I can't sail the seas forever!

FacelessNumber · 30 December 2016 at 8:46PM

Good luck! A new year is the time to set new challenges and plans!

Jessy103 · 30 December 2016 at 9:14PM

Hi Runders! Loved reading your diary and well done so far! Your job sounds exciting! I think you should put your money towards the ranch holiday! Watching the eventing at the Olympics would be amazing but you would just be watching and not riding! I would love to go western style riding in the USA somewhere, I bet it's amazing!

Happy New Year and good luck with your MFW journey!
Jess x

Runders · 10 January 2017 at 1:06PM

Hi all,

Hope the new year is treating you all well and any resolutions are still going strong.

Thanks for the luck Facelessnumber, I hope 2017 is a great money saving year for you too!

Jess, thanks for popping by. I think you are right re the ranch holiday. I think I'll find the length of the stirrups a bit unnerving to begin with. I used to ride young point to pointers, so I still have a bit of "jockey stirrups" on the go when I ride. Do you have a diary on the go?

In terms of money saving, I had an absolute win with my car insurance yesterday! I managed to haggle £50 off with my current provider to beat the cheapest quote with another provider. Money saved and no hassle of switching

I've also looked out some DVDs to send to sell and if they are all accepted I should get around £30 from those. My next task is to try and haggle a better price for the internet with Virgin, it's so pricey nowadays.

So I've decided to try to give up alcohol for the year...wibble! My friend and I are doing it together and hopefully it will help both our waistlines and bank accounts. Each time we think we want a drink we are going to put £2 in a tin instead, and then at the end of the year we'll have a rough idea of how much we've saved ourselves. My gin collection is looking forlorn and dusty already...must stay strong!

Anywho enough ramblings from me.

Toodles

Tropically · 10 January 2017 at 1:55PM

Hi Runders! We are twins, very similar career, very similar interests. Giving up booze for a year would be so good for the budget. I hope the creepy neighbour has stopped bothering you - Good fences make good neighbours!

Runders · 12 January 2017 at 2:47PM

Tropically wrote: »

Good fences make good neighbours!

Tropically this is a fantastic and very true saying. The fence is quite possibly the best money I have ever spent on this house. Makes such a huge difference to my general happiness.

Runders · 12 January 2017 at 3:02PM

Afternoon all,

It's such a grey day here in Norfolk today, I think it will absolutely bucket down with rain soon if the sky is anything to go by.

So I finally called Virgin today and although it wasn't an amazing haggle, I did manage to knock £3.23 off my internet bill a month. I could have got it cheaper elsewhere on one of the deals, but I have to admit to being a little lazy on this one. Plus I don't actually have a phone line to my house and don't fancy another hole being drilled in my wall...mental I know. But I am now £38.76 a year better off

I've also applied for a new bank account to take advantage of the cash incentives. Hopefully that will all go smoothly and I should receive £125 once the switch is complete. I switched one of my other accounts to the M&S recently too and recieved a £100 voucher, I used that to finally by the lovely cutlery I've had my eye on for ages

I paid my yearly car insurance out of my wages instead of using my savings this month. It's made it a little tight, but I want to try and get to the end of the month without dipping into my savings...challenge is on!

Toodles

Runders · 1 April 2017 at 7:17PM

Hello, Hello, Hello,

I have been AWOL yet again. Life has been pretty sh*t recently, and I am splitting my time between my home and my Mum's. This has left little time for me to truly be MSE savvy, or update my diary. However, I am back (again) for now, and will update as much as circumstances allow.

I have had a few money saving moments. I did get the £125 for my bank switch, and I paid that straight into my offset account. I have also just changed my phone provider, which should save me about £54 a year, and I did it through a cashback site with a potential reward of £50

In the bad money news, I got clocked speeding on my way to my Mum's. So a £100 fine there, gutted! Also my car is on his very last legs, so my savings may take a hit when I find a replacement.

Most of the big purchases are done with my house, just the stair carpet and some shelves to go and then hopefully I'll stop pouring money into it. I did want to sort the front garden out, but that can wait until I have built up my savings again.

ohh in a Money Saving win, I got two free tickets to the Blenheim International Horse Trials today

Any horsey people on here, they are still giving them away for free for the rest of today if you visit their Facebook page it has a link.

Right toodles for now, I am off to catch up on all the other diaries.

Runders · 18 April 2017 at 10:09PM

Evening all,

I've made a foray into the world of stoozing using money transfer cards. I've stoozed £12k into my offset account, and even taking into account the initial money transfer fees I should make a good bit of headway. I've set up the direct debits for the minimum payments and also made a note of the end dates so I can pay the balance off before the promotional period ends. The money that I save off my monthly mortgage payment will then also be put into my offset account and not spent!! This is a new rule for me, as before I was just adding it to my money for the month.

I won a watch which I sold for £50, and I also sold my old fitbit for £50, so this covers my naughty driver course fee of £88 and gives me a little towards the petrol to get there. If only I could win a few more things!

My lodger is moving out at the end of the month, so I have been looking at my finances and re-jigging my budget about so that I account for the loss of income. I don't plan on having another lodger unless I really need to in the future, so I also need to sort out my single person discount for the council tax as well.

Runders · 3 May 2017 at 9:44AM

Morning all

I am a happy bunny this morning on the mortgage front: I am back below £99k after my re-mortgage in Sep. It's only just below at £98,842.56, but below all the same, yay!

Due to some unforseen payments last month, I started this month with minus £250. I am determined to absorb that out of this months wages and not take anything out of my offset to cover. It's going to have to be a frugal month!

My stair carpet was laid last week and I am super happy with it, it's so nice under foot. Maybe I can just walk up and down that instead of going out, haha.

Toodles.

I can't sail the seas forever!

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