truly appreciate the beliefs and values I have been brought up with. Death is not the end....only the beginning of the next stage of our lives. Brenda's funeral provided me with closure for everyone else I have lost, and it made me realize that without faith you have nothing. It was also lovely to see everyone from St Williams again!
Most of you probably didn't know my beliefs, but that's mainly because I think everyone has a right to their own opinions, and I respect other people's beliefs...I'm not one of these people who forces religion onto those who don't believe in the same things as me. I'm also not one of these strict god fearing preaching 'Bible bashers', and I don't agree with everything that's said in the Bible. But I really do think that it helps you through life's most challenging times, and without it I really don't know where I would be today. I was confirmed 4 years ago, just before the church closed, and the parishioners of St Williams gave me a book called 'I Am With You', it is filled with bible passages for different times in your life...and I still turn to it when I need some guidance and understanding.

On Thursday I did the majority of my Christmas shopping, which I'm very proud of! Even though the majority of people voted for me to not include Christmas gifts in the £10 budget, I'm not taking advantage of that and spending a lot like I did last year. I saved quite a bit by buying a few gifts from Boots and using my advantage card points, and of course shopping around to find the cheapest deal, which meant buying some dvds my mum wanted off the internet instead of in-store (did you know that HMV online are cheaper than their shops...and it's free delivery!). I have to say it was quite nice being able to go round the shops and spend more than £10...even if it was all for other people. My Christmas shopping has satisfied my withdrawal symptoms, and now I won't be venturing to the shops again until the January sales...hopefully they'll have some bargains that will agree with my budget :)

Also if you go to Brunel University pick up a free copy of LeNurb, the student newspaper, as I am on page 4 :)

Tube Strikes

Sorry for the delay in posting, I've got reading week this week so I'm home for the week and have been pretty busy so far! I will tell you all about this week on Sunday though.

Well last week was certainly eventful! I've been saving up since I started this to go into London to visit one of my best friends, Emma. She's studying at Goldsmiths, so we had planned for me to visit her last Wednesday. Unfortunately the night before we realized that tube strikes were planned to go ahead the next day, but I was determined to get out of Uxbridge and into central, seeing as I had been saving all those weeks! 

I walked into town after my morning lecture, and got lunch for £1.98 from Greggs, before heading to the tube station. It was a lot quieter than usual in there and there were still loads of Metro newspapers in the stands at 1pm!!! Usually they've all disappeared by 10am! Anyway, luckily I had a loyalty card for 'Happy Days' which had enough stamps on it for a free regular milkshake...Chocolate Orange is definitely the best flavour! So after picking up my free milkshake I went to get my travelcard. The ticket office was closed so I had to use a machine, which meant it cost me £7.50 instead of £5 because the machine can't tell if you have a railcard or not...but luckily I got a £2.50 refund from an open ticket office in central. I have to say, the workers who weren't on strike were very helpful and I don't know what I would have done without them telling me exactly where to go! I eventually got to New Cross an hour and a half later, which I thought was pretty good for a tube stike. AND I discovered New Cross is WORSE than Uxbridge....yes...worse!!! I forget the amount of times Emma pointed to an alleyway and said 'a guy got mugged at knife point there last week'. She also introduced me to Iceland...I was in heaven!! Quote of the day from Emma..'I love it because the prices are simple...they don't have any pennies so you don't have to be clever to work out how much it all comes to'

I spent £3 in Iceland on 3 items...a huge carton of juice, a bag of 7 pears and 2 ginger cakes (2 for £1)! Bargain!

When the time came for me to head back to Uxbridge, I assumed the journey back would be as easy as the journey in...I was so wrong. I headed to Canada Water, where I had to get the Jubilee line to Waterloo...from Waterloo I wanted to get to Green Park to stop off at the ROSL clubhouse for a bit before I headed back home, but because Green Park was closed I had to get the tube to Picadilly Circus and then walk to Green Park from there. A stop before Picadilly Circus they announce that it has now closed, so I had to get off at Oxford Circus and then get a bus from there. What I didn't realize was the amount of people outside Oxford Circus. I exited the tube station to find myself amongst thousands of people...I couldn't see what direction I was going in so decided to walk to Green Park instead of trying to get on a bus. Unfortunately I walked up Oxford Street towards Selfridges instead of down Regent Street to Picadilly...oh dear. I eventually got to the club after about half an hour to 45 minutes of battling my way through thousands of commuters. And even worse than that was having to lug my huge heavy Iceland bag with a big carton of juice and 7 pears in it, all round London. I walked into the club a dishevelled mess...so I'm not suprised I got a few hard stares from some of the older members. After using their toilets, moisturiser, water and free internet to find out what was going on, I headed to Green Park station which was now open, to get the train back up to Oxford Circus...I had no idea what I was going to do when I got back to Oxford Circus...but luckily I was saved!! I was standing staring at the maps at Oxford Circus trying to work out how to get back, when I head my name being called...I looked around to see Alix walking towards me! I actually don't know what I would have done if she hadn't of found me...I probably would of ended up going back to New Cross and staying at Emma's. So we caught the tube to Paddington and the overground to Hayes...where Tom picked us up and drove us home :)

So I would like to say a huge thank you to Alix and Tom for saving me!!! Also because I agreed with Tom that in exchange for them saving me I would mention them on here :P

So that was my eventful day in Central...after that kefuffle I am NEVER travelling into central when there is a tube strike on!! I also found it very difficult to not just jump in a Taxi, and not buy anything while I was on Oxford Street! I was pretty much running past the shops and refusing to look in them because I knew that if I did I would be tempted :(

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Budget:

£1 - Iceland - Tropical Juice

£1 - Iceland - Bag of 7 pears

£1 - Iceland - 2 Jamaica Ginger Cakes

£1.98 - Greggs - Lunch 

£1 - Hot chocolate at work
= £5.98

With the money I saved from last week I'm using it to go to the gym this week :)

Diet:

Monday:
Breakfast: Cereal - Blueberry Wheats with milk

Lunch: Mushroom cup a soup
Dinner - Sausages with Vegtables
Snacks - None

Tuesday:
Breakfast - Cereal - Blueberry wheats with milk
Lunch - Mushroom Soup
Dinner - Pizza
Snacks - None

Wednesday:
Breakfast - Porridge

Lunch - Greggs 

Dinner - Party Food (there was a party going on at the house when I got back from London)
Snacks - Pear

Thursday:
Breakfast - Porridge
Lunch -2 Pears

Dinner - Mushroom Soup
Snacks - a slice of ginger cake

Friday:
Breakfast - Porridge

Lunch - Cup a soup

Dinner - At home

Snacks - Pear

Freedom

Last week I was plagued by illness. The common cold really is cruel! Not only did I lose my appetite, and want to just stay in bed all week, but it also meant I had to spend half of my budget on cold&flu tablets!! On Monday I missed my lecture, I had come down with a cold on Saturday, and overslept Monday morning much to my disgust, as I actually enjoy my Monday lectures! Unfortunately I couldn't stay in bed all day after this happened though, as I had to go into Uni and hand in an Essay that was due that day, so I also used this time to make a trip to the Pharmacy to get some flu tablets...where much to my shock and horror the pharmacist suggested some at a price of £4.99!!!! I think she saw the look of horror on my face and so suggested some cheaper ones at £3.99. I only wanted them for the night time tablets to help me sleep, so after paying for them and going home, I discovered that I had paid £3.99 for only 4 night time tablets, and 12 day time tablets!!!!! And seeing as you have to take 2 a night, they only lasted 2 nights! They did actually work though, as my cold had cleared by Friday and had instead turned into a cough....whenever I have a cough I always wish I was young enough to have 'Tixylix' again...mmmm yummy.

Being holed up inside the house all week not wanting to brave the cold and rain, and only venturing out for lectures, I've felt very trapped. I've been feeling claustrophobic for a while now, maybe it's because this is the longest time I've gone without going back to Perth, for the past 3 and a half years. I just always feel suffocated when I'm back here...even when I do spend all day outside, I still feel suffocated and claustrophobic. Yesterday I realized how much I'm looking forward to getting back to Perth in 5 weeks....I long for the freedom to do what I want when I want, to not have to worry or stress about everyday life. Just to be able to run down to the beach and feel as though I'm sitting at the end of the world...as though at that point in time, nothing else matters. I've always found that as soon as I sat down on the sand and looked out at Rotto and the huge expanse of ocean beyond, I feel all the weight on my shoulders lifting, all my cares and worries disappearing. I can't wait to be able to feel that again! I miss being able to go there and feel it whenever I want. It frustrates and angers me to feel so trapped here, in this huge city, knowing that wherever I go, my worries follow me. I'm a different person when I'm in London, and I hate that person. I want to be me again....to feel alive again, instead of feeling as though I'm just another number in the system, trapped with no way of escaping. I really hope that one day I can move back there, and although I've tried really hard to make a good life for myself over here, I don't think I will ever be completely happy and content with my life until I am back in Perth for good. Despite what everyone says about Perth being too small and there being 'more to do' in London, it really depends on what you choose to do. And at least in Aus there's thousands of miles of open space around it to escape to, beautiful scenery, and the most relaxed way of life you'll ever live. I just long to feel free again. There's no place like Perth.

After expressing my thoughts, lets move on to this week's budget. You may have noticed that I haven't been shopping in supermarkets....that's because the nearest one is a 45minute walk each way...and I haven't had the motivation to walk there, do the shopping, and then walk all the way back...with the shopping...yet. I will obviously have to pretty soon, but it's just so cold! I have a reading week next week so I'll be back home for the week, so I might put that £10 on my oyster card so I get cheap bus fares instead of it being £2 each way! That way I won't have to walk back in the cold with heavy shopping bags. I have a horrible feeling I'm going to have to do this at some point though...so I'm just getting myself motivated for it!

I've had a much healthier week this week, and I've also been taking multi-vitamins every day.

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Budget:

55p - Cornflour - Costcutter

£1.85 - Lasagne Sauce - Costcutter

48p - Bananas - Costcutter

£1 - 2L Milk - Martins

£3.99 - Sudafed night&day flu tablets - Brunel Phramacy
= £7.87

My mum also sent me back to Uni with a couple of yoghurts from her fridge that needed eating up as she had too many.

Diet:

Monday:
Brunch: Yoghurt and Banana
Dinner - Homemade Lasagne: Mince, stock cube, lasagne sheets, garlic puree, tinned tomatoes, lasagne sauce, and half an onion.
Snacks - 2 Jammie Dodgers

Tuesday:
Breakfast - Cereal - Blueberry wheats with milk
Lunch - Milk, Banana and blueberry (frozen blueberries) smoothie (homemade) 
Dinner - Leftover Lasagne from last night
Snacks - None

Wednesday:
Brunch - Cereal - Blueberry wheats with milk

Dinner - Pizza
Snacks - Apple (Last one leftover from the other week...they last ages!) and a yoghurt

Thursday:
Breakfast - Cereal - Blueberry Wheats with milk
Lunch - Pitta bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Dinner - Rice and Chicken with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and peas.
Snacks - Yoghurt and a banana

Friday:
Breakfast - Cereal - Porridge

Lunch - Cup a soup

Dinner - At home.

Snacks - None