Budget? What budget?

How damn easy is it to spend money whilst at home? I have just blown over £100 on Argos home delivery (yes, only the best, dear friends), on what appears to be a bathroom bin. Okay, there's a shoe rack, an airer, bath mats, towels and an alarm clock, before I sound hopelessly delusional. I did explain this is a new flat, didn't I? So we do need all the gubbins to go with it, you know the sort - you fancy mash but have no masher, that sort of thing.

So I have ordered a few bits in the hope that this time Argos will not manage to louse up my order. I am not overly hopeful, the few times in my life I have given in to the spell cast by the catalogue of dreams (har har), the dream in question has always arrived with a screw loose. My bet is on the shoe rack, they cannot cock up towels, surely? I will wait with bated breath…

...And I haven't worked out my budget yet for being at home. I have saved enough for six months of self funding, keeping in mind jobs may be few and far between - although I'll keep my eye open for any opportunity. So I need to eek the money out as carefully as I can, despite this being Wedding season which means I am showering money like confetti everywhere I turn.

I have also worked out it takes me 14 minutes to get from my living room to the shops.

This is not a great thing for a girl on a budget to know.

I made a list of practical things I needed – things such as ‘cable ties’ to do something about the nest of wires snaking around my feet. Then I went on a (14 minute) jaunt to town to see what I could find and the result has me £80 lighter, mainly on blackberries, as far as I can see. And did I say I shopped in Waitrose? That is hardly economising, is it? I did weigh up whether to walk the extra distance to Tesco, but the thought of dragging my bags back looking like Stretch Armstrong on a particularly bendy day didn't fill me with happiness. So Waitrose was (eagerly, I have to admit) selected and now I am tightening my purse strings with Soya milk, organic eggs and stupid sodding blackberries, not a cable tie in sight.

The upshot is that I have managed to spend £200 before midday. Anyone know where Excel is on this computer?